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| Beyond
Sanmar |
Legends
from the South:
V O Chidambaram Pillai |
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| Doyen of Swadeshi shipping |
Chidambaram Pillai, better known as VOC,
challenged the might of the British by launching the swadeshi shipping
movement. |
| The nation will always remember V O Chidambaram
Pillai, whose 130th birth anniversary was on September 5, 2001,
principally for the pioneering role he played in building India’s
swadeshi shipping industry. |
| The life of Pillai, fondly known as “VOC”
to millions of countrymen, was interesting and colourful. He
was a freedom fighter, (who challenged the might of the British
rulers and suffered long terms of imprisonment,) VOC was born
on September 5, 1872, in a family of “old-time pleaders”
in Ottapidaram in the composite Tirunelveli district and presently
in Tuticorin district. Drawing inspiration from Ramakrishnananda,
a disciple of Swami Vivekananda, VOC resorted to swadeshi work.
Following requests by local citizens, he initiated steps to
break the monopoly of British shipping in the coastal trade
with Ceylon. |
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| The efforts of VOC and his colleagues took a concrete
shape on October 16, 1906 when the Swadeshi Steam Navigation Company
Ltd., was formed, not as a mere commercial venture, but to lay the
foundation for a comprehensive shipping industry in the country. Against
all odds, VOC succeeded in defeating the designs of the alien rulers
who wanted to nip the swadeshi initiative in the bud. He was able
to procure two ships for the company, thanks to the support and assistance
of great leaders including Lokamanya Bala Ganghadhar Tilak and Aurobindo
Ghose. Contrary to the calculations of the British that it would collapse
like a house of cards, the company not only survived but threw a tough
challenge to the colonialists. VOC, as a radical Congressman and disciple
of Tilak, plunged into the freedom movement along with revolutionary
poets, Subramanya Bharathi and Subramanya Siva. He was arrested in
March 1908 on charges of sedition and sentenced to a double transportation
for life. Though detained in Indian jails, VOC was subjected to inhuman
torture. He was “yoked to the oil press like an animal and made
to work it in the cruel hot sun...” writes, historian and Tamil
scholar, R A Padmanabhan. He was finally released on December 12,
1912. |
| To his dismay, the Swadeshi Steam Navigation Company
was forced to wind up as it could not withstand the onslaught of the
British pressure, in the absence of VOC’s able leadership. The
disheartened VOC retired from active politics. He fell ill and passed
away on November 18, 1936. “Even on his death bed, Chidambaram
Pillai’s thoughts were only about the motherland and its freedom”,
observes Padmanabhan. The extraordinary zeal of the patriot will always
remain a source of inspiration for generations to come. |
| Reproduced with permission from The Hindu. |
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