Vaikom Satyagraha

Untouchability and caste discrimination was a huge issue back in the day and the it also prevailed in the Kingdom of Travancore. The movement was based on the Sri Mahadeva Temple in Vaikom . The Vaikom satyagraha was mainly done for the equal treatment of all castes and creeds and allowing them to travel along the road which leads to the temple. 

It required the involvement of Mahatma Gandhi for the movement to be ended and an outcome to be brought. The regent named Sethu Lakshmi Bayi , who released the people kept captive and then opened the roads in the North, south and west for all the castes . However she was unwilling to open the eastern road till the Temple Entry Proclamation of 1936.

The involvement of Ezhavas 

They were one of the first communities to take the issue up as early as 1905.The problem they raised was simple, they wanted unconditional entry and use of the temple roads. The people in charge never really took the matter seriously because they termed it as a religious matter. Finally by 1920-21 some of the road were made accessible by the authorities for the avarnas. 

Congress getting involved.

K Madhavan was at Tirunelveli to meet Mahatma Gandhi on the 23rd of September, 1921. Madhavan made the conditions of the Ezhavas known to him. To prove the credibility of their protest he even let him know about their achievement to get admission back to school . This achievement made Mahatma Gandhi more willing to stand for the temple entry. Mahatma Gandhi understood that it was the right time to strike for the rights of the Eshavas people. So, Gandhiji said that he would recommend the State’s Congress Committee to raise the matter in the legislative procedures. 

In 1923, there was an AICC meet in Kakinada . Madhavan went along with Sardar Panikkar and K.P. Kesava Menon, they got many pamphlets which said that they had some requests from the untouchables in India and they were from the INC. 

The INC were in support of Madhavan and his ideology to eliminate the concept of untouchability by authorizing the Kerala Provincial Congress Committee for undertaking the process. 

On the 24th of January of 1924 an Untouchability Abolition Committee was made after KPCC’s meeting in Ernakulam. T. K. Madhavan, Kurur Nilakantan Namboothiri, K. Kelappan, T. R. Krishna Swami Iyer and K. Velayudha Menon were the members of the UAC. 

On the 30th March the Vaikom Satyagraha saw it’s first group of satyagrahis were selected and the protests began and the authority was still reluctant to leave the rules behind . 

However the Vaikom Satyagraha was stopped for two days on the 5th and 6th April. This was due to the try for a discussion between the Hindu heads and the Congress. This eventually failed which resulted in the resuming of the Vaikom satyagraha. 

On the 7th of April Moolam Thirunal the king of Travancore died and was taken over by Sethu Lakshmi Bayi. She was the niece of the Maharaj and had then become the Maharani. She later played a major role in ending this dispute after having a sitting with Mahatma Gandhi and coming to a conclusion. 

To support the Vaikom Satyagraha which was a revolt on a large scale and had 200 volunteers hence funds were required . The Congress had sanctioned ₹1000 on a monthly basis for the Vaikom Satyagraha movement. 

Final result of the satyagraha. 

It was termed as a partial success as a movement because the Avarnas got access to the North, south, and west door access of the temple but the most important road which was the east road was kept out of bounds from them. Other communities which enjoyed access to the roads like the Christians and Muslims had now lost their freedom. The people were also not allowed to get access to the east road as it remained blocked . 

Conclusion 

The Vaikom satyagraha might not be fully successful according to its results but it saw the different communities coming together to take a stand for a single agenda which was very rare. Moreover the involvement of Congress and the Savarnas both impacted the movement largely.