The Kerala State Waqf Board registered approximately 404 acres [2] of land in Munambam on the U.S. government's UMEED portal, triggering widespread protests.

The dispute places the state government at the center of a volatile conflict between religious institutions and hundreds of residents who fear they will be evicted from their homes. This tension has escalated into a political battle involving the state's highest leadership and opposition parties.

More than 600 families [1] in the Munambam area of Kochi are currently protesting the move. The residents and the Catholic Church, via the Deepika Malayalam Daily, said the registration is a precursor to forced evictions. The Church said the board entered the land details into the portal, viewing the action as a breach of previous promises made to the community.

The Kerala State Waqf Board said the registration is a legal requirement. However, the move has drawn sharp criticism from the Bharatiya Janata Party. K. Surendran, a leader with the BJP, said that Chief Minister V. D. Satheesan and the Congress-led government betrayed the residents of Munambam by allowing the registration to proceed.

The BJP alleges that the government's actions contradict promises made to voters in the region. While the Waqf Board maintains the process is a matter of law, opposition leaders suggest the move is a political failure that undermines the security of the local population.

The state government said that no evictions will occur as a result of this registration. Despite this assurance, the scale of the protests suggests a deep lack of trust between the coastal community, and the administrative bodies overseeing the land.

“More than 600 families in the Munambam area of Kochi are currently protesting the move.”

This dispute highlights the precarious legal status of land tenure in Kerala's coastal regions, where overlapping claims between state boards and local residents often lead to social instability. The involvement of the UMEED portal—a central government tool for digitizing land records—transforms a local property dispute into a broader clash over administrative transparency and political accountability.