Worker, Peasant and tribal Movement in Kerala:-
Worker and Peasant movement:-
Peasants and workers also formed their organizations. They agitated for reforms.By 1930s a strong leftist movement emerged in Kerala. Socialism and Communism influenced many leaders and the Kerala Provincial Congress Committee was dominated by leftists were under the leadership of EM.S. Nambuthiripad and P.S. Krishnapillai. When the world war broke out the rift between the Right and the left widened.
Compared to the middle class the labouring people were proved to have interests completely antagonistic to the Subsidiary state. They were the victims of social oppression and economic exploitation perpetrated by the state. Although the tenant cultivators of the pre-modern kind had ceased to exist in Travancore by the end of the nineteenth century, the farmers were at the mercy of the moneylenders and poorest among them had become agricultural labourers or share-crop cultivators under the rich farmers. The famine conditions that existed during the thirties and forties increased their misery, and many of them migrated to the Western Ghats, where they cut down forests and cultivated the lands with plantation crops and cash crops. Migrations to Malabar, particularly Kannur and Wayanad also began during this period. Agricultural labourers began to seek work in the emerging ‘traditional’ industries, including Coir and cashew and formed the basis of the emerging working class. The working class struggles that developed in Kollam and Alappuzha regions were not only for the alleviation of their miserable working conditions but also against the state that perpetrated them and also protected the middle class entrepreneurs. This feature made them to shun communitarianism and constitute secular platforms for working class struggles. The labour associations and Trade Unions emerged in this fashion. These associations drove a wedge within the middle class communitarian politics, splitting it and bringing the working class under non-communitarian and syncretic platforms. While the middle class vacillated in their antagonism to the Travancore state, and concentrated their attention on the end of the Diwan’s rule, the working class was openly antithetical to the state and their struggles became a matter of concern to the State. The repeated crackdowns on the working class struggles demonstrated this unease. Nor did the middle class in Travancore favour these struggles, realizing that the struggles posed as much a threat to themselves as to the State. The antagonism reached its peak when the Travancore Government put forward the proposal for a presidential form of Government, thus eliminating whatever space that the legislature enjoyed. The working class, immiserised by the economic conditions that developed after the II World War and antagonized by the actions of the State Government rebelled and their actions in Punnapra and Vayalar was brutally put down by the military during 1946-47.Not surprisingly, the middle class in Travancore were either antagonistic, or kept a safe distance away from the struggle.
The case of Cochin:-
The struggle for responsible Government developed in Cochin also. The middle class in Cochin were more homogeneous upper caste and marginally Christian groups and hence not influenced by communitarian divisions of Travancore. The drift towards communitarianism of the Travancore kind was prevented by a secular rationalist tendency, initiated by Sahodaran Ayyappan and espoused by community reformers such as V.T.Bhattathirippad. Hence, attitudes towards the Government and Diwanship, as well as the dispositions towards the broader national movement gained primary importance. The Cochin state, being intrinsically weaker and less resourceful than Travancore acceded to the demand by these, and a diarchy with equal powers to the Diwan and the Assembly, came into being. The diarchy was in a sense the rule of a single class as there was no intrinsic antagonism between Cochin State and the middle class. It was only with the emergence of working class and peasant struggles that antagonisms of a more serious kind began to emerge in Cochin, as shown by the Mill workers of Trissur, estate workers and coconut growers. The middle class also began to involve themselves in the national movement, and this brought about united action by various classes during the forties.
Struggle in Malabar:-
The situation was more complicated in Malabar. There the population including the Middle Class was anti-Colonial, with the exception of an elite minority. Communitarianism had very little influence, as the work of various social reformers in the region, was syncretic, rather than based on particular communities. The only form of communitarianism that emerged was religious, as Islamic and Hindu. The Islamic Communitarianism originated from the spontaneous anti-British uprisings of the Mappilas in the nineteenth Century that culminated in a more organized struggle of 1921 under the banner of the Khilafat. This struggle was not approved by the middle class nationalists in Malabar, who also kept a distance from the mappilas even during the subsequent decades, when they were going through a state of deprivation and misery. This resulted in the drift of the mappilas towards the divisive propaganda of a new middle class that emerged from the Mappilas that included both the ‘traditional’ intellectuals and a new commercial class. The All India Muslim League led by Muhammad Ali Jinnah established a unit in Malabar during 1937. After the adoption of the Pakistan resolution in 1941, the unit actively propagated for the formation of Pakistan. Although the unit ceased to exist later, their activists reconstituted themselves as the Indian Union Muslim League in 1948. The Hindu syncretism took the form of a reaction to the mappilas, which was led by the Sanatani Hindus and even supported by a section of the nationalist leadership of the period. However, it was the establishment of broad based popular organizations during the thirties that was able to drive a wedge into the emerging Hindu consciousness and destroy the spread of communalism. These organizations included those of the working class, peasants, students, teachers and the youth. These organizations emerged in the background of the rapidly deteriorating economic conditions during the thirties and were initially led by middle class nationalists, who were disenchanted by the policy of class appeasement, followed by Gandhi and looked for a theoretical framework for the furtherance of popular struggles. The socialist theory, as exemplified by the achievements of the Soviet Union, provided such a framework. Most of the workers of the working class, peasant, and youth organizations later became communists, a process through which the class antagonism developing within Malabar society also got formalized. The antagonisms became manifest under the conditions of II world war, that brought unprecedented miseries on the people, which was furthered by the exploitation of the local landlord. The numerous peasant struggles that broke out in different parts of Malabar on numerous issues related to peasant subsistence deepened the class antagonism and increased the political base of the Communist Party as the vanguard of the toiling people. The growing people’s struggles in other parts of Kerala helped the extension of the political base of the Communist Party throughout Kerala.
Tribal Movement:-
Tribes are the real inhabitants of the land. Tribal communities are found in all dis-
tricts of Kerala, except Alappuzha. Wayanad has the largest tribal population
among all the other districts of Kerala state and is considered as the ‘Holy land’ of
‘Adivasis’. The tribal population is spread in the three taluks of Wayanad, consist-
ing of the eight Panchayaths in Mananthavady, seven Panchayaths in Sulthan
Bathery and ten Panchayaths in Vaythiri taluk. The Paniyas, Adiyas,
Mullukurumas, Tenkurumas, Kattunaykas, Uralikurumas, Kurichyas,
Kallanadies, Kunduvadiyans, Karimbalas, Thachinadans are the chief commu-
nities in Wayanad.
Outbreak of Tribal Movements
The root cause of all the problems have been suffered by the tribal people was in
connection with their landlessness. For more than six decades, The Adivasi move-
ments have been demanding to get back their alienated land. Even though laws
were enacted to reinstate the Adivasi land in 1975 it was not successfully imple-
mented due to many untold reasons. The above said Acts was cancelled in 1997
and a new Act was enacted. The new Act cast aside the earlier point of view of
reinstating the alienated land.
As per the new Act, land and houses should be given to the Adivasis instead of
their alienated land. The Dalit organizations came forward to protest against the
new Act. They demanded five acres of land for agriculture instead of their alien-
ated land.
As observed above, the root cause of the problems of Adivasis in Kerala, espe-
cially in Wayanad is their landlessness. There were mainly three reasons
observed for the said alienation of their land.
- Encroachment and immigration
The immigration was started in to the Adivasi land or forest land in the 1 940 ‘s
mainly in the form of bare encroachments and migration as social mobilization
process. These encroachment and immigration was prevalent in the Adivasi land
holdings. The chief segment of Adivasis lost their lands for repayment their
debt or to meet their household necessities or for the medical treatment.
Those who had vested interests subjugated the forest for industrial purpose and
their migration extended in to the forest lands in Wayanad wherein the tribal com-
munities actually lived. To them, the forest was considered as a source of income
and livelihood. The British possessed the tribal inhabiting regions where they
developed their plantations.
- The use of forest for other purposes:-
The development of technology and the increasing need of lives depended up on
forest for non-forest purposes. Industrial and technological growth has become
possible by the maximum use of natural resources. This greatly affected the life
and social compactness of the tribal people. The use of forest for non-forest pur-
poses destroyed the habitat of the tribal people here.
- Historical reasons:-
The newly introduced global policies and its politics brought up changes that dis-
carded the relation and made a profound and wide gap between the civilized and
tribals. As K. Panoor wrote that the alienated land of the Adivasis around 25%.
Apart from the migration, many land Acts also caused to the landlessness of
Adivasis. When the English East India Company established their authority
over the forests in Malabar and established their right to cut down the trees, the
natives began to protest against their activities.
Cheengery Agitation
The Adivasi leaders declared that they would take possession of Cheengery after
Ambukuthi on 26th January 1995. A campaign was organized under the banner
of Adivasi United Samithi. As the part of resource mobilization, a handful of rice
was collected from each of the Adivasi families by the agitators through
Oorukootams.The land Cheengeri was bought by Kerala Government from the
Government of Tamil Nadu. These 528 acres of land would be distributed
among 100 families; each family would get five acres of land. The Adivasis
needed to be trained how to use this land productively. As per the documents
fifty five lakh rupees was spent for Adivasis to train scientific cultivation during
the period 1957-1995. But they were not given even a bit of land for cultivation.
On January 25 th night, Adivasis entered the Cheengeri Estate and 249 families
built huts and stayed there. As a result, 120 Adivasi leaders were taken under the
custody of Kalpetta police. The District collector reached at the struggle site and
negotiated with the leaders. After seven days of judicial custody the accused
were released. On February 7 th 224 Adivasis were arrested and they were sent to
the sub- jail at Kozhikode. They were released after 11 days imprisonment.
Meanwhile the government made cable fence around the Cheengery estate.
Against this action of the Government the Adivasi Samithi declared a relay
sathyagraha strike in protest against the inhuman treatment of the Government
towards Adivasis and this strike lasted for 48 days. There was political interven-
tion on Cheengery land problem and the CPI (M) Waynad district committee
declared that the Land Restoration Act should never be implemented in its exact
form. But on 14 th February the CPRM) state Secretary E.K. Nayanar visited
Cheengery estate and appealed the government to hand over the estate to
Adivasis.
Paanavally Agitation
On 5 th March 1995 the Adivasi Pravarthaka Samithi marched to Panavally forest
land. In Panavally 18 acres of land was supposed to be declared as reserve forest
in the near future. The Samithi built huts in the land and seventy five Adivasi fami-
lies started farming there. On 10 th March 1 995 the forest officials destroyed the
huts and the Adivasis were arrested. Later they were released but they rebuilt the
demolished huts. But the police set fire on the huts and 1 02 Adivasis again were
arrested and sent them to the judicial custody include children below the age of
five. After the release of the accused they once again moved to Panavally and
constructed new huts and indulged in farming. A meeting of the Adivasi Samithi meeting held at Kalpetta on 26th January 1994 decided to start agitation against the Government and to take possession of the land deserved by the Adivasis. The meeting declared March 1st as deadline to the Government. On the scheduled date, Adivasi agitators surrounded before the
District Collector of Waynad. This strange stands of the Adivasi Samithi caused
to detach from the mainstream political parties. Meanwhile the Government
appealed the High Court for a grace period of one year to solve the Adivasi land
problem. Government further informed the Court that the non-co-operation of Adivasi
Samithi was the reason for not implementing the law. But the High Court rejected
the argument of the Government. The High Court disagreed to prolong the time
period to the government to implement the Act. The Court once again asserted
its previous verdict that the land would be given to the Adivasis within 6 months
and the Court would observe whether the revenue department carries out the
order of the Court. The Government did not take favorable decision even if the
frequent intervention of the Court and the endless demand of the Adivasi agita-
tions. There was no other means for the Adivasis except to continue the struggle.
On 26 th February 1995, an ‘Until Death Sathyagraha’ was started in front of the
Secretariat under the eminent leadership of C.K. Janu. This fast lasted for 1 3 days
and the agitators attempted to enter the Secretariat Block at the last phase of the
struggle. The Secretariat guards prevented the attempt of the agitators and C.K.
Janu and others were wounded and taken to hospital.
There was no other way before the Adivasis to obtain and realize their rights;
therefore they were compelled to move to the crucial form of struggle. C.K. Janu
and the other agitators started making huts in front of the Secretariat as the part of
the struggle and continued the agitation. On September 2001 the agitators made
traditional huts with the help of Gothra Maha Sabha. They prepared food at the
huts and stayed there. This agitation attracted the mass support of general public.
This agitation lasted for nearly one month. The A possibility of compromise
with the intervention of famous political leader K.R. Gouri Amma and eminent
poet Sugathakumari emerged and the agitation was put to an end on October
1 6 th 200 1 and an official meeting was convened by the then Chief minister.
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