The Role of South India in the Freedom Movement

The Partition of Bengal and VOC

Rise of Nationalism

The nineteenth century witnessed the awakening of the national consciousness. This manifested itself not only in politics but in all fields of Indian life, culture, society and religion.

One of the most important personalities who contributed to this awakening was Swami Vivekananda. After the passing away of Sri Ramakrishna, he toured all over India as a parivrajak and got a first-hand view of the condition in which India was at that time. He made a great impression wherever he went; but it was in South India that the response was the most enthusiastic and widespread. The youth were touched and inspired by Swamiji. As a manifestation of this, it was the Raja of Ramnad who sponsored and helped Swami Vivekananda to undertake his voyage to Chicago.

Swami Vivekananda spent quite some months in South India and in all the states he visited, he had a tremendous impact. Here is one report of a speech in Madras.

Swami Vivekananda's first public lecture in Madras was on 'My plan of campaign' and made a profound and indelible impression on me. I felt thrilled to the innermost core of my being by his words and my eyes were wet with tears. Many others who heard the speech were in the same predicament. Then and there some of us took a vow to do what we could to relieve the ignorance, poverty, and misery of the masses of India to the extent possible for each one of us.1

The following are some extracts from his speeches, given in different parts of the South: 'Practical patriotism means not a mere sentiment or even emotion of love of the motherland but a passion to serve our fellow-countrymen. I have gone all over India on foot and have seen with my own eyes the ignorance, misery, and squalor of our people. My whole soul is afire and I am burning with a fierce desire to change such evil conditions. Let no one talk of karma. If it was their karma to suffer; it is our karma to relieve the suffering. If you want to find God, serve Man. To reach Narayana you must serve the daridranarayanas — the starving millions of India.'2

'May I be born again and again and suffer thousands of miseries so that I may worship the only God that exists, the only God I believe in, the sum total of all souls: and, above all, my God the wicked, my God the miserable, my God the poor of all races, of all species, is the special object of my worship.' 3

Although these speeches were not political, they kindled the spirit of nationalism and love for India. The press, particularly The Hindu, Swadesamitran and Desabakthan, also played a significant role in awakening the people. As a consequence of this awakening, the Madras Native Association was founded in 1852. Through this association, the grievances of the people were submitted to the British Government. The Madras Mahajana Sabha was later established in 1884. G. Subramaniya Iyer, P. Anandacharlu,

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and Rangaiya Naidu played a significant part in the association to redress the miseries of the people.

Rise of Indian National Congress

The Indian National Congress was founded in 1885. With its formation the Freedom Movement gained momentum in Tamil Nadu. The first conference of the congress was held at Bombay under the presidentship of W. C. Bonnerji. C. Vijayaraghavachariyar of Salem, a close associate of A. O. Hume, was one of the members of the committee which drafted the constitution of Indian National Congress. G. Subramaniya Iyer of Chennai participated and moved a resolution in the congress. In the beginning, the role of the Indian National Congress was not to oppose the British government, but to submit their grievances in a peaceful way. The sessions of Indian National Congress were convened at Madras in 1887, 1895 and 1898. C. Vijayaraghavachariyar played a prominent role in framing the rules of the congress during these years.

The Partition of Bengal and VOC

The year 1905 is one of the most important years in the history of the Freedom Movement of India; the year that the British Government decided to partition Bengal. The decision to partition Bengal into two provinces shocked the whole country. It was part of the British political trump card; the policy of divide and rule. As a matter of fact, from 1870 onwards, the British started inciting the Hindus and the Muslims to form their own political parties in order to establish their distinct religious identities. That was the beginning of the communalisation of politics. The British not only encouraged the two communities to form political parties along religious lines, they took various steps to create a situation whereby Hindus and Muslims would be forced to think that their religious identity was at peril. This effort culminated in the partition of Bengal in 1905. The Presidency of Bengal was divided into two parts apparently for administrative reasons. It was argued that Bengal, Bihar and Orissa, which formed a single province of British India since 1765, had grown too large to handle under a single administration; but it was quite clear that the partition was made along communal lines in order to divide the communities. Lord Curzon on a tour of East Bengal, confessed that his 'object in partitioning was not only to relieve the Bengali administration, but to create a Mohammedan province, where Islam could be predominant and its followers in ascendancy'. It thus provided an impetus to the religious divide and one of the consequences was the formation of the Muslim League. The people of Bengal were indignant and outraged. For them the partition was not merely a fresh application of the British policy of divide and rule, but the sundering of the soul of a people. This single event brought about united opposition from all groups, political and non-political. Poet Rabindranath Tagore, Sir Gurudas Banerjee, a judge, and the Maharajas of Mymensingh and Cassimbazar all joined in the protest. This triggered off a tremendous awakening and manifested in a sudden outburst of the genius of the Bengali race, flowering in the field of literature and music. So great was its impact that Ramsay Macdonald exclaimed: "Bengal is creating India by song and worship, it is clothing her in queenly garments.' The same phenomenon was visible in South India through the personalities of Subramaniam Bharati and other poets and writers.

Thus began the second phase of the Freedom Movement. This period was between 1905 and 1915. It must be noted that the movement was not restricted to Bengal. The

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whole of India was thrown into the cauldron; in Maharashtra, Bal Gangadhar Tilak took direct part, in Punjab it was Lala Lajpat Rai and in South India it was Subramaniam Bharati. Slogans of Swaraj, Swadeshi, Boycott, and National Education, emerged during the anti-partition campaign. Tilak carried on a vigorous propaganda of this programme and recommended its adoption at the session of the Congress held at Calcutta in 1906. Dadabhai Naoroji and other leaders of the liberal faction supported the proposal and it was adopted. Tilak emerged as a leader of national stature from that year.

But the most important consequence of the partition of Bengal was the advent of Sri Aurobindo in active politics. Sri Aurobindo was then in Baroda and he wrote about the partition: 'This measure is no mere administrative proposal but a blow straight at the heart of the nation.' Then the Vice-Principal of the College in Baroda, he left his comfortable job and moved to Calcutta and joined active politics. It was then that the Bengal National College was founded and he became its first Principal. He began writing editorials for 'Bandemataram', an English daily started by Bipin Chandra Pal, and by the end of the year was the paper's chief editor. Sri Aurobindo stated that his first occupation 'was to declare openly for complete and absolute independence as the aim of political action in India and to insist on this persistently in the pages of the journal'. He was the first politician in India who had the courage to do this in public and he was immediately successful. Bandemataram soon circulated through the country and became a powerful force in moulding its political thought.

There were three sides to Sri Aurobindo's political ideas and activities. First, there was the action with which he started; a secret revolutionary propaganda and organisation of which the central object was the preparation of an armed insurrection. Secondly, there was a public propaganda intended to convert the whole nation to the ideal of independence, which was regarded by the vast majority of Indians as unpractical and impossible; an almost insane chimera. Thirdly, there was the organisation of the people to carry on a public and united opposition and undermining of the foreign rule through an increasing non-cooperation and passive resistance.

Regarding the public propaganda intended to convert the whole nation to the ideal of independence, Sri Aurobindo devised a two-pronged strategy. The first was to use the columns of the Bandemataram to spread the ideal of total freedom and, secondly, to capture the Congress. For this purpose Sri Aurobindo, Tilak and other leaders formed a new party called the Nationalist Congress Party.

At the same time, Sri Aurobindo built up a comprehensive scheme of political action known as Passive Resistance or Boycott, the most potent and fruitful contribution to the whole of India in the beginning of the twentieth century. This is what he wrote: 'The first principle of passive resistance, which the new school have placed in the forefront of their programme, is to make administration under present conditions impossible by an organized refusal to do anything which shall help either British commerce in the exploitation of the country or British officialdom in the administration of it - unless and until the conditions are changed in the manner and to the extent demanded by the people. This attitude is summed up in one word Boycott.' It was originally devised as an economic weapon to hit the British rulers at their most vital point; but Sri Aurobindo endowed it with far-reaching possibilities. It soon expressed itself in the fourfold non-cooperation - economic boycott, educational boycott, judicial boycott and the boycott of the executive administration. And this boycott was to be kept judiciously within the bounds of law.

He wrote a series of brilliant articles in the Bandemataram entitled 'The Doctrine of Passive Resistance'; in these articles, he expounded a detailed programme of non-cooperation. We find here an incisive analysis of its importance and also valuable hints

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regarding its technique. While advocating non-cooperation, Sri Aurobindo was careful to define its limits. Here is a quotation from Sri Aurobindo: 'There is a limit however to passive resistance. So long as the action of the executive is peaceful and within rules of the fight, the passive resister scrupulously maintains his attitude of passivity, but he is not bound to do so a moment beyond. To submit to illegal or violent methods of coercion, to accept outrage and hooliganism as part of the legal procedure of the country, is to be guilty of cowardice, and, by dwarfing national manhood, to sin against the divinity within ourselves and the divinity in our motherland... Passive resistance cannot build up a strong and great nation unless it is masculine, bold and ardent in its spirit and ready at any moment and at the slightest notice to supplement itself with active resistance. We do not want to develop a nation of women who know only how to suffer and not how to strike.'4

We thus see that the non-violent non-cooperation movement of Gandhi was found to be anticipated substantively by the movement of Passive Resistance in the early part of the century and that its foundations were firmly laid at least a decade before he came on the Indian political scene. It should be clear from the above quotation that with Sri Aurobindo passive resistance was only a tool and not a creed to be followed in all situations and circumstances.

Regarding the plan for armed revolution, one of the ideas of Sri Aurobindo was to establish secretly, under various pretexts and covers, revolutionary propaganda and recruiting throughout Bengal. This was to be done among the youth of the country while sympathy and support and financial and other assistance were to be obtained from the older men who had advanced views or could be won over to them. Centres were to be established in every town and eventually in every village. Societies of young men were to be established with various ostensible objects, cultural, intellectual or moral and those already existing were to be won over for revolutionary use. Young men were to be trained in activities which might be helpful for ultimate military action, such as riding, physical training, athletics of various kinds, drill and organised movement. It was in 1901 that Sri Aurobindo made his first move by sending Jatin Banerjee as his lieutenant to Bengal with a programme of preparation and action, which he thought might occupy a period of 30 years before fruition could become possible. Jatin was also charged with setting up centres in every town and eventually in every village. As soon as the idea was sown, it attained rapid prosperity. It must be noted that there were many other secret societies in Bengal already flourishing. Rajnarain Bose had already formed one in which the Tagore brothers were members, and Sarala Ghosal founded several clubs where not only boys but girls too were taught to wield lathi and sword. Sarala Ghosal was indeed the foremost organiser of physical education in Bengal.

It will be of some interest to note that Sri Aurobindo first met Tilak in 1901 at Baroda. Later in 1902 at the Ahmedabad Congress, the two met again. Tilak took him out of the pandal and talked to him for an hour in the grounds expressing his contempt of the action of the Reformist movement (of the Indian National congress) and explaining his own line of action in Maharashtra. The Congress was held under the chairmanship of Surendranath Banerjee, who declared: 'We plead the permanence of British rule in India.' From this time onwards, Sri Aurobindo and Tilak were in close contact. Sri Aurobindo and Tilak, however, soon realized that an armed revolt at that stage of India's history was not feasible, and though he continued to support and guide the underground terrorist movement in the hope that it would demoralise the British, he had no illusions as to the possibility of mere terrorism securing the country's freedom.

The Nationalist Congress Party was formed and it was decided that they should capture the Congress Party, which was then led by the Moderates.

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All these events had a tremendous impact in the South. One of the leading figures in the agitation and revolt against the British was V. O. Chidambaram Pillai.

The Impact in the South and V. O. Chidambaram Pillai

V. O. Chidambaram Pillai was born in Ottappidaram, now in Tuticorin district, on 5 September 1872, to an eminent lawyer Vulaganathan Pillai and Paramyee. After completing schooling in Ottapidaram and Tirunelveli, he worked for a few years in the the district administrative office. Later following his fathers footsteps he completed law.

That was the era when lawyers, men of education ready to fight for causes were in the forefront of public service as leaders of society. Thus VOC emerged as one such leader in his town, and leading champion of the underdog, the oppressed and the depressed.

As a lawyer he often pleaded for the poor, at times appearing against his father, who appeared for the affluent. Among his notable cases, he proved corruption charges on three sub-magistrates. In the Kulasekaranallur Asari case he proved innocence of the accused. He evinced interest in Saiva Siddhanta, taking part in the local Saivite association and pursuing his literary and religious interests. But with 1906, 'The New Spirit' that was the outcome of the Swadeshi movement, everything changed. The year and a half that followed radically changed his life, propelling him to brief all-India fame and immortality in the Tamil world.

In the Madras Presidency the Independence Movement was championed by the likes of Subramanya Siva, the poet Subramanyam Bharathi, later to be joined by V.O.C. He entered politics in 1905 following the partition of Bengal, joining the Indian National Congress and taking a hardliner stand. He also presided at the Salem District Congress session.

At that time there was a flourishing commerce between Tuticorin and Colombo; this was entirely the monopoly of the British India Steam Navigation Company (BISN) and its Tuticorin agents, A. & F. Harvey.

Influenced by Sri Aurobindo's call for Boycott, VOC advocated that the Indians should boycott foreign goods especially the British and encourage local products or 'swadeshi' goods. This would be one of the ways to drive the alien Englishman from our Motherland and establish Swarajya and Independent India. The words 'Swarajya' and 'Swadeshi' were in the air in those days and thrilled people. Besides speaking in public, VOC floated a corporate enterprise. He garnered the support of local merchants and launched the first indigenous Indian shipping enterprise, on 12 November 1906, 'The Swadeshi Steam Navigation Company', thus earning himself the sobriquet, 'Kappalottiya Tamilan' (the Tamil who launched ships). This was indeed a daring move for its day, something extraordinary for a small-town lawyer even to dream about. The steam navigation business was then the monopoly of the ruling British and this 'native' company attracted a good deal of the sea traffic between Tuticorin and Colombo. This business was then dominated by the British India Steam Navigation Company and VOC made inroads into it. Thus, VOC became an opponent of the British-owned shipping company. VOC's political work, his clout with the public, his shipping business enterprise, all these and more did not please the ruling class. The fledgling company soon made it clear that it was up against the very might of the colonial Indian state. VOC's pioneering attempt was

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lauded across the subcontinent and he went on to purchase two steamships, S. S. Gallia and S. S. Lawoe for the company. In all this he had the support of Bal Gangadhar Tilak and Aurobindo Ghose. The ships commenced regular service between Tuticorin and Colombo (Sri Lanka), against the opposition of the British traders and the Imperial Government. VOC was thus laying the foundation for a comprehensive shipping industry in the country, more than just a commercial venture.

The British had assumed the Indian venture would collapse like a house of cards, but soon found the Indian company to be a formidable challenge. To thwart the new Indian company they resorted to the monopolistic trade practice of reducing the fare per trip to Re. 1 (16 annas) per head. Swadeshi company responded by offering a fare of Re. 0.5 (8 Annas). The British company went further by offering a free trip to the passengers plus a free umbrella, which had S. S. Gaelia and S. S. Lawoe running nearly empty. By 1909 the Swadeshi company was heading towards bankruptcy.

Conflict with the British

VOC's efforts to widen the base of the Swadeshi Movement by mobilising the workers of the Coral Mills, also managed by A. & F. Harvey, accentuated the confrontation. In the Nationalist Movement, he backed Bal Gangadhar Tilak. He led a contingent (which included the poet Subramaniam Bharati) from the Madras Presidency to the Surat Congress (1907) where the Congress had split into two camps — the Extremists and the Moderates. By the time he returned, he had become the most popular leader of the Extremists in South India — galvanising the Swadeshi shipping company, organising the mill workers to strike and conducting a series of nationalist meetings in Tuticorin and Tirunelveli.

On 12 March, 1908, he was arrested on charges of sedition and for two days Tirunelveli and Tuticorin witnessed unprecedented violence, quelled only by shooting four people to death (a Muslim, a Dalit, a baker and a Hindu temple priest). Police forces were brought in from neighbouring districts. Poet Subramaniam Bharathi and Subramanya Siva too appeared in the court for questioning. A sentence of two life imprisonments (in effect, 40 years) was imposed. He was confined in the Central Prison, Coimbatore (from 9 July 1908 to 1 December 1910). The Court sentence may be seen as a reflection of the fear the British had of VOC and their need to contain the rebellion and be sure that others would not follow in Chidambaram Pillai's footsteps.

But newspapers had taken note of VOC and his activities. Sri Aurobindo's nationalist newspaper Bande Mataram acclaimed him (27 March 1908) with 'Well Done, Chidambaram'. Apart from the Madras press, Anand Bazaar Patrika from Kolkata (Calcutta) carried reports of his prosecution every day. Funds were raised for his defence not only in India but also by the Indians in South Africa.

Here is an extract from an article written in the Bandemataram by Sri Aurobindo on the strike in Tuticorin.

For passive resistance to succeed unity, perseverance and thoroughness are the first requisites. Because this unity, perseverance and thoroughness existed in Tuticorin, the great battle fought over the Coral Mill has ended in a great and indeed absolutely sweeping victory for the people. Every claim made by the strikers has been conceded and British capital has had to submit to the humiliation of an unconditional surrender. Nationalism may well take pride in the gallant leaders who have by their cool and unflinching courage brought about this splendid vindication of Nationalist teaching. When men like Chidambaram, Padmanabha and Shiva are ready to undergo exile or imprisonment so that a handful of mill coolies may get justice and easier conditions of

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livelihood, a bond has been created between the educated class and the masses which

is the first great step towards Swaraj.5

In another article Sri Aurobindo paid tribute to Chidambaram.

Well Done, Chidambaram!

A true feeling of comradeship is the salt of political life; it binds men together and is the cement of all associated action. When a political leader is prepared to suffer for the sake of his followers, when a man, famous and adored by the public, is ready to remain in jail rather than leave his friends and fellow-workers behind, it is a sign that political life in India is becoming a reality. Srijut Chidambaram Pillai has shown throughout the Tuticorin affair a loftiness of character, a practical energy united with high moral idealism which show that he is a true Nationalist. His refusal to accept release on bail if his fellow-workers were left behind, is one more count in the reckoning. Nationalism is or ought to be not merely a political creed but a religious aspiration and a moral attitude. Its business is to build up Indian character by educating it to heroic self-sacrifice and magnificent ambitions, to restore the tone of nobility which it has lost and bring back the ideals of the ancient Aryan gentleman. The qualities of courage, frankness, love and justice are the stuff of which a Nationalist should be made. All honour to Chidambaram Pillai for having shown us the first complete example of an Aryan reborn, and all honour to Madras which has produced such a man.6

But the draconian sentence of two life imprisonments (even Tilak got only six years) was received with shock and disbelief. After the witch hunt following Tirunelveli District Collector Ashe's assassination (in 1911) by youths patently inspired by VOC, the Swadeshi Movement, with its limited popular base, petered out.

VOC, languishing in prison, was left to fend for himself. His young wife, Meenakshi Ammal followed him — almost single-handedly organising the logistics of his appeals — from the Tirunelveli sub-jail to the Coimbatore and Kannur central jails, where he spent his term. In those 'pre-Non Cooperation days', when there was no category of political prisoners, he did hard (convict) labour. VOC was even made to work the oil mill, depicted so poignantly in a poem by his friend Subramaniam Bharati. In prison he continued a clandestine correspondence, maintaining a stream of petitions going into legal niceties and giving evidence against them in a jail outbreak.

Confinement in Prison

It is to be noted that Chidambaram Pillai was not treated as a 'political prisoner', nor was the sentence 'simple imprisonment', simple; he was rather treated as a convict sentenced to life imprisonment and required to do hard labour. V.O.C. was in fact subjected to inhumane torture, which took a heavy toll on his health. The noted historian and Tamil scholar, R. A. Padmanabhan, would later note in his works "yoked (in place of Bulls) to the oil press like an animal and made to work it in the cruel hot sun...." Even from prison VOC continued a clandestine correspondence, maintaining a steady stream of petitions going into legal niceties. Later the High Court reduced his sentence and he was finally released on 12 December 1912.

After His Release

The huge crowds present during his arrest were obviously absent, reminding him of Aurobindo's similar fate upon his release from Uttarpara in 1909 and his famous remark: 'When I went to jail the whole country was alive with the cry of Bande Mataram... when I came out of jail I listened for that cry, but there was instead a silence... a hush had fallen on the country and men seemed bewildered.'

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Upon VOC's release he was not permitted to return to his Tirunelveli district. With his bar license stripped from him he moved to Chennai with his wife and two young sons. To his dismay, the Swadeshi Steam Navigation Company had already been liquidated in 1911, and the ships auctioned to their competitors. VOC and his family had lost all their wealth and property in his legal defence. In Madras, almost broke, he continued organising labour welfare organisations. VOC attended the Calcutta Indian National Congress in 1920.

On hearing of VOC's destitute condition, Justice Wallace, the judge who had sentenced VOC and was now Chief Justice of Madras Presidency, restored his bar license. But VOC spent his last years (1930s) in Kovilpatti heavily in debt, even selling all of his law books for daily survival. He died on 18 November 1936 in the Indian National Congress Office at Tuticorin as was his last wish.

V.O.C. was also an erudite scholar. The autobiography in Tamil verse which he started in prison was completed upon his release in 1912. He also wrote a commentary on the Thirukural, compiled ancient works of Tamil grammar, Tolkappiam and showed ingenuity in his works, 'Meyyaram' and 'Meyyarivu'. He is praised for spontaneous style and earned an indisputable reputation for translation of James Allen's books. He also authored a few novels.

VOC was one of the colourful figures in Indian political life. He showed the way for organiszed effort and sacrifice. He finished his major political work by 1908, but died in late 1936, the passion for freedom still raging in his mind till the last moment. He was an erudite scholar in Tamil, a prolific writer, a fiery speaker, a trade union leader of unique calibre and a dauntless freedom fighter.

His life is a story of resistance, strife, struggle, suffering and sacrifice for the cause to which he was committed.

Post-Independence Honours

Today VOC's name among people in Tamil Nadu evokes his sufferings in jail and his shipping company. He is aptly called 'Kappal'ottiya Thamizlan', the Tamil who drove the ship, and as 'Chekkiluththa Chemmal', a great man who pulled the oil press in jail for the sake of his people.7

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