1921 Malabar riots, Gandhi and a Malayalam Movie
Malabar riots of 1921 often called the “Moplah rebellion” is a topic that was not discussed openly in Kerala until recently (“Moplah” is a term used to refer to Kerala Muslims)
The Congress and the left historians have always whitewashed the Moplah riots as a freedom struggle against the British. However, the reality is something else! Any sensible society would know that reopening old wounds can only disturb the goodwill in society between various communities. Therefore, these riots were never a part of political discourse at least in the last 30–40 years.
However, all that changed when a left-leaning Malayalam movie director Ashiq Abu decided to make a movie on the so-called “freedom struggle” casting Prithviraj, glorifying “Variyam Kunnath Kunjahammad Haji” one of the prominent leaders of the armed rebellion.
This was like rubbing salt in the wounds of the descendants of those that suffered unspeakable horrors at the hands of this man. While several started protesting this movie, another Malayalam movie director Ali Akbar decided to make a movie to show the reality.
Ali Akbar is a staunch devotee of Lord Krishna, and he announced this project 2 years ago requesting people to support him. Donations started pouring in immediately. After a long struggle with the state government and the censor boar, the movie on Malabar riots — “Puzha muthal puzha vare”, was released last Friday, the 3rd of March 2023. This is probably the first Malayalam movie to be made through crowdfunding.
Background of the Malabar riots
Malabar riots are a series of riots that happened in the Malabar region of Kerala between late 1921 and early 1922. The seeds for this riot were sown 150 years before, during the invasions of Hyder Ali and Tipu Sultan (1766–1792) During these invasions, the Hindu landlords fled the Malabar region for fear of being killed or converted. Their land and possessions were seized by the invaders and handed over to the Moplahs of the region. However, after the defeat of Tipu Sultan in 1799, the British government took back all the lands and handed them back to the Hindus, who were the original owners. The Moplahs were naturally miffed by this, and this led to the first major uprising by the Moplahs in 1836
Lead up to the riots
At the end of the First world war, Turkey was defeated by the British leading to a breakup of the Ottoman Caliphate. In 1919 Khilafat movement, a pan-Islamic movement arose in India against the British to restore the Ottoman caliph.
In 1920, Gandhi stitched an alliance between the leaders of Khilafat and Swaraj. This was one of the biggest blunders of MK Gandhi for which Hindus of Malabar paid a huge price! In the words of Dr. Ambedkar: “The (Khilafat) movement was started by the Mohammedans. It was taken up by Mr. Gandhi with tenacity and faith, which might have surprised many Mohammedans themselves. There were many people who doubted the ethical basis of the Khilafat movement and tried to dissuade Mr. Gandhi taking any part in the Movement the ethical basis of which was so questionable.” (Pakistan or Partition of India, pages 146,147).
The riots erupted on August 22nd, 1921, and were directed against the Hindus and the British. Thousands of Hindus were killed, or forcefully converted, and Hindu women raped in the next several weeks. For a brief period, the regions of Eranad and Valluvanad came under the total control of the rebels and were declared “Khilafat Kingdoms”. One only needs to search a bit, to read the accounts of the sufferings that the victims endured at the hands of the perpetrators.
It’s not anybody’s intention to reopen old wounds. However, we need to know the real history and not the manipulated ones taught in school textbooks, especially when those like Ashiq Abu try to glorify the perpetrators. While Ambedkar and several leaders like Annie Besant condemned the violence perpetrated on Malabar Hindus, Gandhi’s silence, and refusal to issue even a strong statement will always remain a mystery for generations to come.
Kumaran Asan, one of the greatest poets Malayalam has ever produced, published a poem “Duravastha” (meaning the miserable state of affairs of a person) in 1922. The poet narrates several tales of miseries that the Malabar Hindus faced, during the riots.
This is what Dr.B.RAmbedkar says about the riots and about Gandhi’s indifference to the sufferings of Malabar Hindus in his book “Pakistan or the Partition of India.”
“Mr. Gandhi has been very punctilious in the matter of condemning any and every act of violence and has forced the Congress, much against its will to condemn it. But Mr. Gandhi has never protested against such murders. Not only have the Musalmans not condemned these outrages but even Mr. Gandhi has never called upon the leading Muslims to condemn them. He has kept silent over them. Such an attitude can be explained only on the ground that Mr. Gandhi was anxious to preserve Hindu-Moslem unity and did not mind the murders of a few Hindus, if it could be achieved by sacrificing their lives. This attitude to excuse the Muslims any wrong, lest it should injure the cause of unity, is well illustrated by what Mr.Gandhi had to say in the matter of the Mopla riots. The blood-curdling atrocities committed by the Moplas in Malabar against the Hindus were indescribable. All over Southern India, a wave of horrified feeling had spread among the Hindus of every shade of opinion, which was intensified when certain Khilafat leaders were so misguided as to pass resolutions of “ congratulations to the Moplas on the brave fight they were conducting. Any person could have said that this was too heavy a price for Hindu-Moslem unity. But Mr. Gandhi was so much obsessed by the necessity of establishing Hindu-Moslem unity that he was prepared to make light of the doings of the Moplas and the Khilafats who were congratulating them. He spoke of the Moplas as the “ brave God-fearing Moplas who were fighting for what they consider as religion and in a manner which they consider as religious “.
“ Speaking of the Muslim silence over the Mopla atrocities Mr. Gandhi told the Hindus:
“ The Hindus must have the courage and the faith to feel that they can protect their religion in spite of such fanatical eruptions. A verbal disapproval by the Mussalmans of Mopla madness is no test of Mussalman friendship. The Mussalmans must naturally feel the shame and humiliation of the Mopla conduct about forcible conversions and looting, and they must work away so silently and effectively that such a thing might become impossible even on the part of the most fanatical among them. My belief is that the Hindus as a body have received the Mopla madness with equanimity and that the cultured Mussalmans are sincerely sorry of the Mopla’s perversion…”
Ambedkar also mentions that the resolution passed by the Congress working committee was careful not to antagonize the community that was responsible for the attacks. It is necessary for a mature society to leave behind horrible things that happened in the past. The present generation cannot be held responsible for what happened in the past. However, Ashiq Abu and his likes, must refrain from reopening old wounds. Whitewashing horrendous things of the past, might have succeeded before the era of the internet. It does not work anymore! The Malayalam movie “Puzha Muthal Puzha Vare” is a movie that attempts to show the real story of 1921.
Director Ali Akbar has directed over 20 Malayalam movies. In 2015, in an interview, he revealed that he was physically abused by an usthad, when he was only 8 years old. He has been a subject of ridicule, threats, and abuses by Kerala Islamists and the left for years. This thread is not intended to be a review of the movie. There may be shortcomings considering the limited budget with which the movie was made.
Regardless, it’s inconceivable that he managed to create a movie on such a sensitive topic, in the face of all the challenges, and that too, through crowdfunding. Ali Akbar and his wife Lucyamma decided to embrace Hinduism in December 2021 and he chose to be renamed Rama Simhan. Thank you, Rama Simhan ji, for all your efforts to correct the narrative
