Malappuram: Brahmins had to bear the brunt of Kerala's land reforms, a minister in the CPM-led LDF government said here Saturday.
Minister for tourism and cooperation, Kadakampally Surendran, said thousands of people in the state do not have a place to dwell despite the land reforms. "According to government data, at least two lakh people don't own a house. The homeless includes brahmins too," he said.
Kadakampally said lakhs of acres of land owned by a few people were handed over to thousands of people with the land reforms.
The minister's statement apparently contradicts the Left parties' claim that the land reforms effected by the EMS-led government of 1957 laid the foundations for the state's progress in socio-economic sectors.
Kadakampally reiterated the CPM's stance in favor of reservation based on economic conditions rather than caste.
The minister was inaugurating the national conference of the Sree Pushpaka Brahmana Seva Sangham.