‘Moplah rioters’ not freedom fighters: report

News: A report submitted to the Indian Council of Historical Research(ICHR) in 2016 had recommended the delisting of Wagon Tragedy victims and Malabar Rebellion leaders from a book on martyrs of India’s freedom struggle. 

Facts:

• Malabar rebellion also known as the Moplah rebellion was an armed revolt by the Mappila Muslims of Kerala in 1921.
• It was started as a resistance against the British colonial rule, the prevailing feudal system and in favour of the Khilafat Movement but ended in communal violence between Hindus and Muslims.
• Main Leaders of the Rebellion: Variyankunnath Kunjahammed Haji, Sithi Koya Thangal and Ali Musliyar
• The British government responded with aggression bringing in Gurkha regiments to suppress the rebellion and imposed martial law.
  • Wagon Tragedy: A noteworthy event of the British suppression was the wagon tragedy when approximately 60 Mappila prisoners on their way to prison, were suffocated to death in a closed railway goods wagon.