The 75th anniversary of the first meeting of the State Congress at Vattiyurkavu was observed in Thiruvananthapuram on Sunday.
On December 22, 1938, a large number of Congress workers assembled at Vattiyurkavu, an act which is considered to have spearheaded the Independence struggle in the Travancore area. Overcoming the obstacles put up by Travancore Diwan C.P. Ramaswamy Aiyar, the meeting was held on the ground to the south of the present campus of the Central Polytechnic College at Vattiyurkavu.
On Sunday, the Vattiyurkavu Smaraka Samrakshana Samithi organised a meeting near the memorial, recently installed by the State government.
Union Minister of State for Human Resource Development Shashi Tharoor; K. Muraleedharan, MLA; and samithi chairman Kavaloor Madhu paid floral tributes.
Addressing the gathering, Dr. Tharoor said occasions such as this should be used to acknowledge the sacrifice of freedom fighters. The Minister felicitated freedom fighters N. Madhavan Nair, Kalady Krishnan Nair, V.K. Savithri Amma, and Sarojini Bhaskar.
