The centenary celebration of the historic Vaikom struggle successfully concluded on 12th December 2024 in Vaikom, Kerala. Asiriyar Dr.K.Veeramani as the Chief Guest delivered the valedictory speech. The excerpts are as follows:
“Vanakkam. At the outset I convey my hearty thanks to the Hon’ble Chief Minister of Kerala, Thiru Pinarayi Vijayan for organising the valedictory function of Vaikom struggle and inviting me to participate as the Chief Guest.
I thank with immense pleasure, the Hon’ble Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu, Thiru M.K.Stalin, the icon of the ‘Dravidian Model’ Government, for gracing this memorable occasion. My sincere thanks to all the dignitaries, friends and well-wishers of this venue.
The Government of Kerala and Tamil Nadu have jointly organised this event, that would script history and would be remembered by posterity for several hundred years in future.
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The ministers and higher officials of both the states have collectively made this a glorious event. Both the states have been on the same wave length of thoughts, principles and ideology striving for one long century to annihilate castes and the inhuman atrocity untouchability. We are celebrating the conclusion of the Vaikom struggle centenary at the same city where the mighty struggle took place, spearheaded by Thanthai Periyar and numerous veteran leaders of Kerala.
In 1924, Periyar ignited the sparks of struggle here when most of us were not even born. The relentless stalwart of Kerala Thiru.T.K.Madhavan led the team of social revolutionists Thiru.K.P.Kesava Menon, Kuroor Neelakantan Namboodiri, George Joseph and many others. The joint struggle of all these eminent leaders was prohibited and thwarted by the Government that was then in power. The leaders were all imprisoned and lodged in prison cells for long periods.
No struggle can ever face defeat if it is a justified strife. Social justice is an ever-winning concept. None can defeat and curb it. The Chief Ministers of both the States, Tamil Nadu and Kerala have proved it today by inaugurating Periyar Memorial and Periyar Memorial library.
In the names of a barbaric code, a religion, the Sanatana, the antique Vedas and outdated rubrics of conduct, unbearable atrocities took place in Kerala, long ago.
They were unheard of throughout the world. The downtrodden depressed class people were belittled as untouchable, unseeable and also unapproachable. People of overseas world countries are still unable to decipher these three crazy segregations. They are really puzzled even today by these eccentric terms connected with the evil caste system, because no other country in the entire world had ever come across such lunatic terms.
When a non-violent struggle erupted protesting against these inhuman cruelties, it was feared whether the fight would end with imprisonment of veteran leaders. But it did not end with the prison cell sufferings of agitators. A letter from a prison cell to Thanthai Periyar made the struggle revived and flammable massively. The letter solicited the visit of Periyar to lead the struggle. Thanthai Periyar rushed to Vaikom and mobilised all the like-minded cadres to carry on with the fight.
The struggle gained momentum. All the promoters of social justice fought with revitalised energy and brought victory. Today we have celebrated here that memorable victory that we collectively achieved a century ago in Kerala. We have participated in this valedictory event to express our gratitude to the State of Kerala. It was your fight with us against the caste evil and the barbaric untouchability thrust on us that yielded fruitful result and a glorious victory for us. Our presence here at this venue is a token of our sincere gratitude to everyone of you.
Caste evil and untouchability dehumanize people. Our movement, the Vaikom struggle, the self-respect movement started by Periyar and the Dravidian Movements have all been jointly striving in their own way to nourish humanism. From the detestable condition of dehumanisation we have been salvaging our oppressed people through rehumanisation. This noble task is going on tirelessly. The greatness of our movements lies in our ultimate victory. This struggle must go on uninterruptedly.
That is our message on this occasion.
Long ago, the caste based atrocities were patent but today they are latent. Fanatics openly made our people untouchable, unseeable and unapproachable in the past. Today the same kind of atrocity takes place indirectly and quite strategically. Hypocrites secretively commit those atrocities. Infact, in some places the atrocities are also obviously taking place. Whatever form that caste evil may assume, we must annihilate it. Let us bring about a casteless society by our solidarity and unity.
On this occasion we invite the youth of both the states, of all the districts through our beck and call to join us and strengthen our arms in this noble task. By an amalgamation of Dravida Model, Marxist Model and Gandhian Model you have all proved the successful outcome of our non-violent Satyagraha. This ideological structure is the outlet of the thought of all our great stalwarts in the past. They sowed the seeds and we have reaped the harvest of victory.
We convey our modest gratitude not only to the Periyarists all over the world, but also to all the rationalists, atheists, humanists and the promoters of social justice all over the globe. We are delighted to note that as a part of the centenary celebration, this is the third event in the period of the last one year. The presence of the Chief Ministers of both the States has made the valediction really splendid. At the age of 94, Thanthai Periyar requested all the state Governments to annihilate caste system adhering to constitution. At the conference of the Caste Degradation he conveyed this request through his speech. All of us should fulfil the desire of Periyar and make his dream come true. His request should be complied with, at all cost.
His objective must be achieved through our collective efforts. We need your invaluable support and patronage to accomplish this mission.
Article 17 of the Constitution says untouchability has been annihilated. It should be corrected as “castes have been annihilated.” This annihilation must take place by judicial fights quite lawfully. Untouchability is caused by caste evil. Hence if castes are annihilated we can rest assured that an eternal evil has been annihilated. If the roots are removed, the branches would spontaneously fall.
We solicit your patronage in the task of uprooting toxic castes. Let us take an oath to form a casteless society. On this stage today let us all swear to wage our war relentlessly and achieve victory. Thanks to everyone of you at this venue.
