CHENNAI: The state government has brought out a comprehensive special publication titled “Tamil Nadu’s Contribution to the Freedom Struggle,” in Tamil and English. The specialty of this publication is that it throws light on freedom struggle from Tamil Nadu’s perspective and role played by various sections of society — student movements, communists, cinema, writers, tribals, farmers, working class, trade unions, and Tamil diaspora. It also gives a slice of history about the liberation of Puducherry.
This huge volume is a product of many historians and academicians to give effect to the announcement made by Chief Minister MK Stalin in his Independence Day address in 2021, on documenting the contribution of Tamil Nadu to the freedom struggle. Stalin released the work on November 1.
Recently, the state witnessed a war of words between DMK leaders and Governor RN Ravi when the latter charged that those in authority were shy of talking about the freedom struggle and freedom warriors. Stalin and other DMK leaders rebutted the governor’s contentions. Incidentally, the book speaks about how the state was at the forefront of driving out Britishers and how the government recognised the contributions of all freedom fighters by raising memorials and other honours.
Dr Bernand D’ Sami, head of the Project on Freedom Struggle in Tamil Nadu, pointed out that this book has captured even lesser-known uprisings in Kolli Hills by Malayale tribes (1795) which occurred a century before Birsa Munda’s Santhal uprising (1895). “Tamil Nadu had the first resistance to the British coming from the tribals,” Dr Sami recalled.
The book starts with short notes on important junctures of Tamil Nadu’s role in the freedom struggle from 1710 to 1947 and a description of the key leaders who rose against the British ahead of the rest of the country. The book also has many references to the Dravidian movement and how its rise was interwoven with socio-political changes in the state during freedom struggle. Besides, the book also recorded how the Justice Party Conference in Kancheepuram demanded the establishment of Dravida Nadu by unveiling a map comprising areas where Tamil, Telugu, Kannada and Malayalam were spoken. This volume also recorded what led to Periyar getting elected as president of the provincial Congress in 1922.
The book is also laced with lesser-known incidents. Interestingly, an article on how Puducherry and other settlements under French rule became part of India throws light on many historical incidents. Significantly, the article by Dr MP Ramanjuam recalled the Indhiya Unionil Sera Maruppor Kazhagam (movement of those who refuse to join the Indian Union after its independence in 1947), an offshoot of the Dravidian movement, headed by poet Bharthidasan demanded autonomous status for French India (Puducherry and some other areas) within the French Union for the time being in order to prevent its merger with the Indian Union, so that when Dravida Nadu demanded by the Dravidian movement leaders becomes a reality, French India can merge with it. Dr Ramanujam also pointed out that the Communist party considered the Government of India under Jawaharlal Nehru as anti-Communist and pro-Anglo-American and hence French India should attain independence from French rule first, and then by stages should decide whether to join the Indian Union or not.