Which prominent nationalist leader from Tamil Nadu established the Swadeshi Steam Navigation Company in 1906 to challenge British monopoly over coastal shipping trade between Tuticorin and Colombo?

💡 Solution & Explanation

V.O. Chidambaram Pillai, hailed as Kappalottiya Tamizhan, floated the Swadeshi Steam Navigation Company operating vessels S.S. Gallia and S.S. Lawoe to promote indigenous enterprise. His heroic labor mobilization at the Tuticorin coral mills led to his arrest and rigorous imprisonment by colonial authorities. He remained a stalwart of the radical nationalist wing in Tamil Nadu.