Editing Travancore (section)

===Merger of Kanyakumari with Madras State===

{{main article|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 [[taluk]]s of erstwhile Travancore State.<ref name="r1881"/> In the Tamil regions, [[Malayalam]] was the official language and there were only a few Tamil schools. So the Tamils met many hardships. The Travancore state government continued rejecting the requests of Tamils.<ref>V. S. Sathianesan – Tamil Separatism in Travancore</ref> During that 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.<ref>R. Isaac Jeyadhas – Kanyakumari District and Indian Independence Struggle (Tamil)</ref> 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.<ref name="DDaniel"/>

In the working committee meeting of Tamilian congress at Eraviputhur on 30 June 1946, the name of the political party was changed to Travancore Tamil Nadu Congress (T.T.N.C). T.T.N.C was popular among the Tamils living in Thovalai and Agateeswaram taluks. Ma. Po. Sivagnanam ([[Ma. Po. Si.|Ma.Po.Si]]) was the only leader from Tamil Nadu who acted in favour of T.T.N.C.<ref name="DDaniel">D. Daniel – Travancore Tamils: Struggle for Identity.</ref> After the independence of India, State Assembly elections were announced in Travancore. As a consequence, T.T.N.C improved its popularity among Tamils. A popular and leading advocate from Vilavancode, [[A. Nesamony]] organised a meeting of his supporters at Allan Memorial Hall, Nagercoil on 8 September 1947. In that meeting it was declared that they must achieve their objective through their political organisation, the T.T.N.C. And T.T.N.C started gaining strength and momentum in Kalkulam – Vilavancode Taluks.<ref name="BYogeeswaran">B. Yogeeswaran – History of Travancore Tamil Struggle (Tamil)</ref>

T.T.N.C won in 14 constituencies in the election to the State Legislative Assembly. Mr. [[A. Nesamony]] was elected as the legislative leader of the party. Then under his leadership, the awakened Tamil population was prepared to undergo any sacrifice to achieve their goal.<ref name="DPeter">D. Peter – Malayali Dominance and Tamil Liberation (Tamil)</ref>

In 1950, a meeting was held at [[Palayamkottai]] to make compromises between state congress and T.T.N.C. The meeting met with failure and Mr. Sam Nathaniel resigned from the post of president of T.T.N.C Mr. P. Ramasamy Pillai, a strong follower of Mr. A. Nesamony was elected as the New President.<ref name="BYogeeswaran"/> The first general election of Independent India was held in 1952. T.T.N.C won 8 legislative assembly seats. Mr. A. Chidambaranathan became the minister on behalf of T.T.N.C in the coalition state government formed by the Congress. In the parliamentary Constituency Mr. A. Nesamony was elected as M.P. and in the Rajyasabha seat. Mr. A. Abdul Razak was elected as M.P. on behalf of T.T.N.C.<ref name="BYogeeswaran"/> In due course, accusing the Congress government for not showing enough care the struggle of the Tamils, T.T.N.C had broken away from the coalition and the Congress government lost the majority. So fresh elections were announced. In 1954 elections, T.T.N.C gained victory in 12 constituencies.<ref name="BYogeeswaran"/> 
[[Pattom A. Thanu Pillai|Pattom Thanu Pillai]] was the chief minister for Thiru – Kochi legislative assembly. He engaged hard measures against the agitations of Tamils. Especially the Tamils at [[Devikulam]] – Peermedu regions went through the atrocities of Travancore Police force. Condemning the attitude of the police, T.T.N.C leaders from [[Nagercoil]] went to [[Munnar]] and participated in agitations against the prohibitive orders. The leaders were arrested and an uncalm atmosphere prevailed in South Travancore.<ref>R. Kuppusamy – Historical foot prints of a True War (Tamil)</ref>

On 11 August, Liberation Day celebrations were held at many places in South Travancore. Public meetings and processions were organised. Communists also collaborated with the agitation programmes. Police opened fire at the processions in Thoduvetty (Martandam) and Puthukadai. Nine Tamil volunteers were killed and thousands of T.T.N.C and communist sympathizers were arrested in various parts of Tamil main land. At the end, Pattom Thanu Pillai's ministry was toppled and normalcy returned to the Tamil regions.<ref name="DPeter"/> The central government had appointed [[Fazal Ali Commission]](1953 dec) for the states reorganisation based on language. It submitted its report on 10 August 1955. Based on this report, Devikulam – Peermedu and [[Neyyattinkara]] Taluks were merged with [[Kerala state]].<ref>B. Mariya John – Linguistic Reorganisation of Madras Presidenty</ref> On 1 November 1956 – four Taluks Thovalai, Agastheeswaram, Kalkulam, Vilavancode were recognised to form the New Kanyakumari District and merged with Tamil Nadu State. Half of [[Sengottai]] Taluk was merged with [[Tirunelveli district|Tirunelveli District]]. The main demand of T.T.N.C was to merger the Tamil regions with Tamil Nadu and major part of its demand was realised. So T.T.N.C was dissolved thereafter.<ref name="DPeter"/>