Pasumpon Muthuramalinga Thevar

Pasumpon Muthuramalinga Thevar(Oct 30,1908-Oct 30 1963)was one of the five founding fathers of the Forward Bloc and a close aid of Subhas Chandra Bose.He was the undisputed leader of the party in Tamil Nadu till his death in 1963.He was inspired by Subhas Chandra Bose at their very first meeting at the Indian National Congress Session in 1927 and thereafter followed Bose to Calcutta. He continued to be an aid to Bose and joined the CSP in 1936 and later the Forward Bloc in 1939.He protested against the Congress high commands secret 

maneuvers to oust out Bose from the Presidential Chair of the Congress.He was also critical of the Communist for calling Bose a 'quisling an 'imperialist stooge'.He was a prominent freedom fighter and led noteworthy campaigns of the Congress in Tamilnadu.He led the 'Temperance campaign Kullupatti,Mudukullathur etc.The massive campaign that he led in 1929 against the Criminal Tribes Act in which he urged the people to defy the laws was also noteworthy in spite of the fact that he was unable to influence the Government and later Congress ministry under C Rajagopalachary to repeal the act. (Historical Film titled "Pasumpon Thevar Varallaru"-the Tamil film- which would be released in connection with the hundredth anniversary of Thevar has raised high expectations.It deals with the time Bose spent in hiding with Thevars help and is expected to shed new light on the mysteries revolving around the disappearance of Bose in 1945.)

On cannot help remembering Thevar who declared at several public meetings in Tamilnadu that he had met Bose,in 1956 at a village near the Himalayas.(He claimed that the information was passed to him by Sarat Chandra Bose.Thevars mysterious disappearance first in 1949 and later his travel to Burma in 1955 had also left doubts).He criticized the Shahnawaz Committee as an 'eye wash'and refused to disclose the truth before the committee.Like many of the followers
of Bose he doubted the credibility of Shanawaz-the one time loyal of Bose and was also critical
of Nehru's unsympathetic attitude towards the probe. Thevar asked for assurance form the union Government as to the treatment that would be given to Bose if Bose discloses his identity and come out to public- once again but the government gave no satisfactory reply(Thevar like many others doubted whether the government would hand over Bose to the British as a 'war criminal. Thevar never disclosed his secrets.All through his lif he continued as the strongest adherent to Bose and his policies.This is well reflected in his outright criticism to the dictatorial policy and the loss of vitality of the Congress Working Committee,his advocacy of Socialism
and his opposition towards regional factionalism and disunity.He was the strongest critic to EVR's policy of "Tamil love is important:Tamilnadu must live"