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{{short description|Indian independence activist (1909-1989)}}
{{EngvarB|date=September 2014}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=September 2014}}
{{Infobox person
| name = Accamma Cherian
| image = Akkamma Cherian.jpg
| image_size = 150px
| caption =
| birth_date = 14 February 1909
| birth_place = [[Kanjirappally|Kanjirapally]], [[Travancore]]
| death_date = 5 May 1982
| death_place = [[Trivandrum]], [[Kerala]], India
| death_cause =
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| nationality = Indian
| other_names =
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| party = [[Indian National Congress|Travancore State Congress]]
| boards =
| spouse = V. V. Varkey
| partner =
| children =
| parents = Thomman Cherian and Annamma
| relations =
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}}

'''Akkamma Cherian''' was an [[Indian freedom fighter|Indian independence activist]]<ref>{{cite book|title=Journal of Kerala Studies |publisher=University of Kerala|year=1985|page=21|chapter=ROLE OF WOMEN IN KERALA POLITICS REFORMS AMENDMENT ACT 1969 A STUDY IN SOCIAL CHANGE}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|editor=K. Karunakaran Nair |title=Who is who of Freedom Fighters in Kerala|publisher=K. Karunakaran Nair|year=1975|page=89}}</ref> from [[Travancore]] ([[Kerala]]), [[India]]. She was popularly known as the [[Rani Lakshmibai|Jhansi Rani]] of [[Travancore]].<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.kswdc.org/status.htm |title=Status of Kerala Women |access-date=30 October 2008 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081026084416/http://www.kswdc.org/status.htm |archive-date=26 October 2008 |url-status=dead |df=dmy }}</ref>

== Early life and education ==
She was born on 14 February 1909 in a [[Roman Catholic]] family (Karippaparambil) at [[Kanjirappally|Kanjirapally]], [[Travancore]], as the second daughter of Thomman Cherian and Annamma Karippaparambil. She was educated at Government Girls High School, Kanjirapally and St. Joseph's High School, [[Changanassery|Changanacherry]]. She earned a BA in History from [[St. Teresa's College]], [[Ernakulam]].{{citation needed|date= September 2022}}

After completing her education in 1931, she worked as a teacher at St. Mary's English Medium School, edakkara), where she later became head mistress. She worked in this institution for about six years, and during this period she also did her L. T. degree from [[Thiruvananthapuram|Tri]] Training College.{{citation needed|date= September 2022}}

== Freedom fighter ==
In February 1938, the Travancore State Congress was formed and Accamma gave up her teaching career to join the struggle for liberty.<ref name="tehelka">{{cite web|url=http://www.tehelka.com/story_main25.asp?filename=op012007culture_vulture.asp|title=When friends become statues|author=Paul Zacharia|date=20 January 2007|publisher=tehelka.com|access-date=6 November 2008|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070210202013/http://www.tehelka.com/story_main25.asp?filename=op012007culture_vulture.asp|archive-date=10 February 2007|url-status=dead|df=dmy-all}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|title=The Collected Works of Mahatma Gandhi|publisher=Publications Division, Ministry of Information and Broadcasting, Govt. of India|year=1977|pages=413, 503}}</ref>

===Agitation for a responsible government===

====Civil disobedience movement====

Under the State Congress, the people of Travancore started an agitation for a responsible government. [[C. P. Ramaswami Iyer|C. P. Ramaswami Aiyar]], the [[Dewan|Dewan of Travancore]], decided to suppress the agitation. On 26 August 1938, he banned the State Congress which then organised a [[civil disobedice|civil disobedience movement]]. Prominent State Congress leaders including its President [[Pattom A. Thanu Pillai]] were arrested and put behind bars.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.kerala.gov.in/history&culture/emergence.htm|title=Emergence of nationalism|access-date=30 October 2008|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080911090438/http://www.kerala.gov.in/history%26culture/emergence.htm|archive-date=11 September 2008|url-status=dead|df=dmy-all}}</ref> The State Congress then decided to change its method of agitation. Its working committee was dissolved and the president was given dictatorial powers and the right to nominate his successor. Eleven 'dictators' (Presidents) of the State Congress were arrested one by one. Kuttanad Ramakrishna Pillai, the eleventh dictator, before his arrest nominated Accamma Cherian as the twelfth dictator.{{citation needed|date= September 2022}}

====Rally to the Kowdiar Palace====

Accamma Cherian led a mass rally from [[Thampanoor]] to the [[Kowdiar Palace]] of the [[Maharaja]] [[Chithira Thirunal Balarama Varma]] to revoke a ban on State Congress.<ref name=tehelka/> The agitating mob also demanded the dismissal of the Dewan, C. P. Ramaswami Aiyar, against whom the State Congress leaders had levelled several charges. The British police chief ordered his men to fire on the rally of over 20,000 people . Accamma Cherian cried, "I am the leader; shoot me first before you kill others". Her courageous words forced the police authorities to withdraw their orders. On hearing the news [[Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi|M. K. Gandhi]] hailed her as 'The Jhansi Rani of Travancore'. She was arrested and convicted for violating prohibitory orders in 1939.<ref>{{cite book|author =Naveen Joshi|title=Freedom Fighters Remember |publisher=Publications Division, Ministry of Information and Broadcasting, Govt. of India|year=1997|page=18|isbn=978-81-230-0575-1}}</ref>

===Formation of Desasevika Sangh===

In October 1938, the working committee of the State Congress directed Accamma Cherian to organise the Desasevika Sangh (Female Volunteer Group). She toured various centres and appealed to the women to join as members of the Desasevika Sangh.{{citation needed|date= September 2022}}

===Imprisonments===
Accamma had been imprisoned twice during her struggle for independence.{{citation needed|date= September 2022}}

====The Annual conference of the State Congress====
The first annual conference of the State Congress was held at [[Vattiyoorkavu]] on 22 and 23 December 1932 in spite of the ban orders. Almost all leaders of the State Congress were arrested and imprisoned. Accamma, along with her sister [[Rosamma Punnose]] (also a freedom fighter, M.L.A., and a [[Communist Party of India|CPI]] leader from 1948), was arrested and jailed on 24 December 1939. They were sentenced to a year's imprisonment. They were insulted and threatened in the jail. Due to the instruction given by the jail authorities, some prisoners used abusing and vulgar words against them. This matter was brought to the notice of [[Mahatma Gandhi|M.K. Gandhi]] by [[Pattom A. Thanu Pillai]].<ref>{{cite book|author =Mahatma Gandhi|title=The Indian States Problem|publisher= Navajivan press|page=167}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|author =V. B. Kher|title=Political and National Life and Affairs By Gandhi|publisher=Navajivan Pub. House|year=1967|pages=186, 322}}</ref> [[C. P. Ramaswami Iyer]], however, denied it. Accamma's brother, K. C. Varkey Karippaparambil also took part in freedom movement.{{citation needed|date= September 2022}}

====Quit India Movement====

Accamma, after her release from jail, became a full-time worker of the State Congress. In 1942, she became its Acting President. In her presidential address, she welcomed the [[Quit India Resolution]] passed at the historic [[Bombay]] session of the [[Indian National Congress]] on 8 August 1942. She was arrested and awarded one year imprisonment. In 1946, she was arrested and imprisoned for six months for violating ban orders. In 1947, she was again arrested as she raised her voice against C. P. Ramaswami Aiyar's desire for an independent Travancore.{{citation needed|date= September 2022}}

== Life in Independent India ==
In 1947, after independence, Accamma was elected unopposed to the Travancore Legislative Assembly from Kanjirapally. In 1951, she married V.V. Varkey Mannamplackal, a freedom fighter and a member of [[Travancore-Cochin|Travancore Cochin]] Legislative Assembly. They had one son, George V. Varkey, an engineer.{{citation needed|date= September 2022}} In the early 1950s, she resigned from the Congress Party after being denied a [[Lok Sabha]] ticket and in 1952, she unsuccessfully contested the parliamentary election from [[Muvattupuzha (Lok Sabha constituency)|Muvattupuzha constituency]] as an independent.{{citation needed|date= September 2022}} In the early 1950s, when the parties ideologies were changing, she quit politics.<ref name=tehelka/> Her husband V. V. Varkey Mannamplackal, Chirakkadavu. served as an [[Member of the Legislative Assembly (India)|MLA]] in the [[Kerala Niyamasabha|Kerala Legislative Assembly]] from 1952 to 1954. In 1967, she contested the Assembly election from Kanjirapally as a Congress candidate but was defeated by the Communist Party's candidate. Later, she served as a member of the Freedom Fighters' Pension Advisory Board.{{citation needed|date= September 2022}}

== Death and commemoration ==

Accamma Cherian died on 5 May 1982. A statue was erected in her memory in Vellayambalam, [[Thiruvananthapuram]].<ref>{{cite news|url=http://www.hindu.com/2006/03/15/stories/2006031525480300.htm|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20061213124341/http://www.hindu.com/2006/03/15/stories/2006031525480300.htm|url-status=dead|archive-date=13 December 2006|title=Road users at the receiving end|access-date=30 October 2008 | location=Chennai, India|work=[[The Hindu]]|date=15 March 2006}}</ref>
A documentary film was made on her life by Sreebala K. Menon.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.kerala.gov.in/keracallaug04/p32.pdf|title='Remembering the eminent'|access-date=30 October 2008|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070930181254/http://www.kerala.gov.in/keracallaug04/p32.pdf|archive-date=30 September 2007|df=dmy-all}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.kerala.gov.in/news05/03oct05.htm |title=Docufest |access-date=30 October 2008 }}{{dead link|date=October 2016 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }}</ref><ref>{{cite news|url=http://www.hindu.com/2005/10/03/stories/2005100306280400.htm|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071123181850/http://www.hindu.com/2005/10/03/stories/2005100306280400.htm|url-status=dead|archive-date=23 November 2007|title='Docufest' to begin tomorrow|access-date=30 October 2008 | location=Chennai, India|work=[[The Hindu]]|date=3 October 2005}}</ref>

==References==
{{reflist|2}}

{{commons category|Accamma Cherian}}

{{Indian independence movement}}

{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Cherian, Accamma}}
[[Category:1909 births]]
[[Category:1982 deaths]]
[[Category:Politicians from Kottayam]]
[[Category:Women of the Kingdom of Travancore]]
[[Category:People of the Kingdom of Travancore]]
[[Category:Indian National Congress politicians from Kerala]]
[[Category:Indian independence activists from Kerala]]
[[Category:Indian rebels]]
[[Category:Indian women in war]]
[[Category:Malayali politicians]]
[[Category:Women in Kerala politics]]
[[Category:Women in war 1900–1945]]
[[Category:Women Indian independence activists]]
[[Category:Indian people of World War II]]
[[Category:Indian women of World War II]]
[[Category:Military personnel from Kerala]]
[[Category:20th-century Indian women politicians]]
[[Category:20th-century Indian politicians]]
[[Category:Activists from Kerala]]
[[Category:Travancore–Cochin MLAs 1949–1952]]
[[Category:Vazhappally]]
[[Category:St. Teresa's College alumni]]

Accamma Cherian - Revision history

103.165.167.74 at 06:57, 3 December 2022