The Indian Council of Historical Research (ICHR) will include Vadappuram Bava, the first general secretary of the Travancore Labour Association, the first trade union in Kerala, on the list of Indian freedom fighters.
C.I. Issac, ICHR member, said on Thursday that the process had begun and Bava’s name would be included on the list soon.
Mr. Issac said the book Vadappuram Bava: Thamaskarikkapetta Viplava Nayakan written by Sajeev Janardanan would be translated to English and published with ICHR funding.
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100th anniversary
The Vadappuram Bava Foundation, which recently organised a programme to mark the 100th anniversary of the founding of the Travancore Labour Association, welcomed the decision of the ICHR.
“The Travancore Labour Association was founded by Vadappuram Bava on March 31, 1922. He fought against the British and spent time in jail. However, he had remained out of the freedom fighters’ list,” said Mr. Janardanan, who is president of the Vadappuram Bava Foundation.
‘Madathilackal ignored’
Meanwhile, Abraham Arakal, former Principal of Maharaja's College, Ernakulam, said that while programmes had been organised to mark the 100th anniversary of the founding of the Travancore Labour Association and remember Bava, the role played by M.K. Antony Madathilackal, founder president of the labour association, was totally ignored.
M.K. Antony Madathilackal
On Thursday, a group of people led by Fr. Philip Thayil, P.J. Mathew, Mr. Arakal and others paid floral tributes to Dr. Madathilackal on the centenary of the founding of the Travancore Labour Association.
“Antony Madathilackal, who served as a doctor in the British Navy during World War I, was greatly influenced by Fabian society and the British Labour Party under Ramsay Macdonald. After returning to India, he came in close association with the labour class in Alappuzha. It was this that led to the formation of the Travancore Labour Association,” Mr. Arakal said.
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