The Indian Council of Historical Research (ICHR) will include Vadappuram Bava, the first general secretary of the Travancore Labor Association, Kerala’s first trade union, on the list of Indian freedom fighters.

ICHR member CI Issac said on Thursday the process had begun and Bava’s name would soon be on the list.

Mr. Issac said that the book Vadappuram Bava: Thamaskarikkapetta Viplava Nayakan written by Sajeev Janardanan would be translated into English and published with funding from ICHR.

100th anniversary

The Vadappuram Bava Foundation, which recently organized a program to mark the 100th anniversary of the founding of the Travancore Labor Association, welcomed ICHR’s decision.

“The Travancore Labor Association was founded by Vadappuram Bava on March 31, 1922. He fought against the British and spent time in prison. However, he remained excluded from the list of freedom fighters,” said Mr. Janardanan, chairman of the Vadappuram Bava Foundation.

‘Madathilackal ignored’

Meanwhile, Abraham Arakal, former principal of Maharaja’s College, Ernakulam, said that while programs had been organized to mark the 100th anniversary of the founding of the Travancore Labor Association and to remember Bava, the role played by MP Antony Madathilackal, founding president of the labor association, was completely ignored.

MP Antony Madathilackal

On Thursday, a group of people led by Fr Philip Thayil, PJ Mathew, Mr Arakal and others paid floral tributes to Dr Madathilackal on the centenary of the founding of the Travancore Labor Association.

“Antony Madathilackal, who served as a doctor in the British Navy during the First World War, was strongly influenced by Fabian society and the British Labor Party under Ramsay Macdonald. After returning to India, he came into close association with the working class in Alappuzha. This led to the formation of the Travancore Labor Association,” Mr. Arakal said.