Top

NSS vows to protect institutions

Higher caste (savarna) march held under Mannathu's leadership on November 1924 demanding temple entry for all

Kottayam: The NSS would move forward with increased vigor, said general secretary Sukumaran Nair, after hoisting the flag at the NSS headquarters on Friday, on the occasion of its centenary celebrations. The top priority of NSS would be to protect the institutions under it and to strengthen the base of the organization.

The NSS and its educational institutions were for all and hence the society was not planning to enter the self financing educational sector. “If we enter that sector we will be forced to take money from the public. This is clear from the experience of others”, said Sukumaran Nair.

While the NSS marked its centenary, memories went back to the first meeting which was held at the sit-out of Mannathu House in Changanassery, on the evening of October 31,1914, with just 14 members.

The organization formed that day heralded the beginning of a socio-political movement in the form of ‘Bhrithya Jana Sanghom’, the first name of NSS, which wielded considerable influence on the socio-political scenario of the State in later days.

The meeting at Mannathu House selected K.Kelappan, a leader of the Travancore State Congress as president and Mannathu Padmanabhan as general secretary of the Sanghom. Panagottu Kesava Panikkar was the treasurer.

The Bhrithya Jana Sanghom was formed on the model of the Servants of India Society formed by freedom-fighter Gopal Krishna Gokhale. The 14- member committee has now expanded to 5,680 ‘Karayogams’.

In the first meeting itself, the agenda was on communal harmony and the revival of marginalized sections of society.

Mannathu Padmanabhan said the organization was set up to elevate the community from its deplorable state of existence. Unending litigation and petty ego had destroyed many families of the community. The first public meeting of the Bhrithya Jana Sanghom was held at Muttar near Changanassery on June 6, 1915.

Bowing to common request, the Bhrithya Jana Sanghom was renamed Nair Service Society at a meeting, once again held at Mannathu House on July 11, 1915.

( Source : dc )
Next Story