The morchas and jathas undertaken by the political parties may now seem like extravagant roadshows full of sound and fury, but they started off as vibrant tools to connect people with the social and political causes of the time.
The Hunger March by A K Gopalan, a stalwart of the communist movement in the country, is regarded as one of the first in the region. He led the march from Kannur in the Malabar regency to the capital Madras in 1936 to raise the consciousness of people against poverty and unemployment under the British rule, when he was a member the Congress party. This march, in which volunteers travelled 750 miles by foot and addressed wayside meetings, rejuvenated the Congress Movement. Later, he led the Malabar March in support of the self rule movement in Travancore.
The Peasant March of 1960 is said to be the first political march from Kasargod to Thiruvananthapuram after the formation of the state of Kerala. The padayatra, held under the aegis of Kerala Kisan Sabha, too was led by A K Gopalan.
“These marches were not huge in terms of people’s participation and the flags were small in size. However, they had the backing of the people,” says B R P Bhaskar, political analyst and human rights activist. The marches were not so common in the seventies and a notable exercise was the one undertaken by the CPI and led by V V Raghavan, who later became an agriculture minister in the state cabinet and Member of Parliament.
“The view you get by travelling in a vehicle and by foot are entirely different,” says Mullakkara Ratnakaran MLA, who led the ‘Thozhil Allengil Jail’ (job or jail) march in 1985, which had Sathyan Mokeri as the captain.