A week after Chief Minister V D Satheesan assumed office, he touched upon the sensitive Munambam-Waqf land row on Monday, accusing the opposition of fanning communal sentiments to flare up the issue.

Satheesan, who had earlier claimed that he could resolve the matter in just 10 minutes during a public speech, faced criticism from various corners for being silent on the Munambam issue.

He had said that the state government could simply invoke Section 97 of the Waqf Act and pass an order directing the Board to remove the disputed land from its registry.

The Chief Minister eventually responded to the criticism, saying that the delay was the result of the previous LDF government’s deliberate attempt to derail the issue. He alleged that it was the Waqf Board, a political appointment made by the LDF government, that registered the land on the Waqf portal.

“On their way out, the government, which had assured the residents of the region that they would not be evicted, acted swiftly by registering the land on the Waqf portal,” V D Satheesan said. “If the land is established as Waqf property, the residents become encroachers. Consequently, further legal and administrative action becomes difficult,” he added.

Satheesan also raised serious allegations, claiming that while the Sangh Parivar had directly intervened in the issue, escalating tensions between religious groups, the LDF government had done so indirectly.

He further alleged that, instead of ensuring a smooth transition that would enable the incoming government to act swiftly on the issue, the previous government had acted against the interests of the residents to prevent him from fulfilling his promise.

However, Satheesan maintained that the residents would not be evicted under any circumstances and said he would protect them from the legal constraints created by the Waqf registration.

The roots of the Munambam agitation stretched over 413 days, date back to 1950, when Mohammed Siddique Sait reportedly gifted land to Farook College for educational charity purposes. The controversy intensified in 2019 when the Kerala State Waqf Board claimed the entire 404.76 acres of land was Waqf land. Matters escalated further in 2021 after village offices allegedly stopped accepting routine land tax payments from residents.

The latest flashpoint emerged following an April 26, 2026, meeting of the Kerala State Waqf Board, where a decision was taken to upload all registered Waqf assets into the centralised UMEED digital platform as part of a nationwide digitisation drive.