Vettath J. Mathai (Aged 53) also known as “The Lion of Cochin,” was a lawyer, banker, politician, and plantation owner, born on 25 February 1901. He holds the distinction of being the first Indian to defeat a European in a democratic election in Indian history. Mathai served as a MLA in the Kochi Legislative Council from 1938-1945 as the representative of the Planters constituency. His father obtained a loan from an acquaintance to have Mathai and his four brothers educated. Mathai used these funds to obtain his graduate and law degrees from Madras.
As a lawyer, Mathai was a firebrand, often critical of British rule. EMS Nampoothiripad, Kerala’s first Chief Minister, would walk 5-8 km just to hear him speak. In the 1930s, only those who held 300 acres of land or more were eligible to vote in Cochin State. In the 1937 election, Mathai ran against H.J. Valmesly and won in the planter’s constituency by just one vote, becoming the first Indian to defeat a European in an election to any legislative body.
Mathai also took on a number of social justice initiatives. He sold 300 acres of land in Neliyampathy and another 50 acres in Arakunnam to help get women from backward castes or otherwise poor backgrounds married. He was also a serial entrepreneur, founding the Cochin Commercial Bank, importing seeds to bolster the fledgling rubber cultivation industry in Kerala, and planting 110 acres of rubber trees on his holdings. He also brought coal trains into Kerala from Kolkata.
In 2010, the Kerala Legislative Assembly Speaker K. Radhakrishnan unveiled Mathai’s portrait at the Council Hall of the Ernakulam Law College, and the Kerala Postal Circle ran a special cover to commemorate him. In 2015, a road in Cochin was named after him. Mathai passed away on 5 August 1954.
Vettath J. Mathai
(1901 – 1954) – (Kerala)
Vettath J. Mathai (Aged 53) also known as “The Lion of Cochin,” was a lawyer, banker, politician, and plantation owner, born on 25 February 1901. He holds the distinction of being the first Indian to defeat a European in a democratic election in Indian history. Mathai served as a MLA in the Kochi Legislative Council from 1938-1945 as the representative of the Planters constituency. His father obtained a loan from an acquaintance to have Mathai and his four brothers educated. Mathai used these funds to obtain his graduate and law degrees from Madras.
As a lawyer, Mathai was a firebrand, often critical of British rule. EMS Nampoothiripad, Kerala’s first Chief Minister, would walk 5-8 km just to hear him speak. In the 1930s, only those who held 300 acres of land or more were eligible to vote in Cochin State. In the 1937 election, Mathai ran against H.J. Valmesly and won in the planter’s constituency by just one vote, becoming the first Indian to defeat a European in an election to any legislative body.
Mathai also took on a number of social justice initiatives. He sold 300 acres of land in Neliyampathy and another 50 acres in Arakunnam to help get women from backward castes or otherwise poor backgrounds married. He was also a serial entrepreneur, founding the Cochin Commercial Bank, importing seeds to bolster the fledgling rubber cultivation industry in Kerala, and planting 110 acres of rubber trees on his holdings. He also brought coal trains into Kerala from Kolkata.
In 2010, the Kerala Legislative Assembly Speaker K. Radhakrishnan unveiled Mathai’s portrait at the Council Hall of the Ernakulam Law College, and the Kerala Postal Circle ran a special cover to commemorate him. In 2015, a road in Cochin was named after him. Mathai passed away on 5 August 1954.
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