CHENNAI: It was the First World War. On September 22, 1914, the British bastions on the Coramandal Coast got a bitter taste of their own medicine.
In a direct challenge to the empire’s naval supremacy, German warship Emden, with a deceptive sobriquet of ‘Swan of East’ and steered by a brave son of the Tamil soil Dr C Chempakaraman Pillai, bombarded prominent British locations in Madras Presidency and escaped into the darkness.
In more ways than one, Chempakaraman was the revolutionary prototype of the likes of Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose.
The short life of the unsung hero was marked by several ‘firsts’, which were later more popularly associated with the Bengali revolutionary. And listing them out in an emotion-choked voice and eloquent Tamil on the 100th anniversary celebrations of Emden’s bombing of Madras Presidency and the war hero’s 123rd birth anniversary was senior political leader Kumari Ananthan. “We should never forget mudal,” he said, punning on the Tamil word. “Then, we will not get any interest,” he added.For instance, the patriotic slogan of ‘Jai Hind,’ which continues to be on every Indian’s lips even today. It was young Chempakaraman who mouthed it first. During roll call, while other students answered in the usual manner, the 14-year-old boy’s response was Jai Hind. “When the headmaster summoned the police, the cop who caned him for his transgression turned out to be his own father,” the former TNCC chief pointed out.
Later, moving to Berlin, Chempakaraman befriended the Kaiser and strived to drum up support for India’s independence.
He raised an army called the Indian National Volunteers (INV) and formed an Indian government in-exile in Afghanistan, in which he served as foreign affairs minister. Any wonder that Bose derived his inspiration from him when the two met in Vienna.Little known is also the fact that Chempakaraman was a master of disguise and travelled incognito to meet several world leaders like the US President Woodrow Wilson. “He took the President to task on the issue of slavery and urged him to abolish it,” Kumari Ananthan said. “He also went to South Africa to meet Gandhi, but there are contradictory reports on the meeting,” he added.The interaction with German Chancellor Adolf Hitler was more explosive. While promising support for the Indian freedom struggle, the Fuhrer made a disparaging remark that Asians were not capable of ruling themselves. A furious Chempakaraman demanded a written apology from the Fuhrer, who later withdrew it. However, the incident proved too costly for him.
He suffered slow-poisoning in the hands of the Nazis, who attacked him while on his way to meet Hitler. He was 41 when he succumbed to his injuries.
Appealing to the State Government to construct a memorial for Chempakaraman near his statue in Guindy, Kumari Ananthan said the textbooks should also contain a chapter on the freedom fighter from next year.