A. V. Kuttimalu Amma

A V Kuttimalu Amma was born in Anakkara Vadakkathu family of Ponnani Taluq in Malabar, in 1905. She was a courageous freedom fighter and a prominent leader. Her husband was the former KPCC President and Minister in Madras state, K. Madhava Menon. Entering public life as a swadeshi and Khadi worker in 1930, Kuttimalu Amma soon became a popular figure. She led groups of women in the picketing of foreign cloth- shops in Kozhikode in the year 1931.During the Civil-Disobedience Movement; she was arrested and convicted for two years. When she was restricted from taking her two month old baby with her to prison, she argued effectively quoting the law, and succeeded in carrying the child with her. She was again locked up in the Presidency jail during the Quit India Movement. In 1944 she became the president of KPCC and took up the task of organizing Congress in Malabar. She served as a member of AICC and congress working committee. She also worked as the Director of Mathrubhumi for some time. She passed away in 1986.

Ammu Swaminadhan

Ammu Swaminadhan is one of the eminent freedom fighter of Kerala. She followed principles of Mahatma Gandhi and participated in freedom struggle without violence.This made het to occupy good place in hearts of people of Kerala.She is an active member of Constituent Assembly of India and Rajya sabha.It is responsibility of each and every citizen to preserve the freedom of our country, which was given to us by our ancestors. Let us remember the selfless sacrifice of freedom strugglers' atleast on the Independence Day.

Accamma Cherian

Accamma Cherian is one of the iron ladies of Kerala. She studied well and joined
in a middle school, as teacher. Her hard work promoted her as a headmistress, in which
school she worked as teacher. At one stage, activities of Portuguese and British became
malicious. They crossed their boundary levels and started to torture the people without
pity. This event created fire inside her. Immediately, she resigned her job and participated
in freedom struggle events. On 1938, National congress party was banned in Kerala. To
convey the opposition for this act, she collected the people and directed a rally from
Thampanoor to the Kowdiar Palace of kerala. British government announced the firing
order for this doings. She requested them to kill her first. This made the British police to
put off the shooting order. For this activity, she was named as the Jhansi Rani of
Travancore by Mahatma Gandhi. This is just a simple sample to tell about her affection
towards nation. Until her death she fought against the people, who worked opposite to the
Indian nation.

Before Independence, Pakistan is also part of India. Kerala is one of the cutest
states in India during ancient time, now and forever. People from this area actively took
part in the freedom struggle. Despite of gender both female and male participated in
various events in opposite to the Portuguese, who ruled the Kerala state. They are not only
fought against the Portuguese, but also against the cruel acts of the British people

Shanar Agitation in Travancore

The Shanars were fisher folk who lived in the coastal areas of South Travncore.They fought a struggle to secure social justice.Their women folk were not permitted to wear upper garments, a right enjoyed by the upper caste Hindus. Col. Munroe had already issued an order permitting the Shanar women who became converts to Christianity to wear upper jackets.The Shanars were not sastisfied with this.They wanted this privilege to all their women folk.They began to appear in public wearing an additional scarf like the Hindus.This action of the Shanars provoked the upper caste Hindus who resorted to penalized the Shanars. As it became a law and order problem, police and military forces had to be rushed to the area.The Shanar agitation eventually led to the Royal Proclamation of 26th July 1859, abolishing all restrictions in the matter of dress by Shanar women.The Shanar agitation is a typical instance that illustrates how the social changes of a far-reaching character could be introduced partly on the initiative of the administration and partly under the pressure of circumstances.

Civil Disobedience Movement and Quit India Struggle

Salt Satyagraha.

 In the background of the Lahore session of the Congress Gandhiji conducted the
Dandi March which was attended among others, by four volunteers from Kerala.The day
when Gandhiji broke the salt laws (6th April,1930) was observed in Kerala as a national
day.The K.P.C.C. took the decision to organise Salt Satyagraha in Malabar and Payyannur
was chosen as the main venue.Under the leadership of Kelappan 32 volunteers from
Kozhikode moved to Payyannur on foot and broke the salt law on the beach on 21st April,
1930. Another batch came from Palakkad under TR Krishnaswamy Aiyar, Moidu
Maulavi and M.Abdul Rehman participated in the event.Satyagrahis from all directions
thronged the Payyannur beach and the Malabar village drew all India attention. Initially
the British ignored the agitation.But with the arrest of Gandhiji (5th May) the Government
resorted to suppress the movement. Kelappan was arrested and the camp was raided.Govt
adopted repressive measures.But people including students began to participate in the
campaign.The movement came to an end with the Gandhi Irwin Pact of 4
th March, 1931.

Quit India Movement. 

The Quit India movement though vehement in North India, was relatively low in
Malabar.It never developed in to a mass uprising in Kerala.However some important
developments had taken place in the course of the movement in Kerala.The formation of a
new socialist group under G.B. Menon was one such event. This group organised meeting
and procession in several parts of Malabar. Schools, colleges and courts of law were
picketed.When government adopted repressive measures, the movement went under
ground.This led to the Keezhariyur Bomb case.A secret journal called Swatantra
Bharatam was published from underground.
The Quit India agitation in Kerala did not develop in to a mass movement because
(a) the change in the policy of the Communist Party. Earlier the party advocated mass
struggle against the British.But when USSR entered the World War, it became a people’s
war to them and they advocated collaboration with the British.They opposed Quit India
movement.(b) the Muslims stayed away from the Quit India movement.So the Quit India
movement had no mass basis in Kerala.

MALABAR REBELLION (1921)

The Malabar Rebellion was an important episode in the history of freedom
movement in our country.It may be considered as a turning point in the history of Kerala
as all further developments in the national movement in Kerala bore the marks of the
Rebellion.As it seriously disturbed the relationship between the Hindus and Muslims in
Kerala and cast a shodow of gloom over the whole freedom movement, it has been viewed
as the most tragic episode in our freedom struggle. It is so-called as the Malabar rebellion
because the chief area of the disturbance was in Malabar.It is called as the Moplah
rebellion because most of the participants belonged to Mappila community. As it was an
outburst against the British imperialism it has been invested with the halo of a revolt or
rebellion. As it aimed at the expulsion of the British rule at least insome areas. It becomes
part of the freedom struggle.
The nature and character of the Malabar upheaval is a point of controversy among
historians.There are broadly three views about the origin and character of the
Rebellion.According to the nationalist school of historians; it was an anti-imperialist
struggle, a political uprising of the mappilas against police repression. According to the
Marxist school of thought, it was an agrarian outbreak, purely economic in nature. As the
Mappila tenants were oppressed by the Hindu Janmis and the British officials, the tenants
rose in revolt.The third school of thought regard the upsurge as a communal flare up or
rather an outburst of religious fanaticims.The atrocities were committed by the Muslims
and the victims were the Hindus.In fact the Rebellion was the result of the combined
operation of political, economic and communal factors.It was at once anti British, agrarian
and communal.

The underlying causes of the outbreak were political, social and ideological.The
policy of repression adopted by the British government against the non co-operators
including the Khilafatists was an important reason.The Moplahs reacted violently against
the police oppression.The social cohesion of the Moplahs as the community, their militant
tradition and organisational skill also caused the upheaval.The Hindu Muslim
misunderstanding and the ideological factors and political aspirations of the rebels also
resulted in the outburst.
The events that paved the way for the rebellion are mainly political. When the
Turkish Sultan was deprived of his authority as Caliph.Gandhiji started the Khilafat
movement in India in order to bring the Indian Muslims to the nationalist cause.In
Malabar, the Khilafatists had their stronger adherents in the Eranad and Valluvanad
Taluk.When the movement progressed to such an extent as to creat alarm in official
circles, the Government brought these Taluks under Sec. 144 of the criminal Procedure
Code.Meetings were banned and the police began to arrest Congress and Khilafat workers.
The police attempt to arrest one Vatakkeveettil Muhammad on a charge of having
stolen a pistol from the Nilampur palace was the immediate provocation of the
uprising.Muhammad happrned to be the local Khilafat secretary.The attempt to arrest him
by the police was foiled by a crowd of 2000 Moplahs who came out with spears and
swords, killing several policemen and driving the survivors away. The police who came in
search of the Khilafat rebels entered the Mumbaram Mosque at Tirurangadi as the rebels
had taken refuge there. In the meanwhile the news spread that the mosque was
desecrated.There upon the Moplahs converged on Tirurangadi and attacked the police
station, looted government treasuries and burnt government records. For a few weeks at
least, the writ of the British government did not run in the area.The original leaders of the
Khilafat movement whether Hindu or Muslim faded away from the scene.

In the meanwhile the nature of the rebellion changed from political to
communal.Communal terrorist leaders took up the leadership.Varian Kunnath
Kunjahammad Haji became the defact authority in Eranad and Valluvanad Taluks.Styling
himself as the Amir of the muslims, Raja of the Hindus and Colonel of the Khilafat army
he became virtually the king and began to levy taxes and issue pass ports.Seethikoya
Thangal another leader maintained law and order and issued circulars as
governor.However Ali Musaliyar the priest of the mosque although assumed the title king,
instructed his followers not to molest the Hindus or loot their property.Khilafat Raj had
become a reality.The British rule was eliminated and a rebel autocracy dominated the
region.The rebels achieved a large measure of success in extinguishing British rule.In the
later stages however the Hindus were persecuted on the ground that they allied with the
British.However, the Rebellion was crushed by the British with an iron hand.The
Government rushed British troops and Gurkha regiments.Martial law was declared.A
series of encounters had taken place, resulting in the loss of lives. By November 1921, the
Rebellion was almost crushed.The rebels were captured and shot; many were imprisoned
or deported.

A corollary to the Malabar Rebellion was the Wagon Tragedy.The arrested rebels
were dumped in to a closed railway wagon and deported to from Tirur to Bellary.On the
way from Tirur to Coimbatore (10th Nov, 1921) 61 out of 90 inmates suffered from heat
and hunger died of suffocation.This incident came to be known as the Wagon tragedy
highlighted the inhuman methods adopted by the British to suppress the Rebellion.
The Malabar Rebellion produced far reaching consequences. It gave a set back to
the freedom struggle in Malabar.After the Rebellion, the Congress lost much of its popular
appeal.For a long time after the Rebellion, no public activity was possible in Malabar.The
Hindus and the Muslims began to suspect each other lost their cordiality.It paved the way
for the growth of communalism. It also reflected in North Indian politics.

NON-CO-OPERATION AND KHILAFAT MOVEMENTS

However winds of change began to blow in Malabar when Gandhiji assumed the leadership of the Congress in the 1920’s.The non co-operation movement made considerable headway in Malabar.There was widespread boy cott of foreign goods, courts of law and educational institution in the district. The non co-operation movement synchronised itself with the Khilafat movement and thereby acquired new dimensions.To accelerate the tembo of the movement, Gandhiji and Shoukat Ali visited Malabar.The Moplahs of Malabar showed their willingness to join the freedom struggle.The Ottappalam conference of 1921 gave full support to the non co-operation movement.It was in the course of these developments that Malabar witnessed of Moplah outburst.