Topic summary
Travancore State
Extracted from the Wikipedia article Travancore.
Merger of Kanyakumari with Madras State
Tamils lived in large numbers in the Thovalai, Agastheeswaram, Sengottai, Eraniel, Vilavancode, Kalkulam, Devikulam, Neyyattinkara, Thiruvananthapuram South and Thiruvananthapuram North taluks of erstwhile Travancore State. In these Tamil regions, Malayalam was the official language and there were only a few Tamil schools. This resulted in hardships for Tamils. The Travancore state government continued rejecting the requests of Tamils. During this period the Travancore State Congress favoured the idea of uniting all the Malayalam-speaking regions and forming a "Unified Kerala". In protest against this idea, many Tamil leaders vacated the party. Tamils gathered together at Nagercoil on 16 December 1945 under the leadership of Sam Nathaniel and formed the new political party All Travancore Tamilian Congress. That party pushed for the merger of Tamil regions in Travancore with Tamil Nadu. During the election campaign, clashes occurred between the Tamil Nadar community and the Malayali Nair community in Kalkulam–Vilavancode taluks. The police force suppressed the agitating Nadars. In February 1948 police opened fire and two Tamil-speaking Nadars were killed.