Nettur P. Damodaran was a very active participant in the freedom struggle.
Participation of Nettur P. Damodaran in the Independence movement commenced from his school days. Any activity connected with independence movement happening in Thalassery did not escape his attention and, as a school boy, he used to reach the happening place to see and listen to the leaders like K. Kelappan, Manjeri Rama Iyer et-al, be it boycott of Simon Commission, Salt Satyagraha, parts of National movements organized in Thalassery or other locally arranged programmes. He used to be greatly inspired by these activities.
While studying in school, he had founded Thalassery Young Men’s Association to engage young people, including students, in the Freedom Movement. Young Men’s association used to organize weekly or monthly meetings in Thalassery to disseminate information on the struggles happening elsewhere and to keep the spirit of the movement burning. Simultaneously, he was associating with literary movements, inspired by his teacher Moorkoth Kumaran and other tall literary figures. At the behest of Moorkoth Kumaran, who was also Editor of ‘Sathyavadi’, a paper published from Thalassery, he started writing by contributing articles in it. He was one of the key organisers of Thalassery Sahithya Parishad held in 1934. This literary interest in him made him closer to popular and noted Malayalam writers like Ulloor S. Parameshwara Iyer, Vallathol Narayana Menon and all, who were also active in the Freedom struggle.
NetturP was a gifted orator, and his countless speeches during the freedom struggle inspired many persons. Above image is from a meeting held at an interior village
If great leaders like Gandhiji or Nehru visit or pass through Thalassery, he would be there to see and, if possible, to greet them at the Railway station or on their route. On a few occasions, he had even travelled up to Calicut, Kannur and Payyannur by train to see or hear these leaders without informing the family even.
In 1930, the Salt March organised by Gandhiji was taken up in Malabar also. Thousands of volunteers under the leadership of K. Kelappan joined the march from Kozhikkode to Payyannur and the volunteers were given rousing receptions at Thalassery and other places. In 1934, Mahatma Gandhi addressed people in Thalassery railway station, while on his way to Kozhikode to attend a gathering. NetturP was dutifully present at the railway station for a glimpse of the leader. Notable local freedom fighters of that period included S L Prabhu, Kamala Prabhu, Mukund Maller, Kinathi Narayanan, Dr. T V N Nair, Sardar Chandroth Kunjiraman Nair, K P Raghavan Nair, and Adv. P Kunjiraman. During these days NetturP was guided by senior leaders and groomed for his future role.
The same spirit of participation was followed by NetturP, while pursuing his college education in Madras. After completing college studies, he took up temporary Government jobs to stay back in Madras to pursue the movement, as Madras with bigger leaders like Rajagopalachari, Satyamurthy et-al was one of the most happening places in India as far as Freedom Movement was concerned. He also used to work as part time correspondent of National daily, ‘Mathrubhumi’, and contributing to it by filing reports and writing articles. The enthusiasm and spirit imbibed by him through these associations and participations had made him to plunge as a full-time activist into the movement. Waiting for an opportunity, he plunged into the movement full time, heeding the call of Mahatma Gandhi for Individual Sathyagraha forsaking the first Government job he held then.
