Lakshadweep Islanders deserve to be heard, says actor Prithviraj

The alleged implementation of "draconian" legislations and autocratic moves by the current administrator of Island of Lakshadweep gets a new turn as Prithviraj Sukumaran, the ace Malayalam actor and CK Vineeth, the Indian footballer has came out in support of Lakshadweep islanders, who are protesting against the new amendments imposed by the island's administration.

In his Facebook post supporting Lakshadweep islanders, Prithviraj asked the concerned to listen to what Lakshadweep islanders want to say. He said that any law implemented in a given place should be for the sake of its people rather than the land.

"When an entire community is unhappy with decisions taken by a nominated authority, upon whose posting the people there had no say, and they vociferously bring it to the attention of the world and their government, I would like to think there is no way other than act on it." He wrote on Facebook.

He wrote that he received desperate messages from many, including islanders, pleading to do what he can on the Praful Patel led administration's reforms.

"It's never the geographical or political boundary that makes a country, state or a union territory but the people who live there," he wrote. He asks how a law or rule threatening the livelihood and ecosystem of a particular place could be progressive or cater to its sustainable development.

He wrote that he had spent months in the islands on various occasions and the islanders are a great, warm-hearted lot. If the entire community is voicing against the reforms, he begs whoever concerned to listen to them. He adds that he has faith in the system as well as people.

Meanwhile Indian footballer CK Vineeth condemned the island administration's reforms such as the Goonda Act, banning of non-veg in schools, destroying fisherman communities' sheds and related institutions and dismissing various government employees from service without reason. In his Twitter thread, he also added that the island administration's careless reforms in Covid measures derailed the situation there, which reported zero infection for almost a year.