Mannam’s aim was not caste renaissance, but renaissance of the Hindu : Kummanam.

published on August 14, 2014

Luminaries never set the foundations for organizations with the intent of shaping them  into caste based structures, said state general secretary of Hindu Aikya Vedi Kummanam Rajashekharan.

“The intention was not to add fuel to the smoulder of caste. Mannam’s aim was not caste renaissance, but renaissance of the Hindu. In fact Mannathu PAdmanabhan had aimed at consolidating an overall unity among Hindus, with his vision of NSS, by aiming at the strengthening of the caste. Disintegration was not the focus of social  reformers, but consolidation,” said Kummanam, while presenting his views on ‘History of Social Reformation’.

“Hindu congregation is the solution Mahatma Ayyankali found, to bring to truce the rebellion that rose between different castes sections in Kollam. In fact, it was NSS president Chenganassery Parameswaran Pillai who presided over the congregation held at the railway station maidan. Three participants who figured prominently in the Vaikom Satyagraha were Kunhappi, Bahuleyan and Gopinatha Panicker, hailing from three different stratum of society. The slogan taught by Sree Narayana Gurudevan, before the Satyagrahis courted arrest was “I am a Hindu.” The aim was to instill a sense of pride in the protestors’ Hindutva roots. We have a history, where Mahatma Gandhi once told TK
Madhavan, while in Kakkinada, that the only way to strengthen the independence struggle in Kerala was to get the issues of Hindu society resolved. In fact it was at that specific meeting of the Congress that a resolution was taken to shun untouchability in society,” pointed out Kummanam Rajashekharan, adding that these very persons, Mannathu Padmanabhan and TK Madhavan had the sole intention of moving ahead
with the thought that Hindu unity is their life force.

Reiterating that if leaders of NSS and SNDP of today read through these episodes of history, it would be most beneficial, Kummanam Rajashekharan said that the consecration of Lord Shiva’s vigraham at Mayiladumkunnu by Thapaswi Omal, around three hundred years ago, was one of the fieriest episodes in Kerala’s renaissance history. “A temple was consecrated by the head of the family of Chittethu Shanku Pillai, the very person who sacrificed his life in Vaikom Satyagraha, for his co-workers Palan Pulayan. A person from the Brahim community is the head priest there. These are in fact, the very chapters that glorify humaneness, mush before the advocates of socialism set foot here. However, these do not figure in any lesson of history that’s being taught. These people or episodes do not have any shrines. This year is the Navathi celebration of Vaikom Satyagraha. But the government has conveniently forgotten these,” adding that while pension is being given to the descendants of those who severed the heads of Hindus during the Mapila Revolt, they are oblivious of the fearless warriors of Vaikom Satyagraha.