ERODE: India’s freedom struggle is yet another testament to the tenet that a revolution needs a strong grassroots movement as much as its leaders. Emerging from the lower rungs of the freedom movement, the work of Erode’s own MA Eswaran has lasted long past the midnight of a certain August day and continues to shape the lives in the district. Despite having rubbed shoulders with the prominent figures of the freedom struggle and being singularly responsible for the creation of what is today the Lower Bhavani Project (LBP) dam, the man never received his fair share of recognition.
Born to a farming family at Erode on October 25, 1895, Eswaran’s tryst with the freedom movement began at the young age of 25 years. With Gandhi calling for students across the country to boycott foreign educational institutions, Eswaran quit his studies at the Tiruchi St Joseph College. Just a year later, he had became a full-time member of the Congress party and officially joined the country’s freedom struggle -- perhaps inspired by a meeting with his hero, Gandhi himself.
He took to Gandhi and his ways with as much fervour as he had for seeing India independent. Soon after Gandhi abandoned foreign-made clothes for the simple khadi dhoti and towel after seeing the poor farmers in Madurai, Eswaran too followed suit. Eswaran pledged to not marry or wear chappals till the country was freed from the clutches of the British Raj. Incidentally, he continued to stick to his own diktat unto death.
Like any freedom fighter, Eswaran was actively involved in educating the local populace about the real face of their imperialists and garner their support for the fight against the latter. At a time when being imprisoned had been the mark of how deep one was in the struggle, this man emerged a clear winner. Through the course of two and a half decades, he had been abused, assaulted and imprisoned several times. In this manner, he has had a few close encounters with death too. Once, he was ‘arrested’ by the police and taken to a forest area, where he was assaulted till he bled from his nose and fell unconscious. While he was left to die there, it was a few shepherds who found, gave treatment and brought him back to life.
Even before independence, many key members — including EVR Periyar — quit the Congress. Not Eswaran. He continued to toil for his people and was soon made the head of the Erode district unit. Through his simple and honest ways, he managed to garner many supporters for the party. It was here that he got to make his biggest contribution to his homeland -- the creation of the Lower Bhavani Project (LBP) dam.
Then, Erode district was a part of the composite Coimbatore district. The entire region was drought-prone and without any major means of irrigation. Except for the 500-year-old Tadapalli-Arakkankottai and 750-year-old Kalingarayan ayacuts -- with an area of 40,000 acres, all other regions were dependent on the Bhavani river water. It was in this backdrop that in 1946, he was fielded as Congress candidate for Erode area in the Assembly election for the Madras Presidency. He ended up winning it unanimously.
Soon after, Andhra Kesari T Prakasam needed the support of one more MLA to become the chief minister of Madras Presidency. Eswaran stepped forward to lend that support but on one condition -- he wanted Prakasam to arrange for the construction of the LBP dam. It may be noted that at the same time, many others had been pushing for constructing a dam on the Upper Bhavani at Mettupalayam to divert water to Tirupur areas.