S. MUTHIAH
A little over a year ago, the then Government of Tamil Nadu stated
that it would build memorials to honour three persons who had
"heroically fought the British". I don't know whether the memorials
have come up or not, but if the memorial to Vanchinatha Iyer had come
up by now in his native Shenkottai, Tirunelveli District, as promised,
it would have been appropriate for this year is the centenary of his
killing of Robert Ashe, the Collector of Tinnevelly District, a crime
that was the cause célèbre of the time.
Ashe had played a significant part in bringing about the closure of
the Swadeshi Steam Navigation Company, started by V.O. Chidambaram
Pillai to take on the British India Steam Navigation Company that had
for long monoplised trade in the southern part of the Bay of Bengal.
He had also been responsible for charging VOC and a colleague
Subramanya Siva with sedition — for which they were convicted.
The Pondicherry branch of V.D. Savarkar's Abhinav Bharat Society (New
India Society), led by V.V.S. Aiyar — it could not function in the
Madras Presidency being a banned organisation — decided to make Ashe
pay a price for his actions. And Vanchinatha Iyer was its instrument.
On June 17, 1911, Ashe and his wife Mary were on their way to
Kodaikanal on holiday. Their exclusive first class coach was detached
at Maniyachi Junction in order to be attached to the Boat Mail which
was expected a few minutes later. Suddenly, two men burst into their
compartment and one of them fired from close range at Ashe, who was
busy chatting with his wife, killing him on the spot. While his
accomplice fled into the safety of the crowd that had gathered at the
station to get a glimpse of the Collector Dorai (in those days,
considered all-powerful in the district), the other ran into a
lavatory on the platform and, when cornered, shot himself dead. He was
identified as Vanchinatha Iyer of Shenkottai. The 25-year-old was the
son of a forest guard.
Among the papers found on Vanchinatha Iyer's body was one which read:
"Every Indian is at the present time endeavouring to drive out the
Englishman who is the enemy of {our} country and to establish Dharma
and liberty — we 3000 Madrasis have taken a vow. Make it known, I, the
least of them, did this day commit this act."
The letter had the police suspecting a conspiracy and they searched
Vanchinatha Iyer's house. Letters found there led to a trail of a plot
that had been hatched by a Neelakanta Aiyar, from a village near
Sirkali, in conjunction with members of the Abhinav Bharat Society in
Pondicherry. Warrants against V.V.S. Aiyar, Subramania Bharati and
others in Pondicherry, then French territory, could not be executed.
Neelakanta Iyer and 13 others were charged with conspiracy to murder
and waging war against the King Emperor.
Because an Englishman was killed, a three-judge bench, led by the
Chief Justice, conducted the trial. The accused were defended by J.C.
Adam, a leading British barrister, T. Prakasam, later to be Chief
Minister of Andhra Pradesh, T.M. Krishnaswami Iyer, later to be Chief
Justice of the Travancore High Court, M.B. Devadoss (later a Justice
of the Madras High Court), and others. All 14 accused were found
guilty and given sentences ranging from seven years to a couple of
years. A five-judge bench heard the appeal and confirmed the
sentences.
Justice C. Sankaran Nair, one of the three-judge Bench, delivered a
different judgement from the others, even quoting Subramania Bharati
in translation: "When will this thirst for liberty and freedom be
quenched…. ." He found the accused not guilty of the charge of murder
and only a couple of them guilty of waging war against the King. The
five-judge bench included Justices Abdul Rahim and P.R. Sundara Iyer.
While the three British judges were for dismissing the appeal, Justice
Rahim wanted all the appellants released and Justice Sundara Iyer
expressed doubts about the conviction but would not commit himself
further.
Neelakanta Sastri, a journalist who had published several anti-British
journals from Pondicherry and had had them smuggled into the Madras
Presidency, was only 21 when the 93-day trial began. Over 100
witnesses were examined. After his release from prison, Neelakanta
Sastri took himself into the wilderness and became an ascetic.
Vanchinatha Iyer is remembered only in a railway station name-board —
Vanchi Maniyachi Junction.
Source URL
http://www.thehindu.com/life-and-style/article2233241.ece
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