The sleepy village of Anchathengu (“Five Coconut Palms”), formerly called Anjengo by the British, has attained fame for various reasons. Situated a few kilometeres south of Varkala in Kerala, it was the first trade settlement of the East India Company in the south-west of India, gradually gaining in importance. Anjengo Fort, built by the British, served as an important military centre for suppressing minor revolts and the Attingal rebellion of 1721.
Yet, one transformative incident is missing from the official tale of Anchathengu. On January 19 1905, a new Malayalam language newspaper, The Svadesabhimani (Patriot) began publication from the settlement. Its owner, publisher and managing editor was Vakkom Abdul Khader Moulavi (1873-1932), a hitherto unknown young man of 32 years. The newspaper was started with his own resources and with a modern printing press imported from England.
It is now recognised that this double sided, single page, weekly newspaper, with its provocative name, launched the era of critical journalism in the princely state of Travancore and more broadly in Kerala. In its opening issue, it stated “We will not conceal public grievances for fear of any calamity that may befall us. For certain.” The statement was prescient. Five years later, the princely government banned the newspaper in September 1910, with the confiscation of the press and exile of its then editor, Ramakrishna Pillai. Justifying this action, the first case of press suppression, the Dewan wrote, as reported by the historian Robin Jeffery, “the most serious thing against the Swadeshabhimani has always been the remarkable persistency with which it preached the gospel of government by the people, and the exhortation which it held out to the people of Travancore to unite and demand self-government”. (Dewans Note 1912, as quoted by Jeffery)
