Revolutionary Abdul Khader of Vakkom

Today we are going to discuss the life, activities and sacrifices of some lesser known revolutionaries of mother India. Most of us read about, Shaheeds Khudiram, Bagha Jatin, Masterda Surya Sen, Veer Kannya Preetilata, Benoy, Badal, Dinesh(BBD Bagh), Bhagat Singh, Jatin Das and many others, whose names are etched in the hearts of most Bangalees and Indo Pak subcontinent people in general.

Many others remain behind curtains. Not much has been written about them and hardly anybody remembers them though they too fought for the same reason and had to make same sacrifice. Abdul Khader of Vakkom (a small village near Thiruvanantapuram) is one such hero along with 18 other comrades out of whom four had to lay their lives on the altar of freedom of their motherland.

Before coming to their story let us put some light on the political and social situation that prevailed in their time of revolutionary activities in India and elsewhere. In South East Asia many Indians were living since long. Some settled there centuries ago being conquerors and after ruling and staying there for many centuries got assimilated in those societies.

Examples are different dynasties in Thailand, Cambodia (Angkorwat), Vietnam (Champa Kingdom), Indonesia (Bali) and many other smaller ones. They were sympathizers of their ancient forefather's land's inhabitants being exploited in the same way they were colonized and exploited by the Dutch and French.

There were thousands of workers of Indian origin working as laborers or assistants to the British executives working in the plantations and mines in Malaya and Burma. There were others who were engaged in petty and in some cases big businesses in Singapore, Bangkok, Burma, Malaya and other places. Some were there for long and some were new arrivals. Through them and through other political forces the desire for Indian self rule was growing.

All movements of Indian political parties including Indian National Congress and Muslim League could not bring in any positive result up to the 1930s.The strong Quit India movement launched by Congress and supported by many other political entities was gaining momentum but the WW2 broke out in full swing in South East Asia and the clever British administration struck a deal with the politicians of India to allow them freedom after winning the war.

In return, they demanded full cooperation of the British Indians in their war in all fronts. During WW1 too similar scenario prevailed. British Indian Army fought tooth and nail for their British masters but nothing transpired. On one context or the other the Indians were denied any kind of freedom. Rather, those who fought for it were met straight with arms and dealt with heavy handedly.

So, youth were not happy and though many Indians joined the Army to fight for the Allies against the Axis forces some Indians started underground revolutionary activities to put the British under pressure. The flame of this spirit spread in SE Asia too. By 1942 most of SE Asia came under the Japanese Army control throwing off British, French and Dutch colonial powers. British and the Allies were fighting the Japanese to save Burma and put a barrier for the Jap forces barring them from entering Indian territory.

The Indian Independence League led by veteran revolutionary Rash Behari Basu (who had a Japanese wife and operated from Tokyo) took this opportunity to form its armed wing INA recruiting Indian POWs(of British Indian Army) captured by the Japanese and youth of Indian origin working in those countries and dreamt of a free India.

Capt Mohan Singh was in charge of INA until Netaji Subhash made his landmark cross over from Europe to SE Asia on German and Japanese submarines having a hair raising sub to sub transfer on the high seas off African coast in the Indian Ocean. Indian Independence League struck its deal with the Japanese authorities to fight together against the Allies to gain freedom of India and the Japanese promised to help Indians in all the way they could to fight the Brits being the common enemy.

Under one such scheme a programme styled Indian Swaraj Institute was floated to recruit 50 strong and young strong willed Indians to be trained to work together with Indian underground revolutionaries. The purpose was to gather intelligence, imbibe patriotism in youths to fight for freedom and to organise attacks on British officials and offices to destabilise them. The venue of the training was Penang Free School which is a museum now. Japanese and Ex British Indian Officers were selected as instructors. 

After successful completion of the training a first batch of 20 such fighters were selected and they still go by the name Penang 20. Our hero Abdul Khader was one of the toughest to be amongst these 20 selected top notch candidates. He was born and brought up in Kerala in a village and studied up to 10th standard.

Then he travelled to Malay at the young age of 22 to earn bread for his family in 1938. He started earning a living there but in the meantime,  he being a freedom loving person got involved in the activities of IIL and INA. He was one of the first recruits of the Swaraj Institute.

The others recruited were of the same spirit. When their training was over the first twenty amongst them were selected as Penang 20 and decision was taken to send them to India in 3 batches. Two batches of 5 revolutioneries each were sent by Japanese submarines to Tanur (in the Malabar coast) and Dwarka (in the Kathiawar coast). Landing arrangements were made by rubber rafts.

The last group of 10 men included the top leader CGK Reddy, a marine engineer whose British ship was sunk by Japanese bombing and he ending up in Jap custody. They finding out his love for freedom choose him to be a leading trainee of the Swaraj Institute in Penang.

This group was supposed to cross over to India overland via Teknaf. Purpose of their entry to India and their targets were explained to them. The Japanese tactics was to shake up the British administration with fear of huge similar infiltration, if initial attempts met with success. Unfortunately, all three groups failed in their mission.

They were not fully prepared for the mission and did not know how to face adverse ground situation. Proper contacts on the ground was not established. So, being tipped off by their intelligence, the Britishers could detect their presence and all of them were apprehended promptly. It was in October 1942. Out of 20 one behaved treacherously.

He became an approver. The other 19 were put on trial in camera inside Madras (now Chennai) jail. Special judge E E Mack was put at the helms of affair. He found that there was no proper law to try them. Hurriedly Enemy Agents Ordinance1943 was promulgated in January, 1943 and in February they were put to trial under this Ordinance. Obviously it was illegal, because when they were arrested, the ordinance did not exist.

To strengthen the case section 121 of Indian Penal Code (waging war against the King) was also added. Judge Mack was surprised to note the composition of the group. Out of 19 accused 8 each were Hindus (four of them Bangalees) and Christians, two Muslims and one Sikh. Out of all of them Abdul Khader and the Sikh youth Fauza Singh appeared to be most courageous.

 In the ensuing farcical trial, five of them were awarded capital punishment and five others were jailed for different terms. Others were acquitted. None of them however were in any way more or less responsible for any crime. The judgment is unexplainable till date. Revolutionaries to go to the gallows were Abdul Khader, Anandan, Satyendra Bardhan, Fauza Sigh and Benfica Pereira. It was done apparently to teach every religious entity a lesson. Though they could appoint lawyers, no heed was paid to the lawyer's reasoning and law points.

Since the matter was not much known to the common people, no popular demand or movement could grow unlike during the 1946 public trials of Azad Hind Officers in the Delhi Red Fort. So, these 5 young men were destined to die for loving and trying to fight for liberating their motherland. Pereira however was spared his life and his sentence was later reviewed to a prison term instead of death by hanging. Our brave heart Khader was a footballer.

While awaiting death he could smuggle a letter to his comrade Pereira: In the final match between Indian National Team and British Imperial Team, the former will score and you can go back to your mother with a smile.......Such was his conviction! In yet another letter, his last to his father, he wrote: "Don't sulk for me. I have no consolation to offer you.

God has bestowed upon me a peaceful and tranquil mind. In the present helpless position, nothing is in our hands to change the verdict. Don't be disturbed. In this holy month of Ramadan let's accept it as God's will in the form of sacrifice on the altar of freedom of motherland. Man is destined to death as every animal.

But he can give it a purpose and perfume. That's what I did. I did everything purposefully, sincerely and selflessly. The clock has struck twelve. The final moments of my last day have arrived. Know that I will embrace death calmly and fearlessly. Please don't grieve for me. You and the whole nation will be proud of me and happy for me."

All four of them went to the gallows as Khader had promised to his father in his last letter written in Malayalam. Their slogan before death was: Bharat Mata ki Jay. It was early morning on 10 September1943. Vakkom still remembers their son every year on that day with memorial services, events related to death anniversary, educational initiatives in his memory.

In 1998 Indian Government has released a commemorative stamp in the memory of these Shaheeds. In 1993 on the 50th anniversary of the incident, their surviving comrades converged on a gala occasion of remembrance. That's about all. Largely, they have been almost forgotten.

In Bangladesh, we don't even know about them though we were the same country then and these young men fought for and gave away their lives for us. Some of them even were arrested from our soil near Teknaf. May their souls rest in eternal peace! May we study about such other forgotten heroes and pay our due respect to them!

The writer is a researcher and
analyst of history