By TwoCircles.net Staff Correspondent,
Kochi: TM Abu, former Mayor of the Kochi Corporation, died yesterday. The burial took place at 10 am today at the Padinjarekkad Muhyudheen Masjid Qabaristhan at Mattancheri. The 87-year old was ill and admitted to a private hospital in Kochi where he died yesterday morning. He is survived by wife and four children.
Abu was the leader who brought up the labour movement in West Kochi. He was the trade union leader in the Kochi Port. However, the freedom fighter who became the Mayor of Kochi in 1971 is well remembered as the hero of the Mattancheri shootout. The firing which took place on September 15, 1953 was an important incident in the history of the growth of trade unions in the state. The labourers under the leadership of Abu went on strike against ‘the chappa’, a traditional labour system. When the police arrested their leader, the labourers prevented the police from taking him off. This led to a firing which took the lives of three labourers – Saeed, Seydali and Antony. Abu courted arrest and was in jail as an under-trail for seven months, after which he was released. The incident gave courage to labour movements all over the state especially when the ‘chappa system’ was taken off owing to their strong protest.
However, the hero who never failed to be with his comrades to remember the martyrs of the trade union struggle on every September 15 has left this world providing ample causes to recall in mind.