The Independence Day Trilogy

On this Independence Day, CLN is publishing three articles.

• The first is from the archives of AIR by the first and last Chief minister of Coorg, Late C.M.Poonacha.
• The second is by Gummatira Kishoo Uthappa, Kodava Clan. The second is a more contemporary compilation of events leading up to Independence. In this content we would also like to highlight a previous article by Bacharanianda P Appanna as to what he witnessed as young boy.
• The third is from CLN’s regular contributor Ms. Mamatha Subbaiah who gives her personalized expectation of what freedom means to an individual, with a focus on its relevance to the Kodava and Kodagu.

The underlying thread with all these articles is that freedom was hard fought and won. We have to earn the right to keep it.

In the first instance, and in a manner of speaking, Kodagu lost its administrative independence with the merger with the then Mysore State in 1956. Keeping that in mind it is only fit and proper that Kodavas and Kodagu should do everything to safeguard our identity, culture and socio-economic well being. This includes not selling our sacred inherited Jamma properties, cultivating our wetlands, innovating to add value to our plantation crops, providing leadership to all those who live in Kodagu and follow the Kodava way of life.

Coorg: History of Freedom Struggle

By: Late C M Poonacha / Source: AIR, Bangalore.

As far back as 1926, Coorg, though a small Chief Commissioner’s Province, enjoyed the benefit of working certain democratic institutions to which elections were held once in three years on a restricted franchise—these elections provided the basis for the people to form political parties and fight the elections.

Coorg Land Holders’ Association was a leading political party in Coorg, which fought these elections.

The wave of national upsurge all over India during the late twenties had its impact over the political life of Coorg.

As political awareness spread over the length and breadth of India, leaders of Coorg Land Holders’ Association viz., P. T. Kushalappa, Nidtha Subbannya, Khan Abdul Gaffar Khan, P.I. Belliappa, C. N. Venkappayya, K. C. Karumbaya and several scores of other second line leaders came under the influence of the national upsurge.

National leaders of Karnataka like Gangadhara Rau Deshpande, Hanumantha Rau Kaujalgi, Karnad Sadashiva Rau, R. R. Diwarkar, and Dr. N. S. Hardikar used to tour Coorg now and then and established contacts with the leaders of Coorg Land Holders’ Association. By the end of 1929, the Coorg Land Holders’ Association, by and large, became an organ of the Indian National Congress and several of its leaders enrolled themselves as active Satyagrahis and participated in the Salt Satyagraha Movement of 1930. There was spontaneous response all over Coorg to the call of Mahatma Gandhi to fight for the freedom of our country.

The first batch of leaders—P.I. Belliapa, Khan Abdul Gaffar Khan, K.C. Karumbaya and H.R. Krishnaya—were arrested in Ponnampet (South Coorg) in December 1930 and then onwards the movement spread like wild fire all over Coorg. Picketting of liquor shops, foreign cloth shops and leading processions and Prabhat Pheries became the order of the day and hundreds of Satyagrahis mostly young men and women participated and courted arrest. The convicted political prisoners were taken away to Madras jails as Coorg had no Central Jail of its own. This was a blessing in disguise as Coorg political leaders came in contact with the leaders of South India and developed greater political awareness.

In 1931, as a result of Gandhi-Irwin Pact, all the convicted Satyagrahis from Coorg were released from Jails and these leaders on return started organising Satyagraha camps all over Coorg to build up a cadre of dedicated Satyagrahis. As the Round Table Conference in London proved to be a failure, Mahatma Gandhi and other leaders returned to India totally disappointed. On his return to India, Mahatma Gandhi again proclaimed that the people of India would fight for their freedom, their birthright, and the Civil Disobedience Movement was thus sparked off all over the country with renewed vigour.

In Coorg hundreds of Satyagrahis courted arrest and went to Jail. Students and peasants joined the Civil Disobedience Movement in large numbers. A cyclostyled news sheet called Veer Bharathi was being published twice a week since the only weekly paper Kodagu was banned and its office and press were sealed by the Government on account of its support to the National movement.

I was editing and publishing Veer Bharathi. Police efforts to unearth the place from where Veer Bharathi was being published proved unsuccessful for over eight months.

As the movement gained mass support, Government’s repressive measures became severe and heavy fines were imposed in addition to imprisonment. It was at this stage that I was first arrested and convicted and sent to Cannanore Central Jail in 1932. The Bengal revolutionaries, like Bhattacharya, A. C. Guha and others, were serving their detention periods in Cannanore and we had the privilege of coming in contact with these veteran political fighters.

It is here again in Cannanore that I met Kamal Nath Tiwari, a close associate of late Bhagat Singh (famous Lahore conspiracy case prisoner). Later in 1964—after 32 long years—I had the great pleasure of meeting Kamal Nath Tiwari as a Member of the Lok Sabha in Delhi. I remember those prison days when we were taking our first lessons in Hindi from Tiwarijee.

As I mentioned earlier, we, the political prisoners from Coorg, had the splendid opportunity of associating ourselves with eminent leaders of South India like C. Rajagopalachari, Prakasam, Pattabhi Sitaramayya, Bulusu Sambamurthi, S. Satyamurthi, V. V. Giri, K. Kawara and others and had the opportunity of profiting ourselves by discussions and talks with them. I was shifted from Cannanore to Vellore where these leaders were held. Here I met Jaya Dev Kapoor, another close associate of late Bhagat Singh, and Jitendra Das, younger brother of the famous martyr Jatin Das. It was a unique privilege as a young political worker for me to come in contact with such patriots and gain from their acquaintance.

The Civil Disobedience Movement of 1932 was called off in 1935 in pursuance of a decision taken by the Congress to enter the legislatures to give a fair trial to the 1935 Reforms Act and, in case the Reforms were not capable of leading India, step by step to full Independence, to wreck it from inside. In 1937, the Congress came out successful in seven out of the eleven British Indian Provinces and formed the Congress Governments. In Coorg also, Congress secured majority of seats out of the elected seats in the Coorg Legislative Council.

At the break of World War II in 1939, as a protest to British Government’s unilateral decision to involve India with men and resources in the war without even consulting the people and without making anything clear about grant of independence to India, the Congress decided to come out of the Legislatures and launch a nation-wide agitation to demonstrate its non-co-operation with British Government’s war efforts. Again, the prison gates were thrown open and lakhs of people were arrested and put behind the bars. In Coorg also, a large number of Satyagrahis were arrested and imprisoned. P. I. Belliapa, K. C. Karumbaya, B. M. Kariappa, K. M. Devayya and myself were sent to Trichinopoly Central Jail where most of the South Indian leaders were confined.

Latter in 1942, after the historic Quit India resolution, the freedom movement turned into a mass upsurge and the British Government was finding it difficult to suppress the nation-wide movement. On my return from the Bombay A.I.C.C. session, I was arrested and detained under the Defence of India Rules. This time my colleagues and I were taken to Vellore Central Jail and detained there for two years (1942-1944). This period of detention proved to be the best part of my prison life as we were confined with about 42 picked leaders of erstwhile Central Provinces.

Our revered leaders like Vinobha Bhave, Kaka Kalelkar, Ravi Shankar Shukla, D. P. Misra along with others were confined in the same enclosure and their company gave us the opportunity to benefit from their vast knowledge of men and matters.

Later, on my being elected to the Lok Sabha, I had the good fortune of meeting my Jail colleagues viz., Amar Singh Saigal, Chandok and Sayed Mohamed, who were also Members of Parliament and had the privilege of working with them till 1970. We all know how the freedom movement came to a successful conclusion after World War II when His Majesty’s Government proclaimed grant of complete independence to India and transfer of power on August 15, 1947. I was elected to the Constituent Assembly of India and had the privilege of serving as a Member of Constituent Assembly and the Provincial Parliament till 1951 and had opportunities to work in close association with most of those leaders with whom I had served my prison terms.

In conclusion, I wish to make a special mention of the fact that to most of us, the prison days were a unique opportunity and rewarding experience to come in close contact with some of our great national leaders. The prison walls could not stifle our aspirations. Instead, they gave a rich content and healthy directions in the service of our motherland.

The facts, views and opinions expressed are solely those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of Coffeeland News.
*Editor has corrected the spelling. The rest of the content remains exactly as available with AIR. For example, in the original AIR copy, “Belliappa” is spelled “Balliappa” in some places. These spelling errors have been corrected in the edited version.

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