Row in Kerala over 1921 Malabar rebellion

Assembly speaker M B Rajesh on Wednesday compared Haji with freedom fighter Bhagat Singh and prompted an angry reaction from the BJP. Rajesh insisted the attempt to delink the rebellion from the freedom struggle was aimed at dividing people

Reports about the removal of the people killed in the 1921 Malabar rebellion, including its leader Variyamkunnath Kunjahammed Haji, from the Indian Council of Historical Research (ICHR)’s “Dictionary of Martyrs of India Freedom Struggle” has kicked up a row in Kerala. Assembly speaker MB Rajesh on Wednesday compared Haji with freedom fighter Bhagat Singh, prompting an angry reaction from the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP).

Kerala assembly Speaker MB Rajesh. (Source: Twitter)

The Hindu last week reported that a three-member panel, which reviewed the entries in the fifth volume of the dictionary, recommended the removal. The panel was of the opinion that the 1921 rebellion was never part of the independence struggle, the report added.

Some historians and Left parties say the rebellion, also known as the Mappila uprising, was the first such against British colonialism in south India. Hindu groups and a section of historians contend it was a communal riot and Hindus suffered as a result. The rebellion was followed another massacre when 64 people arrested over it suffocated to death while they were being transported in a closed railway wagon to Coimbatore for trial. There is a memorial to them at Kerala’s Tirur railway station. The British captured and executed Haji in 1921.

Rajesh insisted that the attempt to delink the rebellion from the freedom struggle was aimed at dividing people. He added that the essence of rebellion was anti-British and anti-feudal but admitted there were some instances of what he termed “communal deviations”. “In an uprising, there can be some aberrations also. You cannot dismiss it as a communal riot. Terming it just a communal riot is a big injustice,” he said at an event in Kozhikode marking the year-long commemoration of 100 years of the rebellion.

BJP leader and Union minister V Muraleedharan condemned the move to brand Haji a freedom fighter. “Ignorance is not an offence. But feigning ignorance for cheap political and communal gains is an offence. The sinister ploy to divide people on communal lines is unpardonable. Left parties are repeating their mistakes,” he said.

BJP leader MT Ramesh said his party will oppose any attempt to glorify Haji while Hindu Aikya Vedi, a right-wing group, has decided to observe a black day at all venues where the rebellion is being commemorated.

Haji’s family plans a sit-in in Malappuram to protest against attempts to sully his image. “ ICHR can delete his name from the dictionary but not from the minds of people,” said C P Ibrahim, one of his descendants.

Hindu groups asked actor Prithviraj Sukumaran not to play Haji’s role two years ago when Malayalam filmmaker Aashiq Abu announced a movie on the Mappila rebellion. The film is scheduled to be screened by year-end. In 1988, a movie titled 1921 on the issue was a big hit.DID HE PLAY THE PART OR NOT?

Historians are divided over the issue with KKN Kurup saying the rebellion was part of the freedom movement. Another historian MGS Narayanan said the move to omit Haji from the list of freedom fighters was “politically motivated.”

Historian C I Issac said: “It was in fact a jihadi movement. Its main aim was to establish a religious province. It is quite unfair and illogical to give a nationalistic colour to a communal riot.”