Dravidian movement

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The Dravidian movement in British India started with the formation of the Justice Party on 20 November 1916 in Victoria Public Hall in Madras by C. Natesa Mudaliar along with T. M. Nair and P. Theagaraya Chetty as a result of a series of non-Brahmin conferences and meetings in the presidency. Communal division between Brahmins and non-Brahmins began in the presidency during the late-19th and early-20th century, mainly due to caste prejudices and disproportionate Brahmins representation in government jobs. The Justice Party's foundation marked the culmination of several efforts to establish an organisation to represent the non-Brahmins in Madras Presidency. [1] [2] [3]

Contents

Background

Brahmin/non-Brahmin divide

The Brahmins in Madras Presidency enjoyed a higher position in India's social hierarchy. By the 1850s, Telugu Brahmins and Tamil Brahmins comprising only 3.2% of the population began to increase their political power by filling most of the jobs which were open to Indian men at that time. [4] They dominated the administrative services and the newly created urban professions in the 19th and early 20th century. [5] The higher literacy and English language proficiency among Brahmins were instrumental in this ascendancy. The political, social, and economical divide between Brahmins and non-Brahmins became more apparent in the beginning of the 20th century. This breach was further exaggerated by Annie Besant and her Home Rule for India movement. The following table shows the distribution of selected jobs among different caste groups in 1912 in Madras Presidency. [4] [6]

Caste groupDeputy collectorsSub judgesDistrict Munsifs % of total
male population
Brahmins7715933.2
non-Brahmin Hindus3032585.6
Muslims15nil26.6
Indian Christians7nil52.7
Europeans and Eurasians11nil3.1

The dominance of Brahmins was also evident in the membership of the Madras Legislative Council. During 1910–20, eight out of the nine official members (appointed by the Governor of Madras) were Brahmins. Apart from the appointed members, Brahmins also formed the majority of the members elected to the council from the district boards and municipalities. During this period the Madras Province Congress Committee (regional branch of the Indian National Congress) was also dominated by Brahmins. Of the 11 major newspapers and magazines in the presidency, two ( The Madras Mail and Madras Times) were run by Europeans sympathetic to the crown, three were evangelical non–political periodicals, four ( The Hindu , Indian Review, Swadesamithran and Andhra Pathrika) were published by Brahmins while New India, run by Annie Besant was sympathetic to the Brahmins. This dominance was denounced by the non-Brahmin leaders in the form of pamphlets and open letters written to the Madras Governor. The earliest examples of such pamphlets are the ones authored by the pseudonymous author calling himself "fair play" in 1895. By the second decade of the 20th century, the Brahmins of the presidency were themselves divided into three factions. [7] These were the Mylapore faction comprising Chetpet Iyers and Vembakkam Iyengars, the Egmore faction led by the editor of The Hindu , Kasturi Ranga Iyengar and the Salem nationalists led by C. Rajagopalachari. A fourth non-Brahmin faction rose to compete with them and became the Justice party. [8]

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">S. Srinivasa Iyengar</span>

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Panaganti Ramarayaningar</span> Indian politician

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">P. Theagaraya Chetty</span> Indian activist and political leader

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Dravidian parties include an array of regional political parties in the state of Tamil Nadu, India, which trace their origins and ideologies either directly or indirectly to the Justice Party and the Dravidian movement of C. Natesanar and Periyar E. V. Ramasamy. The Dravidian movement was based on the linguistic divide in India, where most of the Northern Indian, Eastern Indian and Western Indian languages are classified as Indo-Aryan, whereas the South Indian languages are classified as Dravidian. Dravidian politics has developed by associating itself to the Dravidian community. The original goal of Dravidian politics was to achieve social equality, but it later championed the cause of ending the domination of North India over the politics and economy of the South Indian province known as Madras Presidency.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Periyar</span> Indian social activist and advocate of Dravidian movement

Erode Venkatappa Ramasamy, revered as Periyar or Thanthai Periyar, was an Indian social activist and politician who started the Self-Respect Movement and Dravidar Kazhagam. He is known as the 'Father of the Dravidian movement'. He rebelled against Brahminical dominance and gender and caste inequality in Tamil Nadu. Since 2021, the Indian state of Tamil Nadu celebrates his birth anniversary as 'Social Justice Day'.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">T. M. Nair</span> Indian politician and political activist (1868–1919)

Taravath Madhavan Nair was an Indian politician and political activist of the Dravidian Movement from the Madras Presidency. He founded the Justice Party along with Theagaraya Chetty and C. Natesa Mudaliar.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">C. Natesa Mudaliar</span>

Dr. C. Natesa Mudaliar (1875–1937), also known as Natesan, was an Indian politician and activist of the Dravidian Movement from what is now the Indian state of Tamil Nadu. He was one of the founders of the Justice Party, along with P. Theagaraya Chetty and Dr. T. M. Nair. He is often mentioned as Dravida Thanthai.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">1920 Madras Presidency Legislative Council election</span>

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">1926 Madras Presidency Legislative Council election</span>

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">1923 Madras Presidency Legislative Council election</span>

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The Anti-Hindi imposition agitation of 1937–40 is a series of protests that happened in Madras Presidency of the British Raj during 1937-40. It was launched in 1937 in opposition to the introduction of compulsory teaching of Hindi in the schools of the presidency by the Indian National Congress government led by C. Rajagopalachari (Rajaji). This move was immediately opposed by E. V. Ramasamy (Periyar) and the opposition Justice Party. The agitation, which lasted for about 30 months, was multifaceted and involved fasts, conferences, marches, picketing and protests. The government responded with a crackdown resulting in the death of two protesters and the arrest of 1,198 persons including women and children. The mandatory Hindi education was later withdrawn by the British Governor of Madras Lord Erskine in February 1940 after the resignation of the Congress government in 1939.

Tamil Renaissance refers to the literary, cultural, social reform and political movements that took place in the Tamil-speaking districts of Southern India starting in the second half of the 19th century and lasting to the culmination of the anti-Hindi agitations of the 1960s.

Madras Presidency Association was a faction within the Indian National Congress which existed before indian independence. While Justice Party championed the cause of non-Brahmins in Madras presidency, non-Brahmins within the Congress party founded Madras Presidency Association (MPA).

S. Ramanathan was an Indian politician who served as the minister of Madras Presidency in the Congress-led government of 1937. He was the first founder of the Self-Respect Movement.

References

  1. Joshua Fishman; Ofelia Garcia (2010). Handbook of Language and Ethnic Identity:The Success-Failure Continuum in Language and Ethnic Identity Efforts (Volume 2): The Success-Failure Continuum in Language and Ethnic Identity Efforts. Oxford University Press, USA. pp. 230–. ISBN   978-0-19-539245-6 . Retrieved 7 July 2016.
  2. "A century of reform The Dravidian movement has left its progressive imprint on Tamil Nadu". Manuraj Shunmugasundaram. The Indian Express. 22 November 2016. Retrieved 8 August 2018.
  3. "The Inner Grammar Of Dissent Lives". K.S. Chalam. Outlook India. 12 December 2016. Retrieved 8 August 2018.
  4. 1 2 Irschick 1969 , pp. 1–26
  5. Myron Weiner and Ergun Ozbudun (1987). Competitive elections in developing countries. American Enterprise Institute. p. 61. ISBN   0-8223-0766-9.
  6. K. Nambi Arooran (1980). Tamil renaissance and Dravidian nationalism, 1905–1944. p. 37.
  7. Rajaraman 1988 , ch. 2 (The Genesis of the Justice Party)
  8. Irschick 1986 , pp. 30–31

Works cited