Comrade RNK

Can a ‘Comrade’ be held aloft as a ‘candle’? By the time you finish reading this column, I am sure you’ll agree wholeheartedly that this Communist who dedicated his life to obtaining justice for the poor can truly be hailed as a ‘candle in the dark’. 

            Mr.  Nallakannu was born on 26 December 1924 in Srivaikuntam, a village in southern Tamil Nadu. Right from his childhood he instinctively took to social activism, fighting for the cause of poor workers. Although he joined a school in Tirunelveli, he would leave the school every now and then in order to join protest rallies, shouting slogans.

            When he was just five or six, the workers in a cotton mill in Thoothukudi (Tuticorin) were forced to go on a strike to demand fair wages. Since the mill owner would not pay the salary to striking workers, the families of the workers would face starvation. To express solidarity with the striking workers, the villagers agreed to donate rice and Nallakannu and his friends would go round to collect the rice and take them to the families of the workers.

            As a 12-year-old boy, he couldn’t vote but he campaigned for the Congress.  In his youth he took part in the protests that Congress party initiated to demand freedom from the colonial rule of the British. A few years later, sensing that it was the Communist party that took up the cause of the poor and the workers, he joined the Communist Party of India (CPI). Called by party workers ‘Comrade RNK’ (Ramasamy Nalla Kannu) he soon emerged as one of the most courageous and formidable figures of the Communist movement in Tamil Nadu.

            Nallakannu was one of the Communist leaders that founded the farmers’ movement and formed ‘Kisan Sabhas’ across Tamil Nadu. All the salt pans were under British control. Since the condition of the workers in the salt pans was miserable, he supported their struggle. After the Royal Indian Navy mutiny in 1946, the British began a brutal crackdown on Communists. He was arrested and tortured. A police inspector burnt his moustache with a lit cigarette, and after tying up his hands, beat him with a baton for hours.

            Later, whenever someone asked Mr. Nallakannu about being tortured, he would recall the incident with no rancour whatever. Even after becoming a well-known leader, he never bothered to find out where this Inspector was. When another police officer who had tortured him needed a transfer because of his illness, Nallkannu met the Governor and got the transfer the officer sorely needed. The officer’s tearful wife said they would be eternally grateful to him. 

            He led marches for better wages for farmers and workers and fought for the abolition of untouchability. Since Dalits were barred from entering Hindu temples, leaders like Nallakannu tried to take them into temples, braving the animosity and the violence.

            Nallakannu married Ranjitham Ammal, a school teacher, and they had two daughters. His wife died in 2016 at the age of 82.

            Since Tamil Nadu had several landlords (zamindars and mirasdars) who owned thousands of acres of land, the Communists fought for the abolition of the zamindari system. They declared that the land tilled by the farmer should belong to the farmer. But the landlords had private armies and thugs who unleashed violence on the Communist protestors. Most of the landless agricultural labourers happened to be Dalits. At around 5 a.m. they had to report for work. If the henchmen of the landlords thought that a worker didn’t do what he was supposed to, they whipped him. And in the wounds caused by whipping, they poured water mixed with cow dung. It was the Communists who were at the forefront of the struggle to end such abominable cruelties. Finally, the landlords signed an agreement that such barbaric practices would be stopped.

            The struggles finally led to the Tamil Nadu Zamindari Abolition Act that came into force in 1948. The government compensated the zamindars but not the poor labourers who had worked the land for them. They got nothing.

            Along with the landlords, temple mutts owned thousands of acres of land and any tenant or worker who questioned their ways was evicted. The temples had chariot festivals, and it was the poor, tired farmers who would pull the chariots forward with ropes. The Communist leaders got the farmers to announce that if they are evicted from temple lands, they would not pull the chariots.

            Although the Chief Ministers of Tamil Nadu belonged to other parties, they knew the selfless sacrifices Nallakannu had made for the poor and the love people had for him. So, they held him in high esteem and would try to oblige, if he came up with a request. But he made sure that he would not request a single favour for anyone in his family. He would not allow anyone to heap praises on him. He wore a simple white dhoti and shirt.

            His nephew, Ayyappan, who later embraced Islam and became Abdul Rahman, took care of him day and night. He said that the way Nallakannu welcomed those who came to see him was the same – whether it was a political leader or a poor labourer. He would come to the gate and welcome them, and finally when they had to leave, he would come till the gate to say goodbye. Even when he was in his 90s, and a widower, he insisted on doing all his work himself. When he was sick or tired, if anyone would come to see him, Ayyappan, in order to let his uncle get some sleep, would say, “Ayya is sleeping. You can’t see him now.” But Nallakannu, hearing new voices, would get up from his bed, put on his shirt and come out to meet those who had come to see him.
            Nallakannu died from multiple organ failure on 25 February 2026, at the age of 101. He had won the Ambedkar Award for Contribution to Public Life in 2007, and Gandhian Award for Social Service from All India Mahatma Gandhi Social Welfare Forum in 2008.

            Is he someone whom we need to look up to and learn from? You tell me.

Blurb

He led marches for better wages for farmers and workers and fought for the abolition of untouchability. Since Dalits were barred from entering Hindu temples, leaders like Nallakannu tried to take them into temples, braving the animosity and the violence.

His was a selfless life devoted for the welfare of the farmers, workers, and the marginalized sections of the society. Leaders across parties respected and revered him.