On the approach and outlook of Tamil Nadu’s Scheduled Caste leaders in late 1940s
The years immediately after the Second World War’s end in 1945 marked a period of events and excitement not only at the macro level but
The years immediately after the Second World War’s end in 1945 marked a period of events and excitement not only at the macro level but also among the Scheduled Castes (SC) of Tamil Nadu. With the prospects of the country gaining freedom becoming bright, representatives of the SC community were intensely involved in the exchange of views on various issues that would affect a new nation, including those relating to the community’s welfare and future. At the all-India level, the Congress, one of the principal political players, had its share of leaders from the community, and this included Jagjivan Ram. In Tamil Nadu, there were leaders such as V.I. Munuswami Pillai, J. Sivashanmugam Pillai, and P. Kakkan. The other side of the political spectrum was led by B.R. Ambedkar, who had founded the Scheduled Castes Federation (SCF) in 1942. In the State, the SCF’s face was N. Sivaraj who had occupied the post of Chennai Mayor. In the 1946 elections to various provinces, the Congress demonstrated its superiority over the SCF. In the erstwhile Madras Presidency, the party bagged 27 out of 30 seats allotted to SCs. Even in the remaining three places, the SCF did not make it. It was against this backdrop that Ambedkar and his colleague Sivaraj criticised the Congress for not having given due recognition to the community. V.I. Munuswami Pillai, who served as a Minister in the Council of Ministers headed by C. Rajagopalachari during 1937-39, issued a statement, giving an account of the “overwhelming” support that the Congress party had secured in the elections and pointed out that Sivashanmugam Pillai had been made Speaker of the Legislative Assembly, according to The Hindu on July 23, 1946. Three months later, the Assembly Speaker, while addressing the West Godavari Harijan (a term widely used then to mean the SCs) Congress Convention in Eluru, came down on Ambedkar for his action of going to England to place the grievances of the community before the British Cabinet.
Sensing that it was only a matter of time that the country would gain Independence and alluding to the formation of the interim government led by Jawaharlal Nehru in September 1946, Sivashanmugam Pillai observed that “power has been given to Indians now and it is the duty of the Harijans to join the party now in power and fight within the party for their due share of such power.” Commenting on differences between Ambedkar and the Tamil Nadu’s prominent leaders of the Scheduled Caste, D. Ravikumar, the incumbent Member of Parliament from Villupuram representing the Viduthalai Chiruthaigal Katchi (VCK), says there is nothing to be surprised on this aspect. In fact, when Ambedkar, in 1935, gave a call for conversion, many leaders from the State had opposed him, as their approach towards Hinduism was based on philosophical and spiritual lines, not on the religious lines. Rettamalai Srinivasan, one of the towering leaders of the community, responded by saying that “Depressed Classes (another term then used for the SCs) are not in the Hindu fold. They are full blooded Dravidian in race.” About a week after the announcement by the last British Viceroy Louis Mountbatten, on June 3, 1947, that freedom would be given by mid-August to two units — India and Pakistan — the Assembly Speaker wrote to Nehru on the problems of the community. He mentioned that the SCs were ignorant of important laws — the Temple Entry Authorisation Act and the Civil Disabilities Removal Act. He called for the issue of house site pattas to the SCs, who were “at the mercy of caste Hindus” in view of the latter owning plots on which the community’s settlements were generally located. Pillai brought to the notice of Nehru how the concept of ‘Adimai Sasanam,’ a form of slavery, was in practice. Under the concept, the SCs, while borrowing money from lenders, who were invariably caste Hindus, would give it in writing that they and their descendants would serve the lenders till their loans were settled, according to a report of this newspaper on June 14, 1947.
The BriefWire