Sri. K.Ramakrishna pillai  (1876-1916) from Neyyatinkara and Sri. Mohamed Abdul Khadar (1873-1932) from Vakkom, both places not far away from Thiruvananthapuram the royal seat of the then princely state of Travancore were intrepid, enthusiastic social and political reformers in their own right, even before they later met. The Moulavi was in search of an editor who could give bold and effective expression to the objectives with which he started his first journal Swadeshabhimani  (The Patriot), and Ramakrishna Pillai was sulking after a series of his disappointments in a number of periodicals of which he was editor, a few of them ceased publications and others he had to quit due to differences with the publishers and owners of them. The real reasons for the stoppage of them or his quitting were not known. 

Ramakrishna Pillai was eager to size any journalistic opportunity to give expressions to his social, political, educational ideas at that time when no other popular medium was available. There were occasions when he was concurrently editing more than one periodical with differing objectives- Upadhyan was mainly meant to disseminate among general public ideas regarding education and Keraladarpanam a general purpose periodical in which went all matters of varied interests. On the other hand Abdul Khader Moulavi”s first journal Swadeshabhimani was mainly political and social in its character. The editorial declaration in the first number unequivocally stated that the objective of the publication was the well being of the people in the promotion of which the publishers would not be deterred by fear of any consequences that might befall them.Swadeshabhimani lived up to this solemn policy statement till the very end.  (more…) »