Vaikom Satyagraham - Involvement of The Indian National Congress

Involvement of The Indian National Congress

T. K. Madhavan met Mahatma Gandhi at Tirunelveli on 23 September 1921 and apprised him of the conditions of the Ezhavas and their achievements through the SNDP. Because they had already achieved admission to school, Mahatmaji agreed that the time was ripe for temple entry. Mahatmaji promised to write to the State Congress Committee to take up the issue.

Madhavan attended the Kakinada AICC meet (1923) in the company of Sardar Panikkar and K. P. Kesava Menon. Madhavan got a pamphlet printed: A request to the Indian National Congress on behalf of the untouchables of India. Madhavan tried with all his might to convince the members of the need to eradicate untouchability. The Congress agreed to include the eradication of untouchability in their constructive programs and resolved to lend full support to the Vaikom Movement, and authorized the Kerala Provincial Congress Committee (KPCC) to undertake the task.

In accordance with the Kakinada Congress resolution, the KPCC met at Ernakulam on 24 January 1924 and formed an Untouchability Abolition Committee (UAC) consisting of K. Kelappan (convener), T. K. Madhavan, Kurur Nilakantan Namboothiri, T.R. Krishna Swami Iyer, and K. Velayudha Menon. A Publicity Committee of five members including T. K. Madhavan was also formed.

The KPCC, the UAC and the Publicity Committee reached Vaikom on 28 February 1924. There was a huge public meeting. Madhavan made a public request to the UAC to get the prohibitory notice boards removed from the roads around the temple. The Committee resolved to take procession of Avarnas through the roads on the very next day of the Pulaya Mahasabha meeting.

The news of the decision reached far and wide. It evoked mixed reactions. The caste Hindus who tolerated the speeches at the meeting could not digest the idea of a procession as proposed by the KPCC and the UAC. They along with the local Magistrate, the Police Inspector, and the Tahsildar, met the congress leaders at their camp, and suggested a postponement. They promised that they would try to prevent communal tensions, and make the procession a success, if they were given time. The congress also realized the situation. They could also make use of the time to plan and prepare properly for launching the agitation. The date was fixed as 30 March 1924, and the idea was to take out a procession. Meanwhile, the local Magistrate fearing communal tensions issued prohibitory orders against the procession. Hence the UAC changed its tactics. It was decided to send only three volunteers every day instead of a procession. Volunteers were selected from all castes.

A Satyagraha Ashram was set up about one furlong south of the temple. The Ashram was packed with volunteers who came from different parts of the country. The venue of Satyagraha was decided to be on the western road where a prohibitory board announced:

"Ezhavas and other low castes are prohibited through this road"

Hundred of policemen armed with lethal weapons, ready to meet any eventuality, were on the vigil round the clock at the spot where the Satyagraha was to begin.

On the morning of 30 March a bugle call for action was sounded. The first batch of volunteers selected to offer Satyagraha were Kunjappy (Pulayan), Bahuleyan (Ezhava) and Venniyil Govinda Panicker (Nair). Before leaving the qshram, they were strictly instructed not to offer any resistance and remain calm against all provocations. The Satyagrahis, wearing khadi and Gandhi caps and garlands, marched forward with the Congress flag fluttering before them. All the volunteers followed them shouting "Satyagraha ki jai, Mahatma Gandhi ki jai." All of them would stop at a distance of fifty feet from the notice board, and only the selected three would walk to the point where the prohibition board hung. The police would stop them and ask them their caste. The police would pronounce that the low-caste men would not be allowed to pass; only the Savarnas could. The upper-caste men would insist that their companions should go with them. The police would prevent them. The Satyagrahis would wait there patiently until they were arrested just before noon. When they were produced before the court, invariably they were convicted and sentenced to jail and fined. They refused to pay the fine, and courted extra imprisonment. In the evening there would be a procession and public meeting, protesting against the arrest. The meetings were given wide publicity and people thronged in from all directions. They returned, rejuvenated by the inspiring speeches of the leaders to come back again next morning to start the routine.

The Satyagraha was temporarily stopped for two days on 5 and 6 April to try for a compromise between caste Hindu leaders and the Congress. All talks failed and Satyagraha was resumed. T. K. Madhavan and K. P. Kesava Menon (KPCC president) volunteered on 7 April and courted arrest. Soon after this the Maharajah of Travancore, Moolam Thirunal died on 7 August 1924 and his niece Maharani Sethu Lakshmi Bayi came to power. As part of her installation durbar, she released all the prisoners. The Maharani would come to play an important role towards the end of the Vaikom Satyagraha after meeting Mahatma Gandhi.

The struggle continued like this up to 10 April, when the police adopted the new tactics of barricading the roads and thus tried to prevent the Satyagrahis from reaching the disputed roads. The police also decided not to arrest the Satyagrahis, and they responded with fasting. But Gandhiji disapproved of fasting as it went against his theory of Satyagraha. The police who were watching the progress of the agitation were convinced that their policy of not arresting the Satyagrahis was not very effective. So they wanted to use strong-arm tactics to crush the agitation. The conservatives joined the police, and in due course, the conservatives took over and the police became silent witnesses to the atrocities committed on the volunteers by the conservatives. When the Satyagraha started the ruling Maharja of Travancore was Sree Moolam Thirunal. He and his minister ivan Bahadur T. Raghavaiah were golden props of extreme orthodoxy. They wanted to keep old customs in Toto. Divan Raghvaiah made a speech in the Travancore legislature strongly defending the Savarnas and denouncing the Satyagraha.

Meanwhile hundreds of letters were sent to Gandhiji to suspend the agitation. Two advocate brothers from Kerala, Sivarama Iyer and Vancheeswara Iyer met Mahatmaji and argued that the roads around Vaikom temple are private property and hence the Satyagraha was irrelevant.

All newspapers in India flashed headlines about the Satyagraha. Money flowed from different states to Vaikom. The Akalis of Punjab came to Vaikom to open a free kitchen for the Satyagrahis. Non-Hindus like barrister George Joseph, Bhajematharam Mathunni and Abdul Rahman (the Editor-in-Chief of The Young India) came forward to offer Satyagraha. But Gandhiji did not accept any of these. Gandhiji wrote in the Young India on April 24, 1924, and May 1, 1924 against accepting outside aid.

"As for accepting assistance from Hindus from outside, such acceptance would betray un readiness on the part of the local Hindus for the reform. If the Satyagrahis have the sympathy of the local Hindus, they must get locally all the money they need."

Gandhiji wrote to George Joseph on April 6, 1924:

"As to Vaikom, I think you shall let the Hindus do the work. It is they who have to purify themselves. You can help by your sympathy and your pen, but not by organizing the Movement and certainly not by offering Satyagraha. If you refer to the Congress resolution of Nagpur, it calls upon the Hindu Members to remove the curse of untouchability. Untouchability is the sin of the Hindus. They must suffer for it; they must pay the debt they owe to their suppressed brothers and sisters. Theirs is the shame and theirs must be the glory when they have purged themselves of the black sin. The silent loving suffering of one pure Hindu as such will be enough to melt the hearts of millions of Hindus, but the sufferings of thousands of non-Hindus on behalf of the untouchables will leave the Hindus unmoved. Their blind eyes will not be opened by outside interference, however well intentioned and generous it may be, for it will not bring home to them their sense of guilt. On the contrary, they would probably hug the sin, all the more, for such interference. All reforms to be sincere and lasting must come from within."

Before George Joseph received this letter, he offered Satyagraha and was arrested. The Akalis also withdrew on Gandhiji's word.

There were more than 200 volunteers in the camp. After some time, it became difficult to maintain the camp. It was brought to the notice of Gandhiji at the Belgaum Congress and the Congress records show that an amount of Rs, 1000 per month was sanctioned from the Congress funds for the Vaikom Movement. Important people like Vinoba Bhave and Swami Shraddhananda visited the spot and gave mental support for the Movement.