Celebrating the legacy of Kerala Gandhi K Kelappan, who played an important role in the social transformation of modern Kerala, Prajna Pravah national convener J Nandakumar inaugurated the memorial for K Kelappan constructed by Nila Vichara Vedi near the river Nila. The fire brought from the famous Tali temple was used to light up the lamp in the memorial. While addressing the gathering, J Nandakumar said that the Kerala government should follow the model set by Kelappan when it comes to the overall development of the state.
Union minister V Muraleedharan lashed out at the successive state governments in Kerala for deliberately forgetting the legacy of K Kelappan, who is also known as ‘Kerala Gandhi’. The Union Minister was inaugurating the program to commemorate the 50th death anniversary of K Kelappan organised by Nila Vichara vedi. He also added that the successive state governments who ignored the ‘samadhi bhoomi’ of K Keralppan are busy building memorial of Malabar Hindu genocide leader V.k Haji. V Muraleedharan also announced all the help from the Union Government’s side to protect Kelappan’s Samadhi bhoomi.
Former Governor of Mizoram Kummanam Rajasekharan while addressing the crowd said that K Kelappan was instrumental in connecting the people in Kerala with the Indian national consciousness. The modern Kerala is indebted to K Kelappan for bring the Gandhian values to public sphere.
K Kelappan was an Indian politician, independence activist, educationist and journalist. During the Indian independence movement, he was the lead figure of Indian National Congress in Kerala and was popularly known as Kerala Gandhi. After Indian independence, he held various seats in Gandhian organizations. He is the founding member and president of the Nair Service Society and was also the founder of Kerala Kshetra Samrakshana Samiti . He was a major influence on the Vaikom Satyagraha movement and later led the Guruvayur Satyagraha in 1932.
K Kelappan also played a vibrant role in the 'Tali Temple Movement'. Locals at Angadippuram in Malappuram who were trying to peacefully rebuild a Hindu Temple destroyed by Tipu's forces in 18th century were harassed by extremist Muslim elements, asserting that a Mosque was nearby the destroyed site. Then Left Government was also apathetic to the local Hindu cause. Kelappan himself entered into the struggle and led a 'Satygaraha' for the reconstruction of the Temple. Despite several attempts by the Government and police to stop the protests, Kelappan's satyagaraha won and the Hindus were allowed to build their temple.
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