Back then, everyone had desired the idea of a united Kerala. Everyone speaking Malayalam to be brought under a single state. The Kochi Maharaja had called a resolution for an independent Kerala. When the language commission came and the States Reorganisation Act happened, Kerala was formed, but losing Kanyakumari in the process, says historian M.G. Sasibhooshan. “It's true Tamil is spoken by a majority there, but Kanyakumari was culturally very much a part of Kerala,” he says, as he tries to narrate the evolution of Kerala through the seven decades of independence.
In 1956, Kerala was called Untypical India, because of the coalition government in the state. “I would say it was not a good idea, because if there was a failure, no one would take responsibility,” Sasibhooshan laments. Compartmentalisation came then. “Kerala was more socially dynamic compared to other states. That's why we have the highest literacy rate, that's why we are better when it comes to child mortality and primary education.” But today, the situation is different. Too much of professional courses have led to a large per cent of engineering students not taking their degrees. “It has become unpredictable and dangerous.”
Kerala today
The first Communist government had also brought in on a major change in the form of land reforms, but the Act came to be passed only in 1971. “While it had been a great move, it did not quite benefit the actual farmers who tilled the land. Instead it benefitted the middlemen, those we call in Malayalam paatta kkar (lessees). Many estate owners were not affected, but it was those who didn't know the law that were affected. The problem was that not enough homework was done before the act,” Sasibhooshan says.
By the 1970s, there was of course a whole lot of changes. Naxalism came to exist. Hippies aping the American culture were common. “But then that was short lived, the hippie phase. Because soon there was the Gulf boom and people started going away for better opportunities, bringing a solution to the unemployment problem. There were many nurses going abroad for better sources of income, to Nigeria and Zambia and other countries.” Today, we have few daily wage workers in Kerala. So they come from Bihar and Bengal, Sasibhooshan adds.
Then there was of course the Rajan case at the time of the Emergency. While nobody was punished in the case , it led
K. Karunakaran to resign less than a month after he was sworn in as Chief Minister. That marked freedom of a different kind, accountability becoming a non-negligible factor when it comes to law and order. If you fast forward to 2017, that continues to be the case as superstar Dileep had to go behind bars allegedly for the abduction and assault of an actress in Kochi, powers and influence not becoming a factor to stop it.
That may explain the scores of struggles and protests Kerala had seen through the decades — be it the Adivasi land struggles in Muthanga or the Chengara land struggles. And even today, protests going on in Puthuvypeen against the construction of an LPG terminal, or the Plachimada struggle against a soft drink plant, show there have always been fights for land and livelihood. And Kerala has never shied away from making the rightful demands, protesting for what's just.
“We don't have that cultural hangover. The rigidity of the caste system has also faded with years. But then religious feelings appear to be strong now and we need a dialogue among all,” Sasibhooshan concludes.
