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But the most outstanding event of the year concerning the struggle of the Depressed Classes was the satyagraha or the passive resistance sponsored by Ramaswami Naicker, a non-Brahmin leader, at Vaikam in the Travancore State for vindicating the rights of the Untouchables to use a certain road to which they were forbidden entry. Its moral pressure and the spirit of righteous assertion had a tremendous effect, and the orthodox Hindus, for a while, regained their civic sense and sanity, and the road was thrown open to the Untouchables.
Another incident took place at this time. It shook both sensible touchables and self-respecting Untouchables. In March 1926 an Untouchable by name Murugesan entered a Hindu temple in Madras despite the customary ban on the Untouchables. He was discovered, arrested and convicted on a charge of defiling the Hindu temple.
Ambedkar was watching these developments very carefully. He referred to the Vaikam struggle, a few months later, very touchingly in one of his editorials, on the eye of the Mahad satyagraha. These were notable events. Coming events cast their shadows before!
Source : Dr. Baba Saheb Ambedkar, Life and Mission
by Dhananjay Keer, p.63
