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{{short description|Anticommunist backlash against E.M.S Ministry}}
{{more citations needed|date=October 2013}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=June 2020}}
{{Infobox civil conflict
| title = Liberation Struggle
| image =
| caption =
| date = 1958 - 59
| place = [[Kerala]]
| causes = Policies of the [[First Namboodiripad ministry|Communist Ministry]]
* Educational Bill, 1957
* Agrarian Relations Bill, 1957
| result = Fall of the Communist Ministry
* [[President's rule|President's Rule]]
* [[1960 Kerala Legislative Assembly election|Assembly Elections]]
| side1 = [[Communist Party of India]] Government in Kerala
* [[Communist Party of India]]
| side2 = Opposition to Communist Party of India Government in Kerala
* [[Indian National Congress]]
* [[Praja Socialist Party]]
* [[Indian Union Muslim League]]
* Community Organisations
** [[Syro-Malabar Church|The Church]]
** [[Nair Service Society]]
| side3 =
| side4 =
| leadfigures1 = Politicians
* [[E. M. S. Namboodiripad]]
* [[Joseph Mundassery]]
* [[K. R. Gouri Amma|K. R. Gouri]]
| leadfigures2 = Politicians
* [[P. T. Chacko]]
* [[Pattom A. Thanu Pillai]]
* [[Abdurrahiman Bafaki Tangal]]
Community Leaders
* [[Mannathu Padmanabha Pillai]]
| leadfigures3 =
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| casualties1 =
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| casualties4 =
| fatalities =
| injuries =
| arrests =
| damage =
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}}
[[File:Swearing in of CPI cabinet in Kerala, April 1957.jpg|thumb|303x303px|[[E. M. S. Namboodiripad]] swearing in as the [[Chief Minister of Kerala]]]]
The '''Liberation Struggle''' in Kerala (1958–59) was a period of [[anticommunist]] protest against the [[First E. M. S. Namboodiripad ministry|first elected state government]] in [[Kerala]], [[India]], which was led by [[E. M. S. Namboodiripad]] of the [[Communist Party of India]]. Organised opposition to the state government was spearheaded by the [[Syro-Malabar Church]], the [[Nair Service Society]] , the [[Indian Union Muslim League]], and [[Indian National Congress]].The funding of the movement mostly came from outside of India, mobilised by the [[Central Intelligence Agency|CIA]]<ref>{{Cite book |last1=Moynihan |first1=Daniel Patrick |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ON2TPWZkiCIC&q=Kerala |title=A Dangerous Place |last2=Weaver |first2=Suzanne |date=1980 |publisher=Berkley Publishing Group |isbn=978-0-425-04459-9 |language=en |orig-date=1978}}</ref> and international Catholic organisations{{Citation needed|reason=vague language, political claim|date=March 2021}}. Although termed a "liberation struggle", the campaign was largely peaceful by taking the form of statewide meetings and public demonstrations.{{Citation needed|reason=vague language, political claim|date=March 2021}} Following mass protests in 1959, the Indian government finally bowed to pressure and dismissed Namboodiripad on 31 July 1959.

==Background==
On 1 November 1956, the state of Kerala was formed by the [[States Reorganisation Act]] merging the most of the [[Malabar District]] in [[Madras Presidency|Madras state]], most of the [[Travancore–Cochin|Travancore-Cochin state]] and the taluk of [[Kasaragod Town|Kasargod]], [[South Kanara]].<ref>{{Cite web |title=The States Reorganisation Act, 1956 |url=https://legislative.gov.in/sites/default/files/A1956-37.pdf |website=Legislative Department |publisher=Ministry of Law and Justice}}</ref> In 1957, [[1957 Kerala Legislative Assembly election|the first elections]] for the new [[Kerala Legislative Assembly]] were held, and a [[Communist|Communist Party of India]]-led government came to power, under [[E. M. S. Namboodiripad]].<ref>{{Cite web |title=Assembly Elections, 1957 |url=http://www.ceo.kerala.gov.in/pdf/KLA/KL_1957_ST_REP.pdf |website=Chief Electoral Officer, Kerala}}</ref>
{| class="wikitable"
|+Assembly Elections, 1957
!
!Seats Won
!Percentage of Polled Votes
|-
|[[Communist|Communist Party of India]]
|60
|35.28%
|-
|[[Indian National Congress]]
|43
|37.85%
|-
|[[Praja Socialist Party]]
|9
|10.76%
|-
|[[Revolutionary Socialist Party (India)|Revolutionary Socialist Party]]
|0
|3.23%
|-
|Ind.
|14
|12.88%
|-
|'''Total'''
|'''126'''
|
|}
Source: [https://web.archive.org/web/20130403014109/http://www.kerala.gov.in/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=4225&Itemid=3218 Kerala Government]
{| class="wikitable"
!Minister
!Ministry/Portfolio
!Party
|-
|[[E. M. S. Namboodiripad]]
|[[Chief Minister (India)|Chief Minister]]
| rowspan="9" |[[Communist Party of India]]
|-
|[[C. Achutha Menon]]
|Minister for Finance
|-
|[[K. P. Gopalan]]
|Minister for Industries
|-
|[[K. R. Gowri Amma|K. R. Gowri]]
|Minister for Land Revenue
|-
|[[Joseph Mundassery]]
|Minister for Education and Cooperation
|-
|[[T. V. Thomas]]
|Minister for Labour and Transport
|-
|[[P. K. Chathan Master|P. K. Chathan]]
|Minister for Local Self Government
|-
|[[T. A. Majeed]]
|[[Department of Public Works (Kerala)|Minister for Public Works]]
|-
|[[K. C. George]]
|Minister for Food and Forests
|-
|[[V. R. Krishna Iyer]]
|Minister for Law
|Independent
|-
|[[A. R. Menon]]
|Minister for Health
|Independent
|}

=== Education Bill, 1957 ===
Source: [https://web.archive.org/web/20090606061819/http://www.firstministry.kerala.gov.in/kerala_educationbill/The_main_objectives_of_bill.htm Government of Kerala]

The [[Kerala Education Bill, 1957|Education Bill, 1957]] was introduced in Assembly by Minister for Education [[Joseph Mundassery]]. The bill sought to regulate the Government Grant Aided educational institutions in Kerala.<ref name=":0">{{Cite book |last=Jeffrey |first=Robin |url=https://link.springer.com/book/10.1007/978-1-349-12252-3 |title=Politics, Women, And Well Being: How Kerala Became 'A Model' |publisher=Palgrave Macmillan |year=1992 |pages=155–56|doi=10.1007/978-1-349-12252-3 |isbn=978-1-349-12254-7 }}</ref><ref name=":1">{{Cite book |last=Joseph |first=S. C. |title=Kerala: The 'Communist' State |publisher=The Madras Premier Company |year=1959 |chapter=Chapter VIII}}</ref> The bill was introduced in July, 1957, passed in September, 1957, later returned by the [[President of India|President]] for reconsideration, reconsidered and passed again in November 1958 and was made law from January, 1959.<ref name=":3">{{Cite web |title=Bills Passed (1957-58) |url=http://www.niyamasabha.org/codes/bus_11_1.htm |website=Kerala Legislative Assembly}}</ref><ref name=":0" />

It primarily attempted,

* To set standard norms for teacher recruitments in Grant Aided institutions.<ref name=":1" />
** To grant the right to approve minimum teacher qualifications to the state.<ref name=":0" />
** Managements would hereafter be able to appoint teachers only from a government list.<ref name=":0" />
** Teacher appointments would be made on [[Reservation in India|communal rotation]].<ref name=":0" />
* To prescribe salaries for teachers (teachers were to be directly paid from the state treasury)<ref name=":1" /><ref name=":0" />
* To curb powers of the managements to dismiss teachers at will.<ref name=":1" />
* To give the state the authority to appropriate institutions that did not act in accordance with the bill.<ref name=":1" />

=== Agrarian Relations Bill, 1957 ===
Source: [https://web.archive.org/web/20071028144121/http://www.firstministry.kerala.gov.in/agrarianrelation.htm Government of Kerala] [https://web.archive.org/web/20140505015813/http://www.firstministry.kerala.gov.in/pdf/bills/agrn_rln.pdf Agrarian Relations Bill]

Agrarian Relations Bill, 1957 was introduced by Minister for Land Revenue [[K. R. Gowri Amma|K. R. Gowri]] in the Kerala Assembly (introduced in December, 1957 and passed in June, 1959).<ref name=":54">{{Cite book |last=Jeffrey |first=Robin |url=https://link.springer.com/book/10.1007/978-1-349-12252-3 |title=Politics, Women, And Well Being: How Kerala Became 'A Model' |publisher=Palgrave Macmillan |year=1992 |pages=172–74|doi=10.1007/978-1-349-12252-3 |isbn=978-1-349-12254-7 }}</ref><ref name=":3" />

It primarily attempted,

* To provide security of tenure to the cultivating peasants (tenants).<ref name=":2">{{Cite book |last=Nossiter |first=T. J. |url=http://www-lib.tufs.ac.jp/opac/en/recordID/catalog.bib/BA07021294?hit=9&caller=xc-search |title=Communism in Kerala: A Study in Political Adaptation |publisher=Oxford University Press |year=1982 |pages=149–57}}</ref><ref name=":54" />
** Gave tenants the 'right' to buy 'their' land from the landlord.<ref name=":54" />
* To crackdown on the eviction powers of landlords (as a security to the hut dwellers).<ref name=":2" /><ref name=":54" />
** All evictions made illegal (after the formation of Kerala).<ref name=":54" />
* To establish procedures for determining a fair rent and waive arrears.<ref name=":2" /><ref name=":54" />
* To fix a ceiling on the amount of land a family could own (15 [[acre]]s of double-crop paddy land for a family of five).<ref name=":54" /><ref name=":2" />
** The state would acquire excess land with a compensation to the original owner.<ref name=":54" /><ref name=":2" />
** Redistribute the excess land thus collected.<ref name=":2" /><ref name=":54" />
* To establish Land Tribunals in every taluk of Kerala.<ref name=":54" />

==Interest groups==
However, some clauses in the new bills became controversial as those clauses offended several influential interest groups, such as the [[Catholic Church]] of Kerala, [[Indian Union Muslim League|Muslim League]] and the [[Nair Service Society|NSS]].
#Political parties: Besides the socio-religious organizations, all the major opposition parties including [[Indian National Congress]], [[Praja Socialist Party]] (PSP), [[Indian Union Muslim League|Muslim League]], [[Revolutionary Socialist Party (India)|Revolutionary Socialist Party]], and [[Kerala Socialist Party]] rallied together demanding the dismissal of the EMS ministry. They formed a joint steering committee with [[R. Sankar]] as the president and [[P. T. Chacko, Pullolil]], Kumbalathu Sanku Pillai, [[Mathai Manjooran]], [[Fr. Joseph Vadakkan]], [[B. Wellington]], [[N. Sreekantan Nair]], [[C. H. Muhammed Koya]], and [[Sayyid Abdur Rahman Bafaqi Thangal|Bafaqi Thangal]] among its members.{{citation needed|date=August 2012}}
#[[Saint Thomas Christians|Syrian Christians]]: A significant proportion of the schools in Kerala were owned by Syrian Christian churches. They found many reformist policies of government as infringements over their rights and so used newspapers and other publications, such as ''[[Deepika (newspaper)|Deepika]]'' and ''[[Malayala Manorama]]'', to propagate panicking messages against the controversial policies.<ref name="Ramachand">{{cite book |author1=Nair |first=K. Ramachandran |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=jkHtAAAAMAAJ |title=The History of Trade Union Movement in Kerala |publisher=Kerala Institute of Labour and Employment |year=2006 |isbn=978-81-7827-138-5 |page=128 }}</ref> Christians used their political influence in the central government to derail the educational reforms. The Education Bill was referred to the Supreme court by the President of India and on 17 May 1958 the Supreme Court reported that some clauses of the bill infringed the constitutional rights of minorities. However, the government got presidential assent on 19 February 1959 after it had revised the bill. The disagreement widened, and the Church representatives sought the help of the NSS to fight the government.<ref>{{cite book |author=Nossiter |first=Thomas J. |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=8CSQUxVjjWQC&pg=PA153 |title=Communism in Kerala: A Study in Political Adaptation |publisher=University of California Press |year=1982 |isbn=978-0-520-04667-2 |page=155}}</ref> Following the [[Angamaly police firing]] (13 June 1959) in which seven of its members were killed, the Catholic Church and other Syrian Christian Churches actively participated in the struggle and mobilised massive support.
#Nair Service Society: NSS, a community welfare organization of [[Nairs]], was a major opponent of land reform policies of the government, which they considered as radical and ill-disposed towards the Nair community of Kerala.<ref name="Tharamangalam1981">{{cite book |last=Tharamangalam |first=Joseph |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=538cKfVv8ygC&pg=PA127 |title=Agrarian Class Conflict: The Political Mobilization of Agricultural Labourers in Kuttanad, South India |publisher=University of British Columbia Press |year=1981 |isbn=978-0-7748-0126-3 |pages=45–50}}</ref> In December 1958, NSS joined up with the [[Catholic Church]] to form an anticommunist front.<ref name="Ramachand"/> The government retracted partially on sensing the trouble that could be created by the alliance of NSS and the Syrian Christians, and it indicated its readiness to make concessions.<ref>{{cite book |author=Nossiter |first=Thomas J. |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=8CSQUxVjjWQC&pg=PA153 |title=Communism in Kerala: A Study in Political Adaptation |publisher=University of California Press |year=1982 |isbn=978-0-520-04667-2 |page=156}}</ref> However, the founder and leader of the NSS, Mannathu Padmanabhan, declared that "the aim is not limited to the redressal of specific issues but extended to the removal of the Communist Party".{{citation needed|date=August 2012}} He called on all the field units of the NSS to organise the people and on the educational institutions to close them.<ref>{{cite book |last=Radhakrishnan |first=P. |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=PAxzWmBN-HkC&pg=PA78 |title=Peasant Struggles, Land Reforms and Social Change: Malabar 1836-1982 |publisher=Cooperjal Limited |year=2007 |isbn=978-1-906083-16-8 |pages=78–79 |access-date= |orig-date=1989}}</ref>
#[[Central Intelligence Agency]] (CIA): Communists allege that the CIA was behind the liberation struggle. The role of the CIA in the struggle is depicted in the work of [[Daniel Patrick Moynihan]], the American ambassador to India (1973–75) in his 1978 book: "A Dangerous Place". His statements are corroborated by Howard Schaffer, the biographer of [[Ellsworth Bunker]], the American ambassador to India (1956–61), who is quoted confirming American and his involvement in funding the agitation against EMS's communist government to prevent "additional Keralas".<ref>{{Cite book |last1=Nossiter |first1=Thomas J. |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=pDlh-RIqrfoC |title=Communism in Kerala: A Study in Political Adaptation |year=1982 |isbn=9780905838403}}</ref>

==Agitations and reprisals==
A revolt against the Communist government's educational policies took shape. At Angamaly, the prime centre of [[Christians]],{{citation needed|date=November 2015}}, the intensity of fury broke into open violence. The Communist Party government's claim was that the police were forced to open fire on what they claim was a violent mob, who allegedly attempted to attack a police station. The police firing and killing of 7 people is said to have instigated a mass movement against the EMS Government.

Rallies and demonstrations against the government took place throughout the state. The protests were spearheaded by the [[Indian National Congress]], the then ruling party of Government of India (Union Government) and were later supported by various religious and communal groups. The communists strongly believed that the [[Central Intelligence Agency]] discreetly supported these protests, financially and otherwise.<ref>{{Cite news |last=Nair |first=C. Gouridasan |date=12 February 2008 |title=Fresh Light on 'Liberation Struggle' |newspaper=The Hindu |url=http://www.hindu.com/2008/02/12/stories/2008021254000400.htm |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080302170836/http://www.hindu.com/2008/02/12/stories/2008021254000400.htm |archive-date=2008-03-02 }}</ref> The death of a pregnant fisher woman, named Flory, a Christian woman in the police firing aggravated the situation.

One notable feature of the movement was the participation of school and college students supporting the movement; the [[Kerala Students Union]], the student wing of the Indian National Congress also played a role.

==Results==

* The Union Government dismissed the Kerala Ministry on 31 July 1959, and imposed [[Article 356|President's Rule]] (31 July 1959 - 22 February 1960).<ref name=":54" /> In the [[1960 Kerala Legislative Assembly election|1960 Assembly Elections]], the [[Indian National Congress]] led-coalition won a majority of seats (Congress with 63 seats); the [[Communist|Communist Party of India]], only 29 seats.<ref name=":54" />
* The new Government of Kerala replaced the controversial provisions of the Education Act (the Grant Aided institution managers regained the authority to appoint teachers).<ref name=":0" /> The Agrarian Relations Act, sent back by the President for reconsideration and later amended and passed by the Kerala Assemby (October, 1960), was declared unconstitutional by the High Court.<ref name=":54" /><ref name=":3" /> The Assembly later passed the mellowed Kerala Land Reforms Act of 1963 (came into force in 1964).<ref name=":54" />

== External links ==
* [http://www.indiatogether.org/2007/apr/gov-kerala50.htm A red dawn that set too soon]

== References ==

{{reflist}}

[[Category:Political history of Kerala]]
[[Category:History of Kerala (1947–present)]]
[[Category:Anti-communism in India]]
[[Category:Social history of Kerala]]

Liberation Struggle (Kerala) - Revision history

Ajay Kumar: Created a new article