ABSTENTION MOVEMENT
1933-1937

The Abstention Movement had certain uncommon features. It was the first of its kind in modern India. It is not impossible to see movements and struggles aimed at social reforms in British India. But in no other princely State than Travancore do we find such virulent socio—political agitations, as the Abstention Movement. The abstention, hailing from the socially and politically backward communities, were their own masters and guides. They were not in receipt of assistance from any other quarters. While social reform movement in other parts of British India had been, on the whole, the work of the enlightened caste Hindus, the abstention were advanced enough to present their own grievances and promote a struggle for their redress. They replied with some arguments the ‘nationalists’ who were labelling the movement as communal and sectarian. If the Abstention Movement bad been slowed down succumbing to these critics, the social history, if not the political history, of modern Kerala would have been far different than what it is today. “It is left to the unprejudiced’’ says N.V. Joseph, “to ponder and judge, whether in the absence of the Abstention Movement the State Congress would have been formed and whether all communities participated in it on an equal footing.” However, they could not be cajoled and cowed down by the communal label stuck on them. If the abstentionists, without fighting out the issue, had joined hands with these so- called nationalists, the social and political progress of the former would have been postponed by these ‘reluctant democrats’. The irrepressible will and vigour of the abstentionists and the cause they upheld, will earn for them due recognition in the history of .modern India, provided the movement is approached and analysed in true perspective. It is a fact that Kerala is far ahead of other Indian States in social thinking and political maturity. But its credit goes to the abstentionists. Of course there were several other factors which produced this situation; hut they were only corollaries and not the core of the issue The slow and sluggish progress registered by other states on these fronts are matters deserving serious studies. The fact was that the depressed classes, who constituted the vast majority were not given the opportunity to show their mettle and come up. Of course the patting hands of Gandhiji were there. But there was no scope for self—help and rise The dose of social reforms applied by Gandhiji was far short of the actual need. The caste Hindus concealed their protests. It was not conviction, but convenience, that made them get along with Gandhiji on this issue It was these dormant reactionaries, net all, who were to lead the freedom movement of the country. The abstentionist sensed the danger of falling into the trap of this kind of leadership. The Abstention Movement was a reaction to the reactionaries of the said kind, who were clandestinely trying to hamper the progress of the real nationalism and freedom of the people. To the abstentionists social and political justice was a matter of right, and not gift It was this basic consciousness of the abstentionists that distinguished their movement from similar movements in other parts of India.

- K.K. Kusuman
ABSTENTION MOVEMENT