A. V. Kuttimalu Amma Biography 
A. V. Kuttimalu Amma was a woman freedom fighter from Kerala, who was also known as a campaigner for Swadeshi movement. Associated with Indian National Congress for many years, she served as a member of the Madras Legislative Assembly twice before Indian independence. A Gandhian, she promoted Khadi movement in Kerala. She belonged to the Anakkara Vadakkath House in Koottanad, which gave several women social workers and activists to India. Some of such leading names include - Ammu Swaminathan, her two daughters - Captain Lakshmi and classical dancer Mrinalini Sarabhai, followed by Mallika Sarabhai and the former Lok Sabha member Subhashini Ali.
Kuttimalu Amma was born in 1905. She was married to Kozhipurathu Madhava Menon, the President of the Kerala Pradesh Congress Committee and Minister in the Madras State. One of the leading ladies from Kerala who took part in freedom struggle movement, she promoted Khadi clothes against foreign imports. She got actively associated with freedom struggle movement in the early 1930s. She even picketed shops selling foreign clothes in Kochi City in the early 1930s, as a part of her movement of protest against foreign goods. Her daughter was only two months old when she took part in Civil Disobedience Movement in 1932 carrying the baby in arms and got arrested and jailed as well. She served two years at jail and took her baby along with her while in prison.
In 1936 she was elected to the Madras legislative assembly. She was actively associated with freedom struggle movement and got arrested in 1940, followed by 1942 (Quit India Movement). Once released she was elected President of the Kerala Pradesh Congress Committee in 1944 and later too held many decorative positions. Her work has been appreciated by Mahatma Gandhi, Jawaharlal Nehru and C. Rajagopalachari and she is best remembered to set up several orphanages for children in the state. She passed away in 1985.
Published: N/A
Updated: February 27, 2016
