People's Democracy

Kerala Recalls Glorious Fights on AIKS Anniversary

M Prakashan Master

THE 75th Anniversary of the formation of the All India Kisan Sabha (AIKS) is being celebrated throughout the country. The All India Kisan Council (AIKC) has decided to celebrate the occasion by organising seminars and rallies, commemorating the glorious history of the kisan movement in different parts of the country.

One notes that the All India Kisan Sabha was formed on April 11, 1936, at an all-India conference held in Lucknow and since then the AIKS has conducted a number of historic struggles of the Indian peasantry in various parts of the country.

The Kerala state committee of the Karshaka Sangham, affiliated to the AIKS, has decided to celebrate the occasion with various programmes in each and every district of the state from July 13 to August 19 which is the death anniversary of Comrade P Krishna Pillai, the founder leader of the Communist Party in Kerala.

The state level inauguration of the 75th anniversary celebrations of Kisan Sabha was held in Kannur on July 13 this year. It was because the first kisan organisation in the state was formed at ‘Naniyoor,’ in Kolachery Panchayath of Kannur district, on the same date in 1935. It was in this ‘Naniyoor’ that the foundation meeting of Kolachery Karshaka Sangham was held in the house of Comrade Vishnu Bharatheeyan, another famous founder leader of the Communist Party in Kerala, popularly known as Bharatheeyan. The meeting with 28 participants elected Comrade Vishnu Bharatheeyan as the president of Kolachery Karshaka Sangham and Keraleeyan, another veteran leader of the freedom movement and founder leader of the kisan movement in the state, as its secretary.

Various programmes were arranged in the district to felicitate the occasion. These included an exhibition which portrayed the numerous inspiring moments in the history of the kisan movement and was based on old photographs, newspaper reports and descriptions. The exhibition, named as Kisan Kerala, Fighting Kerala, was inaugurated by P Jayarajan, acting secretary of the CPI(M)’s Kannur district committee on July 10.

Torchlight marches were started from the memorials of great martyrs who laid down their life during the heroic struggles of the 1940s, including those in Karivellur, Munayankunnu, Kavumbai, Padikkunnu, Chirakkuni, Cherukallayi, Pazhassi and Thillankeri. Torchlight processions started from all these places under the leadership of the district committee members of Karshaka Sangham, culminating in the evening at the venue of the inaugural function where the main torch was lighted. It was undoubtedly an inspiring moment when the atmosphere reverberated with the loud slogans raised by a big gathering of people from all walks of life.

The presence of great fighters on the occasion was an inspiring experience for the participants of the function. These veterans were Comrade M C Padmanabhan Nambiar, an accused in the armed fight of the peasants with the Malabar Special Police. He was imprisoned for two years in this case. Another veteran was Comrade E V Kunhikkannan Nambiar, who was accused at an early age of 18 years in connection with the great Munayamkkunnu struggle, an armed struggle against brutal police atrocities. He was hit by two cartridges in his stomach in the course of this struggle.  When the Karshaka Sangham state secretary K V Ramakrishnan honoured these veteran fighters, all the delegates loudly applauded them; slogans were raised from every corner of the hall.

AIKS president S Ramachandran Pillai inaugurated the state level celebrations of the 75th anniversary of Kisan Sabha. The function was attended by a thousand and five hundred kisan delegates from different parts of the district. General convener of the reception committee, Valsan Panoli, welcomed the gathering while M Prakashan Master, chairman of the committee, presided over.

The function opened with a Sangeetha Silpam – Nanma Malayalam – organised by artists of the Cherukunnu–Kannapuram Progressive Arts Centre.

In his inaugural address, S R Pillai said the blood of the Kisan Sabha fighters and martyrs has not gone in vein. It is because of the rich history of the struggles waged by these veteran fighters that Kerala has attained tremendous achievements in regard to the life and livelihood of its people. He stressed that Kisan Sabha has been in the forefront of India’s struggle against British imperialism and against the brutal rule of the feudal princes in various principalities, just as it has been fighting, and is still fighting, against the anti-kisan policies of the successive governments since independence.

In his address, Pillai cautioned the people that Dr Manmohan Singh’s proclamation on a second green revolution is in fact intended to benefit the big corporate houses of the country who are seeking to acquire ownership of thousands of acres of land all over India. These big multinational and Indian corporate houses are getting various scientific and technological developments patented in order to increase their profits; they are even buying rivers and constructing hydal projects of their own. Farmers are getting compelled to sell their land as they find no other way to escape from the traps of debt. Pillai said one peasant committing suicide in the country every thirty minutes.  The agricultural policies of the country are being decided by American multinationals. The Kisan Sabha is fighting these very anti-kisan, anti-national policies of the government. Pillai asked the kisan movement in Kerala to chalk out programmes to fight these policies with vigour and constancy. 

K M Joseph, state joint secretary of the Karshaka Sangham, also spoke in the inaugural session. 

A history seminar was organised in the afternoon session; it was inaugurated by famous historian K K N Kurup. He said several of our historians have really failed to interpret the historical relevance of the kisan movements of the past. These should be reinterpreted.  

The programme came to a conclusion with the participants taking the pledge about forging united and planned mass interventions of the kisan movement so as to ensure the ultimate victory of the peasants and other toiling people of this country.  

In fine, the state level inauguration of the 75th anniversary celebrations of Kisan Sabha has been one of the richest experiences for the kisan cadre in the district.