Punnapra-Vayalar uprising 1946
Topic: The National Movement: Gandhian Era · NCERT: Beyond NCERT
Meaning
This was a Communist-led revolt in October 1946 in the princely state of Travancore (now in Kerala). It took place in the Alappuzha area. Coir workers, farm labourers and fishermen rose against the Diwan (chief minister) of Travancore, C.P. Ramaswami Iyer. He planned to keep Travancore independent and not let it join India. The state's army crushed the rising, and many people were killed. It shows how popular anger kept growing in the last years of British rule.
Example
At Punnapra and Vayalar, workers armed with simple weapons attacked police posts. The Diwan declared martial law (rule by the army), and troops fired on their camps. The rising failed, but it is remembered as a symbol of resistance in Kerala.
Related concepts
- Provincial elections of 1937
- Congress ministries 1937-39
- Wardha scheme of basic education
- Congress Socialist Party
- Haripura session 1938
- Tripuri crisis 1939
- Forward Bloc
- Second World War
- Lord Linlithgow
- Resignation of Congress ministries