Ninety seven years after he died in a boat capsize, Kerala is agog with demands for a comprehensive probe into the death of Kumaranaasan, the great poet and father figure of Malayalam renaissance movement.
It was on January 16, 1924, Kumaranaasan, one of the triumvirates of modern Malayalam poetry and a philosopher par excellence died in a boat mishap in the 25-meter-wide stretch of Pallana River. The poet and 34 others perished in the river while all employees and commuters on the deck swam to safety.
Kumaranaasan was travelling in a suite befitting his stature. His dead body was retrieved on the third day but curiously, the suite in which he was travelling was found to be locked from outside.
“The poet would not have drowned or sunk along with the boat because he was a good swimmer. He grew up along the backwaters and he was known as an ace swimmer,” P Sujathan, veteran journalist who has undertaken a lot of research and studies on the life and times of the late poet.
What has shocked thousands of fans of the late poet is the mysterious disappearance of the report by the P Cherian Commission of Enquiry, which was appointed by the then Travancore State Government to probe the sinking of the boat Redeemer.
“No FIR on the mishap or death of 35 persons including the poet was registered by the then Travancore State Police. Cherian had found that there were many factors which indicated that the accident was a sabotage. The locking of the suite from outside is a big mystery. The commission had asked for a detailed probe into the causes of the accident as well as the reasons for locking the poet’s cabin from outside which led to his death,” Sujathan told The Pioneer.
Kumaranaasan was an eyesore for some of the leaders of a community for authoring Duravastha (The Tragic Plight) focussing on the Mappila Rebellion of 1921. He had toured the entire region at the instance of Sree Narayana Guru, the great social reformer, as a fact-finding member to take stock of the biggest ever communal pogrom. The poem Duravastha was the outcome of his first-hand experience from the villages where he interacted with hundreds of victims.
“Duravastha was published in 1922 and the poet was under pressure to remove certain references from the poem. He refused to succumb and was under death threat issued by the community leaders. The Travancore Government had provided him round-the-clock security for the first two years and this was withdrawn at the instance of the poet himself,” said Sujathan,
He said the disappearance of the Cherian Commission report itself remains a mystery. “But enquiry commission reports prior to and after this 1924 mishap are available in the archives. Moreover, the Redeemer was a comparatively new mechanised boat and the chances of it sinking never existed,” said Sujathan.
Poems authored by Kumaranaasan, a favourite with radicals, has suddenly disappeared from mainstream narratives. The couplet from Duravastha “Maattuvin Chattangale Swayam..” (Malayalam for “Get rid of the outdated laws lest it will destroy you..”) which used to adore the podiums of Left meetings till a few years ago too have disappeared.
