Specific Information Service
THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: ‘Orana Samaram’, an enormous pupil protest organised by the Kerala College students Union in 1958, had propelled a batch of vibrant kids to the management of the state Congress. Political profiles of veteran leaders Vayalar Ravi, AK Antony and Oommen Chandy are value-added with fiery tales of their wrestle in opposition to the primary Communist authorities led by E M S Namboodiripad to revive the coed concession of 1 anna (six paise) for boat journey.
Senior Congress chief G Balachandran has now challenged Antony’s function in ‘Orana Samaram’. In his autobiography ‘Innaleyude Theeram’ launched final week, Balachandran — who was the vice-president of KSU when Antony was the president — says solely Vayalar Ravi, Oommen Chandy and P Okay Kuriakose had participated within the protest that started in Alappuzha and later unfold to different elements of the state.
“The fireplace for the protest was ignited by Vayalar Ravi and M A John. It was John who launched Oommen Chandy in Kottayam. Chandy boycotted college and courted arrest,” Balachandran recollects. The chapter on ‘Orana Samaram’, which a 14-year previous Balachandran watched from shut quarters, is silent on Antony’s function.
“I didn’t participate within the protest. I lived in a home reverse the Alappuzha boat jetty which was the centre of the protest. Colleges remained closed due to the strike. I’d look throughout the financial institution on daily basis. College students would are available in batches for the protest each morning. The police used to beat college students brutally,” writes Balachandran. Balachandran instructed TNIE that the omission of the title of Antony was not unintentional.
“He was not a part of the protest,” he mentioned.
‘Haven’t seen Antony in any pupil protest’
“Antony was learning within the authorities college in Cherthala and I used to be a pupil of the SDV College in Alappuzha. I had not seen him as part of any of the coed teams that took half within the protest. P Okay Kuriakose was the chief of the protest in Cherthala. He was subjected to brutal police torture,” he says.
In 2017, in an article written in a Malayalam day by day on the event of the eightieth birthday of Vayalar Ravi, Antony famous, “It was the Orana Samaram organised by KSU that attracted me to the organisation. I jumped into the protest.”
Recalling the course of the protest, Antony wrote, “The strike unfold like wildfire in Kerala. The federal government needed to give up in the end. The scholar concession turned a actuality. No future authorities dared to the touch the concession challenge.” The protest was in opposition to the EMS authorities’s transfer to extend the concession fare of 1 anna (six paise) to 10 paise for college kids travelling in public transport boats.
Elsewhere within the e book, Balachandran offers an in depth appraisal of Antony’s function within the Congress. “He has a halo of idealism. He has followers who’re keen to surrender their lives for him. These are his strengths,” he writes.
