KASARGOD: The political history of Kasaragod is marked by several surprises. One notable instance was the defeat of IUML heavyweight Hameedali Shamnad in the 1967 assembly elections.
Hameedali was the grandson of Khan Bahadur Shamnad, a prominent pre-independence political figure from Kasaragod who served in the Delhi Central Assembly. A rising political figure, Hameedali had earned the reputation of a “giant slayer” after defeating noted Left leader C H Kanaran in the 1960 assembly elections from Nadapuram in Kozhikode district.
However, in 1967, contesting from his home turf of Kasaragod, Hameedali faced an unexpected setback. Despite being backed by a formidable alliance of seven parties, including the Left, he lost to independent candidate U P Kunnikullaya by 95 votes.
Kunnikullaya’s victory was not an isolated feat. He had the backing of the Karnataka Samithi, a linguistic movement that has long demanded the inclusion of Kasaragod in Karnataka, though unsuccessfully. Notably, the Samithi had earlier made history by facilitating the election of Kerala’s first unopposed MLA, Umesh Rao, in the 1957 assembly elections.
The organisation traces its roots to the Karnataka Ekikarana (Unification of Karnataka) movement. Kasaragod was one of the regions where this movement gained momentum in the 1940s. However, during the reorganisation of states in 1956, the district was incorporated into Kerala, much to the disappointment of the Samithi. Since then, the Samithi has consistently demanded that the Kannada-speaking regions of the erstwhile South Canara district of the Madras Presidency — particularly areas north of the Chandragiri River in present-day Kasaragod — be merged with Karnataka.
For over two decades, the Samithi wielded considerable political influence in the Manjeshwar and Kasaragod assembly constituencies. “The Samithi had members from across political parties, united by the single demand of merging with Karnataka,” noted its secretary, Sathyanarayana Thantri.
The organisation has also been vocal against the imposition of Malayalam on Kannada-speaking communities in the district. Its political clout, however, began to decline after 1967, when the Centre constituted the Mahajan Commission to address interstate border disputes.
“The formation of the commission met one of our major demands, though its recommendations are yet to be implemented,” said B V Kakkilaya, honorary president of the Samithi.
With the issue shifting to the national level, the Samithi gradually scaled down its local activism. “The struggle for merging Kasaragod moved to Delhi, so there was no longer a need for sustained local mobilisation,” Kakkilaya added.