'Malabar Rebellion was 'agri revolt' & Variyan Kunnath was its leader': Pinarayi Vijayan

Thiruvananthapuram: Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan on Saturday reaffirmed his party's 'stand' on the Malabar Rebellion by declaring Variyan Kunnathu Kunjahammed Haji as the leader of the "Agri Revolt".

In his first public appearance in weeks, Vijayan was responding to a media query on the ongoing controversies regarding the 1921 event that was set in motion earlier this month after Kerala Assembly Speaker MB Rajesh equated Variyan Kunnathu Kunjahammed Haji to Bhagat Singh.

"The Malabar Agri Revolt also known as Malabar Rebellion was led by Variyan Kunnath Kunjhammad Haji," said Pinarayi Vijayan here on Saturday.

A host of prominent BJP leaders in the state, including union minister V Muraleedharan and former state president of the party, Kummanam Rajasekharan, had attacked Rajesh over his comment on Variyan Kunnath.

Vijayan's reply to it was that such people "have no knowledge of India's struggle for independence.

"The struggle for Independence comprised of individual sacrifices, mass movements, armed revolts and Agri revolutions. In essence, all of them wanted to expel the British from the country.
"No one has the right to expel them from the nation's struggle for independence," Pinarayi Vijayan said.

The chief minister said that the Mabalar Rebellion had emerged into a struggle against feudal landlords who were exploiting the masses with the support of the British.

"In some areas, some tried to divert it into a wrong direction (the inference being the alleged communal angle involved in the Malabar Rebellion). But Variyan Kunnath had opposed such diversion by holding the communities together," said Vijayan.

The chief minister referred to Muhammad Abdu Rahiman's remarks on the Rebellion. He cited Madhavan Nair's writing on the Rebellion, in which he mentions about Variyan Kunnath, adding how the latter had told the writer about efforts to prevent the killing of innocent people in the revolt.

"Sardar Chandroth has written about this in Deshabhimani in 1946. He (Variyan Kunnath) had put forth a vision of bringing people of all communities together. The Hindu had re-published a letter Variyan Kunnath wrote opposing attempts to brand the Malabar Rebellion as communal," Vijayan said.