Pasumpon Muthuramalinga Thevar

Why in news?

• Prime Minister recently paid tributes to the freedom fighter - Pasumpon Muthuramalinga Thevar - on the occasion of his guru pooja.

About Pasumpon Muthuramalinga Thevar:

• Born in 1908, in Pasumpon in Tamil Nadu, he was a freedom-fighter cum spiritual leader and was seen as a deity among the Mukulathor community.
• He did not accept traditional Hinduism because it supported the ‘Varnashrama’.
• He regularly fought against the evils of the Hindu religion.
• He supported the temple entry movement and he helped the activist Vaidyanatha Iyer take Dalits to Meenakshi Temple in Madurai.

Member of INC:

• Thevar became a full-time member of the Congress party and attended the 1927 Congress session at Madras as a volunteer when he was just 19.

Association with Subash Chandra Bose:

• He was a close aide of Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose.
• He was elected three times to the national parliamentary constituency of the All India Forward Bloc.
  • All India Forward Bloc was a faction within the Indian National Congress led by Subhas Chandra Bose.

Add ons:

• He was instrumental in getting the Criminal Tribes act repealed after continuous efforts in 1946.

PRACTICE QUESTION:

Consider the following statements regarding Pasumpon Muthuramalinga Thevar:

1.He strongly opposed the formation All India Forward Bloc by Subhas Chandra Bose

2. He supported the temple entry movement in South India

Which of the statements given above is/are correct?

(a) 1 only

(b) 2 only

(c) Both 1 and 2

(d) Neither 1 nor 2

Answer