Tiruppur Kumaran: a sacrifice that defied the British Raj

The year 1932 began ominously for satyagrahis of the freedom struggle. The British Raj was no longer in any mood to keep the Congress in good humour. Amid the severe impact of the Great Depression, a “national” government assumed office in London in August, with Ramsay MacDonald of the Labour Party as Prime Minister and Stanley Baldwin of the Conservative Party as the virtual second in command. Liberals were also part of MacDonald’s Cabinet. In a few months, it scored a landslide victory in the general elections. In New Delhi, Willingdon had become the Viceroy, replacing Irwin, who struck a pact with Mahatma Gandhi in March 1931 and adopted a conciliatory approach towards Gandhi and the Congress.

Willingdon was no Irwin. By the time Gandhi returned to Mumbai on December 28 after a four-month visit to England, where he attended the Second Round Table Conference, the Raj had not only abandoned the pact but had also begun repressive measures in many provinces, including Bengal and the United Provinces (now called Uttar Pradesh). The rule by ordinance was in place, with 15 ordinances having been promulgated, under which, as recorded by Tara Chand in History of Freedom Movement in India (Volume 4), “it [the government] was committing harrowing barbarities and ruthless repression.” Two days before Gandhi’s arrival, Jawaharlal Nehru was arrested. A “Civil Martial Law” had been clamped.

Gandhi’s arrest

On January 1, 1932, Gandhi, after holding discussions with members of the Congress Working Committee, informed Willingdon about the resumption of the Civil Disobedience Movement. The response of the government was swift. The Congress was declared illegal. Gandhi was arrested on January 4, followed by Rajendra Prasad the next day. “By January 10, leading Congressmen all over India were behind bars,” wrote D.G. Tendulkar in Mahatma (Volume 3).

It was on that day that in Tiruppur town of the western region of Tamil Nadu, a satyagrahi was beaten to death and his martyrdom propelled him into prominence. He was one of the agitationists who staged, like lakhs of people elsewhere in the country, demonstrations to highlight the Congress’ policy of boycotting foreign cloth and liquor.

Paintings of Tiruppur Kumaran at the Tiruppur Kumaran Memorial located near Tiruppur railway station in Tamil Nadu | Photo Credit: M. Periasamy

While accepting the blows of the police, the Tiruppur satyagrahi upheld the tricolour flag that symbolised the national movement and refused to part with it. He was N. Kumarasami, also known as Tiruppur Kumaran. As he held the flag aloft without letting it touch the ground, he came to be called “Kodi Kaatha Kumaran (Kumaran who protected the flag).” He went on to become a symbol of those who laid down their lives for the sake of the political freedom of their fellow countrymen.

Who was Kumaran?

According to a Tamil biography authored by B.S. Sundaram, a freedom fighter and the leader of the agitation team that led a demonstration in Tiruppur on the fateful day (January 10, 1932), Kumaran was born on October 4 in Chennimalai, now in Erode district, to a modest weaving family belonging to the Senguntha Mudaliar community. He could study up to the fifth standard, after which he took to the traditional occupation. In 1923, the 19-year-old married Ramayee, who was aged 14. He migrated to Tiruppur, where he worked for six years as a clerk at a cotton ginning mill.