REMEMBERING THE VAIKOM SATYAGRAHA

THE CONTEXT: Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan and his Tamil Nadu counterpart MK
Stalin will inaugurate the centenary celebrations of Vaikom Satyagraha, on April 1, 2023, in
Kerala’s Kottayam.
Background:
 The Vaikom Satyagraha in Travancore is known as the first anti-caste movement.
This movement was against the caste system as the depressed class and
untouchables were restricted from entering the temple.
 The movement originated and took its place at Vaikom, then part of the princely
state Travancore in the vicinity of Mahadev temple in Kottayam district of Kerala
during the period of 1924-1925.
The Anti-Untouchability Committee
 The Kingdom of Travancore had rigid and oppressive caste system. Vaikom town,
located in present-day Kerala, was part of the princely state of Travancore.
 The people belonging to the oppressed classes, especially the Ezhavas, had no right
to walk on the four roads surrounding the Vaikom Mahadeva temple.
 The injustice meted out to the depressed classes was brought to the notice as a
resolution at the Kakinada meet of All India Congress Committee.
 The Congress Untouchability Committee formed by the Kerala Pradesh Congress
Committee in January 1924, decided to take up this issue.
o K Kelappan (Kerala’s Gandhi), T K Madhavan, Velayudha Menon, K
Neelakantan Namboothiri and TR Krishnaswami Iyer were members of the
committee.
 The committee decided to launch a ‘Kerala Paryatanam’ to urge temple entry and
also advocate the opening of all public roads for everyone regardless of caste or
creed.
The Vaikom Movement:
 The Congress Untouchability Committee decided to start the movement at the
Mahadeva temple in Vaikom, because of the temple board’s extremely stringent
rules regarding entry.
 On March 30, 1924, the Satyagrahis walked towards the forbidden public roads in
Vaikom. They were stopped by the police. After knowing their castes, the police
stopped them. In protest, the satyagrahis sat on the road and they were arrested.
 From then on, volunteers from three different communities were sent to walk on the
prohibited roads each day. The leaders of the movement were all arrested within the
next few days.
 As a response to overwhelming support to the movement, the temple authorities
started barricading the roads. Satyagrahis positioned outside the barriers and started
hunger strike.
Significance of the Vaikom Satyagraha:
 The Vaikom Satyagraha proclaimed its significance almost a decade later when in
November 1936, the historic Temple Entry Proclamation was passed, which lifted the
age-old orthodox ban on the entry of marginalized depressed castes into the temples
of Travancore.
 The Vaikom Satyagraha has a historical significance as it embarked on the beginning
of a temple entry movement that not only gained prominence nationwide but also
all over the globe continues and is remembered till today.