Leaving his first government job at the Police Commissioner’s Office, Madras, he plunged into freedom movement as a full-time Congress worker and firebrand activist. He was arrested during the Quit India Struggle and incarcerated at Bellary Central Jail in Karnataka for two years (1942-44).
Upon his release from the prison, he was chosen by T. Prakasam, Chief Minister of Madras Presidency, to be in charge of the first “Model Firka” in the state, part of an all India experiment aimed at the attainment of the Gandhian ideal of Gram Swaraj. Enhancing his official work with a strong personal commitment to social causes, he brought about revolutionary development in Thalassery Firka with the active involvement of people. This programme was adopted after independence all over India as a Community (Block) Development Scheme.
He married Smt. Leela Damodaran in the year 1948 and the couple had four children, Chitra, Pradeep, Pramod and Heera.
He was elected as a Member of free India’s first Parliament in the Lok Sabha election held in the year 1952, where he continued his service to the nation with the same zeal and commitment. He was a very active parliamentarian, whose performance was appreciated by members across party lines.
He maintained close personal relationships with national leaders such as Jawaharlal Nehru, Govind Ballabh Pant, Lal Bahadur Shastri, Babu Jagjivan Ram, A.K. Gopalan, K. Kelappan, Nijalingappa, etc.
After his tenure in the Lok Sabha, he was given important assignments by the government, first as Assistant Commissioner for Scheduled Castes & Scheduled Tribes in charge of Kerala State and later as Officer on Special Duty (OSD) under the Ministry of Home Affairs with all India jurisdictions and reporting directly to the Home Minister. Nettur P., as he was fondly called by Keralites, also took a deep interest in traditional skills and arts. He was instrumental in popularizing the martial art of Kerala, “Kalaripayattu” (said to be the origin of Chinese and Japanese systems such as Karate, Jiujitsu and Taekwondo) all over India, as well as the Circus and Theyyam traditions of Thalassery and North Malabar.
Nettur P. Damodaran later became the Chairman of Backward Classes Reservation Commission, Government of Kerala led by E.M.S Namboodiripad in the year 1967. His report, known as ‘Nettur Commission Report’ is highly regarded for its impartial and objective approach and was in a way the forerunner of SEBC (later known as Mandal) Commission report. His end came suddenly in the year 1978, while his name was being actively considered as a member of the SEBC Commission by then Prime Minister Morarji Desai and Union Ministers, Babu Jagjivan Ram and Raj Narain.
As part of the Silver Jubilee Celebrations of Indian independence, Nettur P. Damodaran was awarded “Tamra Patra,” by the then Prime Minister Indira Gandhi, in recognition of his role in the independence struggle.
