My father would have been 99 had he lived for 5 more years and he would have been the most happy and proud to witness ‘Azadi ka Amritutsav’.
As a young student leader of INC in Travancore, he leaped to the call of “purna swaraj” mobilizing the students and young in Travancore. At the time of independence, he took the call of Gandhiji for dismantling of Congress and became an active member of Praja Socialist Party (PSP) led by Acharya Kripalani, the AICC President at the time of Independence.
Panackal Varkey Thomas or PVT as he was fondly called was assigned Personal Secretary, Coordinator and Translator when Kripalani undertook the 3 week tour of Kerala to spread the concept of PSP and prepare the party for the next election. The legendary Pattom Thanu Pillai was the Chief Minister of Kerala then ( Interestingly, they were designated Prime Minister initially and then on changed to CM). Pattom would be one of the few serving as PM and then CM.
My father could walk in to the Kitchen of Pattom and he believed in the young man, his passion for political work and his commitment to the theme of Socialist Party. And thats why the young 20 something was assigned to such an important task.
At the culmination of the visit, Kripalini asked Thomas to shift his base of political activity to Delhi. He politely declined saying he had a young wife and a little son whom he could not leave behind and promised to lead the PSP movement in Kerala. Kripalani was convinced Thomas had taken a wrong decision politically, but respected his choice.
My father went on to fight the election as a PSP candidate, turning down the offer from the powerful left then to stand as an independent. He told the well meaning comrades who visited his home ” May be its the worst political decision I’ll take, but I am the lead of PSP here and I’ll fight as one”
Rest is history as the left supported indepenedent won. My father went to Malabar to be part of the founding of one of the largest schools in Malabar, serving as its Headmaster for 25 years. He has left an indelible mark in the region he worked that even today, 35 years since he left that place, he is remembered and loved as someone who taught the young generation to dream and was at the forefront of working for the infrastructure there leveraging his contacts with his freedom fighter friends in the government. To think of it, 50 years back he had built an olympic size swimming pool in his school under a special GOI scheme supported keenly by his Freedom fighter colleague in the cabinet. Those were the days of rare comradeship and self less work for society.
He later on was the Chairman of Freedom fighter federation in Kerala, a position which he held till his last days. He fought for the well being of many FF who were at the risk of penury. He fought his right for a central government freedom fighter pension, which he won from court but was later overturned by the district administration for the flimsy reason that he had a pension from Kerala Govt. It was not about the money, which always went to the Ashram for the needy he supported, but he was angry and sad that many of the people who fought for the freedom of India are being forgotten, brushed aside by young civil servants who do not know their sacrifice, but enjoy its benefits.
He always used to remind, “Power is not to rule, but to serve”.
Today I salute him and his wife, my mother, who was the source of strength to him. True Azadi comes when we respect others for their views and help create an inclusive India through power of Education.
