Kerala and Freedom Struggle

Title: Kerala and Freedom Struggle

Author: Sreedhara Menon A

Publisher: DC Books, 1997 (First)

ISBN: 9788171307449

Pages: 175

Kerala is a small strip of verdant land sandwiched between the Western Ghats and the Arabian Sea on the southwest coast of India. Historically, the land was divided into three regions – Travancore, Cochin and Malabar. The first two were ruled by native princes and Malabar was part of the Madras province of British India. So, in the strict sense of the term, freedom struggle took place only in Malabar, as the other two regions came out of monarchy a little later than India’s independence in August 1947. But this does not mean that agitations had not taken place in these princely states. Organized movements for responsible government had been going on for decades. In fact, a legislature based on universal adult franchise came into being in Cochin in 1948, the first among all the states of India, even before the new Constitution of India granted that right to all citizens in 1950. Prof. A Sreedhara Menon narrates the tale of the struggle for freedom in Kerala with an added emphasis on the impact it exerted on later social life in the state. The author was a former professor of history who taught for thirty years in government and university service. He has also served as the president of the South Indian History Congress and authored several books and district gazetteers of Kerala. Menon also glimpses on the excessive influence of politics in the academic circles of Kerala in the Post Script.

Kerala’s freedom struggle also marks its departure from the medieval period. Kerala’s provincial kingdoms of the Zamorins, Cochin and Travancore came under the sway of the British, which stood as the paramount power by the end of the 18^th century. Local kings were not even allowed to address the governor as ‘my dear friend’! This transition was rather smooth after the British subjugated Mysore under Tipu Sultan. The Kerala kingdoms were the vassals of Tipu and quite predictably, they accepted the suzerainty of the victors with little demur. Even before the total dominance around 1800, the British had established points of presence on the Kerala coast for purposes of trade and defence. There was an uprising in Attingal in 1721 in which 140 Englishmen were killed, when the hosts of a festival to which they were invited suddenly pounced on them. This was an act of treachery, but of course, anything is right in love and war. However, it is not fair for the author to take pride in comparing the incident to the Battle of Plassey, which was still 36 years in the future, in which only 29 Englishmen were killed. A historian making unnecessary and irrelevant comparison of unrelated historical events should be viewed with an extra dose of skepticism. Again, Menon claims that uprisings against corrupt and autocratic diwans (minister under a king) are to be considered as upsurge against the British. This argument is also objectionable. It is true that the diwans were appointed on the recommendation of the British; but their self-centred actions had fomented trouble for which the British were not politically responsible. Often when public outcry arose, they were conveniently removed from responsible positions by the British themselves. However, the revolts of Pazhassi Raja and Veluthampi Dalawa may be construed as direct challenges against the foreign power. Their struggles were isolated and old fashioned. Veluthampi desperately tried to obtain support from outside, but all were in vain. The crushing of these revolts in 1805 and 1809 respectively may be considered as the definitive end of the medieval era in Kerala. English education came in its wake. People studied European history, literature, Western political thought with its emphasis on individual liberty and political freedom. Kerala’s social ground was ready for a transition to modernity that required social reformers to exert their moral pressure to do away with some of the most heinous customs in the world such untouchability, child marriage and polyandry. Sree Narayana Guru, Ayyan Kali, Chattambi Swami and Vaikunta Swami put into place a total social revolution that readied Kerala to step into modernity by the 1920s.

Freedom struggle in the ordinary sense of the term began only with the Khilafat and non-cooperation movements of 1921 towards which Muslims in Malabar were attracted in large numbers. However, the agitation was soon suppressed by the regime’s military might. At this hour of frustration, the fanatic spirit that lay dormant in Muslim minds came out in the open and erupted as a communal riot of the worse kind ever seen in India. Hindus were killed and forcibly converted on a large scale. Their women were abducted and forcibly married off to Muslims. Even now, there are no clear statistics on the number of Hindus killed or converted. Menon, however, adopts an apologetic stand, which should be expected as this book was written at the behest of the Leftist government in power which always put forth an appeasing sentiment wherever militant reaction was expected. He claims the rebellion as caused by political, economic and communal factors. It was at once an anti-British political upheaval, an agrarian revolt and a communal flare up. The author conveniently ignores hundreds of communal disturbances in the region ever since the defeat of Tipu Sultan. Menon chooses to bury his head in the sand. (Interested readers may read my review of K N Panikkar’s book on Malabar riots titled ‘Against Lord and State’ here). He is not so accommodating on the Communists. He lays bare the core truth hidden in Leftist propaganda about their struggle against the British. In Kayyur, a policeman not on duty was chased by an armed crowd, who later jumped into a river where he was drowned. This is the famous Kayyur riot that took place on March 28, 1941. Four communists, Madathil Appu, Kunhambu Nair, Chirukandan and Abu Baker were arrested and condemned to death. In the meanwhile, the political winds took a U-turn. The Communist party had called for the strike in the first place to protest against Britain’s involvement in the Second World War which it thought to be an imperialist war. However, in the middle of the war in June 1941, Hitler invaded the Soviet Union who was his ally till then. Communists worldwide suddenly took a diametrically opposite view of the war effort and came out in wholehearted support to the government. Anyway, the four comrades were hanged on March 29, 1943 as victims of the opportunism shown by the party. Similarly, the Karivellur Incident (December 20, 1946) which saw two protesters killed in police firing was due to an issue on the sale of paddy and has nothing to do with freedom movement. The unnecessary waste of human lives in Punnapra and Vayalar runs in the same vein. These revolts gave the party something to show as their contribution to the freedom movement, but Jawaharlal Nehru was already in power as interim prime minister during this period. How can they be thought of as freedom struggle then? Malabar was the region in which nationalistic struggles took place, under the leadership of Congress. In Travancore and Cochin, the onus was on having responsible governments. Non-cooperation (1921) and Civil disobedience (1930) agitations got enthusiastic support in Malabar.

The book narrates some noteworthy points on the society of Kerala. Menon writes on the overweening political intervention in every sphere of intellectual activity that is a bane of Kerala. He began writing the book on the special request of the State’s Director of Public Relations. He completed the work within two weeks, but on the final day, a government order was received which constituted a committee for the exercise. The committee comprised of two others in addition to the author, including P Govinda Pillai, who was a diehard Marxist theoretician. Also, the committee was burdened with seeking advice from EMS Namboodiripad, who was a Marxist politician and scholar. This brings into focus the sad plight of history writing which is dominated by Leftists. Peeved at this slight, Menon resigned from the committee and found a private publishing house to bring out the book. With clear references in the book to the Communist Party in not so flattering terms, the government’s apprehensions were not entirely off the mark. Menon narrates a few little known incidents that are interesting to read. When the agitation for entry of untouchables inside Guruvayur temple intensified, the government held a referendum among upper-caste Hindus of Ponnani taluk, in which the temple was located. The results were a glowing tribute to the spirit of tolerance and accommodation. 77% of the people supported temple entry, while only 13% opposed and 10% abstained. Readers are also surprised by the description of a Hindu – Christian riot in Kerala, where the Christian community had long been influentially dynamic, but peaceful. The Christians turned against a meeting held at Thrissur in 1921 by the Congress to promote non-cooperation campaign. They pelted stones against the speakers, in which C Rajagopalachari was personally injured. The meeting was disrupted and it grew into a communal riot that lasted several days. It is also chilling to note that support to the demand for Pakistan was widespread among the Muslims of Malabar, who congregated under the banner of the Muslim League. Abdul Sattar Sait, its regional leader, migrated to Pakistan as soon as it came into being. The antipathy of the communists and Muslim League was the prime factor in turning the Quit India revolt in Kerala into a damp squib.

The book is nicely written, but has the ring of a text book written all over it. The author has acknowledged it and justifies it with the lack of sufficient text books on the subject. The book was written in a period of two weeks, ruling out extensive research. The vast experience of Menon as a reputed professor of history more than compensates for any shortfall. The chapter on legacy of the freedom struggle on Kerala’s literature, politics, art, social life and others seems to be imported in one piece from an unrelated source. While most of India’s historians are leftists as a result of careful pruning at the top echelons of historical associations, Menon displays a refreshingly impartial viewpoint. The whiff of fresh air brought in by the author drives out the stale and stagnant miasma of communist propaganda from an important chapter of Kerala history. The author has included a select bibliography and a basic index.

The book is highly recommended.

Rating: 2 Star