20th August marks the beginning of the centenary of Malabar rebellion which has been considered as one of the most significant movements in the Malabar region of Kerala prior to Independence.
Context
20th August marks the beginning of the centenary of Malabar rebellion which has been considered as one of the most significant movements in the Malabar region of Kerala prior to Independence.
What is the Moplah rebellion?
- The Moplah rebellion, also known as the mappila riots, of 1921 was one of the first manifestations of the Taliban mindset in India and the Left government in Kerala was allegedly trying to whitewash it by celebrating it as a communist revolution.
- It had been an uprising of Muslim tenants against British rulers and local Hindu landlords.
- It has often been perceived as one of the first nationalist uprisings in southern India. It has even been described as a peasant revolt.
Details of the uprising
- The uprising, which began on August 20, 1921, went on for several months marked by many bouts of bloodstained events.
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- Some historical accounts state the uprising led to the loss of around 10,000 lives, including 2,339 rebels.
Dr. B.R. Ambedkar on the rebellion
Dr. B.R. Ambedkar has provided a detailed account on the rebellion in Pakistan or The Partition of India’ and it isn’t a glowing one.
- Beginning with the year 1920 there occurred in that year in Malabar what is known as the Mopla Rebellion.
- It was the result of the agitation carried out by two Muslim organisations-
- the Khuddam-i-Kaba (servants of the Mecca Shrine)
- the Central Khilafat Committee
- Agitators actually preached the doctrine that India under the British Government was Dar-ul-Harab and that the Muslims must fight against it and if they could not, they must carry out the alternative principle of Hijrat.
- The Moplas were suddenly carried off their feet by this agitation. The outbreak was essentially a rebellion against the British government.
- The aim was to establish the kingdom of Islam by overthrowing the British government.
- Dr. Ambedkar further noted that the forces behind the rebellion declared Khilafat kingdoms.
- As a rebellion against the British Government it was quite understandable. But what baffled most was the treatment accorded by the Moplas to the Hindus of Malabar.
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