Chidambaram Pillai: Swadeshi Steam

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Sunil Khilnani explores the thwarted revolutionary ambitions of Chidambaram Pillai. Chidambaram Pillai was a feisty baby-faced lawyer from Tuticorin in southern India. His is one of the many, largely forgotten stories of failure that litter the path to independence. But it’s also a fascinating story, of an up-country lawyer without economic resource, social status or political power taking on the might of Empire. And he chose an unlikely way to resist the British: steam ships. Featuring historian David Washbrook. Producer: Martin Williams