A Calcutta newspaper which reported on Bharathi, carried VOC’s photo 116 years ago

V. O. Chidambaram, a Tamil freedom fighter, is celebrated in Tamil Nadu for his role in the Swadeshi Movement.

V. O. Chidambaram (VOC), the freedom fighter and Tamil scholar who dared take on the mighty maritime empire of the British and paid for it, is celebrated more in his native State these days than elsewhere. But his fame had reached far and wide when he launched Swadeshi Steam Navigation Company. Bande Mataram, published both as an English daily and weekly from Calcutta (the present day Kolkata) by great leaders Bipin Chandra Pal and Sri Aurobindo, had featured a photograph of VOC on the front page in 1908, the year when Tirunelveli revolted against British rule after the arrest of VOC.

“VOC’s photograph appeared on April 26, 1908. It was a period between his arrest and conviction. He was arrested in March and awarded a double life [sentence] in July,” says Y. Manikandan, head of the Department of Tamil Language, University of Madras, who traced a copy of the newspaper/weekly at Teen Murti Bhavan in Delhi.

“The picture was published under Our Picture Gallery. I went through more than 50 issues and I could not find a picture of any other leader from Tamil Nadu. One issue bore the picture of Aurobindo. VOC’s picture on the front page is a recognition of Tamil Nadu’s contribution to the freedom movement in the contemporary period,” he says. Historian A.R. Venkatachalapathy, who has written extensively about VOC, had already discovered a picture of VOC. In 1909, Sridhar Vaman Nagarkar of Nasik had published a portrait of Bharat Mata, depicting her as Mahishasura Mardini. The portrait was surrounded by 24 national leaders, and VOC was the only south Indian leader who had secured a place among them. Bande Mataram accorded importance to the activities of the Swadeshi Movement in Tamil Nadu and leaders, including VOC.

Mr. Manikandan says nationalist poet Subramania Bharathi had also edited Bala Bharata, an English monthly, besides India, a Tamil weekly. It is now known to the world through the columns of Bande Mataram. Mahatma Gandhi, who ran the Indian Opinion weekly from South Africa, had regularly mentioned about Bala Bharata published from Puducherry. The events that unfolded in Tamil Nadu at the beginning of the 20th Century drew the attention of the nation. VOC launched the Swadeshi Steam Navigation Company, challenging British maritime trade, in 1906. He and Subramania Siva addressed a meeting in Tirunelveli in March 1908, praising Bipin Chandra Pal and calling upon people to boycott foreign goods. The district responded spontaneously and rose against British rule after VOC was arrested. The revolt is the subject of Venkatachalapathy’s book Thirunelveli Ezhuchiyum V.O.C-yum 1908, which won him the Sahitya Akademi Award.

Tamil Nadu was up in arms at the beginning of 1908. On January 25, a meeting was organised by moderates and members of the New Party, including Bharathiar, who was a follower of Bal Gangadhar Tilak and Bipin Chandra Pal. The meeting declared the mood of the people. “Bande Mataram described the meeting as ‘The Triumph of Nationalism in Madras’ and accorded it front page coverage. It adopted a resolution moved by Subramania Iyer, and Bharathiar seconded the amendment of Chakarai Chettiar. The resolution called upon all Indians to boycott the colonists and colonial goods,” says Mr. Manikandan, who has also secured a copy of the newspaper carrying the event. The meeting marked a milestone in the political activities of Bharathiar. He also made a reference to the preface written by Chakarai Chettiar, his friend and Mayor of Madras, to the book Swadesa Geethangal (Volume-2) published by Bharathiar’s wife Chellammal. “On two special occasions, Mr. Bharati, myself, and others played parts which have been always condemned by rational moderates as mere rowdyism, but which in my opinion have always characterised youthful zeal...,” writes Chakarai Chettiar. According to the newspaper, great enthusiasm prevailed among the nationalists. “Nationalist majority was never before believed to exist in Madras. The Nationalists then shouted Tilak Maharaj ke Jai and Babu Bepin Pal Ke Jai,” it reports.

Bande Mataram published an article, ‘A Grand Swadeshi Meeting at Madras: Triumph of the New Spirit’, on the front page about a gathering of over 5,000 people on the Marina Beach on March 17, 1907. The meeting was chaired by G. Subramania Iyer, one of the founders of The Hindu. “Chidambaram Pillai gave a long and thrilling account of the present Swadeshi Movement. He said that Swadeshi was a modern Avatar of Vishnu, who came to wake us up to the glory of national independence. The speech was cheered with tremendous shouts of Bande Mataram,” reports the paper. Mr. Manikandan said Bande Mataram had regularly reported on the Swadeshi Movement and the speeches of VOC. On March 19, 1907, it reported the speech of VOC, at a large gathering in Cuddalore, on Swadeshi Steam Navigation Company and Swadeshi industries and how to develop them. When VOC, Subramania Siva, and Padmanabha Iyengar, a friend of VOC, were arrested in 1908, Bande Mataram published an article, ‘Padmanabha Iyengar as Co-worker of Mr. Chidambaram Pillay-Living National self-sacrifice’. It attached a lot of importance to Padmanabha Iyengar, who failed to get adequate attention in Tamil Nadu.