Kadakkal Riot Case
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The Kadakal Rebellion of 1938 or Kadakkal Revolt was a civil disobedience movement that happened against unfair toll collection in
Kadakkal Kadakkal is a historic city located in the eastern part of Kollam district, Kerala. It is 44 km away from both Kollam City and Thiruvananthapuram. State highway 64 passes through the town. Kadakkal is well known for the social revolution ...
of Thiruvithamcoore in the course of India's struggle. It is a unique event in the history of the princely state of
Travancore The kingdom of Travancore (), also known as the kingdom of Thiruvithamkoor () or later as Travancore State, was a kingdom that lasted from until 1949. It was ruled by the Travancore Royal Family from Padmanabhapuram, and later Thiruvanan ...
. The event which started as a
mass movement Mass movement may refer to: * Mass movement (geology), the movement of rock and soil down slopes due to gravity * Mass movement (politics), a large-scale social movement * Mass movement (biology), a type of movement in the digestive system { ...
against excess tax or toll collection by authorities eventually culminated in the formation of a parallel administration named Kummil Pakuthi, perhaps the smallest in the world lasting for a short span of eight days. The event is also known as Kadakkal Riot Case and is recognized as an
Indian independence movement The Indian independence movement was a series of historic events in South Asia with the ultimate aim of ending British Raj, British colonial rule. It lasted until 1947, when the Indian Independence Act 1947 was passed. The first nationalistic ...
by
Ministry of Home Affairs (India) The Ministry of Home Affairs (IAST: ''Gṛha Mantrālaya''), or simply the Home Ministry, is a ministry of the Government of India. It is mainly responsible for the maintenance of internal security and domestic policy. It is headed by the ...
. The rebellion lasted from 26 September 1938 to 5 October 1938 (
Malayalam calendar The Malayalam Calendar, or the Kollam Era (), is a sidereal solar calendar used in Kerala. The origin of the calendar has been dated to 825 CE, commemorating the establishment of Kollam. There are many theories regarding the origin of t ...
1114 Kanni 10 to 18).


The Struggle

The farmers in the region relied on
Kadakkal Kadakkal is a historic city located in the eastern part of Kollam district, Kerala. It is 44 km away from both Kollam City and Thiruvananthapuram. State highway 64 passes through the town. Kadakkal is well known for the social revolution ...
market for selling their produce. The market contractor exploited farmers by collecting exorbitant tolls and hence farmers had some complaints regarding collection of toll in the market. It was reported that the toll contractor, Abdul Razak was collecting a sum that was several times the amount that was actually due from the market for the sale of articles. The authorities took no steps to redress these grievances and sided with the contractor. When the
civil disobedience movement Civil disobedience is the active and professed refusal of a citizen to obey certain laws, demands, orders, or commands of a government (or any other authority). By some definitions, civil disobedience has to be nonviolent to be called "civil". ...
gathered momentum in the rest of the country the people of Kadakkal commenced the agitation against toll in the market. On 26 September 1938, few enthusiastic young people who were sympathisers of Travancore State Congress took up the issue and mounted a protest against toll collection. The agitation happened under the leadership of Changuvila Unni, Beedi Velu, Mulakuthoppil Kunju etc. They obstructed collection of marketing tolls and asked people not to pay taxes. When police came in support of the toll collector, the agitators pelted stone at the sole Police outpost in the region. Following this the police forces retreated to
Kottarakkara Kottarakkara (IAST: Koṭṭārakkara), also transliterated as ''Kottarakara'', is a town and municipality in the Kollam district of Kerala, India. Kottarakkara lies to the east of Kollam city centre. History Kottarakkara, also known in the ...
.


Thrikkannapuram incident

On the morning of 29 September 1938 a police party with two Sub-Inspectors and the magistrate reached Kadakkal from
Kottarakkara Kottarakkara (IAST: Koṭṭārakkara), also transliterated as ''Kottarakara'', is a town and municipality in the Kollam district of Kerala, India. Kottarakkara lies to the east of Kollam city centre. History Kottarakkara, also known in the ...
. When they reached Thrikkannapuram, at a place called Pangalkadu, they saw the crowd about 1,000 strong coming from the east shouting slogans for the state congress. Most of them clad in Khadar and wearing
Gandhi cap The Gandhi cap () is a white sidecap, pointed in front and back and having a wide band. It is made out of ''khadi''. It takes its name after the Indian leader Mahatma Gandhi, who created it and first popularised its use during the Indian indepe ...
s and carried stones and sticks in their possession. There were violent clashes between police and agitators and crowd over powered the forces. The head constable and the
Daffadar Daffadar ( Hindustani: दफ़ादार (Devanagari) ; (Nastaliq)) is the equivalent rank to sergeant in the Indian and Pakistani cavalry, as it was formerly in the British Indian Army. The rank below is lance daffadar. The equivalent in i ...
got serious injuries. Finding it unsafe to remain there anymore, the Magistrate and his party returned to Kottarakkara.


Attack and loot on the police outpost

After the Thrikkannapuram clash on the same day the crowd reached Kadakkal at about 10 a.m. on 29 September. The members destroyed the building and furniture and broke open the lockup room. They raided the provisions, documents, records and armoury kept in the safe custody at the outpost. A kitchen shed standing in the same compound was set to fire and destroyed.


Parallel administration

The only administrative setup that prevailed in the region prior to the rebellion were a police outpost, forest office, postal services and a school. In this police outpost enjoyed a prominence and with the fall of police outpost as a result of agitation the control that
Diwan of Travancore The Diwan or Dewan of Travancore was the head of government of Travancore in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, serving at the pleasure of the Maharaja, corresponding to a prime minister, and consisting in the formal titles Valiya Sarvadhik ...
had over the area ceased to exist. The leadership of rebellion claimed
swaraj Swarāj (, IAST: , ) can mean generally self-governance or "self-rule". The term was used synonymously with "home-rule" by Maharishi Dayanand Saraswati and later on by Mahatma Gandhi, but the word usually refers to Gandhi's concept of Indian ...
in an area of approximately 14 sq. miles around
Kadakkal Kadakkal is a historic city located in the eastern part of Kollam district, Kerala. It is 44 km away from both Kollam City and Thiruvananthapuram. State highway 64 passes through the town. Kadakkal is well known for the social revolution ...
(Kummil Pakuthi) and consider themselves as a state under the leadership of Franco Raghavan as Kadakkal Raja and a
Dalit Dalit ( from meaning "broken/scattered") is a term used for untouchables and outcasts, who represented the lowest stratum of the castes in the Indian subcontinent. They are also called Harijans. Dalits were excluded from the fourfold var ...
from Kurava community named Chanthiran Kaliyambi as his democratic minister (Janakiya Manthri). This leadership prevailed for eight days and they proclaimed that there was no need for Government officials and Government rule and that everything could be achieved by the co-operation and concerted action of the people. They fortified the area by closing down the school and setting up a camp at Kariath Mission School consisting of 1,000 gun carriers in order to prevent the coming of military forces, preventing the entry of Military, by cutting down trees into the roads and demolishing culverts, etc. There was another agitation called Kallara-Pangode Struggle took place during the same time in the region.


Government action and aftermath

On the ninth day military forces reached the area and they re-captured the liberated Kummil Pakuthy and re-established government control. The village was vandalised and looted by the forces. There were mass killings, arrests and arson. Most of the agitators were arrested in large numbers, and underwent prolonged judicial proceedings and became the victims of torture. A protestor named Adoor R Parameswaran Pillai who took part in this revolt was arrested and kept in jail for 141 days before presenting to the court. Five of the arrested victims had become martyrs. Agitators namely Beedi Velu, Ummini Sadanandan, Pangalkadu Narayanan, Mulakuthoppil Kunju died in police custody and Parayattu Vasu died in jail. Kadakkal Raja Raghavan and Janakiya Manthri Kaliyambi were arrested after an year. They were awarded life imprisonment but were released after few years. A special magistrate court was set up at
Kottarakkara Kottarakkara (IAST: Koṭṭārakkara), also transliterated as ''Kottarakara'', is a town and municipality in the Kollam district of Kerala, India. Kottarakkara lies to the east of Kollam city centre. History Kottarakkara, also known in the ...
for trial. There were 62 accused in the case. Most of them were punished with lifelong imprisonment and forfeited all their properties. The attack on the police station as per the Government was tantamount to an attack against the Government. Hence many were charged with Section 112 of Travancore Penal Code which amounts to waging war against the country. The judgement by magistrate says "Police is the visible symbol of the Government, the conspicuous machinery through which law and order, which is the primary duty of the Government is maintained and that an attack directed against the police and their office is tantamount to an attack against the Government."


As a National movement

Today the
Ministry of Home Affairs (India) The Ministry of Home Affairs (IAST: ''Gṛha Mantrālaya''), or simply the Home Ministry, is a ministry of the Government of India. It is mainly responsible for the maintenance of internal security and domestic policy. It is headed by the ...
recognize the movement as an
Indian independence movement The Indian independence movement was a series of historic events in South Asia with the ultimate aim of ending British Raj, British colonial rule. It lasted until 1947, when the Indian Independence Act 1947 was passed. The first nationalistic ...
and has included the struggle under ''Swatantra Sainik Samman Yojana 1980''.


Media coverage

Changanassery Parameswaran Pillai, the veteran freedom fighter, as per the direction of
Mahatma Gandhi Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi (2October 186930January 1948) was an Indian lawyer, anti-colonial nationalism, anti-colonial nationalist, and political ethics, political ethicist who employed nonviolent resistance to lead the successful Indian ...
, visited Kadakkal on 11 October 1938 and released a very detailed press statement about the occurrences of Kadakkal. ''
The Indian Express ''The Indian Express'' is an English-language Indian daily newspaper founded in 1932 by P. Varadarajulu Naidu. It is headquartered in Noida, owned by the ''Indian Express Group''. It was later taken over by Ramnath Goenka. In 1999, eight y ...
'' published the statement on 14 October 1938. In the statement he describes the toils and moils of the people. Mr. Changanassery remarked about the poverty and sufferings of the folks of the locality. He said "The condition of the place after the occupation of military is heart rending. In many houses women and children were starving as the earning member of the family have deserted them. People and vehicles are not allowed to enter or leave the place freely. The result is that even common salt is not available for the people and such of those who are fortunate enough to get some food in the shape of boiled tapioca, can eat without salt." He concluded his statement thus: "I do not think that any of the acts allayed above can be justified under any law even under military law." In the whole of Pakuthy more than 80 houses were burnt down.


Franco Raghavan

Kadakkal rebellion was compared with the Fascist
Spanish Civil War The Spanish Civil War () was a military conflict fought from 1936 to 1939 between the Republican faction (Spanish Civil War), Republicans and the Nationalist faction (Spanish Civil War), Nationalists. Republicans were loyal to the Left-wing p ...
of 1937. General Franco, a military general of Morocco brutally overthrew the democratic Republican Government of Spain in 1937. Travancore Government alleged that, Kummil Pakuthy covering an area of 14 square miles, had been emancipated from the rest of Travancore by Puthiya Veettil Raghavan Pillai and his followers. The media and the spokesmen of the government alleged that both the deeds of General Franco and Raghavan Pillai were equal. So, they called Raghavan Pillai "Franco" Raghavan Pillai.


Dalit Participation

The movement had presence of Dalit peasants who were severely affected by the extortive toll collection in the market. There was presence of a Dalit from Kurava community in the leadership of the struggle. The dalit leader Chanthiran Kaliyambi who was the second in command of the protests was arrested by the government and jailed. He died because of kidney failure.


See also

* Kallara-Pangode Struggle * Kallumala Samaram


References

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Sources

* ''Kadakkal Viplavam'' by Kadakkal N. Gopinathan Pillai. 20th century in Kerala Kingdom of Travancore Political riots in India Political uprisings in India History of Kollam Indian independence movement in Kerala Tax resistance 20th-century political riots Riots and civil disorder in Kerala 1938 riots 1938 in British India Looting in India Building and structure arson attacks in India Arson in the 1930s 1938 fires 1930s fires in Asia Attacks on police stations in India Arsenal raids Attacks on military installations in India Attacks on military installations in the 1930s September 1938 in Asia October 1938 in Asia