Forgotten Events: Wagon Tragedy

1921 was a memorable year in Kerala due to an event which happened in Turkey. The Caliphate was abandoned. This was followed by an uprising against the British by the Muslims in Malabar.
bq. Police attempted to arrest the secretary of the Khilafat Committee of Pokottur in Eranad on a charge of having stolen a pistol. A crowd of 2000 Moppilas from the neighbourhood foiled the attempt. The next day, a police party in search of Khilafat rebels entered the famous Mambaram mosque at Tirurangadi. They seized some records and arrested a few Khilafat volunteers. A rumour spread that the mosque was desecrated. Hundreds of rustic Moppilas converged on Tirurangadi and besieged the local police station. The police opened fire. The mob reacted in a mad fury. Violence spread and engulfed Eranad and Valluvanad taluks and neighbouring areas for over two months.

Following this one of the most cruel incidents against the people was commited by the British, which later came to be known as the Wagon Tragedy
bq. The epilogue (in the sense that it came to be known only later) was the “Wagon Tragedy” in which 61 of the 70 Moppila prisoners packed in a closed railway goods wagon and carried to Coimbatore jails, died of suffocation on November 10, 1921.In the wake of the suppression of the Malabar Rebellion and until almost the end of the decade, struggle purely for political freedom was on a low key.
[Source: “Govt. of Kerala”:http://www.kerala.gov.in/history&culture/emergence.htm] This series is part of “15 days of Independence”:http://www.madhoo.com/archives/002681.php#002681