Mathai Manjooran
Encyclopedia
Mathai Manjooran was an Indian independence activist from Kerala
, socialist revolutionary, Member of Parliament
, Minister of Labour (economics) in the second E.M.S. Namboodiripad communist ministry, and above all the staunchest proponent for the formation of the Kerala State.
and Elishua on October 13, 1912 at Chakkarakadavu
, in the erstwhile princely state of Kochi
. Those were troubled times when the mighty waves of the global economic depression were lashing hard across the coast of Kerala. Mathai was led by hand into active politics by his elder brother Cherian Manjooran.
When the state was harrowing under the effects of the Great Depression
of the 1930s, yet another great convulsion engulfed the land from end to end. But this time it was a positive one in the form of the Quit India Movement
of 1942. Instead of being a passive spectator, Mathai plunged headlong into the vortex of the movement.
As a fearless freedom fighter, he had led many daring exploits against the British, both in Kerala and in the north of India. His involvement in the Quit India Movement
of 1942 saw him and his cronies actively involved in an attempt to sabotage several strategic railway bridges in the Malabar region to cripple the military movements across the area. The tumultuous Kizhaariyoor bomb case is the result of one of such attempts.
, the liberation struggle to free the state from the excesses of the first communist government. The Kerala Socialist Party
(KSP
) that came into being under his leadership in 1947 was the rallying point of the greatest Malayali minds of those times including the renowned litterateurs like M.K. Menon (Vilasini), Thakazhi Sivasankara Pillai, P.K. Balakrishnan, and C.N. Sreekandan Nair.
Mathai’s stint as the Minister of Labor attest to his qualities as an able administrator. Equally remarkable was his term of office as a Member of the (Rajya Sabha]] from 1952–54, a time when heated deliberations were on as to what mode of government is to be adopted for governing post-independent India. While an overwhelming majority of the members were in favor of the British model of governance, Mathai spoke vehemently for Federalism
. The speeches that he made in the Council of States on the occasion were praised time and again by Dr. S. Radhakrishnan who was the Chairman of the Rajya Sabha
at that time.
state. The seminal contribution made by Mathai towards the effort was his convening of the United Kerala conference held in Bombay on November 19, 1944. It was de facto the first platform for the Malayali Diaspora to make a conscious expression of their aspiration for cultural and political unification.
The second time Mathai came forward for the formation of Kerala was when he convened yet another United Kerala conference, this time under the aegis of the Kerala Socialist Party
. The conference took place on February 6, 1949 at Alwaye Manalpuram. But this time the demand of the KSP was nothing less than the formation of a Socialist Republic of Kerala.
However, this demand was part of a broader concept of India, held by Mathai, as a federation of linguistically based sovereign socialist republics with their inalienable right of self-determination. It was certainly an out-of-the-box concept and hence naturally poohed down at the time as an utopian idea. It was a time when even the concept of India as a newly tinkered out union of more than 650 or so princely states was not fully digested in its novel historical context and perspective.
The final effort of Mathai towards the formation of Kerala State was when he was a sitting member of the Council of States (the forerunner of the present Rajya Sabha
) from 1952–54. The widely reported speech that he made in 1953 in the Council of States towards the formation of states on a linguistic basis won the attention of the nation and was a catalyst towards and a milestone in the formation of linguistic states of the Indian Union.
The realigning of the different regions of India on a linguistic basis got constant setback due to the discouragement from the part of Pundit Jawaharlal Nehru
who in principle was against the proposal. But as the years progressed the demand for the 'language states' became stronger with the voice of Shri. Mathai Manjooran the strongest from south of India along with Potti Sreeramulu
who died in December 1952 following a hunger strike demanding the formation of Andhra Pradesh.
. Keeping abreast of the literary currents of his time he made many discerning criticisms on several important contemporary literary works, especially those of S. K. Pottakkat. The book Moses, Jesus and Marx which he began to write in English was unfortunately cut short by his death.
Kerala
or Keralam is an Indian state located on the Malabar coast of south-west India. It was created on 1 November 1956 by the States Reorganisation Act by combining various Malayalam speaking regions....
, socialist revolutionary, Member of Parliament
Member of Parliament
A Member of Parliament is a representative of the voters to a :parliament. In many countries with bicameral parliaments, the term applies specifically to members of the lower house, as upper houses often have a different title, such as senate, and thus also have different titles for its members,...
, Minister of Labour (economics) in the second E.M.S. Namboodiripad communist ministry, and above all the staunchest proponent for the formation of the Kerala State.
Pre-Independence Days
Mathai was born as the second son of Mathew ManjooranMathew Manjooran
Mathew Manjooran – The political activist who spearheaded the first major farmers’ agitation in the history of modern Kerala. The movement that he precipitated soon snowballed into the famous Karshaka Prakshobham of 1932 of the erstwhile princely state of Cochin...
and Elishua on October 13, 1912 at Chakkarakadavu
Chakkarakadavu
Chakkarakadavu is a small village to the east of the town of Cherai, on Vypin Island in Ernakulam district, Kerala, India. Its pristine beach attracts a good number of tourists....
, in the erstwhile princely state of Kochi
Kochi (India)
Kochi , formerly Cochin, is a major port city on the west coast of India by the Arabian Sea. Kochi is part of the district of Ernakulam in the state of Kerala. Kochi is often called by the name Ernakulam, which refers to the western part of the mainland Kochi...
. Those were troubled times when the mighty waves of the global economic depression were lashing hard across the coast of Kerala. Mathai was led by hand into active politics by his elder brother Cherian Manjooran.
When the state was harrowing under the effects of the Great Depression
Great Depression
The Great Depression was a severe worldwide economic depression in the decade preceding World War II. The timing of the Great Depression varied across nations, but in most countries it started in about 1929 and lasted until the late 1930s or early 1940s...
of the 1930s, yet another great convulsion engulfed the land from end to end. But this time it was a positive one in the form of the Quit India Movement
Quit India Movement
The Quit India Movement , or the August Movement was a civil disobedience movement launched in India in August 1942 in response to Mohandas Gandhi's call for immediate independence. Gandhi hoped to bring the British government to the negotiating table...
of 1942. Instead of being a passive spectator, Mathai plunged headlong into the vortex of the movement.
As a fearless freedom fighter, he had led many daring exploits against the British, both in Kerala and in the north of India. His involvement in the Quit India Movement
Quit India Movement
The Quit India Movement , or the August Movement was a civil disobedience movement launched in India in August 1942 in response to Mohandas Gandhi's call for immediate independence. Gandhi hoped to bring the British government to the negotiating table...
of 1942 saw him and his cronies actively involved in an attempt to sabotage several strategic railway bridges in the Malabar region to cripple the military movements across the area. The tumultuous Kizhaariyoor bomb case is the result of one of such attempts.
Post-Independence Era
In the post-independence era, Mathai directed his energy mostly to the political movements in Kerala such as the Vimochana SamaramVimochana Samaram
The Liberation Struggle is an anti-Communist socio-political agitation started in 1958 against the first elected government in Kerala state, India under Communist Chief Minister E. M. S. Namboodiripad...
, the liberation struggle to free the state from the excesses of the first communist government. The Kerala Socialist Party
Kerala Socialist Party
Kerala Socialist Party was a political party founded under the leadership of Mathai Manjooran on September 21, 1947 at Kozhikode. It began as a small party, but its front-line leaders compelled the party deep into the public imagination....
(KSP
KSP
KSP may refer to:* Karolinska Scales of Personality, a Swedish personality questionnaire* Kinloss Skills Partnership* Kentucky State Police* Kerbal Space Program, A videogame about rockets and space flight* Kerala Socialist Party...
) that came into being under his leadership in 1947 was the rallying point of the greatest Malayali minds of those times including the renowned litterateurs like M.K. Menon (Vilasini), Thakazhi Sivasankara Pillai, P.K. Balakrishnan, and C.N. Sreekandan Nair.
Mathai’s stint as the Minister of Labor attest to his qualities as an able administrator. Equally remarkable was his term of office as a Member of the (Rajya Sabha]] from 1952–54, a time when heated deliberations were on as to what mode of government is to be adopted for governing post-independent India. While an overwhelming majority of the members were in favor of the British model of governance, Mathai spoke vehemently for Federalism
Federalism
Federalism is a political concept in which a group of members are bound together by covenant with a governing representative head. The term "federalism" is also used to describe a system of the government in which sovereignty is constitutionally divided between a central governing authority and...
. The speeches that he made in the Council of States on the occasion were praised time and again by Dr. S. Radhakrishnan who was the Chairman of the Rajya Sabha
Rajya Sabha
The Rajya Sabha or Council of States is the upper house of the Parliament of India. Rajya means "state," and Sabha means "assembly hall" in Sanskrit. Membership is limited to 250 members, 12 of whom are chosen by the President of India for their expertise in specific fields of art, literature,...
at that time.
Formation of Kerala State
More than any other leader in Kerala, Mathai Manjooran endeavored for the formation of the KeralaKerala
or Keralam is an Indian state located on the Malabar coast of south-west India. It was created on 1 November 1956 by the States Reorganisation Act by combining various Malayalam speaking regions....
state. The seminal contribution made by Mathai towards the effort was his convening of the United Kerala conference held in Bombay on November 19, 1944. It was de facto the first platform for the Malayali Diaspora to make a conscious expression of their aspiration for cultural and political unification.
The second time Mathai came forward for the formation of Kerala was when he convened yet another United Kerala conference, this time under the aegis of the Kerala Socialist Party
Kerala Socialist Party
Kerala Socialist Party was a political party founded under the leadership of Mathai Manjooran on September 21, 1947 at Kozhikode. It began as a small party, but its front-line leaders compelled the party deep into the public imagination....
. The conference took place on February 6, 1949 at Alwaye Manalpuram. But this time the demand of the KSP was nothing less than the formation of a Socialist Republic of Kerala.
However, this demand was part of a broader concept of India, held by Mathai, as a federation of linguistically based sovereign socialist republics with their inalienable right of self-determination. It was certainly an out-of-the-box concept and hence naturally poohed down at the time as an utopian idea. It was a time when even the concept of India as a newly tinkered out union of more than 650 or so princely states was not fully digested in its novel historical context and perspective.
The final effort of Mathai towards the formation of Kerala State was when he was a sitting member of the Council of States (the forerunner of the present Rajya Sabha
Rajya Sabha
The Rajya Sabha or Council of States is the upper house of the Parliament of India. Rajya means "state," and Sabha means "assembly hall" in Sanskrit. Membership is limited to 250 members, 12 of whom are chosen by the President of India for their expertise in specific fields of art, literature,...
) from 1952–54. The widely reported speech that he made in 1953 in the Council of States towards the formation of states on a linguistic basis won the attention of the nation and was a catalyst towards and a milestone in the formation of linguistic states of the Indian Union.
The realigning of the different regions of India on a linguistic basis got constant setback due to the discouragement from the part of Pundit Jawaharlal Nehru
Jawaharlal Nehru
Jawaharlal Nehru , often referred to with the epithet of Panditji, was an Indian statesman who became the first Prime Minister of independent India and became noted for his “neutralist” policies in foreign affairs. He was also one of the principal leaders of India’s independence movement in the...
who in principle was against the proposal. But as the years progressed the demand for the 'language states' became stronger with the voice of Shri. Mathai Manjooran the strongest from south of India along with Potti Sreeramulu
Potti Sreeramulu
Potti Sreeramulu , was an Indian revolutionary. He became famous for undertaking a fast-unto-death for achieving the Andhra State and losing his life in the process. His sacrifice became instrumental in the linguistic re-organisation of states. He is revered as Amarajeevi in Andhra for his...
who died in December 1952 following a hunger strike demanding the formation of Andhra Pradesh.
A Man of Many Parts
Amidst his hectic life in politics Mathai found time to nurture his protean interests ranging from journalism, literature, philosophy to name only a few. He started two newspapers Light of Kerala and Keralaprakasham from Cochin. The book Prakashathilakku (Towards Light) that he authored is a collection of philosophical works on Western PhilosophyWestern philosophy
Western philosophy is the philosophical thought and work of the Western or Occidental world, as distinct from Eastern or Oriental philosophies and the varieties of indigenous philosophies....
. Keeping abreast of the literary currents of his time he made many discerning criticisms on several important contemporary literary works, especially those of S. K. Pottakkat. The book Moses, Jesus and Marx which he began to write in English was unfortunately cut short by his death.
Additional information
- Mathai Manjooran’s feats of daring are legendary. He once snatched the pointed gun away from the hand of the dreaded police officer, Mariyarpoodam, who came to arrest him. On another occasion he went ahead and slapped the face of the prince of Cambay for indecently advancing upon a dancing girl. But the righteous indignation and the punishment meted out were taken in the best of the spirits, as it turned out years later that when the news of Mathai’s death reached Cambay, the said prince was one among the dignitaries who paid homage at the funeral.
- 1942. The Quit India MovementQuit India MovementThe Quit India Movement , or the August Movement was a civil disobedience movement launched in India in August 1942 in response to Mohandas Gandhi's call for immediate independence. Gandhi hoped to bring the British government to the negotiating table...
was making waves across India. A handful of voluntary youth tried to circumvent the police and get into the heavily guarded Aga Khan PalaceAga Khan PalaceThe Aga Khan Palace was built in the year 1892 by Sultan Muhammed Shah, Aga Khan III in Pune. Since then it is one of the biggest landmarks in Indian history...
in Pune where Mahatma Gandhiji was imprisoned. It was the 29-year-old Mathai Manjooran who alone succeeded in getting near to Gandhiji in his confinement. - Mathai hailed the advent of automationAutomationAutomation is the use of control systems and information technologies to reduce the need for human work in the production of goods and services. In the scope of industrialization, automation is a step beyond mechanization...
at a time when most of the Socialist-Communist parties and it leaders tried to fight it tooth and claws as a process that takes away the livelihood of the laborers. His welcoming of the introduction of the farm tractorTractorA tractor is a vehicle specifically designed to deliver a high tractive effort at slow speeds, for the purposes of hauling a trailer or machinery used in agriculture or construction...
as a revolution in the field of agriculture attest not only to his openness to new ideas but also his realization that evolution is the inevitable part of growth whether in biological sciences or for that matter in the field of human society. - The time was 1944. It was a period of great turmoil following the outbreak of the Second World War and the preceding Great DepressionGreat DepressionThe Great Depression was a severe worldwide economic depression in the decade preceding World War II. The timing of the Great Depression varied across nations, but in most countries it started in about 1929 and lasted until the late 1930s or early 1940s...
. It was also a period when famineFamineA famine is a widespread scarcity of food, caused by several factors including crop failure, overpopulation, or government policies. This phenomenon is usually accompanied or followed by regional malnutrition, starvation, epidemic, and increased mortality. Every continent in the world has...
was rampant in the princely states of cochin and TravancoreTravancoreKingdom of Travancore was a former Hindu feudal kingdom and Indian Princely State with its capital at Padmanabhapuram or Trivandrum ruled by the Travancore Royal Family. The Kingdom of Travancore comprised most of modern day southern Kerala, Kanyakumari district, and the southernmost parts of...
as elsewhere in many parts of the Indian subcontinent and around the world. Rallying forth the suffering multitude, Mathai led the famous Famine March towards the palace of the MaharajaMaharajaMahārāja is a Sanskrit title for a "great king" or "high king". The female equivalent title Maharani denotes either the wife of a Maharaja or, in states where that was customary, a woman ruling in her own right. The widow of a Maharaja is known as a Rajamata...
of the princely statePrincely stateA Princely State was a nominally sovereign entitity of British rule in India that was not directly governed by the British, but rather by an Indian ruler under a form of indirect rule such as suzerainty or paramountcy.-British relationship with the Princely States:India under the British Raj ...
of Cochin. In the following reconciliatory meeting, the Cochin government agreed to and implemented Mathai’s proposal of introducing the rationing system in Cochin. It was in effect the first instance of rationingRationingRationing is the controlled distribution of scarce resources, goods, or services. Rationing controls the size of the ration, one's allotted portion of the resources being distributed on a particular day or at a particular time.- In economics :...
in the history of India.