KOTTAYAM: Laha Gopalan, leader of the Chengara land struggle, has died of Covid-19 at the Pathanamthitta general hospital on Wednesday. He was 72. His funeral was held in Pathanamthitta on Wednesday.
Gopalan had spearheaded several land struggles by dalits across the state. He was successful in bringing the government to the discussion table in the agitations he led.
The most famous amongst them was the agitation for land in Chengara estate in 2007 in Pathanamthitta district. Hundreds of landless families led by the Sadhu Jana Vimochana Samyukta Vedi had encroached land under Harrison Malayalam Limited’s rubber plantation at Chengara near Konni in 2007.
In a smart move, Gopalan hoodwinked the entire police machinery in the state when he succeeded in keeping their attention on him and his followers who were taking part in the conclusion of a rally in Konni, while hundreds of landless people entered the Chengara estate. The protesters pitched tents and started living there. The Chengara land struggle on August 4, 2007, had attracted national attention.
Gopalan had become active in the struggle for land ever since he retired as an overseer from the KSEB in 2005. Even before that, he has been associated with the fight for the upliftment of the downtrodden and the landless. He led an agitation in front of Pathanamthitta mini civil station, which began on August 15, 2005, demanding land for the landless. The agitation went on to 150 days.
