The Role of South India in the Freedom Movement

The First Revolts - Part 2

From 1844 onwards, the resistance to British supremacy manifested in the South in Madras Presidency at the political as well as social and religious levels. Of course this resistance was fitful. It was also moderate. Nevertheless, it was present. Newspapers and organizations like The Crescent, the Madras Native Association, The Hindu and the Madras Mahajana Sabha played a seminal role in rousing public consciousness among the commercial and professional elite of the Presidency even in the 19th century. Their founders were the pioneers of nationalism in South India.

The Crescent was a journal founded in 1844 by the Hindu leader Gazulu Lakshminarasu Chetty, the earliest public agitator in the Presidency. Its declared intention was to defend traditional Hindu values against what was considered to be alien religious thought. From his childhood Gazulu was deeply interested in the political gestures of the day. Although the son of a wealthy businessman, his interest lay in achieving the political emancipation of his countrymen. He liberally spent his father's fortune in waging political campaigns, chiefly to counteract the Christian missionary agitation against the Government policy of religious neutrality. He engaged Harley, an Englishman sympathetic to the Indian cause, as its editor. The leaders of the journal were noted for their dignity, force of argument and logic. The popularity of the journal increased with the formation of the Madras Native Association in 1852 by a group of Western-educated Hindu youths under the captaincy of Gazulu. The chief object of this Association was to petition the British Government, bringing to its notice 'the grievances and wants of the inhabitants of the Presidency¥'. To a vast majority of the Hindus of those days, the executive authorities in Madras constituted the entire ruling body. Through its petitions the Madras Native Association demanded of the British the same sort of freedom which their own Magna Carta had given them. In those days, the Government did not prohibit public servants from participating in political discussions.

The very first act of the Association under Gazulu's leadership was waging a war against European missionaries who were engaged in a vigorous proselytization of the Hindus who were given to sending their children to the missionary institutions. About a decade earlier, in 1841, three Hindu students were converted to Christianity. This 'conversion' caused a great panic among the Hindu community. This was also directly responsible for the founding of the Pachaiyappa's School in 1842 with a view to providing education to the students withdrawn from missionary institutions. By the 1850s the missionaries had almost set the stage for introducing the Bible as a textbook in Government schools. About this time, in 1852, Danbay Seymour, Member of British Parliament, was sojourning in Madras as the guest of Gazulu. The latter availed himself of this favourable opportunity to bring to the knowledge of his guest the high-handedness of the local authorities in curtailing the civil and religious rights of the Hindu community and also the other serious defects in the then British administration. Accompanying the British dignitary on his tour to Kumbakonam, Cuddalore and Coimbatore and other places, Gazulu enabled Seymour to learn by personal observation the prohibitive rates at which the landholder was assessed and other malpractices indulged in by the British officers. Agitation over the Lex Loci was another and more important case in point. The Indian Law Commission drafted a code of law - the Lex Loci Draft Act - in which three clauses which had no relevance whatsoever to the measure were inserted. It was done deliberately to neutralise those sections of the Hindu and Muslim Laws which inflicted forfeiture of rights to ancestral property on anyone renouncing these religions. This Draft Act confirmed the worst fears of the Madras Native Association that the Government was behind the missionaries' activities in subverting Hinduism.

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By these, such sections of the Hindu or Mohammedan law that inflicted forfeiture of rights and property upon any party renouncing his or her religion would cease to be enforced (M. P. Jain, Outlines of Indian Legal History, Fourth Edition, N. M. Tripati Pvt. Ltd. 1981 p. 417). Thanks to the initiative and energy of Gazulu, meetings were organised to protest against this Act. A memorial was sent to the Government of India charging them with a 'breach of faith'. Stating that the three 'obnoxious' clauses were 'a palpable invasion of their ancient rights and a direct attack upon their religion and a peremptory subversion of their ancestral and inalienable law', the memorialists demanded their expunction. Gazulu was perhaps the first Indian to employ, as early as the mid-19th century, Western methods of political agitation. In the words of a contemporary historian: '[T]his was the first known Hindu gathering in Madras which had all the trappings of a modern protest meeting; the permission of the Sheriff of Madras was secured; a Chairman was elected to conduct the meeting; resolutions were passed; and the memorial was approved and signed for submission to the Government.' The issue had stirred strong Hindu emotions throughout the country. The Government was forced to delete the three controversial clauses from the Draft Act. However, five years later, it enacted them separately under the rubric of 'Caste Disabilities Removal Act, 1850'. There was a fresh volley of protest from the Hindus through the Crescent which accused the Government of 'shameful duplicity, profound stupidity and insulting tyranny'.

The Madras Native Association was largely responsible for the appointment of the Torture Commission by the British Government. It organised an agitation against torture employed in many parts of the Presidency by the revenue officials in exacting revenue from ryots and by the police in extorting confessions from criminals. Danbay Seymour, who had obtained a first-hand knowledge of the medieval practice of torture used in the mofussil areas of the Presidency during his visit in early 1852, asserted in the House of Commons in July of the same year that torture was inflicted on the people not only in the investigation of criminal cases under enquiry but also in the collection of revenue. Two years later in September 1854, a Torture Commission was appointed to investigate the alleged cases of torture and corruption. The Commission found most of the allegations well-founded. It brought to light all kinds of abuses, particularly those indulged in by the police of Madras which had become 'the bane and pest of society, the terror of the community and the origin of half the misery and discontent that exists among the subjects of government'. Of the many petitions sent by the Madras Native Association, those of 1853 and 1855 were the most prominent. In the first, the Association demanded the establishment of a Legislative Council on the precedent of the Council of Ceylon, Cape of Good Hope and New Zealand, so that there would be Indian representation in the Government. The Indian Councils Act of 1861 provided for the establishment of Legislative Councils. In the second petition it complained bitterly of the misrule and oppression of the Company's Government and demanded direct Government by the Crown. The Proclamation of Queen Victoria in 1858, provided for these. The public in Madras never lost sight of their main demand for responsible Government and pressed for it whenever an opportunity presented itself. Even in their farewell address presented in 1859 to Trevelyan, the most popular Governor since Munro, they reiterated their demand for responsible Government. In reply, the Governor exhorted them to qualify themselves for representative institutions by cultivating the 'literature of England which is instinct with the spirit of self-government'. The Madras Native Association deliberated on all public questions and its inestimable document on local self-government is pronounced to be an enduring monument of its labour. It contributed to the fostering of local self-government institutions by the Government through the Towns Improvement

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Act of 1884; the District Municipalities Act of 1884 and the Local Boards Acts of 1871 and 1884. The municipalities and local boards created by

these Acts had elected members also, besides the official ones. These bodies were entrusted with the management of local affairs such as sanitation, roads, schools, etc. Unfortunately, they did not pave the way to responsible government. The Madras Hindu Debating Society was founded by M. Venkatarayulu Naidu in 1852. Its main aim was to promote the mental and moral development of its constituents. Though the word 'Hindu' was there, its members belonged to all creeds and races. The Society also dabbled in politics. A tone of rivalry seemed to have characterised its attitude to the Madras Native Association. It became defunct after Naidu's death in 1863.

The next major milestone in the annals of the National Movement in the Madras Presidency was the founding of The Hindu in 1878. The paper was launched by six adventurous young men with a paltry borrowed capital of a rupee and three quarters. G. Subrahmania Iyer headed this team of youth. Its first issue appeared on 20 September 1878 under the auspices of the Triplicane Literary Society which was founded in 1868 by a Muslim, Mir Ibrahim Ali.

The very birth cry of this paper which enjoys international reputation today was a vibrant nationalism. The first issue commended the appointment of T. Muthuswamy Iyer as a Judge of the Madras High Court and joined issue with the Anglo-Indian Press which did not take kindly to the appointment of an Indian as a High Court Judge. With The Hindu began a new era in the political life of the Madras Presidency. It was the sole representative of public opinion in the Presidency during its early days. Its reputation rose meteorically.

As early as 1882 - that is, within four years of its birth - it became a reliable barometer for public opinion in the Presidency. Whenever Viceroy Ripon wanted to ascertain public opinion on any important measure, he would say: 'Take The Hindu and see what it says'. First founded as a weekly, The Hindu sought to reflect public opinion on to its alien rulers. Soon the paper discovered that it had a more vital role to play than merely reflecting public opinion. The paper took the initiative in shaping public opinion in the direction of an ultimate demand for national liberation. The paper became a tri-weekly in 1883 and a daily within six years thereafter. 'It was the first English daily newspaper owned and edited solely by Indians' - G. Subrahmania Iyer, M. Veeraraghavachari, T.T. Rangachari, P.V. Rangachari, D. Kesava Rao Pant and Subba Rau Pantulu. The first two who became its sole proprietors were school masters. The other four were doing law. The Hindu was largely responsible for educating the voters, canalising public opinion and initiating debates on vital public questions. It steadily nurtured and protected nationalism from the day of its humble origins unto the time of its growth into full stature when it became capable of challenging and dislodging the colonial power. It came to a head-on collision with the Madras administration almost from the date of its birth. It waged a grim and relentless battle to secure justice for the people against a tyrannical administration whose fountain-head was the Governor. The Hindu was also instrumental in bringing back to life the Madras Native Association under the care of V. Bhashyam Iyengar.

The revived Association began its work in right earnest: its main aim was to gain recognition for the claims of the sons of the soil to a proper share in the administration of the country. But it was unable to survive the harsh policies of Governor Grant Duff. Government servants who took part in the deliberations of the Association were looked upon with suspicion by the administration. The enthusiasm of the non-official members

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 also slackened, thanks to this attitude of the administration. Thus the revived Madras Native Association was short-lived. The Hindu rightly observed that the Association had done its work and spent itself.

A periodical in Tamil, Swadesamitran espousing the cause of Indian nationalism appeared on the scene in 1882 within four years of the founding of The Hindu. It was founded by G. Subrahmania Iyer, who was Editor of The Hindu. After leaving The Hindu in 1898, he converted this Tamil weekly into a daily and vigorously sponsored nationalist views. The great patriot Subrahmania Bharati, who attained instant popularity owing to his great poetic talents, was for some time attached to this paper. However, when the rebel in him dragged him into the vortex of extremist politics, Bharathi left the Swadesamitran to join India, a new Tamil weekly. His fiery articles espousing the cause of India were read widely. He continued to edit the India from Pondicherry during his exile there. Years later, when he came under the spell of Mahatma Gandhi he was welcomed back to Swadesamitran.

After the extinction of the Madras Native Association, Madras was again bereft of an organisation to ventilate public grievances. However, there was a dire necessity for concerted action on the issues of public interest and importance. This necessity brought together Veeraraghavachari, Anandacharlu, and Rangaiah Naidu along with a few other patriots. They constituted themselves into the Madras Mahajana Sabha on 16 May 1884 under the Presidency of Rangaiah Naidu. Its moving spirit was, however, Anandacharlu, its Secretary. Thanks to Charlu's tireless efforts, within six months of its foundation the Sabha became the premier nationalist organisation in the city with a number of associations in the mofussil centres affiliated to it. It drew its support from the English-educated Hindu elite and, to a limited extent, from their counterparts within the Muslim population of the city. At the very first conference of the Sabha held in December of the year Anandacharlu explained its aims and objects as follows: 'This Sabha expects to bring to focus nearly all the non-official intelligence now spreading without any visible proof of cohesion all over the Presidency. This, however, is not an object which is striven after for its own sake. It is pursued as a means to an end, that end being to promote mutual understanding among the people separated by space to ascertain what consensus of opinion there is among them on questions of vital interest to us and, from time to time, submit for the consideration of Government the views and suggestions such a consensus of opinion may warrant. One of the necessary conditions to achieve this object is a free and frequent interchange of thought and one of the means for the attainment is to hold periodical conferences.' Anandacharlu, the man who built up the Madras Mahajana Sabha, was a creative writer, eminent advocate and a versatile personality. Earlier he had been President of the Triplicane Literary Society and Secretary of the Madras Native Association. He was active in public life and consistently upheld the cause of the nation on many occasions: as a representative of the Sabha he pleaded before the Public Service Commission, which visited Madras in 1884, for the conduct of simultaneous Civil Service examinations both in England and in India. Though the British Parliament also passed a resolution in 1890 in favour of this, the Government of India did not execute it. When the latter held an inferior type of examination for the Indian candidates, Anandacharlu vehemently protested against the new injustice through his speeches and writings. He also consistently fought for the abolition of the India Council in London which was too far away to understand the feelings of Indians and to serve any useful purpose. Delivering his Presidential address to the Nagpur session of the Congress in 1891 he described the India Council as 'the oligarchy of fossilised Indian administrators who were superannuated for services in India'. He was the first South Indian to be made President of the Indian National Congress. Having been the President he later grew in stature to become a Proposer of

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Presidents to that prestigious body. And no Congress meeting was held without his 'weighty presence'. He was one of the ten Congress leaders who dominated the Congress both as President and Secretary. Anandacharlu served as a member of the Imperial Legislative Council for eight years from 1895. He pleaded repeatedly for reduction of taxes in general and of salt tax and land revenue assessment in particular. He insisted on reducing the civil expenditure so as to encourage agriculture and indigenous industries and to extend relief to the poor. He criticised most severely the military expenditure at all budget sessions. No one fought with greater vigour in this Council than Anandacharlu. What endeared Anandacharlu most to the public as a fearless champion of their cause was his opposition to Government's move to amend the Indian Penal Code in 1897 towards curbing the speeches and activities of the Nationalists. The Postal Act was so amended by the Government as to empower the postal authorities to stop letters which they considered objectionable from reaching the addressees. Section 108 was introduced in the Criminal Procedure Code to empower the Magistrate to punish offenders. Anandacharlu and the Maharaja of Dharbanga were appointed members of the Special Committee to go into the question of amending the Indian Penal Code. When the Committee submitted its proposal both the Indian members who differed from the rest submitted their views separately. They stated plainly that the amendments if passed in their existing form would only engender an eternal feeling of fear and hatred in the minds of the public about the Government as being irresponsible. An irate Secretary of State, George Hamilton, remarked in the House of Commons that the critics of the Government who 'never enjoyed either the freedom of speech or of action formerly, now make exaggerated claims to their rights and liberties as British subjects. Sir Anandacharlu of the Imperial Legislative Council is one among them'. Anandacharlu had also some British friends of high standing. Viceroys Elgin and Curzon held him in high esteem. Having remained for about two decades 'a shining light of the South Indian political firmament', Anandacharlu, retired in 1902. When the difference between the Extremists and Moderates became acute in the Congress in 1907, the moderate leader Rash Behari Ghosh sought his help. While in the midst of helping the national body forge together, Anandacharlu passed away on 28 November 1907.

The Inspiration to Form the Congress Party

When A. O. Hume, a philanthropic Scotchman and a great friend of Indian Nationalists, arrived in Madras in 1885 to assess for himself the level of national awakening in the Presidency, he found it bubbling with political life. He spoke of a band of patriotic and dedicated men chief amongst whom were G. Subrahmania Iyer, M. Veeraraghavachari, S. Subrahmania Iyer, P. Rangaiah Naidu, R. Balaji Rao, C. Vijayaraghavachari, P. Anandacharlu and Salem Ramaswamy Mudaliar. During this period, political activities in this Presidency were paradoxically catalysed at once by the liberal policies of Viceroy Ripon and the reactionary regime of Governor Grant Duff. Whereas the Viceroy's liberal policies directly encouraged political activism, Duffs reactionary attitude indirectly provoked the same. In other words, political activity in the Presidency did not thrive merely on benevolent, paternalising vice-regal policies but also arose in defiant protest against reactionary repression.

It was in Madras that the idea of setting up a national political body originated. Viceroy Dufferin had desired that Indians must have a national forum where political issues could be debated and public opinion crystallised. This idea was seriously pursued by veterans like Anandacharlu, G. Subrahmania Iyer and Rangaiah Naidu. In December 1884 when the annual Theosophical Convention met at Madras, seventeen Indian stalwarts of

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national stature among its delegates had a conclave at the house of the great social reformer Raghunatha Rao and mooted the subject of a national forum. According to some, the idea of setting up a national body was mooted at an informal gathering among those assembled at Bombay to bid farewell to Viceroy Ripon in October 1884. Even if that was so, there was every possibility of the idea being seriously

followed up at the Madras meeting two months later in December 1884 when it took a concrete shape. The Indian National Congress was formally born on 28 December 1885 in the hall of the Gokuldas Tejpal Sanskrit College in Bombay, with W. C. Bonnerjee presiding. The Madras contingent to this first Congress was headed by G. Subrahmania Iyer, the Editor of The Hindu, who had the honour of moving the first resolution. The motion was that the promised enquiry into the working of the Indian administration should be by a Royal Commission with adequate representation of Indians thereon. He said: 'Parliament took control in theory but abandoned it in fact - except where English Party interests were concerned — and the Indian Council took the place of the defunct Company, but ruled without enquiry.' He relentlessly followed up this recommendation for twelve years through his brilliant editorials in The Hindu. In January 1897 he wrote that nothing short of a Royal Commission could mend or end the whole system of administration which was 'culpable, guilty, incapable and selfish'. The recommendation was given effect to in the same year. In March 1897, Subrahmania Iyer was invited to London to give evidence before the Royal Commission on Indian Expenditure presided over by Welby. He deposed before the Commission in May 1897. He acquitted himself exceedingly well in representing the Indian view on the financial administration of India. His twin objections to the prevailing mode of financial administration were the drain on India's resources on account of heavy borrowing for constructing railways and the devastating effect of the latter on indigenous industry which had been the livelihood of millions for centuries. He laid special emphasis on the weaving trade which had become well-nigh extinct thanks to the invasion of English textiles. He said, 'Every machine-made article imported from Europe and carried into the Indian village with the help of railways, drives a nail in the coffin of native industry and in this manner the railways have to answer for a good deal of the poverty which makes the lot of the Indian poor so miserable.'

English-educated public in Madras was a force to reckon with even in 1885. During this year, the Madras Government proposed certain measures which provoked a powerful protest in the Presidency. The Governor and his Executive Council wanted to make Ootacamund the permanent capital city of the province and shift all government offices to that place. Secondly, they also planned to make it the permanent military headquarters. Thirdly, they wanted to transfer the military audit department to Bangalore. The public in the Presidency protested against these measures: apart from the unnecessary extra expenditure they involved, such measures would sever public contact with the Government. A large number of persons met outside the Pachaiyappa's hall in Madras and appointed a Committee to draft a memorandum to the Government. Anandacharlu was one of the members on the Committee. Seeing the magnitude of the opposition, the Government gave up its plan.

The enlightened public in the Presidency did not also hesitate to condemn the extravagant pomp and show during the visit of Viceroy Elgin in December 1895. The nationalist press voiced its concern over the avoidable wastage of expenditure at a time when people were in dire need of more food, more schools, more drains, more water, less price for essential commodities like salt and a smoother settlement of disputes. If the Viceroy helped the people in any of these directions, 'they will themselves arrange for a show in His Excellency's behalf. If not, let not insult be added to injury and let no senseless pageantry mark Lord Elgin's tour. Hyderabad will spend lakhs and Mysore

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thousands and the people in British India may be satisfied with the waste in native states', wrote The Hindu. A bold statement that attests to an awakened nationalist spirit. The Madras Mahajana Sabha which first decided to present the Viceroy an address subsequently withdrew it. The Viceroy, to whom an advance copy of it was sent as per norms, directed the Sabha to delete three paragraphs relating to essential public issues such as reduction in military expenditure from the address. The Sabha, which insisted on having the whole hog of it or none, declined to present the address and thus honour Viceroy Elgin. The Madras Mail wrote a scathing editorial describing the Sabha as a pigmy which dared to defy the giant! The Sabha sent a copy of the correspondence to this Anglo-Indian paper for publication, whereupon it advised the 'disloyal curs of the Madras Mahajana Sabha', to seek favour at the hands of the 'seditious Hindu and the fire brand Madras Standard'. The paper even said that the Sabha had cut its nose to spite its face. Such violent and boisterous attacks and pejorative language employed by pro-Governmental agencies were born out of a real fear that the loyalty of the Presidency to the British Government could no longer be taken for granted. The literary contributions of G. A. Natesan, editor of the renowned Indian Review, shedding light on the growth of public opinion of the period also deserve a brief note here, His first regular publication was the Indian Politics which appeared in 1898. Adorned with an introduction by W. C. Bonnerjee, one of the founders and the first President of the Indian National Congress, this work aimed at educating public opinion in the country and at rallying 'British democracy to the cause of Indian freedom'. The various publications issued from the house of Natesan in the form of political biographies, speeches and writings served as 'an eye-opener to the middle-aged and an inspiration to the young'. Besides making such literary contributions Natesan played a significant role at all levels of political life in the Presidency. In the annals of the Indian National Movement the period up to 1905 could be characterised as mild and moderate.

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