It is doubtful whether we can call the riots of 1921 a Moplah rebellion or Malabar Rebellion. To be a Malabar rebellion, there should have been a whole hearted participation of all people irrespective of their cast, creed or religion. This has not happened here. The riots took place in Eranad and Valluvanad taluks extensively and only partly in Ponnani, Kozhikode and Palakkad. The total number of Moplahs in all the four taluks was about 6,88,731. Out of this, grown up men came to about only 4,72,183. The numbers of Moplahs who participated in the riots and arrested were less than 50,000. One fact emerges out of this. Out of the total number of mature Muslims less than a third of them had participated in the conflict. It has to be construed that the rest of them had opposed to the rebellion. The majority of Muslims had realized that looting and massacres with forced conversions were against the tenets of Islam. Since the rebellion did not have the backing of a major number of Muslims, it cannot be honestly called a Moplah rebellion.
A proper definition of this mutiny would be to call it “a riot by a minority of fanatic Muslims who were illiterate and totally unaware of peaceful religious coexistence or other social commitments, creating an atmosphere of terror in the above areas for about five months.” The Marxist communist party says that Moplah rebellion was a fight of the Moplah peasants/ tenants against the jenmis or feudal landlords. The Indian National Congress and Muslim League along with other Muslim organizations claim it to be a freedom movement. The Marxist party was oblivious about the class to which this struggle should be related to, during its initial 25 years of existence. The intelligentsia among them knew that they could not call it a freedom movement. It was in 1930s that the Communist party started thinking that Moplah rebellion was part of freedom struggle. This was exactly 9 years after the rebellion. The freedom movement in India starts in 1942 with a demand for complete freedom and that the British should quit India. Apart from an Islamic war cry of “Takbir” no other slogans were heard from the mutineers demanding that India should get freedom or the British should quit India. There is no record of such demand being made anywhere during the mutiny. That was why E M S Nambudiripad, the chief interpreter of Marxist ideology in Kerala, after considerable elapse of time, declared that Moplah Rebellion was an agrarian uprising. A few instances of harassment of the tenants by the landlords came handy for them to prove this stand. It was in a joint meeting of Communist parties of Travancore, Kochi and Malabar held at Kozhikode during 18th -19th of August 1946 that the Communist party took a definite stand in the matter. A declaration was released on the occasion which is reproduced below.
“It was on August 20th 1921 that an anti- imperialist struggle generally called Moplah rebellion took place in Thirurangadi and neighboring places, the like of which was unheard of in the history of Kerala either prior to or after it. The Communist party uses this occasion to revise the divine memory of that daring struggle which proved that even illiterate and unarmed poor peasants can take recourse to an armed revolt and destruct the all – powerful Imperialist forces. The party remembers with all reverence, the skill and valor with which the daring tens of thousands of Moplahs opposed the satanic rule, responding to the struggle call issued by the Khilafat committee and the Congress. The party salutes those Moplah peasants who stood firm against the guns of the white and Gorkha armies and fought against the demonic atrocities of those armies for about three to four months and who organized an armed fight called “Pookkottur battle” against the British army. The party views with all hatred, anger and vengeance the torturous regime of the Imperialistic force which hanged to death many number of Moplahs who fought against imperialism as a warning, tortured several thousand by jailing them in Andaman Prisons, orphaned many Moplah families, arranged a Wagon Tragedy which can be compared only with the brutalities of fascist Hitler and converted the beautiful Moplah land into a virtual desert.
The party also remembers with contempt the spineless policy of the Congress which took Non Violence as an alibi for avoiding the responsibility of fighting imperialism and ridicules the Moplahs who fought so valiantly and suffered such satanic repressions in the name of violence and fanaticism. The party also views with contempt and disgust the antisocial and antinational activities of such rich and influential Moplah personalities, who without doing anything to save the poor members of their community suffering from the torture inflicted by imperialistic forces, had earned substantial money and status by turning over the poor Moplahs to police and army.
In this context, the party remembers with enchantment, the inspiring life of Mohammad Abdul Rehman Sahib, who, being highly proud of the history of Moplahs, illustrative of their heroic valor and denouncing the antinational stand of Muslim aristocracy and the cowardice of Congress leadership, retained the revolutionary spirit of 1921 till he breathed his last. “The 1921 is not the private property of Moplahs but it is the property of entire Malabar on the premise of which the movement should be called “Malabar rebellion” rather than “Moplah rebellion” The party once again endorses this stand taken by the old KPCC President.
The party requests every Malayali to learn the lessons from the history of that anti imperialistic struggle which took place 25 years before.
Whatever was responsible for the 1921 Moplah rebellion, all those causes persists even today. Like then, now also a World War has just ended. The unchecked inflation and non-availability of essential goods with the attendant hardships are troubling the common men. Like then, a new political awareness that emerged immediately after the World War is spreading among the common men. As a result, strikes and other types of agitations have unsettled lives of all sections of society.
Agitations like the Moplah rebellion of 1921 are going to take place in all parts of India and among all sections of society.
Like the 1921 Moplah rebellion, the struggles of 1946-47 are being subjected to suppression using the fascist methods by imperialism and the native Kings who are its protectors.
Like in 1921, to day also, struggles against imperialism are being opposed in the name of nonviolence etc.
Like in 1921, now also, the threat persists before us like, instead of fighting united against imperialism by all sections of society, one section fights with another section and both turnout to be devotees of imperialistic forces.
So, the party requests the Congressmen, League cadres and all other patriots to learn from the lessons of 1921. We request the league to realize the dangers involved in organizing Jihads against Congress and Hindus as they are attempting now.
We request the Congress to realize the after effects of statements being made by leaders like Nehru to the effect that such agitation by League will be mercilessly suppressed. When all categories of people have come forward with a newfound vigor, instead of leading it and destroying imperialism, we request the Congress and the League to desist from continuing the policy of compromising with imperialism and opposing such strikes and other agitations.
The party appeals to the lakhs and lakhs of common men who are members of Congress and League to learn from the lessons of 1921. We bring to the attention of ordinary Congressmen about those Congress leaders who instigated the public in the name of August revolution, and had forgotten revolution in 1921 are going now to appease Wavell. We also ask the ordinary members of League to assess their leaders of Malabar who now say that they are going to launch struggle against the British and what they did in 1921 and why they are now going after Wavell and the Governors to appease them. The party requests Congress and League to appreciate that if their leaders are not willing to change their policy of appeasement and compromise with the British, the agony and tribulations suffered by the “Moplah Nadu” (Muslim Land)in 1921 will repeat all over India.
The party also requests the organized left wing in Congress like CSP and Forward Block etc. and the unorganized left wing in League to learn from the lessons of 1921. We request them to understand how a public organization will fail under the leadership of moderates who abhor revolutions and how a struggle affecting one religious group only will end up as a communal conflict and destroy the nation and how the anti – revolutionary stance of leaders and the communal nature of conflicts will be benefiting imperialistic forces.
We request them to realize the high potential for a massive struggle and successful revolution, if the Communists and pro left cadres within the Congress, League and other parties join to oppose the antirevolutionary stand and internal conflicts of the present leadership, and channelize the preparedness of the public for a revolution.”
We can see clearly the anxiety of the communists to convert Moplah rebellion into a peasant struggle and rename Malabar as Mappila Nadu (land of Muslims) in this communiqué. It took 25 years for the Communist party to form and express an opinion about Moplah rebellion, after its occurrence. After this, Communist academics, and historians and writers who are accused of being their cronies had been relentlessly trying to establish that the Moplah rebellion was essentially a struggle of the peasants against the land lords. This attempt is continuing even now unabashed. The communiqué issued by the party knowingly and purposefully avoided saying anything about the Thuvoor tragedy or the other numerous atrocities committed on Hindus. Probably the party left it out conspicuously because the victims of Thuvoor tragedy were all Hindus. While they were too eloquent in articulating about the imprisonment and execution of Moplahs in their writings so as to take the reader to a state of terrible mental conflict; incidents of mass killings of Hindus by hacking at Chaliyar and Vakkallur rivers never became a subject of interest to the Communists at all.
How can any honest man say that Moplah rebellion was a peasant struggle? If it was organized by the tenants against the landlords, there should have been a participation of almost all the Moplah tenants in it. It is reported that there were about 4000 tenants as per available statistics, in the areas affected by the riots. If we examine the cases registered and tried by the courts during the rebellion, we will see that the total number of accused were only 1647. Of this only 615 were cultivating tenants. The others were:
Laborers: 646, Traders: 207, Religious teachers: 32, Barbers: 20, Bullock cart movers: 24, Physicians: 13, Tailors: 9, Students: 6, Mahouts: 4, Peons: 2, Village staff: 1, Mukri: 1, Tax collector: 1, Other occupations: 65.
How these sections of people formed part of a peasant-landlord tussle? It is obviously clear that the spirit of comradeship as claimed by the Communists was not that prevalent among the laborers at the material time.
The history records that jenmis (landlords) were not hurt by the Moplahs and the latter were being engaged as guards to protect their life and property. The experiences of those who took part in the rebellion and those who were the victims of it are self – explanatory and illumine the real facts. In the riot affected areas 8 landlords were Moplahs. None of them were affected. The Moplahs did not loot the houses of the famous landlords like Nilambur and Mankada royal families and Azhvancheri Mana etc. They were all very big landlords with a large number of tenants. None of them who died at Nilambur Kovilakam was a member of the landlord’s family. Similarly in tenant-landlord disputes there should have been problems for the Hindu tenants also. It is worth thinking why Moplah tenants alone ran amuck with a murderous frenzy looting and killing Hindus. The mental divide between the landlords and the tenants was not of a sudden origin. The tenant takes the land from the landlord on the condition that he will pay the “kanam”(rent for possession). It was in the label of religion that they turned against the landlords and tried to evade payment of pattam or kanam (rent). It cannot be assumed that only Moplah tenants were selectively being exploited by the landlords. The records from Munsiff courts in Eranad and Valluvanad taluks shows that there were 17 instances of melcharth (cancelling the original rent deed and awarding it again to another tenant for a higher rent) by the landlords during 1890-95. Out of those tenants who were forced to vacate their lands on account of this, 10 were Hindus.
In the early stages E. M. S. Nambudiripad had hesitation in calling Moplah rebellion a peasant struggle. In his book named “The national issues of Kerala” he speaks about the rebellion thus:
“There is no need to be surprised to know of the existence of a few fanatics who believed that killing of one Kafir or converting him to Islam is a divine step forward to ascend towards the heaven.”
From the above it is clear that E. M. S. observed Moplah rebellion as a religious madness. Same Nambudiripad wrote in his another book named: ”Kerlam- the motherland of Malayalis”
“If the root cause for the rebellion was only tenancy issues, why it should be affecting Moplah tenants only? Not only that, many of the riots have taken place followed by forcible conversions. In the circumstances, is it not clear that instead of tenancy issues there was something peculiar among the Muslims which caused the riots?”
There was a question answer series handled by Sri Nambudiripad, in “Chintha” weekly – a mouth piece of Communists. While answering a question as to what was the Moplah rebellion, he had confirmed in detail that it was a “religious unrest” after considering all aspects involved.
Even after the communist theorist had clearly declared in several contexts that Moplah rebellion was not a conflict of tenants against landlords, it is not clear as to why the Communists showed this much eagerness to reiterate and establish that it was a peasant landlord tussle. We have to definitely look into these compulsions in detail at this juncture. For that, we have to examine another claim regarding the rebellion. The Congress and Muslim league had been claiming later that the Moplah rebellion was part of Indian Independence struggle. While establishing this claim they just gloss over the landlord tenant conflict angle. From their view point it was a struggle organized by the nationalist Moplahs who were dissatisfied by the British rule and demanding that they should leave India granting full freedom for the nation. They point out that Khilafat was organized by the Congress with joint participation of both Hindus and Muslims and many Hindus had been arrested and imprisoned during the agitations. They also refer to the roles played by Gandhiji and Mohammad Abdul Rehman Sahib. Let us see how much truth is there in this statement.
It is true that Gandhiji was a bit worried about the Hindu Muslim divide that was slowly taking place in India. He was also positive about the need for reestablishing the unity of Hindus and Muslims. For this purpose he thought of expanding the role played by Congress. It was at this point of time that the Khalifa status was lost to the Muslim kingdom of Turkey. Due to the intervention of Mustafa Kamal Pasha, a political reformer, Turkey lost the dual positions of Khalifa and Sultan. Consequently a situation arose where even outsiders could become the rulers of Turkey. The Khalifa of Turkey is a highly respected position by Muslims all over the world. Any adverse thing that happens to it will be deemed as a tragedy for their religion by all Muslims. But even in Turkey there were no protests against this. It was to pressurize the British to restore the Khalifa status to Turkey which even they did not want, that Khilafat movement was organized in India.
The nationalist movement led by the Congress during those days had been agitating for a partial independence only, within the British rule, acknowledging their sovereignty. The Congress had no intention to pain the British either mentally or materially. Even when he sought the involvement of Congress in Khilafat he did not have anything more than this in his mind. His intention was to expand the base of Congress by forming as many committees as possible. He believed that when the Congress formed Khilafat committees it will strengthen the Hindu Muslim brotherhood. May be, at that time, Gandhiji would not have received a clear picture of the real nature of Moplahs of Malabar. The Congress Khilafat committees had only planned for boycott of foreign clothes, resignation by the Government officers, and noncooperation with the British government. In none of these activities there was any mention about freedom. The only stress was to procure Khalifa status to Turkey by pressurizing the British government through noncooperation, but without any hatred for them. Anything other than this would have become contrary to the decisions of the Khilafat committee.
It cannot be said that the social status of Malabar Muslims at the material time was entirely backward. Those who had to bear the torture from landlords and upper casts were mainly the low caste Hindus. That was a period in which untouchability was extensively in practice. As for the Muslims, not only the landlords but the upper casts too used to respect them. That was a period in which the low caste Hindus did not have the privilege to even see the upper castes or enter their courtyards. Such untouchable ones they got converted as a Muslim secured the right immediately to even sit with the landlord at his mansion. Though such privileges were there, the Moplahs lacked in education and knowledge. There was no opportunity for them to gain knowledge or indulge in any recreation. They were exposed only to religious education. These adherents of Islam believed that their religion was the best and all other religions were against its tenets. A belief was consciously spread that an Islamic rule should be established here and Mohammad Nabi was the last prophet. Everyone should be forced to believe in Islam propagated by the Prophet Mohammad. The Islamic clergy cultivated these ideas in the minds of the poor Muslims. A thinking that all non-Muslims were kaffirs and enemies of Islam, was systematically propagated. This resulted in enmity of Moplahs against followers of other religions. The reason behind treating the slightest tussle with Hindus as an insult to their religion was this attitude. When a belief that those who die in a war for the religion go to heaven, became strong, it proved to be an incentive to include any silly incident in the account of religion and fight a war on that. The desire to wipe out the land lords by denying them the due rent and other entitlements was also an after effect of this.
Already Hyder Ali and Tipu had proved to them that if the Moplahs stood united they can achieve anything here. It was the after-blasts of their atrocities that were staged in Malabar subsequently. What will be the fate if the issue of Khilafat was brought to the midst of such Muslims who had been waiting restlessly for opportunities to view everything through the eyes of fanaticism and indulge in looting and massacres, attaining heaven as a “Shahid” in the process? That is exactly what happened in 1921 in different parts of British Malabar. Loss of Khalifa status was considered a great blow to their religion. With that, a decision was taken by some of them that they should react against this and everywhere Moplah Kingdoms should be established. This was being executed. If Moplah Kingdoms are to be established everyone should become a Moplah. Others should not have a place in Moplah land. All these ideas would have flashed in the illiterate and immature minds. Even if Congress leaders had impressed upon them that the idea of Khilafat was only a Noncooperation movement and not establishment of Moplah Kingdoms or fight against the British the violent Moplahs did not listen to any of those words of wisdom. Some historians have opined that it was Moplah rebellion which speeded up the demand for a separate Pakistan. Though the leaders of Congress thought that the reins of Khilafat agitation will remain safe in their hands, soon it slipped out of their control. As far as Moplahs were concerned, what they understood was that the Khalifa status was destroyed by the British and they were Christians. The propaganda by the Moulavis that Christians were against Muslims, boiled their blood. That was why, even before commencement of Khilafat movement the Moplahs had started collecting arms. Otherwise what was the need for weapons while organizing a noncooperation movement? The congress leaders were blissfully ignorant of this secret move of Moplahs.
We can observe that there were three stages to the rebellion. The first stage was through the noncooperation movement. It was because of the arrests of Congress leaders like K. Madhavan Nair that the movement took an ugly turn in the early stages it self. In the second stage the entire control of the agitation went into the hands of Moulavis, Hajiyars and Musalyars. The ideals of noncooperation did not impress the minds of these highly fanatic people who had only one aim – to establish and rule a Muslim land. They forgot everything else in the mad craze for establishing a Khilafat Kingdom and went all out to demonstrate their battle power. It was this with this frame of mind that Moplahs displayed their organizational strength against the Thirumulpad of Pookkottur Kovilakam and Mr. Narayana Menon, Circle Inspector of Police, Manjeri. Once intelligence report was received by the Government about the collection of arms and plan for a mutiny by the Moplahs, the efforts of the British administration was to bring those who were responsible for it before law and avert a big disaster in the offing.
It was out of sheer religious frenzy that a group of Moplahs under the leadership of Thanur Kunjikader rushed towards Thirurangadi hearing a disinformation about the army having fired at and smashed the mosque there. When the army cordoned off the mosque to arrest Ali Muslayar and his followers, if the Moplahs did not open fire from within the mosque, a major calamity could have been averted. The historians have recorded that it was the army which opened fire first. But from what Mozhikkunnath Brahmadattan Nambudiripad had heard from the followers of Ali Musalyar while in Bellari jail, it is clear that the Muslims inside the mosque were the first to open fire. Ali Musalyar assumed the power of Khalifa and started ruling his Kingdom from Thirurangadi declaring that the British had run away and a Moplah regime had been established. People like Vriayankunnath Kunjahammad Haji also started similar rule from some other places. In the Moplah regime it was Hindus who lost their lives, properties and self-respect. They had to helplessly run away from their villages. Those who could not do so took refuge in military camps. Those Muslims who opposed this rebellion saying that it was against tenets of Islam were also persecuted. Once the Hindus who were not prepared for conversion took refuge in military camps, a situation arose in which extermination of Hindus became the most important agenda of the mutineers.
The third stage was when the army came all out to suppress the rebellion. In this third stage several Moplahs had become victims to the brutal tortures inflicted by the army. The plight of Moplahs in the third stage can be best described by an old biblical saying: ”He who dug a pit, himself fell into it“. The pro left historians and the Muslim writers highlight only this third stage of the mutiny. When the Communists, Muslim league and Congress followed the same pattern the plight of those Hindus who suffered countless indignities and atrocities from the hands of Moplahs were cruelly forgotten. It was in this third stage that the Moplah Rebellion was called a freedom struggle. It was almost half a century later that the Congress started claiming that the mutiny was a freedom struggle and a demand was raised for payment of freedom fighters pension to the rioters. In 1921 neither the Congress nor the Khilafat committees had urged their followers to indulge in an armed fight with British or commence an independence struggle. Then how can the Moplah rebellion be a freedom struggle? What were the slogans of the mutineers? If it was to demand that the British should quit India, what was the necessity for slaying a large number of Hindus and dumping their half living bodies in the Thuvoor Well.? Why people like Chandu Chettiyar were hacked to death at Thanalur? They were not British.They were not landlords also. Why did they burn temples and desecrated idols, if it was a freedom struggle? Those were not British government establishments. The Chaliyar and Vakkallur Rivers had turned crimson by the blood of Hindus. It was the heads of those who declined to believe in Din that flowed along with the currents in these rivers. Does forced conversion to Islam and hacking to death of those who decline to do that form part of freedom struggle? What sort of freedom movement is torching of houses of Hindus? In spite of being exposed to all these atrocities the Hindu society never took recourse to arms against Muslims. Answers to all these questions are stiil being sought for by unbiased people.
It is the duty of a government to suppress with force whenever any such rebellion takes place. This is still the practice of all governments. Against this background, most of the Moplahs were killed while madly rushing towards the guns of the British in their anxiety to become religious martyrs (Shahid). Same time it cannot be said that those who were shot dead by the army without verifying whether those Moplahs were real culprits or not, were not the mutineers. The Hindus have not participated in the rebellion, though very few of them who were subjected to religious conversion had subsequently joined their ranks. The Congress leaders of Malabar had distanced themselves from the mutiny the moment they realized that Khilafat was a fight of Muslims against Hindus. The Central Khilafat committee had also declared that the Moplah rebellion was not a part of Khilafat. In 1973, the Central government had also declared that Moplah rebellion was not a freedom struggle.
A report in Mathrubhumi daily of August 24th, 1973, about the reply given by the then Home Minister Umashankar Dixit in answer to a calling attention notice in Parliament on 23rd August 1973 reads as under.
“All available records prove that Moplah rebellion was a communal riot. Even Mahatma Gandhi had expressed shock over this incident.”
Mr. Dixit even quoted some lines fom the correspondence between Mahatma Gandhi and the then District Collector. He had written “Our Muslim brothers had become mad and when I think of them my heart bleeds” Gandhiji had said that Hindu houses were looted, property destroyed and forced conversion was being thrust upon them. The government is sanctioning pension to those who had participated in struggles to free the nation from foreign hegemony. The government has delved deep into the matters regarding Moplah rebellion. Not only history records, but the cable messages between the Madras government and the State Secretary, statement of Mahatma Gandhi, resolutions passed by Indian National Congress, correspondence between the Magistrates and statements recorded after the mutiny etc. all prove that it was not a freedom struggle. All evidences are against the argument that pension should be granted to those who participated in the Moplah rebellion. For Mahatma Gandhi, this was nothing more than a communal riot. Loss of life and property was only for one community i.e. Hindus”
The then Prime Minister Morarji Desai also said that Moplah rebellion was a communal riot. His statement that Moplah rebellion was not a freedom struggle or even part of it was given in response to a question raised by C.H.Mohammad Koya.
Mr. Mohasin, Deputy Home Minister had stated in Parliament on 25th July 1973 like this.
‘It has not been possible to arrive at a conclusion that Moplah rebellion was part of freedom movement, based on various aspects of history relating to this event. Those who participated in Moplah rebellion or their dependents have no eligibility to get the pension awarded under the Central government scheme for grant of pensions to freedom fighters. (U N I Report: Chandrika, 1973, July 26)
The central government had analyzed and studied all relevant evidences and records before coming to the conclusion that Moplah rebellion was not a freedom struggle. But it was after Indira Gandhi became prime minister in 5th December 1981 that the decision was revised and started giving Central and Kerala state government pensions, considering Moplah rebellion as a freedom struggle. It was the descendants of those Hindus who were massacred during the riots who were shocked by this news. Though several petitions were submitted to the Central and State governments seeking pension for those who suffered in the calamity, no action was taken on them.
On October 27thof 1973 when the then Prime Minister Indira Gandhi visited Kozhikode, office bearers of Moplah rebellion martyr’s convention, consisting of Sarvashri P.B.Kurup, E.Raman Menon, Adv. P.Mohandas etc. submitted a memorandum to her. On 1974 Februery 13th, the Committee submitted memoranda to the then Chief Minister Sri.C.Achutha Menon and Governor Sri. A. N. Vanchu. The request was to extend help to the victims of the mutiny too. Sarvasri P.Mohandas, Tharammal Krishnan, T.N.Bharathan etc were the members of the deputation.
How can we blame those who say that there is dirty appeasement politics in awarding pensions to the perpetrators of crime rather than the victims, ignoring all their requests, by both Central and State Governments?
Irrespective of whether Congress or Communists the only aim of politicians is to capture power by fair or foul means. For that votes are needed. Both parties know the value of votes of organized group is more than that of the scattered and unorganized. The votes of semitic religions are well organized especially of Muslims. To get their votes Muslim community has to be given all entitlements abundantly. It was merely the technique to win Muslim votes that the Congress rejected without any value, the opinion of even Mahatma Gandhi and sanctified the communal riot as a freedom struggle. The Communists were also good plotters. To get Muslim votes, they even awarded a district to them; called Malappuram where Muslims were in brute majority. It is the Hindus who are wandering around without any hope or relief since then and even now. One cannot avoid mentioning in this context that there was not even one people’s representative to speak for the Hindus.
Even freedom fighters were against declaring Moplah rebellion a freedom struggle. Resolutions in this regard were passed in the meetings of freedom fighters organization held at Kozhikode and Thiruvananthapuram. Famous freedom fighters like Sarvasri. K.Kelappan, K.P.Kesava Menon, C. Narayana Pilla, C. Samuel Aron, Punnakkal Kuttisankaran Nair, and A. K.Raman Nair had expressed their disgust about declaring Moplah rebellion as freedom struggle. Sri.Kuttisankaran Nair had written to the Prime Minister Smt. Indira Gandhi also. In protest against counting Moplah rebellion as a freedom movement, Sri Kuttisankaran Nair resigned from the Advisory Committee recommending sanction of freedom fighters pensions.
A letter received by the Zamorin of Kozhikode appears to be very relevant in this context. This is a document available with the Zamorin’s palace records enumerating the lack of unity and evils of cast system in the Hindu community.
“A letter written by a few Malayali Hindus for humble submission before the kindness of the Honorable Manavikrama Samoothiri Raja, the Great Maharaja of Kozhikode on 1097 Chingam 5 (Malayalam era)
Your highness may be well aware of the umpteen hardships suffered by Hindus due to the Moplah rebellion which started on the last August 20th of 1921. The general opinion is that even during the attack of Tipu sultan almost a century back; people have been subjected to so much of hellish persecutions. Though many reasons are cited for this, had there been unity among Hindus so much of troubles would not have happened to them. Women and children, scared of the Moplahs, were hiding in bushes and isolated places and were hacked to death and similar atrocities committed on them while they were running for life in the middle of night.
The Hindus have now started returning to their homes and stay there to take care of their houses and other meager properties. Though the Government has taken necessary steps to avoid repetition of such riots, the responsibility lies more on Hindus to preempt such disasters. Out of Malayali Hindus, there are more numbers of Nairs, Thiyas and Cherumas than the Nambudiris. Out of them Thiyas and Cherumas are subjected to “Theendal” (A practice of keeping a specified distance from the upper casts to avoid contamination) in Kerala, which is not practiced anywhere else in India. Because of this, these people hate the upper cast men. We also know the fact that many of them join Christianity or Islam to avoid this cast related indignity. The great Vivekananda Swamikal who had convinced the people of England and America even that the Hindu religion is superior in all respects to others, in a recent talk at Madras, had opined that Kerala (Malayala Rajyam) was a home of lunatics and those Malayalis who practiced this “theendal” are lunatics. There is no reason to wonder about Vivekananda Swami’s statement that Malayalis are lunatics considering the fact that, if a Cheruma (Low cast) embraces Christianity and comes with the name of John or Islam with the name Moideen, even upper cast Nambudiris will have no hesitation to offer them seats or chairs in their porticos and if he comes as a member of his own Hindu Dharma, will be shunted away to a distance of 50 yards even if he had achieved the divinity of great souls like Pakkanar.
However if some people among Malayali Hindus are continued to be treated as “Theendal” casts and kept at a distance, they are sure to abandon Hinduism and embrace other religions which will have the effect of not only reducing the strength of Hindu community but also will turn out to be the biggest enemies of Hinduism in Kerala later. In such a situation, it is anyone’s guess as to what will happen if another Moplah rebellion takes place. In view of the above, it is beyond any doubt that all Hindus of Kerala have to remain united. For this purpose it is essential to refrain from shunning Thiyyas and Cherumas and take along them in association with the upper casts on all social occasions to the extent possible. The practice of keeping them away in the name of “theendal” has to be stopped immediately.
As such we humbly request to have your kind concurrence in this matter and declare that the evil practice of “theendal” need not be practiced hereafter in the land of Malayalam, in consultation with the Brahmin high priests.
This letter was signed by Sarvashri. Manniledathil Valiya Nair, Cengalath Kunjirama Menon, Chettur Goplalan Nair, C.V.Narayana Menon, Thanmathanme Panicker, Kozhippurath Appu Menon etc.
The applicants had drawn an outline picture of Moplah Rebellion and demanded abolishment of untouchability among Hindus. They demonstrate a genuine fear about Hindus being forced to leave Kerala in the wake similar atrocities that may be perpetrated by Muslims in future. We can also see the anxiety of these people about the possibility of low caste Hindus being converted to other religions and later becoming the enemies of Hindus themselves.
This letter has all the more relevance even today. The Muslim leaders are proud and much delighted about having been successful in relabeling the Moplah rebellion which turned out to be an anti-Hindu revolt, into a freedom struggle. You can see the way they treat the sufferings of Hindus very casually and in a totally indifferent manner. Some statements of Muslim leaders about Moplah rebellion just cannot be overlooked by anyone.
E.Moidu Moulavi.
I do not want to close my eyes to the fact that while the rebellion was in full swing several grave incidents had occurred. It is quite natural that in the wake of such a great struggle a few defects definitely take place. People when they lost their cool did something.
(Charithra chinthakal, E. Moidu Moulavi – Keralashabdam 28-03-1982)
C.H.Muhammad Koya
Though Moplah rebellion got a communal color subsequently due to some slips that occurred, there were several instances of Muslims, especially VariyankunnathKunjahammad Haji, having given asylum and shelter to many Hindus. However due to the attempts of some people to publicize and blow out of proportion a few instances of religious conversions; the general perception about the rebellion itself underwent a change.
(Souvenir on the 60th anniversary of the Malabar rebellion)
Abukadarkutty Naha.
There has not been an incident in the history of Indian Independence movement which had evoked so much of an inspiration. Variyankunnath Kunjahamad Haji and Ali Musalyar who were leaders with a perfect religious wisdom had been requesting the Hindu brothers through their speeches at Manjeri and other places not to run away from their lands. They had made special arrangements to provide protection to Hindu families located in rebellion affected areas.
(Souvaneer on the 60th anniversary of the Malabar rebellion- pages116-123)
Chakkeeri Ahamadkutty.
The historic struggle of the Moplahs of Malabar against the British government is known as Malabar Rebellion and it was interpreted as a communal conflict by vested interests only to capitalize out of it.
(Reort published in Mathrubhumi dated 26-07-1976, – extracted from the speech made by Ahamadkuty, who was the Minister for education in Kerala at the material time, on the occasion of releasing a book at Thirurangadi)
Though the Muslim leaders played acrobatics with such words on the subject, “Chandrika”- the official organ of Muslim league had felt some minor prick of conscience. It is also worthwhile to note that Chandrika was prepared to analyze the communal frenzy only 47 years after the Moplah rebellion. This was their writing on September 21st of 1968.
“Religious madness is the most dirty ulcer and deadly decease that affect the human mind. When the communal frenzy arises in the mind, the man turns into an animal. A fanatic believes in the superiority of his religion and looks down with contempt on that of others. Awareness that the other religions are taboo for him makes him commit several atrocities. He attacks men and places of worship and destroys them.Women are subjected to rape and children are crushed under their feet. When we try to peep into the minds of such fanatics, what emerges is the picture of a man who is contended with the belief that he was pleasing his god by pursuing such heinous crimes. Thus they bestow a halo of purity and divinity for their evil deeds. “
It is clear like daylight that Moplah Rebellion was neither a peasant struggle nor a part of freedom movement. Maybe, just to avoid the disturbance of mental equilibrium of a set of people, even if we acknowledge that this rebellion was both of the above, an irony persists. Why no decision was taken in the cases of victims of Moplah rebellion even when pensions were being sanctioned to the perpetrators of the riots? As long as this question remains unanswered, the fact that Moplah rebellion was a communal riot and not a freedom struggle or landlord-peasant conflict, remains indisputably clear.
