Five coconut palms. That is what Anchuthengu means. On a coast littered with millions of palms—toddy palms, betel palms, fishtail palms and the like—why were these five coconut palms so striking that a place was named after them, I wonder? There must have been something to them—by way of their type, height or placement.
Although it is called the Attingal Revolt of 1721, the first uprising against the British on Indian soil actually happened almost 10km away, in Anchuthengu, which the colonisers called Anjengo. Incidentally, THE WEEK’s editor-in-charge, V.S. Jayaschandran, grew up in the area and used to haunt the fort there as a young man.
Anyway, there are coconut palms in the name of the state (kera) and coconut palms (thengu) in the name of this village. To me, the palm itself is a telling image representative of the spine shown by these freedom fighters, the spirit unbowed which made them stand up to be counted. In this issue, we are looking at five struggles, including Attingal; the others being the Sanyasi rebellion, the Sehore rebel raj, the Chauri Chaura riot and the Kakori train raid.
Our gratitude to our dear Vice President M. Venkaiah Naidu for writing an exclusive and forward-looking article for this issue. Drawing from the vice president’s long political career, the article captures India’s journey so far and outlines his hopes for the future. Thank you again, sir.
As beautifully narrated by Senior Coordinating Editor R. Prasannan, this special issue that marks the 75th Independence Day is about the “little people” who shook off their shackles. They were not kings, officers or mass leaders. They were the forgotten. In her article about the Chauri Chaura riot, Senior Special Correspondent Puja Awasthi highlights the extent to which the satyagrahis were forgotten that even the court judgment does not mention their names in full.
In addition to the five uprisings, we also remember places that have had a lasting impact on Indian politics. Like Anandpur Sahib, which is now central to the Sikh identity. Or Belchi, site of the caste massacre which prompted Indira Gandhi to travel to this remote village on an elephant named Moti. Or Kagodu in Karnataka, which saw farmers agitating for their rights in 1951; the likes of Ram Manohar Lohia travelled to Shivamogga to support them. There is also hidden politics in place names. Khetolai village, where the nuclear test was done, is not known; but you know the nearby town of Pokhran. To know why Pokhran and not Khetolai, do read Senior Special Correspondent Pratul Sharma’s piece.
There is more to this special issue than the two major packages. The last week was an exciting one as the Indigenous Aircraft Carrier reached port after its first sea trials. This issue has a graphics on the vessel, which I once described in this page as “a baby born in our backyard”. We round off our defence coverage with Special Correspondent Pradip Sagar’s articles on the Arjun main battle tank, and the current status of the Indian Air Force.
As we look forward to the coming week, let me wish you all a happy Independence Day. May we all stay true to the ideals of the faceless, fearless freedom fighters who looked death in the eye and did not flinch. And in these divisive times, let us remember that though these legends came from different castes, religions and regions, the blood with which they watered the tree of freedom was uniformly red.