Karivellur struggle for land, food and freedom saw the martyrdom of Thidil Kannan and Keeneri Kunjambu on 20th December, 1946. Karivellur along with Kayyur and Punnapra Vayalar became part of folklore and inspired many struggles.
As part of a project of P Sundarayya Memorial Trust to document struggles of the region, I visited my Village with two young comrades Shubhojeet and Aditi. We visited Kuniyan where the martyrs fell and paid respect to them at the Karivellur Struggle Memorial. Prior to that we have visited the family of one of the main leaders of the struggle- A V Kunhambu. His son, renowned playwright Karivellur Murali explained to us about the struggle.
This was followed up with a visit to Vellachal where one of the last surviving participants of the Kodakkad Karshaka Sangham conference and anti-caste Panthibhojanam of 1939 P P Kunhambu lives. Aged 93 years he vividly explained the developments of the event and informed that AIKS General Secretary N G Ranga and Kameshwar Rao also attended the conference. The conference commenced with the rendering of a Hindi poem by Kunhambu. His father was the 36th accused in the Kayyur case and his brother was also an active part of the movement. From the very beginning, the Communist Movement in Kerala had taken up causes of the oppressed sections and fought against evils like untouchability.
The final visit was to meet Krishnan who was an active participant of both Karivellur and Munayankunnu Struggles. A person who recently crossed a century, he has witnessed history being made. Very agile and sharp for his age, he narrated the history of the Communist movement and Kisan Sabha from the 1930s onwards. His wife explained how the notorious Malabar Special Police harassed her on many occasions. The stories of struggle and sacrifice of this region needs to be told again and again.
