Revolt In Kerala Threatened

Press, Volume CVI, Issue 31332, 31 March 1967, Page 11

Revolt In Kerala Threatened

(N.Z. Press Association—Copyright)

NEW DELHI, March 30. The Indian Government was warned in Parliament yesterdayy that a revolt might break out soon in the Communist stronghold of Kerala state unless its 18 million residents were given enough rice to eat, the Associated Press reported.

“We will not starve and die—we will fight and die,” said Mr A. K. Gopalan, leader of the pro-Peking Communist Party in the Lower House, and a native of Kerala. “We will rouse the people and tell them to fight the Union (central) Government, and the consequences will be serious,” he said. The State, known for its over-population, mass unemployment and powerful Communist trade union movement, has depended for years primarily on nearby Adhra Pradesh and Madras states to help meet its needs of 70,000 tons of rice a month. Kerala’s Chief Minister, Mr E. M. E. Namboodiripad, told a news conference in New Delhi these states have told him they have very

little to spare for the next few months. “There is a danger our rationing system will break down within 10 days,” he said. Mr Namboodiripad, a proPeking Communist who heads the new Leftist Coalition Government in Kerala, personally appealed to the Prime Minister, Mrs Indira Gandhi, today to make rice surplus states give up some of their food so his residents would have enough to eat.