The Diamond Jubilee of the Kerala Grandhasala Sangham
75 years ago, PN Panicker had organised a mammoth meeting at Ambalappuzha, on account of the inauguration of the Travancore Library Movement (Thiruvithaankoor Grandhasala Sangham). On 14 Sep 1945, through his tireless efforts preceding the occasion, he was able to get the office bearers of 47 rural libraries to reach Ambalappuzha to participate in that historic occasion. The chief guest was none other than Sir CP Ramaswamy Aiyer, the then Diwan of Travancore.
The princely states of Kochi and Travancore merged to form the Thiru-Kochi state in 1949 and the movement was rechristened as the 'Thiru-Kochi Grandhasala Sangham'. When states were reorganised on linguistic basis, in 1956, the state of Kerala came into being on 01 Nov of that year. The movement had, by then, become the Kerala Library Movement (Kerala Grandhasala Sangham).
The phenomenal growth attained by the movement was due to the personal efforts and hard work of PN Panicker and his group of volunteers with a pittance as remuneration! He got a measly pension of a primary school teacher but was quite satisfied with it. Since the communications were poor, he and his men used all modes of transport available, including trekking long distances to gain access into the remote, hilly areas often subsisting on bananas and water because of the unearthly hours they used to fetch up. The aim was to reach every man, every Malayalee, to bring him under the ambit of the movement so that at least one library could be established in each village which would be the focal point for the conduct of socio-cultural activities, create a feeling of togetherness when the villagers came to read books and newspapers during their leisure.
There's a story about the manner in which PN Panicker went about setting up the network of libraries all over the state. He, along with his assistants with bicycles knocked on the doors of every house, asking the inmates to gift books and reading material that they could spare. After having collected them, he used to visit the house of the wealthiest person of the village, nudging him/her to provide a room in the house for the safe keeping of the books collected, christening it as a library. He preferred receiving the gifts in kind to receiving money and the villagers, seeing his perseverance and sincerity, joined him in his efforts whole heartedly.
One of the early barbs that he'd to face from a few of the affluent people was and I quote, "Hey, Panicker, what are you trying to achieve by teaching the people to read and write? Are you trying to wean them away from us?" There was another refrain, "You will never succeed in your efforts, the common man is just not interested".
How PN Panicker, was able to overcome all the obstacles was through his belief in himself and the confidence in his endeavours. He was a man with a vision and criss-crossed the entire state of Kerala which brought about a saying during those times that, 'There's no piece of land, in Kerala, that has not felt the footsteps of PN Panicker!' In 1970, when the Kerala Library Movement was celebrating its Silver Jubilee, he had set up a network of about 5,280 libraries all over the state.
He had also undertaken a 'yatra' from the northern most part of Kerala to the southern most part and gave the Keralites the famous slogan, "Vaayichu Valaruka, Chinthichu Vivekam Neduka" (Read and grow, Think and be enlightened!). The Malayalee was flabbergasted seeing a 'yatra' seeking to empower them and was not asking for rights for themselves which they had been, otherwise, seeing all around them till then. They willingly accepted him as their leader and messiah, rolled into one! The 'yatra' had concluded at the Museum Junction of Thiruvananthapuram city and PN Panicker and his team were received by none other than the late C Achutha Menon, the then, Chief Minister of Kerala.
The UNESCO, was so impressed with the outstanding contribution of the Kerala Grandhasala Sangham towards the empowerment of the society, that it awarded the organisation the 'Nadezhda Krupskaya' award named after Lenin's wife, that year.
Today I bow with humble respect to PN Panicker for his ever lasting contributions towards the socio-cultural growth of Kerala. He's the beacon that has guided succeeding generations to reach where they have today!
He was the General Secretary of the Sangham for 32 long years since its inception! He was elected to the post 32 times unanimously!! He was insistent upon the democratic functioning of his organisation - much against the advice of many of his well wishers - whereby all the office bearers would be elected through free and fair elections.
It was during the '70s that PN Panicker had decided to give thrust and focus his efforts on the literacy movement in the state and formed the Kerala Association for Non-Formal education (KANFED). It was through his untiring efforts, yet again, that helped the state to achieve 100% literacy in 1991!
EPILOGUE
Upon PN Panicker's persistent requests, the government took over the Kerala Grandhasala Sangham in 1977 and put in place a Control Board for the day to day functioning and administration, appointing PN Panicker as the Secretary. The Kerala Grandhasala Sangham later went on to become the 'State Library Council' in 1989.
Sadly, the democratic nature of the organisation has been seriously impaired over the years and the testimony to that statement is the fact that the CPM has been able to fill up all the key positions with its followers since its inception and has a vice-like grip over it today. Since a section of that party, has a problem with PN Panicker - for reasons beyond my comprehension - the celebration of a great and historic day such as today has been muted, carefully blaming the pandemic for the no show!
PS.
At this juncture, I must place on record the unstinting support that the present chief minister has provided to the PN Panicker Foundation and the encouragement that he has given to all our activities!
Tailpiece.
Got up at our usual time, the chores and was ready by a half past 9. Could catch up with my work and meet up with a lot of people, who had dropped by, to spend time. Felt nice!
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