KATTAPPANA: At a time when Amaravathi, a small hamlet near Kumily, observes the golden jubilee of the infamous Amaravathi hunger strike, there is a man whom they look upon reverently.
A K Gopalan a.k.a. AKG, whom the village fondly addresses as the ‘iron man’, has a special place in the hearts of the people when they recall the sufferings they had to undergo following the eviction drive.
Mathew Oommen, 73-year-old resident of Amaravathi, who was at the temporary shelter during the conflict, narrates the events: “It all started in the dying hour of May 3, 1961. A battalion of the 600 heavily armed police, on the directives of the Revenue Department, reached Ayappancoil village to evacuate the 1,800 families. The eviction was part of the land acquisition taken up by the government under Pattom Thanu Pillai, for the Idukki hydro project. The people were stuffed in buses and transported to Amaravathi where they were given temporary shelters which leaked during rain. The rehabilitation camp had no sanitation facility and there was hardly anything to eat. Many people were infected with several diseases and no treatment was provided”, Oommen recalls.
“Hearing the miserable plight of the 1,800 families, AKG reached Amaravathi on June 6, 1961, and initiated an isolated movement against the government by staging a fast,” Oommen says. He adds that the government, instead of looking into the miseries of the evictees, began to corner AKG by alleging that he was trying to draw out political advantage from the issue. Soon,
K Kellappan, C K Govindan Nair, Fr Vadakkan and P T Chacko joined AKG in the fast.
“The news of the hunger strike spread like wild fire and protests erupted in other parts of the state. The
government was desperate to end the hunger strike. AKG was arrested and shifted to Kottayam Medical
College but he refused to give up fast”, he said. On June 15, the 9th day of fast, the government on the directives the then Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru, approached AKG for negotiations.
On the 10th day, the government agreed to provide 3 acres of land and `100 as compensation to each family, ending the 11-day fast.
Celebrating the 50 years of the hunger strike, the people of Idukki are grateful to AKG who stood for their cause. “He was a great leader, he stood for us and fought for our interest. Even the new generation can’t ever forget him”, Sarada, 76, of Amaravathi, says.