The Onchiyam struggle lives on

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The little hamlet of Onchiyam in Badagara which had a crucial role in the building of the communist movement in the state has become the nemesis of the CPI (M) today.

During World War II there was a growing movement against food scarcity coupled with the struggle for land for the tillers and that against the British rule. The Communist Party then was against the war stating that the British had no right to push India into the war.

Local party meetings to explain the party stand and devise strategies for the struggle had a secretive nature as the Malabar special police were out to hound the leaders and cadre.

On April 30, 1943, an MSP team descended on Onchiyam in search of two leaders P.P. Sankaran and P.R. Nambiar who had attended a party meeting there. The team went to the house of Choyi and asked if the leaders were there. Not finding them there, the team arrested Choyi and his son and made a big announcement in the village that the two had been arrested.

Locals led by party activist Alavakkal Krishnan requested the police to release Choyi and his son promising to produce them when demanded. The police conceded and the crowd went back with the two. Police soon opened fire and eight people, including Krishnan, were killed instantaneously and the two injured were taken to hospital.

At the spot where they were buried, the party erected a memorial, one amongst the earliest memorials of the communist movement.

The martyrdom helped spread the movement whose tradition was kept live by T.P. Chandrase-
kharan and his ilk.