Centre plans to strike down Moplah revolutionaries from freedom fighters' list

Kochi: The leaders and martyrs of the Malabar Rebellion of 1921 are to be removed from the Dictionary of Martyrs of India's Freedom Struggle, on the gounds that the rebellion did not stand for freedom struggle but for a Caliphate in Malabar, reported The Hindu.

A three-member panel constituted by the Indian Council for Historical Research (ICHR) recommended the deletion of Variamkunnath Kunhamed Haji, Ali Musaliar and 387 other Moplah martyrs during the period from 1857 to 1947.

The panel, which reviewed the entries in the fifth volume of the dictionary, found that the 1921 rebellion was a fundamentalist movement focused on religious conversion. It noted that the slogan raised by the rebels were not in favour of nationalism or against the British.

The panel, allegedly made up of Hindutva exponents, noted that India would have lost that part of the region from its territory if the rebellion succeeded in establishing a Caliphate in Malabar. It further observed that Variamkunnath Haji was a rioter and had established Sharia court in the region, beheading many Hindus. His men didn't' even spare secular Muslims.

According to the panel, most of the rebels, who were under-trial prisoners, died out of diseases like cholera and natural causes, and they cannot be treated as martyrs. Court trials were held for very few of them, it noted.

Director of Research and Administration, ICHR informed that the list of freedom fighters would be edited as recommended by the panel, and the current edition of the dictionary would be released by late October.

Meanwhile, RSS leader Ram Madhav said that the rebellion was one of India's first demonstrations of the Taliban mindset. He was addressing a meeting to commemorate the victims of the uprising.

Last year, actor-filmmaker Prithviraj announced a film, him donning as Variamkunnath Haji, which had lighted a big bang uproar with RSS factions lashing out on him. They had alleged that the film is an attempt to whitewash a rioter and his mass murder.

The latest ICHR panel's move has come in for strong criticism from various corners with the allegation that the move is part of the Hindutva agenda of the sangh parivar, for which it is using academic channels and influencing bodies like the ICHR. It also aims at twisting Indian history to a Hinduised version, wiping out signs of Muslim role in the struggle for the country's independence.