TNPSC Thervupettagam

100 Years of Vaikom satyagraha

April 6 , 2024 26 days 378 0
  • Vaikom, a temple town in the princely state of Travancore, saw the start of a non-violent agitation on March 30, 1924.
  • This is the first among temple entry movements that would soon sweep across the country.
  • The satyagraha had foregrounded social reform amidst the growing nationalist movement, bringing Gandhian methods of protest to the state of Travancore.
  • The Vaikom satyagraha was sustained for over 600 days.
  • The issue of temple entry was first raised by Ezhava leader T K Madhavan in a 1917 editorial in his paper Deshabhimani.
  • Madhavan met Gandhi in 1921, and secured the Mahatma’s support for a mass agitation to enter temples.
  • In the 1923 session of the INC in Kakinada, a resolution was passed by the Kerala Provincial Congress Committee to take up anti-untouchability as a key issue.
  • In November 1936, the Maharaja of Travancore signed the historic Temple Entry Proclamation which removed the age-old ban on the entry of marginalised castes into the temples of the state.

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