KN Ganesh
THE AKG Centre for Studies and Research organised a seminar on the Vaikom Satyagraha on April 24, 2023, in Thiruvananthapuram. This programme provided a platform for the political evaluation of one of the premier protest struggles in Kerala. The seminar was inaugurated by Prakash Karat, CPI(M) Polit Bureau member, and MV Govindan, CPI(M) Polit Bureau member and state secretary, presided over the seminar. Kanam Rajendran, CPI state secretary, and Dr Sunil P Elayidam made keynote presentations. Dr KM Sheeba, KN Ganesh, and V Kartikeyan Nair also addressed the seminar. TM Thomas Isaac welcomed the gathering, and R Parvathy Devi gave the vote of thanks.
In his inaugural address, Prakash Karat highlighted the political significance of the Vaikom Satyagraha. The issues of untouchability, unapproachability, and freedom of movement were being raised by various organisations in Kerala. But it was only in the 1920s that TK Madhavan, the SNDP and Congress leader moved the resolution against untouchability in the Kakinada Session of the AICC and got it passed. The Vaikom Satyagraha had a limited objective of granting freedom of movement for the avarnas to use the roads on all four sides of the Vaikom temple, rather than addressing the entire problem of untouchability and caste discrimination.
One major achievement of the Vaikom Satyagraha was the ability to unify all the caste organisations, including savarna organisations, for the struggle and maintain unity throughout the 603-day struggle. EV Ramaswamy Naicker participated in the struggle as a member of the Congress, responding to its call. However, Mahatma Gandhi, who played a vital role in the struggle, interpreted the struggle as involving Hindu issues and prevented the participation of Christians and Sikhs in the struggle. Gandhi also negotiated the settlement of the struggle, which provided limited success as avarnas were still prevented from entering one side of the temple. This settlement angered activists like EVR, who subsequently left the Congress.
Prakash considered the aftermath of the Vaikom Satyagraha to be significant. The Congress, which had led the struggle, failed to recognise the importance of internally developing social and class struggles and instead focused solely on achieving political freedom. This was evident in the Guruvayur Satyagraha too, where Left activists such as P Krishna Pillai and AK Gopalan participated, with AKG serving as the volunteer captain. However, this satyagraha also failed to achieve its goal following the Gandhian approach.
Subsequently, the Left provided leadership to social struggles in Kerala and successfully combined them with class issues of labour and livelihood. This was different from Tamil Nadu, where EVR led the anti-brahmin movement. The Left's ability to merge social struggles with class struggles empowered dalits economically and socially, leading to a situation where there are no atrocities against dalits in Kerala. In Tamil Nadu, atrocities against dalits continue with struggles for temple entry occurring in some parts of the state even today.
Prakash emphasised the continuing significance of the Vaikom Satyagraha in the present context, particularly as Hindutva forces continue to pursue their fascistic designs. He noted that the Vaikom Satyagraha was a democratic struggle, and highlighted the importance of democratic struggles that can unite the largest sections of people against the fascistic Hindutva forces. These forces have even gone so far as to distort school textbooks by removing important historical episodes, democratic content, and scientific facts.
MV Govindan, who presided over the seminar, stressed the social significance of the satyagraha. It mobilised a broad cross-section of people from all walks of life around the issue of social transformation, providing the impetus for later democratic struggles.
Kanam Rajendran emphasised the Vaikom Satyagraha's significance as a pioneering struggle for human rights. It occurred at a time when the movements for civil rights, access to employment, and education were gaining momentum, and even the savarnas, led by Mannath Padmanabhan, were involved in struggles to defend their rights and freedom. As a result, all sections of the population recognised the Vaikom Satyagraha as a critical component of the fight for the advancement of human rights, and this recognition was a primary reason for the unity displayed during the struggle.
Dr Sunil P Elayidam gave a detailed analysis of the Vaikom struggle, highlighting its significance in the larger context of Indian freedom struggle. He pointed out that at the national level, there were two distinct tendencies visible - one was the struggle for political freedom from colonial rule and the other was the struggle for social freedom as represented by Phule, Ambedkar, Narayana Guru, and others. In Kerala, numerous struggles against caste oppression had also emerged. These different trajectories converged in the Vaikom Satyagraha, where a unified struggle emerged.
Elayidam argued that Gandhi's intervention in the satyagraha and his engagement with Narayana Guru enabled him to come face to face with the reality of caste, which made him refine his views regarding caste. Later, Gandhi was convinced of the undesirability of caste but was never able to raise it as a political slogan, which was the major point of difference between him and Ambedkar. Elayidam provided a vivid account of the progress of the struggle, emphasising its significance in contemporary mobilisation of social forces not only against Hindutva forces but also against various types of communal-divisive tendencies.
Dr KM Sheeba expressed her differences with the tendency to present the Vaikom struggle solely as a narrative demonstrating the struggle for human rights and citizen's rights. She pointed out that the struggle did not address the entire range of issues that comprise caste identity, and caste domination has continued since then. She also noted that historians have not taken into account the gender aspect of the struggle, including the presence of women not only in the Vaikom struggle but in other contemporaneous struggles as well.
KN Ganesh highlighted that the Vaikom Satyagraha had limited objectives and success. Although it was able to mobilise various groups with different concerns, its primary aim was to address temple entry for lower castes and did not cover the entire range of issues related to caste identity. Ganesh also noted the differences between the Vaikom Satyagraha and contemporary times, where the corporate-communal combine uses caste and religion as tools to oppress people.
Sri Kartikeyan Nair stressed the political nature of the struggle and its significance in subsequent political mobilisations against princely rule in Travancore.
The seminar on Vaikom Satyagraha provided a platform for debate, discussion and raised a number of issues that are significant not only for the historical evaluation of the satyagraha but also for the problems that the Left and democratic forces face in contemporary India.
