‘VOC dreamed big. More than a century later, it remains difficult to trace the roots of this dream,’ says historian A.R. Venkatachalapathy

Celebrate V.O. Chidambaram Pillai's audacious act of starting a shipping company under colonial rule with A.R. Venkatachalapathy's new book, ‘Swadeshi Steam’.

V.O. Chidambaram Pillai, freedom fighter from Tamil Nadu, has been celebrated as the man who took on the mercantile might of the British in the early 20th century by starting a shipping company under colonial rule. How did he pull off this audacious act?

In his new book, Swadeshi Steam, historian A.R. Venkatachalapathy gives a detailed account of how VOC (as he was known) did it and what happened subsequently.

Excerpts from an interview with A.R. Venkatachalapathy, who will be talking about his book at The Hindu Lit Fest 2024, on January 26-27, in Chennai.

VOC was not a man who blew his own trumpet. In whatever little he spoke or wrote about the great Swadeshi Steam Navigation Company that he launched in 1906 he underplays his role. But his political interests date back to 1893 when he came under the influence of Bal Gangadhar Tilak. Clearly the nationalist fervour that was triggered by the Swadeshi movement following the partition of Bengal powered his venture. Indigenous enterprise and boycott of British manufactures were constitutive elements of the movement. Many were involved in simple manufactures such as making soap, buttons, bangles and needles.

VOC dreamed big. More than a century later, it remains difficult to trace the roots of this dream.

I have already referred to his early exposure to Tilak. In 1900, VOC moved to the port town of Tuticorin and was active in public life. He keenly followed the press and was well aware of contemporary political developments. In his verse autobiography he mentions meeting a Swami Ramakrishnananda who he says sowed the seeds of Swadeshi in his heart. Under VOC’s leadership Tuticorin became the hub of the Swadeshi movement in South India. Tirunelveli and Tuticorin drew all-India attention and VOC became a national hero.

As a colony, Indian economic interests were always subservient to the British. There is a long history of Indian enterprise being crushed by the empire. Nearer VOC’s own town, in the Zamindari of Ettayapuram, his close friend, the great poet Subramania Bharati’s father’s cotton ginning company was ruined by European machinations. In the early 20th century, Tuticorin was the fifth largest port in India. The British Indian Steam Navigation Company held a virtual monopoly over freight and passenger traffic. In association with the South Indian Railway Company — again British-owned — it had ruined all the small ports across the Coromandel coast bringing misery to local traders. The crushing of trade interests was laced with everyday racism. The Swadeshi movement was the catalyst that led to the shipping company experiment. VOC gave the leadership and married it to ideas of economic nationalism which was an integral part of the movement.