Contemporary Freedom Fight- Role of Literature and Magazines in the Indian Independence Movement

I was recently reading an article by the editor of Indian Printer and Publisher group, as he writes in the April edition of the magazine. The title- "From freedom fighting to building an inclusive democratic nation". The Core Team of Forward Media Group has worked with Jayashree Prakashan, a magazine which had evolved into the Voice of Netaji in the pre-modern times. I wondered, what if we discovered the various magazines or news daily that spirited through the masses onto freedom. This is, thus, going to be a series, of which this article is the first one.

As the above article reads and I cite, on 18th of March, 2022, the Mathrubhumi Daily (along with news media group) celebrated its centenary celebrations, and the Prime Minister himself. Mathrubhumi began as a tribune of the Indian Freedom Struggle, when it's founders started collecting money to establish the paper in February 1922 in Kozhikode in Kerala and began publishing near the first anniversary of Gandhi's arrest by British Officials for Sedition on 10th March, 1922. The motive of the founders was a universal call to the people for upliftment of the downtrodden society, advocating for political and social freedom and equality, while championing the unity of Kerala and harboring cultural diversity at the same time. This Daily achieved the target of affecting the society positively via smashing the social sickness of untouchability inside temples.

The reader of the Mathrubhumi can/could learn about the extra-ordinary Malayali fighting for freedom against the British Raj, while maintaining the balance and unity within the separated castes and outcasts of Kerala, keeping all religions communities on a common platform.

The Vaikom Satyagraha (1924-25) initiative was taken by Mathrubhumi founders, and gained the attention of Gandhi too.

Currently they publish the daily from multiple centres in Kerala and also have an e-paper. Although they have certainly recieved a rub or two on the Sharpness of Revolution, they are still in the market, and are expanding to different centres. Mathrubhumi currently is building a cultural and literary centre in Kaloor, the heart of Kochi, Kerala.

Several leaders such as Shri KP Kesava Menon, MP Veerendra, KA Damodar Menon and others have been readily associated with Mathrubhumi. From times of British Sedition to India's Emergency, the democratic power of the paper has stood the test of time.

(Original article - From Freedom Fighting to Building an inclusive democratic nation by Naresh Khanna, Editor at Indian Printer and Publisher)