Write-ups by K.Madhavan Nair and C. F. Andrews and Report of the Army chief)
The below write up was published in the Mathrubhumi daily of 20th March 1923. by Sri. Madhavan Nair.
The rebellion started on August 20th of 1921. The rumor that Pookkottur mosque was breached and the journey of Pookkottur people to Nilambur were the two factors which gave so much strength for the rebellion. The cowardice shown by the Police and administration which did not indicate any sign of existence of a government gave impetus to the vigor and audacity of the rebels. Within four days itself they could bring in so much of damage. This boosted up their desire for more mischief. Somewhere some people even decided to convert the area into a full fledged Islamic state. But the battle of Pookkottur convinced them that the British had a military force and the bullets fired will not be changed to water. With that the ferocity of the rebellion also went down. For about three weeks after that except for the atrocities committed by one or two groups, no other serious riots took place. But the administration in their anxiety to quench the conflicts turned into perpetrators of crimes. Had they posted army units in those areas selectively, opened police stations, conducted at least routine enquires, and prevented rioters from looting of houses and other cruel, precarious activities, the rebellion would not have raised its ugly head again. But the authorities were successful in creating a frightening feeling that no one, born a Moplah had any chance of getting justice anywhere in Eranad. A superstition that a glorious death in a religious war entitled them for heaven contributed towards making many of them rebels.
The mutiny spread in a more threatening way than before. Like the thoughtless deeds from the authorities having contributed to increase the impacts of the rebellion, actions of certain officials after the mutiny resulted in widening the gulf between two communities and persistence of the animosity and distrust towards each other, for a long number of years in addition to creating a feeling of perpetual hatred in the minds of Muslims. Punishment of the guilty will not result in activating public anger. But the torture of the innocent will result in spreading hatred and disgust among people. I admit that in a rebellion organized in such a massive scale it is not easy to locate the culprits and punish them selectively after conducting necessary enquiries. In an attempt to put an end to the riots with least delay, certain excesses are bound to happen. Hence it will not be proper to blame all officers of the army and police who worked hard to deal with the situation. It is also personally known to me that there were several among them who were truthful, kind and good at heart. We should not overlook the fact that policemen are also human beings. In spite of all this, certain acts of some of them during the period between beginning and end of the mutiny create negative emotions in the minds of common men which cannot be easiy wiped off. The reports given by the victims who suffered so much at the hands of the rioters, had given the names of Muslims whom they thought were perpetrators of these crimes and these were accepted by the authorities without much enquiries. This resulted in creation of a dangerous weapon in the hands of those in power. Many among them had second thoughts about the reports filed by them and wanted to take back but did not have the courage to do that. Almost all Moplahs were among accused in one list or another and this gave a golden chance for those who were looking for an opportunity to collect bribes. They made a selfish choice in this matter. The complainants were in many cases tools in the hands of those unscrupulous people and they gave false evidence in courts either as victims or witnesses, without bothering to ascertain whether those who were in the dock were the real culprits.
The observation of a judge of a special court that ‘for a Hindu witness it was always the same answer -“yes”- irrespective of whether the accused is guilty or not, as long as he was a Muslim” is very much factual. Due to atrocities committed the enmity of Hindus towards Muslims and due to false petitions and witnesses, hatred of Muslims against Hindus took deep roots and increased many fold. What was the reason for all this? The consequences of assuming that all that was done by the lowest rung among police force were correct, and having supported it with the backing of everyone in the department, are grave and is being suffered now by everyone in the areas affected, more than necessary. How much remains to suffer in future too, no one knows.
As long as this administrative structure remains in power chances of public getting good officers are remote. Even among them there is differentiation. From that point of view there is not much scope for accusing such high officers in charge of Malabar now. There has been much relief from the outrages in Malabar after the arrival of officers like Mr. Ellis, Mr. Thorn and Mr. Rowlandson etc. But the weapon used by Mr. Thorn to suppress the offenders among Village Officers, have not fell upon the culprits who have tenfold more offences committed by them. The reason for this distinction is not clear to people. In view of the above, those who view minutely the present state of affairs, are convinced that the above type of actions taken by many among the authorities, instead of preventing recurrence of such rebellions , serve as seeds for sprouting of similar calamities in future also. In case the authority concerned is able to create a confidence in the minds of general public that they will not help the culprits whomsoever they may be, no hazards will occur as a result of the untoward incidents that followed the mutiny. Will it be possible for the authorities to ensure this? If possible, will they ever attempt it? These are the two questions going round among all the peace loving citizens. I am also echoing the same here.
While Madhavan Nair briefly narrates about the brutality of the rebellion, we can see him accusing the Hindus of trapping innocent Muslims with false allegations. He approves of the military action too which suppressed the mutiny. It is worth noting that Sri. Madhavan Nair, who had seen the Moplah rebellion from close quarters and was in the forefront of forming Khilafat-Congress committees, has not said in this write up that Moplah rebellion was a freedom struggle or peasant movement.
Later he had written another article in Mathrubhumi daily dated 28th April, 1923. It was published with a caption “Moplah rebellion of Malabar- the need for a critical analysis.” This was supposed to be a preface to a series of articles to be written by Madhavan Nair about the rebellion.
“Enough time has not passed to write the history of the recent large scale rebellion. Even the accounts of those closely related to the rebellion are not certain. The anxieties that bother the general public which arose out of this recent mega rebellion have not yet subsided. Not only that the magnitude of prejudiced views has come down, the exact and minutest details of what transpired during the period have also not surfaced. It was heard that Mr. Hitchcock who was associated with the rebellion in several ways had been entrusted with the work of writing a history of the rebellion, by the government. Such a history compiled by Mr. Hitchcock could prove to be very interesting on several counts. We could get information about the various adventures of the police and military personnel from it. But later after realizing that, as Mr.Manjeri Rama Iyer said, Mr. Hitchcock was more adept at creating history than writing it, the government seems to have decided to allow him to continue as the Superintendent. We can easily guess what will be the nature of history written by a police inspector, based on the uniform music played by the police officers like Dy. Superintendant Mr. Amu etc from the witness box of courts. Still we would have got much information about the activities of army men and government records on the mutiny from Mr. Hitchcock’s history. For the time being we were not lucky enough for that.
The Bharatha Maha Jana Sabha had appointed a committee to enquire and report about the reasons for the rebellion, and steps needed to avoid recurrence of such rebellions in future, after taking perfect and full evidences about it. Many expected that this report will bring to light several things which otherwise could not be pointed out in the absence of adequate evidence. Unfortunately the committee has not started functioning so far. I heard that the committee was shortly going to visit Malabar. Immediately a proclamation signed by several important people belonging to both Hindu and Muslim communities appeared in newspapers. They propagated that there was no need for any enquiry about the rebellion and it will not serve any useful purpose at this juncture. The President of the Committee appointed by Congress was Mr. Tayabji, well known as a fair and impartial senior ex judge of Madras high court. But there is no wonder that those who did not want the truth to come out or wanted to blindly blame the Congress, and those who join the group of the celebrities without much thinking, acted like this. At the same time when this advertisement came in papers another thing happened in Eranad. The moment it was heard that the Congress committee is coming for making enquiry several representations signed like this started appearing in various places in Eranad. All these representations were of the same type and of the same period. It is not known whether any organization was formed for preparing such uniform applications and submitting them all to government, signed by several people. Representations were generated as if rolled out from a machine and made their way to various government offices. Manjeri Rama Iyer can allude this as an eleventh wonder in his next speech. I had met some Muslims of Eranad during this time including some who had signed the representation. They told me that there was no way to continue a peaceful life unless they signed the paper and wished that somehow an enquiry be conducted and the real truth brought out before the public. But they did not have the courage to give open evidence. Hence we informed Mr. Tayabji that the enquiry commission may delay its coming by some more time.
After the Gaya conference I went to Bombay and met Mr. Tayabji. I told him his trip to Malabar should not be delayed any further. He promised that first he will come alone and see the rebellion affected areas himself and decide upon the nature of work to be done and again vist along with the committee members to do the real work without delay. He had said that he will reach by the end of January. Afterwards there is no information about the committee any more. There is reason for accusing Tayabji for not visiting Malabar. It will be justifiable to believe that the Congress working committee did not show adequate interest in this matter because of which the enquiry committee could discharge their duty.
It will be enough to say that an enquiry by the Congress did not materialize and because of it, the minute and confidential details regarding Moplah Rebellion did not reach the public.
It was seen from the newspapers that such an enquiry was being initiated by the Central Khilafat committee also with similar objectives, but nothing about it was heard later. In the meanwhile the Commander in Chief had also published a report by the army about the causes of the Moplah rebellion and the adventures of military and police in curbing it. The Commander in Chief had no doubts about the causes of the mutiny. He proved that it was entirely the Khilafat and the Congress. The outside public too did not have an opportunity to verify whether his report was factual or not. Though Mathrubhumi had published an editorial about the report, it was silent on analysis of the causes, perhaps due to shortage of space.
It was in this context that I got an opportunity to write an article about “Jenmis and Moplah rebellion”. That article led the way to create some misunderstandings. Some asked whether I am not bound to tell what caused the rebellion, if it was not the cruel oppression by the landlords. Some others said that there is justification for its misunderstanding, since everything was not clearly explained in the aricle. Since no sort of an enquiry has been conducted so far even after the expiry of one and a half years after the rebellion, and it is almost sure that no such enquiry will be undertaken at all, it will not be out of place to write a few articles in detail about certain experiences of mine as Congress worker and a close witness of the rebellion, in “Mathrubhumi”. What I am going to write may not appear as new to many. But I am convinced that even people of Palakkad are not fully aware of what transpired in last March in their neighboring taluks. That is why I am inclined to write this series yielding to the pressures of the battle calls of Malabar Muslims, request of Lahore correspondent and opinions of some respected gentlemen.”
Mahatma Gandhi and the Moplahs of Malabar
(Written by Mr C F Andrews in Young India and re- published by Mathrubhumi daily in its issue of 5th of April 1923 (page 7)
…. I conveyed to Mahatma Gandhi certain ideas which were burning in my mind for some time to know his opinion. I asked Mahatma ji as to what help I should extend to stop the communal splits and differences that happened in Malabar and restore peace and tranquility there. This question brightened his face very much. He said that he was worried and constantly thinking about his failiure in duty by not visiting Malabar and expressing his regrets, even under threat of arrest and imprisonment, in view of the ban put by the government against his entering Malabar. He also said that he will have a lot peace of mind and greatly relieved if I visited the place forthwith, personally. It was then that I could realize the limitless affection he had for the Moplahs of Malabar. Though the Moplahs had committed very heinous crimes, he instilled in me a feeling of love eradicating the hatred caused by the atrocities. Every word he spoke displayed the deep love he kept in his mind. Had the government permitted him to travel to the rebellion affected areas in the early stages itself, he would have entered those spots completely unarmed and helpless. If the Moplahs by their ignorance and unaware of the qualities of this great soul, made any attempt on his life, he would have accepted such death valiantly and with a smiling face, quite confident of the fact that his blood would have served to instill peace and tolerance in the minds of the Moplahs. On the other hand if they did understand him correctly, he would have been successful in making them lay down their arms and embrace the Hindus as their brothers as well as removing the hatred in the minds of Hindus and accepting the Muslims as their own brothers.
When I reached Malabar what I saw were all terrible scenes. I was convinced that forced conversions were not a concoted story and there were evidences of the terrible things the insurgents did for that. I saw with my eyes the clear evidences of a forced conversion of a Hindu youth. All his virility was lost and remained and appeared like a living corpse. Many things more were witnessed by me. I am not detailing them all here. Among all that I also saw four Muslim women and children who had become insane due to fear. I also saw a woman injured with a bayonet charge and a child with mutilated limbs. The love kindled by Mahatma Gandhi in my heart attracted me towards them. With the help of two Congress workers I could understand the extent of their sorrows. I went back to appraise Mahatma Gandhi of the facts I collected from Malabar. I met him while he was at Bardoli and conveyed him all the facts. I will never forget the expressions of love and sadness that reflected on his face when he heard the news.( Might be that after hearing this only Gandhiji wrote in Young India condemning Moplah rebellion)
Since it was a Monday and Gandhiji used to observe a vow of silence on that day, He couldn’t say anything to me. But his facial expressions conveyed clearly what was in his mind. I went back to Malabar again. Later on due to other preoccupations I could not return to Malabar again. Some prominent Muslims had written me a few days back that the witch hunting by Malabar Police continues unabated even now and the Muslim youth consider death better option than continuing living in the present situation.”
This report illustrates the atrocities committed by Muslims on Hindus in the name of Khilafat and the Police excesses on the Muslims after the riots were contained
Malabar Rebellion, Military action and the Army chief’s Report.
(Published in Mathrubhumi daily dated 21st March 1923, Page-5)
A report presented by the Army chief about work done by the army during the period of Malabar riots (1921 August 20 – 1922 February 22) has since been published. A brief summary of its contents is appended below.
Right from the beginning, Muslims of Malabar are notorious for their cantankerous nature, religious intolerance and unruly behavior. Within the last 80 years they had led not less than 36 rebellions against the government and in 75 percent of these cases military had to interfere to restore normalcy.
Khilafat action
The reason for the 1921 rebellion was mainly the Khilafat movement. Those whose intention was to create chaos in administration were trying to utilize the fanaticism of Muslims to achieve their ends. Many among them were related directly with the Congress committees. Those who belonged to the non-moderate groups exhorted the rural Moplah folk with some arguments and logic in favor of Khilafat, to start a rebellion.Their efforts succeeded also.
Force of the rebellion.
The commencement of the rebellion itself was with all brute force. The attempt of the insurgents was to topple the lawful government and disturb peaceful existence of people and establish an independent Khilafat regime. Very easily they could scare the people in those places and influence them. Thereafter they started mass killings and forcible conversions of Hindus to Islam. Apart from the few guns seized from the Europeans and police in the initial stage of the rebellion, their only weapon was swords. Instead of fighting a direct war with the opponents their plan was to resort to fight isolated targets while in hiding. This technique was ideal for the landscape involved. There were good opportunities to mount surprise attacks and go into safe hiding in that land, full of forests, paddy fields, hills and estates. The mutiny had started during the rains and the bridges were all destroyed initially itself. Because of this it was very difficult for the army to move to the areas affected. Though there were plenty of roads, since they were blocked by cutting and placing huge trees across them and destroying culverts, they could not be effectively used whenever needed.
Since the roads were rendered unusable, the rioters had the advantage to mount surprise attacks on the military very easily. Because of the torrential rains, it was difficult to make necessary arrangements for a war
The Chief of Army had praised the efforts put in by all members of the army who helped to to quench the rebellion, at the end of his report.
