Contributions of Indian Christians in the Freedom Struggle

Jacqueline Kelly –

India being a secular country, has a glorious past and Indians are proud of their rich cultural heritage. For decades, even prior to the Independence of our country in 1947, the Catholic Church had been empowering people through education throughout the country, even in the most unreached areas, in rural areas, and spreading the light as ordained by Christ.  We are proud of the fact that a patriotic law-abiding community of Christians in India who constitute only 2.3% of the nation’s population contributes nearly 30% of the total educational institutions.

The health mission of the Catholic Church in India plays a vital role in alleviating the pain and suffering of the sick, especially of those who are poor and cannot afford adequate treatment. There are some private health care hospitals and health centers run by some private Christian institutions but many of the health care institutions are run by the Church, the religious priests and nuns and others affiliated to the Church.

The Christian Community in India has made tremendous contributions and dedicated their lives to the Indian freedom struggle and uplift of the people of India. Besides the clergy, many Christians across the country were involved in the freedom struggle. Some of the prominent Christians were:

Thevarthundiyil Titus or Titusji [1905-1980]

Titusji belonged to a Marthoma Syrian Christian family.

On March 15, 1925, Mahatma Gandhi visited Titusji’s house in Maramon

[Theverthundiyil] on his way to the famous Hindu temple in Aranmula near Chengannur. He was one of the 78 marchers selected by Mahatma Gandhi in the historic Dandi march of 1930. He served as Governing Secretary for Gandhi’s Sabarmati Ashram milk project near Ahmedabad. He is pictured on the old 500 rupee note.

Brahmabandhav Upadhyaya [1861-1907]

Brahmabandhav was a journalist, theologian and freedom fighter who converted to Christianity and played a leading role in the Swadeshi Movement. He was the Editor of “Sandhya”. He fought for India’s freedom through his powerful writings.

Kalicharan Bannerjee [1847-1907]

K.C. Banerjee was a lawyer from Bengal, who converted to Christianity in 1864. He was a freedom fighter and one of the pioneers of the Indian Christian Movement. He was also one of the main orators and founding member of the Indian National Congress.

Madhusudan Das [1848-1934]

A well-known leader from the Christian Community in Odisha, popularly known as “Utkal Gourab”. He was the first graduate and advocate of Odisha, formerly known as Orissa.

Harendra Kumar Mookerjee [1887-1956]

Harendra was the Vice-President of the Constituent Assembly of India for drafting the Constitution of India before Partition of India, and the third Governor of West-Bengal after India became a Republic. He was an educationist, a prominent Christian leader of Bengal and was the Chairman of the Minority Rights Committee and Provincial Constitution Committee of the Constituent Assembly.

A.J. John [1893-1957]

Anaparambil Joseph John was a Travancore freedom fighter and statesman. He was the Chief Minister of Travancore – Cochin and Governor of Madras [Chennai] State.

Venkal Chakkarai [1880-1958]

Venkal was an Indian Christian theologian, missionary, independence activist, politician and trade unionist. He was the former President of AITUC [All India Trade Union Congress] and participated in the Civil Disobedience Movement.

T.M Varghese [1886-1961]

Varghese was a freedom fighter and statesman. He was the founder member of the Travancore State Congress Party.

K.C. Mammen Mappillai [1873-1953]

Kandathil Cheriyan Mammen Mappillai was an Indian journalist, who became an editor of the Malayalam language daily “Malayala Manorama” after his paternal uncle, Kandathi Varghese Mappillai died. He was an Indian independence activist and served as a member of the Sree Moolam Popular Assembly in Travancore.

Jerome A. Saldanha [1868-1947]

Jerome Antony Saldanha who represented the South Canara district in the Madras Legislative Council, became a sincere admirer of Mahatma Gandhi.

Though not an active freedom fighter, Jerome supported the freedom movement through his articulate writings, especially in the Mangalore Magazine. He was the President of the South Canara District Congress Committee.

Krishna Mohan Bannerjee [1813-1885]

Krishna Bannerjee converted to Christianity and was the first President of the Bengal Christian Association. He was a prominent member of the Young Bengal group, an educationist, linguist and Christian missionary.

J.C.  Kumarappa [1892-1960]

He was a strong supporter of Satyagraha and encouraged Christian participation in the national movement. Was the editor of Young India”.

His original name was John Jesudason Cornelius.

George Joseph [1887-1938]

George was one of the three members of the Home Rule sent to England in 1918. He was a part of the first batch of Barristers who engaged in the national work and joined the Non-Cooperation Movement.  He led the Vaikom Satyagraha and was a prominent Syrian Christian from Kerala to join the freedom struggle. In 1937, was elected to the Central Legislative Assembly.

Joseph Baptista [18641930]

Joseph “Kaka” Baptista was an activist and politician from Mumbai. He was closely associated with Lokmanya Tilak and the Home Rule Movement. He was the first President of the Indian Home Rule League established in 1916 and was elected as the Mayor of Bombay [Mumbai] in 1925. He gave voice to the workers in Mumbai exploited under British rule. He was also one of the founders of the All India Trade Union Congress [AITUC]

Paul Ramasamy [1906]

Paul was born in 1906 and was another important Christian who took part in the freedom struggle. In 1930, he joined the freedom movement during the Salt Satyagraha days.

T.V. Thomas [1910-1977]

One of the first generations trade union leaders in Kerala and was actively involved in the Indian Independence Movement.

Joachim Alva [1907-1979]

He was a lawyer, journalist and politician from Udupi, Mangalore. Advocated the concept of Swadeshi and human brotherhood. Pioneer of the Youth Movement in India. He devoted himself whole heartedly to the National Movement and gave up his lucrative job in order to participate in the freedom struggle.

C.M. Stephen [1918-1984]

He was one of the founding fathers of the Indian National Trade Union Congress, the trade union wing of the Indian National Congress. He was a politician and Union Minister in the Republic of India.

D.C. Kizhakemuri [1914-1999]

Dominic Chacko Kizhakemuri was a well-known writer, activist, freedom fighter and book publisher from Kerala.

P.T. Chacko [1915-1964]

Pulloli Thomas Chacko was a prominent politician of Travancore and later Kerala. He was the first leader of the Opposition of the newly formed State of Kerala. As a student leader in 1938, he launched himself into the freedom movement and the struggle for self-government in the princely state of Travancore.

Lambert Mascarenhas [1914-2021]

He was a journalist, freedom activist and writer from Goa.

Henry Louis Vivian Derozio [1809-1831]

He was a young Catholic poet from Kolkata, formerly Calcutta who wrote the first freedom poem, ‘To India-My Native Land’. He was a young Professor at Hindu College and the youngest freedom fighter and freedom poet of India.

He spread his rationalist ideas through the Young Bengal Movement, which he started in the 1820’s.

M.M. Thomas [1916-1996]

Madathilparampil Mammen Thomas was raised in the Marthoma Syrian Church, Kerala. He was one of the most remarkable Indian Theologian,an outstanding scholar and a prolific writer. He was a staunch supporter of the Indian National Movement and was actively involved in the freedom struggle in co-operation with Gandhi. Thomas associated himself with the Christian Movement and in 1947 became the Secretary of WSCF. [World Student Christian Federation.]

Sushil Kumar Rudra [1861-1925]

He was a Bengali convert and an educationist. The first Indian Principal to St. Stephen’s College in 1906 and a close associate of Gandhi. He encouraged nationalism among students.

Gandhi revered him as a “silent servant” and described him as a silent but deeply interested spectator in the happenings of the national struggle.

Another noteworthy Christian who participated in the National Movement was Samuel Aaron. His participation began with the Salt Satyagraha movement in 1930.

At the Madras meeting of the Indian National Congress in 1887, out of the 607 delegates 35 were Christians. Some of the prominent Christian leaders in the Congress were R.S.N. Subramanian, a prominent barrister from Madras, G.G. Nath, a barrister from Lahore, Peter Paul Pillai, of Madras. Philoppose Elanjikkal John [1903-1955] was another prominent member of the Travancore State Congress. Nirad Biswas, who later became the Bishop of Assam of the Church of India, Burma and Ceylon [CIBC] joined the National Movement in making salt outside Calcutta [Kolkata] in 1932.

Another supporter of the freedom movement was Felix Albuquerque Pai, Mangalore. Inspired by Gandhi, Pai manufactured salt in defiance of British law in 1930. In the same year, K.T. Paul went to England to participate in the Round Table Conference.

Marcel A.M. D’Souza was a supporter of the freedom movement too. John Francis Pinto, Bombay based Mangalorean Catholic who was pre -occupied in politics became an admirer of Gandhiji. In Mangalore, Pinto was known as Gandhi Pinto.

Besides these, when the Non-Cooperation Movement was started in 1920, there were many other Indian Christians in the whole of India who took part in it.