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UPSC V. O. CHIDAMBARAM PILLAI - English

V. O. CHIDAMBARAM PILLAI

Why in News?

Recently, the Prime Minister paid tribute to V. O. Chidambaram Pillai, the legendary freedom fighter on his 151th birth anniversary on 5th September 2022.

He was popularly known as Kappalottiya Tamilan (The Tamil Helmsman) and Sekkizuththa Semmal (scholarly gentry who suffered at the oil press).

Birth: Vallinayagam Olaganathan Chidambaram Pillai (VOC) was born 5th September 1872 to an eminent lawyer Olaganathan Pillai and Paramyee Ammai in Ottapidaram, Tirunelveli district of Tamil Nadu.

Early Life: VOC graduated from Caldwell College, Tuticorin. Before beginning his law studies, he worked for a brief period as a taluk office clerk.

• His tussle with the judge forced him to seek fresh pastures at Tuticorin in 1900.
• Until 1905, professional and journalistic activities consumed most of his energy.

Entry in Politics: VOC entered politics in 1905 following the partition of Bengal.

• Towards the end of 1905, VOC visited Madras and was drawn closer to the Swadeshi Movement initiated by Bal Gangadhar Tilak and Lala Lajpat Rai.
• VOC was drawn towards Ramakrishna Mission and came into contact with Subramania Bharati and the Mandayam family.
• It was not until the arrival of VOC at Tuticorin (Present day Thoothukudi) that the Swadeshi movement in Tirunelveli district began to gather force and momentum.

Role Played in Freedom Movement: By 1906, VOC won the support of merchants and industrialists in Tuticorin and Tirunelveli for the idea of establishing a Swadeshi merchant shipping outfit by the name of the Swadeshi Steam Navigation Company (SSNCo).

• He established many institutions like Swadeshi Prachar Sabha, Dharmasanga Nesavu Salai, National Godown, Madras Agro-Industrial Society Ltd and Desabimana Sangam.
• VOC and Siva were aided in their efforts by a number of Tirunelveli-based lawyers, who formed an organisation called the Swadeshi Sangam, or ‘National Volunteers’.
• The nationalist movement acquired a secondary character with the beginning of the Tuticorin Coral Mills strike (1908).
• Even prior to Gandhiji’s Champaran Satyagraha (1917), VOC took up the cause of the working class in Tamil Nadu, and thus he is a forerunner to Gandhiji in this respect.
• VOC, along with other leaders, resolved to take out a mammoth procession on the morning of 9th March 1908 to celebrate the release of Bipin Chandra Pal from jail and to hoist the flag of Swaraj.

Writings: Meyyaram (1914), Meyyarivu (1915), Anthology (1915), Thirukural with literary notes of Manakudavar (1917), Tholkappiam with literary notes of Ilampooranar (1928), Autobiography (1946).

Death: V.O.C died on 18th November 1936 in the Indian National Congress Office at Tuticorin.

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