KANNUR: Kerala had not debuted as a state in the first Lok Sabha elections held between October 25, 1951 and February 21, 1952. But this 158-year-old school in Thalassery, Basel German Mission Parsi (BEMP) School, has an amazing claim in the history of the first Lok Sabha. Four of its alumni, who belonged to the then Madras state which included Malabar, entered the Indian parliament with communist stalwart A K Gopalan becoming the first-ever leader of opposition.
While the communist legend Ayillath Kuttieri Gopalan, better known as AKG, represented the Cannanore (now Kannur) constituency, eminent Gandhian K Kelappan, one of the founder members of the Nair Service Society (NSS), who parted ways with the Congress, had won from Ponnani on Kisan Mazdoor Praja Party (KMPP) ticket. His KMPP colleague Nettur P Damodaran was elected from Tellicherry (Thalassery) and communist leader and trade unionist K Anandan Nambiar represented Mayuram (now Mayiladuthurai) constituency in Tamil Nadu.
Except Anandan Nambiar, all others were active in Kerala politics and established their identity here. Nambiar, after his studies, shifted his base to Tamil Nadu and became an active trade unionist.
"What attracted these legends to this school was its academic brilliance," said Fr G S Francis, a priest with the CSI, Thalassery, which manages the school. "The school was lucky enough to have many legends as its teachers, including Hermann Gundert, Keeleri Kunhikannan, who is the father of Indian circus, and English scholar R Mukunda Mallar. There was a time when BEMP School had the same status enjoyed by Madras Christian College (MCC) today, though it slowly diminished."
In 1856, the school was started as the Basel German Mission School. It was later re-christened Basel German Mission Parsi School after Kaikose Ruderasha, a Parsi philanthropist, donated some fund to the school. However, during the World War I, the word 'German' was replaced by Evangelical owing to political reasons, thus giving it the present name.
Apart from the four leaders in the first parliament, many prominent figures in the politics and administration did their schooling at BEMP, including communist leader C H Kanaran and former Reserve Bank of India (RBI) deputy governor Vittal Das Leeladhar, among others.
Incidentally, two of its alumni, IUML leader and union minister E Ahamed and the youth CPM leader A N Shamsir, are trying their luck in the parliament election this time from Malappuram and Vadakara, respectively.
"If the two of them win this time again, it would probably be another milestone," said Napier T, the headmaster of the school. "After all, very few schools in the country have such a tradition to claim both in terms of politics and academic brilliance."
