Thiruvananthapuram, March 10: The Kerala Dalit Panthers (KDP) staged today a dharna in front of the State Secretariate protesting agains the Taliban action of destroying the Buddha statue in Afghanistan.

In his inaugural address, KDP President, K. Ambujakshan, said that the historical artifacts contributed by ancient Buddhist culture and civilisation as well as the artistic beauty it provides do not confine only to Buddhism, but are common property of the entire modern world. "Instead of recognising diversified cultures, Taliban's intolerance towards other beliefs and culture can never be justified. Since statue constitutes available examples of ancient culture and civilisation, Taliban's charge that it symbolises "statue worship" is absolutely baseless. This is nothing but Taliban's anti-Buddhist tirade", he added. (EOM)

Thiruvananthapuram, March 12: Demanding inclusion of "Thandan" community into SC reservation list, as suggested by the State Government in 1994, the Kerala SC/ST Protection Forum would stage a Parliament march.

Presiding over the meeting organised at Palakkad, Adv. K. V. Kumaran, Forum Chairman, said that the present reservation list inluded only "Thandan" of former Travancore state and, thereby, denied the reservation rights to their counter-parts in other regions of Malabar and Kochi. He also demanded SC/ST reservation to posts in State Human Rights Commission, Ombudsman., State Planning Board, Travancore-Kochi Dewaswom Boards, etc. (EOM)

Thiruvananthapuram, March 12: The Kerala Dalit Federation (KDF) has decided to contest next month's elections to Kerala Assembly. The final decision about the poll strategy will be taken at KDF Political Working Committee meeting to be held at Ernakulam on March 18. This was disclosed by P. Ramabhadran, KDF President, at its northern regional conference held at Kannur yesterday.

According to Ramabhadran, controlling political power by Dalits is very essential for their overall upliftment under the present situation. "All those who are opposed to Dalits, irrespective of their party or front affiliations, should be identified and defeated this time. All political party leaders are still treating Dalits as outcastes when questions related to Dalit representation is being raised. This mentality of present day political masters need to be opposed much the same way we opposed the domination of upper-casteism in the past", he stressed.

Inaugurating the KDF symposium on "Dalits and power politics", former Naxalite leader and "Veekshanam" Editor, K. Venu, said that the communist parties in Kerala never allowed Dalits to grow politically of their own. "Communist parties always tried to keep Dalits away from the Centre of power. The Congress also did the same. Even the much acclaimed Kerala Land Reforms failed to give lands to the Dalits", he pointed out.