Vimochana Samaram

The Vimochana Samaram (1958–59) (Liberation Struggle in English) was an anticommunist backlash against the first elected state-government in Kerala, India, led by E. M. S. Namboodiripad of the Communist Party of India. Organised opposition to the state government was spearheaded by the Catholic Church in Kerala, the Nair Service Society and the Indian Union Muslim League; although termed a "liberation struggle", the campaign was largely peaceful by taking the form of statewide meetings and public demonstrations.

E. M. S. Namboodiripad

In June 1959, Kerala was rocked by mass protests calling for the resignation of the communist ministry. The Indian government finally bowed to pressure and dismissed Namboodiripad on 31 July 1959.

Background

On 1 November 1956, the state of Kerala was formed by the States Reorganisation Act merging the Malabar district, Travancore-Cochin and the taluk of Kasargod, South Kanara.[1] In 1957, elections for the new Kerala Legislative Assembly were held, and a Communist-led government came to power, under E. M. S. Namboodiripad.[1] It initiated some land reforms[2] and educational reforms by introducing new bills in the state assembly. However, some clauses in the new bills became controversial as those clauses offended several influential interest groups, such as the Catholic Church of Kerala, Muslim League and NSS. A revolt was against the Communist government's educational policies . In 1957, a communist government was elected in Kerala for the first time under the leadership of Shri. E. M. S. Namboodiripad. Subsequently, a revolt propagated against the government. At Angamaly, the prime centre of Christians,, the intensity of fury was broke into open violence. But, the version of Communist government was different, saying that the police was forced to open fire on what they claim was a violent mob, who allegedly attempted to attack the police station. The police firing and killing of 7 people instigated a mass movement against the EMS Government.

Education bill

The immediate cause of the outbreak of the Liberation Struggle was the introduction of the Education Bill by the minister of education Joseph Mundassery. The bill had revolutionary content that could have affected the administration of educational institutions, which were financially aided by the government. Many of these institutions, at that time, were under the control of various Christian congregations and a few under the Nair Service Society (NSS). The Education Bill claimed to regulate appointments and working conditions of the teachers in the government-aided schools. The remuneration of the teachers were to be paid directly from the government treasury.The appointments in aided institutions would be made by the management from the list of candidates which were prepared by the Public Service Commission, so as to eradicate corruption. It also mandated to takeover any government-aided educational institution, if they fail to meet the conditions set by the newly promulgated bill.[3]

Agrarian relations bill

With the introduction of agrarian relations bill, the government sought to confer ownership rights on tenant cultivators, to grant permanent ownership of land for the agricultural labourers, who reside in their premises at the mercy of landlords, and to attain an equal distribution of land by putting a ceiling on the individual land holdings so as to distribute the surplus land among the landless.[4][5] With the introduction of the bill, government tried to address the social imbalance that prevailed in the state. In those days, the agricultural labourers, called as kudikidappukar, were considered as slaves. Though they were allowed to stay in a piece of land allotted by the landlord, they were denied any payments for their labour and permanent rights in the land.[6] However, many radical proposals of this bill raised panic among the landowning communities of Kerala, especially Nairs and Syrian Christians.[7]

Interest groups
  1. Political parties: Besides the socio-religious organizations, all the major opposition parties including Indian National Congress, Praja Socialist Party (PSP), Muslim League, Revolutionary Socialist Party, and Kerala Socialist Party rallied together demanding the dismissal of the EMS ministry. They formed a joint steering committee with R. Sankar as the president and P. T. Chacko, Pullolil, Kumbalathu Sanku Pillai, Mathai Manjooran, Fr. Joseph Vadakkan, B. Wellington, N. Sreekantan Nair, C. H. Muhammed Koya, and Bafaqi Thangal among its members.
  2. Syrian Christians: A significant proportion of the schools in Kerala were owned by Syrian Christian churches. They found many reformist policies of government as infringements over their rights and so used newspapers and other publications, such as Deepika and Malayala Manorama, to propagate panicking messages against the controversial policies.[8] Christians used their political influence in the central government to derail the educational reforms. The Education Bill was referred to the Supreme court by the President of India and on 17 May 1958 the Supreme Court reported that some clauses of the bill infringed the constitutional rights of minorities. However, the government got presidential assent on 19 February 1959 after it had revised the bill. The disagreement widened, and the Church representatives sought the help of the NSS to fight the government.[9] Following the Angamaly police firing (13 June 1959) in which seven of its members were killed, the Catholic Church and other Syrian Christian Churches actively participated in the struggle and mobilised massive support.
  3. Nair Service Society: NSS, a community welfare organization of Nairs, was a major opponent of land reform policies of the government, which they considered as radical and ill-disposed towards the Nair community of Kerala.[7] In December 1958, NSS joined up with the Catholic Church to form an anticommunist front.[8] The government retracted partially on sensing the trouble that could be created by the alliance of NSS and the Syrian Christians, and it indicated its readiness to make concessions.[10] However, the founder and leader of the NSS, Mannathu Padmanabhan, declared that "the aim is not limited to the redressal of specific issues but extended to the removal of the Communist Party". He called on all the field units of the NSS to organise the people and on the educational institutions to close them.[11]
  4. Central Intelligence Agency (CIA): Communists allege that the CIA was behind the liberation struggle. The role of the CIA in the struggle is depicted in the work of Daniel Patrick Moynihan, the American ambassador to India (1973–75) in his 1978 book: "A Dangerous Place". His statements are corroborated by Howard Schaffer, the biographer of Ellsworth Bunker, the American ambassador to India (1956–61), who is quoted confirming American and his involvement in funding the agitation against EMS's communist government to prevent "additional Keralas".[12]

Agitations and reprisals

Rallies and demonstrations against the government took place throughout the state. The protests were spearheaded by the Indian National Congress, the then ruling party of Government of India (Union Government) and were later supported by various religious and communal groups. The communists strongly believed that the Central Intelligence Agency discreetly supported these protests, financially and otherwise.[13] The death of a pregnant fisher woman, named Flory, a Christian woman in the police firing aggravated the situation.

One notable feature of the movement was the participation of school and college students supporting the movement; the Kerala Students Union, the student wing of the Indian National Congress also played a role.

Result

The immediate effect of the Vimochana Samaram was the dismissal of the Kerala State government under EMS on 31 July 1959 and imposition of president's rule in the state, under Article 356 of the constitution of India, from 31 July 1959 to 22 February 1960.

In the 1960s, elections to the Kerala State Legislative assembly, the United Front, led by the Indian National Congress, won with a majority. A ministry under Pattom A. Thanu Pillai, of the Praja Socialist Party, took office.

Legacy

The Communist Party of India projects the Liberation Struggle as a conspiracy. Some of the key points of criticism were that it was an anti-democratic, CIA funded, communal movement aimed to shatter the first democratically elected communist ministry. It has further accused the Indian National Congress of publicly joining hands with anti-democratic splinters and communal forces to promote the downfall of a democratically elected government.

References
  1. Plunkett, Cannon & Harding 2001, p. 24
  2. Conundrum of Kerala's struggling economy by Soutik Biswas BBC News, Kerala
  3. "Education bill". Kerala government. Retrieved 14 August 2012.
  4. "Land reforms". Government of kerala. Retrieved 16 August 2012.
  5. "Agrarian relations bill, 1957" (PDF). Government of kerala. Retrieved 16 August 2012.
  6. Tharamangalam, Joseph (1981). Agrarian Class Conflict: The Political Mobilization of Agricultural Labourers in Kuttanad, South India. UBC Press. p. 56. ISBN 978-0-7748-0126-3.
  7. Tharamangalam, Joseph (1981). Agrarian Class Conflict: The Political Mobilization of Agricultural Labourers in Kuttanad, South India. UBC Press. pp. 45–50. ISBN 978-0-7748-0126-3.
  8. K. Ramachandran Nair; Kerala Institute of Labour and Employment (1 January 2006). The history of trade union movement in Kerala. Kerala Institute of Labour and Employment in association with Manak Publications. p. 128. ISBN 978-81-7827-138-5. Retrieved 18 August 2012.
  9. Thomas Johnson Nossiter (1982). Communism in Kerala: A Study in Political Adaptation. University of California Press. p. 155. ISBN 978-0-520-04667-2.
  10. Thomas Johnson Nossiter (1982). Communism in Kerala: A Study in Political Adaptation. University of California Press. p. 156. ISBN 978-0-520-04667-2.
  11. Radhakrishnan, P (1989). Peasant Struggles, Land Reforms and Social Change: Malabar 1836-1982. Radhakrishnan. pp. 78–79. ISBN 978-1-906083-16-8. Retrieved 18 August 2012.
  12. Nossiter, Thomas Johnson (1982). Communism in Kerala: A Study in Political Adaptation. ISBN 9780905838403.
  13. "Fresh light on 'Liberation Struggle'". The Hindu. 12 February 2008.
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