On March 30, 1924, the seeds for a revolution were sown in Vaikom, a nondescript village in Kerala, with the launch of a movement to abolish the practice of untouchability which restricted people from lower castes to access streets close to the Mahadeva Temple. In the beginning, the movement lacked popular support but gained momentum after the then Tamil Nadu Congress chief E V Ramasamy or Periyar lent his support leading to his imprisonment twice by the then Travancore rulers.
Eighteen months later, the struggle, which also saw the participation of several women, ended in a success with those in power agreeing to open all roads leading to the temple to everyone. Besides Periyar, several leaders from different castes joined the protests – Mahatma Gandhi too had visited the village in Kottayam district in March 1925.
To mark the beginning of the centenary year of the famous Vaikom Satyagraha, a watershed moment in India’s history which prompted several such movements for people from all castes entering temples, the DMK government in Tamil Nadu has planned year-long celebrations, including taking Periyar’s works and ideals to the younger generation.
Chief Minister M K Stalin will on Saturday participate in the Vaikom Satyagraha Centenary Celebrations organized by the Kerala Government and release the Malayalam translation of Vaikom Struggle written by Pazha Adhiyaman, a Tamil writer.
Making a statement under Rule 110 in the Assembly, Stalin said the Tamil Nadu government will organise a massive event with the participation of chief ministers and others from both states and present a yearly award on Social Justice Day to those individuals and organisations that are fighting for the oppressed in other states.
Renovating the Periyar Memorial in Vaikom at a cost of Rs 8.14 crore, constructing a memorial after Periyar in Aruvikutti village where the Dravidian legend was imprisoned, efforts to release a stamp to commemorate the centenary year of Vaikom struggle are some of the steps to be taken by the state government, Stalin said.
“We will organise seminars about Vaikom Struggle in all reputed universities and colleges in Tamil Nadu. We will also organize elocution competition and essay competition for school and college students. We are also planning to bring out a 64-page book on Vaikom to educate students about the struggle. This will also be converted into an audio book in Tamil and English,” the Chief Minister added.
He said it was a proud moment for the Dravidian Movement that an outfit that was involved in reforms achieved political power through elections and is now governing the state with the unique Dravidian model. “It was the Dravidian movement that transformed an ordinary Ramasamy into Periyar,” Stalin said.
Talking about the Vaikom struggle, Stalin said T K Madhavan launched the movement on March 30, 1924, in Vaikom following which all senior Congress leaders who participated in the protests were arrested.
“The movement struggled without a leader and that is when Periyar took over the protests and stayed in Vaikom. He took the agitation on the right path. He was arrested twice and spent 74 days in jail. Periyar stayed in Vaikom for 67 days and mobilised people,” the chief minister said.