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Travancore–Cochin: Difference between revisions
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{{Short description|State of India from 1949 to 1956}} | |||
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'''Travancore–Cochin''' or '''Thiru–Kochi''' was a short-lived [[States of India|state]] of [[India]] (1949–1956). It was originally called '''United State of Travancore and Cochin''' | '''Travancore–Cochin''', or '''Thiru–Kochi''', was a short-lived [[States of India|state]] of [[India]] (1949–1956). It was originally called '''United State of Travancore and Cochin''' following the merger of two former kingdoms, [[Travancore]] and [[Kingdom of Cochin|Cochin]] on 1 July 1949. Its original capital was [[Thiruvananthapuram]]. It was renamed '''State of Travancore–Cochin''' in January 1950. [[Travancore]] merged with erstwhile pricely state of [[Kingdom of Cochin|Cochin]] to form Travancore-Cochin in 1950. The five [[Tamil language|Tamil]]-majority [[Tehsil|Taluk]]s of [[Vilavancode]], [[Kalkulam]], [[Thovalai]], [[Agastheeswaram]], and [[Sengottai]] were transferred from [[Travancore-Cochin]] to [[Madras State]] in 1956.<ref name="Kerala">{{Cite web|url=https://legislative.gov.in/sites/default/files/A1956-37.pdf|title=The States Reorganisation Act, 1956|website=legislative.gov.in|publisher=Government of India}}</ref> The [[Malayalam]]-speaking regions of the Travancore-Cochin merged with the [[Malabar District]] (excluding [[Laccadive Islands|Laccadive]] & [[Minicoy]] Islands) and the [[Kasaragod district|Kasaragod]] Taluk of [[South Canara]] district in [[Madras State]] to form the modern [[Malayalam]]-state of [[Kerala]] on 1 November 1956, according to the [[States Reorganisation Act, 1956]] passed by the [[Government of India]].<ref name="Kerala"/> | ||
==History== | ==History== | ||
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Under State Reorganisation Act of 1956, the four southern taluks of Travancore, namely [[Thovalai]], Agasteeswaram, Kalkulam and Vilavancode and a part of the Chencotta, Tenkasi Taluk was merged with Madras State. On 1 November 1956 Travancore–Cochin was joined with [[Malabar District]] of [[Madras State]] to form the new state of [[Kerala]], with a [[Governor of Kerala|governor]], appointed by the [[President of India]], as the [[head of the state]] instead of 'Rajapramukh'. | Under State Reorganisation Act of 1956, the four southern taluks of Travancore, namely [[Thovalai]], Agasteeswaram, Kalkulam and Vilavancode and a part of the Chencotta, Tenkasi Taluk was merged with Madras State. On 1 November 1956 Travancore–Cochin was joined with [[Malabar District]] of [[Madras State]] to form the new state of [[Kerala]], with a [[Governor of Kerala|governor]], appointed by the [[President of India]], as the [[head of the state]] instead of 'Rajapramukh'. | ||
[[File:Travancore postal stamp त्रावणकोर टपाल तिकीट.jpg|thumb|right|Travancore-Cochin postal stamp]] | [[File:Travancore postal stamp त्रावणकोर टपाल तिकीट.jpg|thumb|right|Travancore-Cochin postal stamp]] | ||
===Merger of Kanyakumari with Madras State=== | |||
{{main article|Merger of Kanyakumari with Madras State}} | |||
[[Tamils]] lived in large numbers in the [[Thovalai]], [[Agastheeswaram]], [[Sengottai]], [[Eraniel]], [[Vilavancode]], [[Kalkulam]], [[Devikulam]], [[Neyyattinkara]], [[Thiruvananthapuram]] South and [[Thiruvananthapuram]] North [[taluk]]s of erstwhile Travancore State.<ref name="r1881">{{Cite book|title=Report on the Census of Travancore (1881)|publisher=Government of India|year=1884|location=Thiruvananthapuram|pages=135, 258|url=http://lsi.gov.in:8081/jspui/bitstream/123456789/5570/1/41740.pdf}}</ref> In the Tamil regions, [[Malayalam]] was the official language and there were only a few Tamil-medium schools. So the Tamils met many hardships. Travancore State Government continued rejecting the requests of Tamils.<ref>V. S. Sathianesan - Tamil Separatism in Travancore</ref> During that period the Travancore State Congress favoured the idea of uniting all the Malayalam speaking regions and the formation of a "Unified Kerala". In protest against this idea, many Tamil leaders vacated the party. Tamils gathered together at [[Nagercoil]] on 16 December 1945 under the leadership of Sam Nathaniel and formed the new political party All Travancore Tamilian Congress. That party was continuously compelling for the merger of Tamil regions in Travancore with [[Tamil Nadu]].<ref>R. Isaac Jeyadhas - Kanyakumari District and Indian Independence Struggle (Tamil)</ref> | |||
In the working committee meeting of Tamilian congress at Eraviputhur on 30 June 1946, the name of the political party was changed to Travancore Tamil Nadu Congress (T.T.N.C). T.T.N.C was popular among the Tamils living in Thovalai and Agateeswaram Taluks. Mr. Ma. Po. Sivagnanam ([[Ma. Po. Si.|Ma.Po.Si]]) was the only leader from Tamil Nadu who functioned in favour of T.T.N.C.<ref name="DDaniel">D. Daniel - Travancore Tamils: Struggle for Identity.</ref> After the independence of India, State Assembly Elections were announced in Travancore. As a consequence, T.T.N.C improved its popularity among Tamils. A popular and leading advocate from Vilavancode Mr. [[A. Nesamony]] organised a meeting of his supporters at Allan Memorial Hall, Nagercoil on 8 September 1947. In that meeting it was declared that they must achieve their objective through their political organisation, the T.T.N.C. And T.T.N.C started gaining strength and momentum in Kalkulam - Vilavancode Taluks.<ref name="BYogeeswaran">B. Yogeeswaran - History of Travancore Tamil Struggle (Tamil)</ref>During the election propaganda campaign, clashes occurred between the Tamil Nadar community and the Malayali Nair community at various places in Kalkulam - Vilavancode Taluks. police force suppressed the agitating Nadars. On February 1948 police opened fire and two Tamil speaking Nadars were killed.<ref name="DDaniel"/> | |||
T.T.N.C won in 14 constituencies in the election to the State Legislative Assembly. Mr. [[A. Nesamony]] was elected as the legislative leader of the party. Then under his leadership, the awakened Tamil population was prepared to undergo any sacrifice to achieve their goal.<ref name="DPeter">D. Peter - Malayali Dominance and Tamil Liberation (Tamil)</ref> | |||
In 1950, a meeting was held at [[Palayamkottai]] to make compromises between state congress and T.T.N.C. The meeting met with failure and Mr. Sam Nathaniel resigned from the post of president of T.T.N.C Mr. P. Ramasamy Pillai, a strong follower of Mr. A. Nesamony was elected as the New President.<ref name="BYogeeswaran"/> The first general election of Independent India was held on 1952. T.T.N.C won 8 legislative assembly seats. Mr. A. Chidambaranathan became the minister on behalf of T.T.N.C in the coalition state government formed by the Congress. In the parliamentary Constituency Mr. A. Nesamony was elected as M.P. and in the Rajyasabha seat. Mr. A. Abdul Razak was elected as M.P. on behalf of T.T.N.C.<ref name="BYogeeswaran"/> In due course, accusing the Congress government for not showing enough care the struggle of the Tamils, T.T.N.C had broken away from the coalition and the Congress government lost the majority. So fresh elections were announced. In 1954 elections, T.T.N.C gained victory in 12 constituencies.<ref name="BYogeeswaran"/> | |||
[[Pattom A. Thanu Pillai|Pattom Thanu Pillai]] was the chief minister for Thiru - Kochi legislative assembly. He engaged hard measures against the agitations of Tamils. Especially the Tamils at [[Devikulam]] - Peermedu regions went through the atrocities of Travancore Police force. Condemning the attitude of the police, T.T.N.C leaders from Nagercoil went to Munnar and participated in agitations against the prohibitive orders. The leaders were arrested and an uncalm atmosphere prevailed in South Travancore.<ref>R. Kuppusamy - Historical foot prints of a True War (Tamil)</ref> | |||
On 11 August, Liberation Day celebrations were held at many places in South Travancore. Public meetings and processions were organised. Communists also collaborated with the agitation programmes. Police opened fire at the processions in Thoduvetty (Martandam) and Puthukadai. Nine Tamil volunteers were killed and thousands of T.T.N.C and communist sympathizers were arrested in various parts of Tamil main land. At the end, Pattom Thanu Pillai's ministry was toppled and normalcy returned to the Tamil regions.<ref name="DPeter"/> The central government had appointed [[Fazal Ali Commission]](1953 dec) for the states reorganisation based on language. It submitted its report on 10 August 1955. Based on this report, Devikulam - Peermedu and [[Neyyattinkara]] Taluks were merged with [[Kerala state]].<ref>B. Mariya John - Linguistic Reorganisation of Madras Presidenty</ref> On 1 November 1956 - four Taluks Thovalai, Agastheeswaram, Kalkulam, Vilavancode were recognised to form the New Kanyakumari District and merged with Tamil Nadu State. Half of [[Sengottai]] Taluk was merged with [[Tirunelveli district|Tirunelveli District]]. The main demand of T.T.N.C was to merger the Tamil regions with Tamil Nadu and major part of its demand was realised. So T.T.N.C was dissolved thereafter.<ref name="DPeter"/> | |||
===Retainment of Devikulam and Peerumedu Taluks in Kerala=== | |||
{{See also|Idukki district}} | |||
Apart from [[Kanyakumari district]], the Taluks of [[Devikulam]] and [[Peermade]] in present-day [[Idukki district]] also had a [[Tamil language|Tamil]]-majority until late 1940's.<ref name="idukki">{{Cite news|title=Why did Kerala surrender Kanyakumari without a fight?|url=https://www.onmanorama.com/news/kerala/2020/10/31/why-did-kerala-surrender-kanyakumari-to-tamil-nadu.html|last=Ayyappan|first=R|date=31 October 2020|access-date=16 June 2021|work=Onmanorama}}</ref> The T.T.N.C had also requested to merge these Taluks with [[Madras State]].<ref name="idukki"/> However it was due to some decisions of [[Pattom Thanu Pillai]], who was the first prime minister of Travancore, that they retained in the modern-state of [[Kerala]].<ref name="idukki"/> Pattom came up with a colonisation project to re-engineer the demography of [[Cardamom Hills]].<ref name="idukki"/> His colonisation project was to relocate 8,000 [[Malayalam]]-speaking families into the Taluks of [[Devikulam]] and [[Peermade]].<ref name="idukki"/> About 50,000 acres in these Taluks, which were Tamil-majority area, were chosen for the colonisation project.<ref name="idukki"/> As a victory of the Colonisation project done by post-independence [[Travancore]], these two Taluks and a larger portion of [[Cardamom Hills]] retained in the state of [[Kerala]], after [[States Reorganisation Act, 1956]].<ref name="idukki"/> | |||
==Chief Ministers== | ==Chief Ministers== | ||
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==References== | ==References== | ||
{{Reflist}} | {{Reflist}} | ||
==Further reading== | |||
* {{cite book | |||
| author = U. Sivaraman Nair | year=1955 | |||
| title= Travancore-Cochin Language Handbook (1951) | publisher=Travancore-Cochin Government Press | |||
| url= http://lsi.gov.in:8081/jspui/bitstream/123456789/5618/1/47149_1951_LAN.pdf | |||
}} | |||
{{States of India on 26 January 1950}} | {{States of India on 26 January 1950}} | ||
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{{Coord|8|26|N|76|55|E|type:country_source:kolossus-eswiki|display=title}} | {{Coord|8|26|N|76|55|E|type:country_source:kolossus-eswiki|display=title}} | ||
{{DEFAULTSORT:Travancore-Cochin}} | |||
[[Category:Travancore–Cochin| ]] | [[Category:Travancore–Cochin| ]] | ||
[[Category:History of Kochi]] | [[Category:History of Kochi]] | ||