At Kottar, the ancient town situated on the national highway between Nagercoil and Kanniyakumari, stands a hospital, known as the Naidu Hospital, drenched in the freedom movement and the struggle for social justice. Its founder was Dr. M. Emperumal Naidu, a freedom fighter, an associate of Mahatma Gandhi, and one of the leading lights of the Vaikom temple street entry movement.
Like Periyar E.V. Ramasamy, who participated with his wife Nagammal in the Vaikom struggle, Naidu joined the agitation with his wife Thirumalai Ammal. “When the Sathyagrahis crossed the barricades, caste Hindus spattered limestone powder on their eyes. Gandhidas Muthusamy, whose eyes were covered with limestone powder, stood with Dr. Naidu in the waist-deep rainwater,” J.U. Sughaana, the biographer of Naidu, writes in her book, quoting Mahatma Gandhi from Harijan, a weekly magazine. “You are hitting a rock. Nothing will happen to the rock, but your head will break. We know the fall of the Belgians who suppressed the African people. Maharaja! You and your slaves will fall,” Naidu thundered, in a warning to the government.
