Centenary of Gandhiji's Vaikom visit: A poetic justice served after 100 years!

IT was on March 10, 1925, that Mahatma Gandhi arrived at Indamthuruthy Mana, which holds a significant place in the historic Vaikom Satyagraha, at the height of casteism and untouchability.

- KRISHNA KUMAR KE @Kochi

His mission was to conduct talks to pursue the upper caste members to open the road to the famous Shiva temple in the town for all sections of Hindus in the Travancore region.

But Gandhi himself turned into a victim. Devan Neelakandan Namboodiri, the then chief trustee of the temple and head of the Indamthuruthy Mana, didn't allow Gandhiji to enter the house as he was a 'vaishya'. Gandhiji had to hold the parleys in a temporary pandal erected outside, while Neelakandan and other upper-caste Hindus stayed inside the house. However, a poetic justice has been served 100 years later when Tushar Gandhi, the great grandson of Mahatma Gandhi, was welcomed into the house, now the office of a communist-backed union of predominantly lower-caste toddy tappers, with traditional percussion and escorted by hundreds cutting across various castes.