About V. O. Chidambaram Pillai
Vallinayagam Olaganathan Chidambaram Pillai was an Indian freedom fighter, lawyer, businessman, Tamil scholar, and politician. He founded the Swadeshi Steam Navigation Company in 1906 to compete against the monopoly of the British India Steam Navigation Company (BISNC). He launched the first indigenous Indian shipping service between Tuticorin in British India and Colombo in Ceylon. Once a member of the Indian National Congress, he was later charged with sedition by the British government and sentenced to life imprisonment, and his barrister license was revoked. He is known by the epithet Kappalottiya Tamizhan. Tuticorin Port Trust, one of India's thirteen major ports, is named after him. From 1892 Chidambaram Pillai was influenced by Tilak Maharaj and became his disciple.
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