Leader of the Opposition V S Achuthanandan turned assistant to magician Haris Taha, as he donned the magician’s hat and wand and was subjected to ‘mind magic’ in front of the students of St Joseph’s School in the city on Tuesday.
The veteran leader was inaugurating the last show of Taha’s ‘magical campaign’ to introduce students to the freedom fighter Vakkom Khadar, known popularly as ‘Bhagat Singh of Kerala’, who was hanged by the British at the age of 26.
The magician had Achuthanandan pick a chit from a transparent bag containing about a hundred paper chits each bearing the name of a different freedom fighter - students were made to confirm that each chit did indeed bear a different name - after performing ‘mind magic’ on him. The picture of the person whose name was picked would magically appear in a large, empty frame which was covered by a cloth.
“By using the power of mind, the leader would only pick the name of Vakkom Khadar,” said Taha. And that is precisely what happened.
The self-funded campaign by Taha began on September 10, the day on which Khadar was hanged in 1943 after facing trial by the British. By conducting magic shows in about 60 schools in the district, Taha aimed to promote a patriotic spirit among students and make them familiar with the role of Vakkom Khadar in the freedom struggle against British rule.
“Most people confuse Vakkom Khadar for Vakkom Muhammed Abdul Khadir Moulavi, popularly known as Vakkom Moulavi,” said Taha. That they are two different people is known only to a few, he added.
Vakkom Khadar was a revolutionary freedom fighter with Subhas Chandra Bose’s Indian National Army (INA), while Vakkom Moulavi was the social reformer who founded ‘Swadeshabhimani’ newspaper, which was banned in 1910 by the Government of Travancore for the paper’s criticisms against it.
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