Accamma Cherian | |
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| Born | 14 February 1909 |
| Died | 5 May 1982 Trivandrum,Kerala, India |
| Nationality | Indian |
| Political party | Travancore State Congress |
| Spouse | V. V. Varkey |
| Parent(s) | Thomman Cherian and Annamma |
Akkamma Cherian was anIndian independence activist[1][2] fromTravancore (Kerala),India. She was popularly known as theJhansi Rani ofTravancore.[3]
In February 1938, the Travancore State Congress was formed and Cherian gave up her teaching career to join the struggle for liberty.[4][5]
Under the State Congress, the people of Travancore started an agitation for a responsible government.C. P. Ramaswami Aiyar, theDewan of Travancore, decided to suppress the agitation. On 26 August 1938, he banned the State Congress which then organised acivil disobedience movement. Prominent State Congress leaders including its PresidentPattom A. Thanu Pillai were arrested and put behind bars.[6]
Cherian led a mass rally fromThampanoor to theKowdiar Palace of theMaharajaChithira Thirunal Balarama Varma to revoke a ban on State Congress.[4] The agitating mob also demanded the dismissal of the Dewan, C. P. Ramaswami Aiyar, against whom the State Congress leaders had levelled several charges. The British police chief ordered his men to fire on the rally of over 20,000 people . Cherian cried, "I am the leader; shoot me first before you kill others". Her courageous words forced the police authorities to withdraw their orders. On hearing the newsM. K. Gandhi hailed her as 'The Jhansi Rani of Travancore'. She was arrested and convicted for violating prohibitory orders in 1939.[7]
The first annual conference of the State Congress was held atVattiyoorkavu on 22 and 23 December 1932 in spite of the ban orders. Almost all leaders of the State Congress were arrested and imprisoned. Cherian, along with her sisterRosamma Punnose (also a freedom fighter, M.L.A., and aCPI leader from 1948), was arrested and jailed on 24 December 1939.[8] They were sentenced to a year's imprisonment. They were insulted and threatened in the jail. Due to the instruction given by the jail authorities, some prisoners used abusing and vulgar words against them. This matter was brought to the notice ofM.K. Gandhi byPattom A. Thanu Pillai.[9][10]
In the early 1950s, when the parties ideologies were changing, she quit politics.[4]
Cherian died on 5 May 1982. A statue was erected in her memory in Vellayambalam,Thiruvananthapuram.[11]A documentary film was made on her life by Sreebala K. Menon.[12][13][14]
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