Anti-Hindi agitation of 1937-40
Encyclopedia
The Anti-Hindi 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
(later Dravidar Kazhagam
). The agitation, which lasted three years, 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 The mandatory Hindi education was later withdrawn by the British Governor of Madras Lord Erskine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.
, English was the official language
. When the Indian Independence Movement gained momentum in the early part of the 20th Century, efforts were undertaken to make Hindustani
as a common language to unite various linguistic groups against the British Government. As early as 1918, Mahatma Gandhi
established the Dakshin Bharat Hindi Prachar Sabha (Institution for the Propagation of Hindi in South India). In 1925, the Indian National Congress switched to Hindustani from English for conducting its proceedings. Both Gandhi and Jawaharlal Nehru
were supporters of Hindustani and Congress wanted to propagate the learning of Hindustani in non-Hindi speaking Provinces of India. The idea of making Hindustani or Hindi the common language, was not acceptable to Periyar, who viewed it as an attempt to make Tamils subordinate to North India
ns.
The Indian National Congress won the 1937 elections in Madras Presidency. Rajaji became the Chief Minister on 14 July 1937. He was a supporter of propagating Hindi in South India. Even before the elections, he had expressed support for Hindi in a newspaper article (Sudesamithran, 6 May 1937): "Government employment is limited. All cannot get it. Therefore one has to search for other jobs. For that and for business, knowledge of Hindi is necessary. Only if we learn Hindi, the south Indian can gain respect among the others." On 11 August 1937, within a month of coming to power, he announced his intention to introduce Hindi language teaching in secondary schools by issuing a policy statement. This move followed lobbying by pro-Hindi organisations like Hindustani Seva Dal and Hindustani Hitashi Sabha. These organisations had earlier convinced many Justice Party
led local governments to introduce compulsory Hindi in schools in the early 1930s. Periyar and the opposition Justice Party led by A. T. Panneerselvam immediately opposed the move. An Anti-Hindi conference was organised on 4 October 1937 to protest the announcement. On 21 April 1938, Rajaji went ahead and passed a government order (G.O) making the teaching of Hindi compulsory in 125 Secondary schools in the Presidency. Rajaji's persistence was viewed by Hindi's opponents as an attempt to destroy Tamil and promote Hindi. They started state wide protests against Rajaji and Hindi. The agitation was marked by protest marches, anti-Hindi conferences, observing an anti-Hindi day (1 July and 3 December 1938), fasts against government policies, black flag demonstrations and picketing of government offices and institutions. It was active in Tamil speaking districts of the Presidency - Ramnad
, Tinnevely
, Salem
, Tanjore
and North Arcot
. The agitation lasted till the order was withdrawn in February 1940. Two persons -Thalamuthu and Natarajan - lost their lives. Around 1,200 people including Periyar were imprisoned.
The anti-Hindi agitation was backed by Periyar's Self-Respect Movement
and Justice Party. The Justice party was led by older, established leaders like Kurma Venkata Reddy Naidu
and Pannirselvam, who did not have reputations as agitators and derived their power from patronage. Their representatives in the Madras Legislature demanded that the Hindi teaching be made optional. The more militant agitators led by Periyar did not have any patronage, but derived their influence from activism and politics of agitation. Periyar eventually became the president of the Justice Party during the course of the agitation. The agitation was also supported by Tamil scholars like Maraimalai Adigal
, Somasundara Bharathi, K. Appadurai, Mudiyarasan and Ilakkuvanar. In December 1937, Tamil Saivite scholars were among the first to announce their opposition to the Hindi teaching in the Saiva Sidhandha Maha Samaja conference at Velur. Women also participated in the agitation in large numbers. Moovalur Ramamirtham
, Narayani, Va. Ba. Thamaraikani, Munnagar Azhagiyar, Dr. Dharmambal, Malar Mugathammaiyar, Pattammal and Seethammal were some of the women who were arrested for participating in the agitation. On 13 November 1938, the Tamil Nadu Women's Conference was convened to demonstrate women's support for the movement. Despite the anti-Brahmin sentiments of the backers of the agitation, a few Brahmins like Kanchi Rajagopalachari also participated in the movement.
The Tamil speaking Muslims in the Madras presidency supported the agitation (in contrast to the Urdu
speaking Muslims, who supported the propagation of Hindi). P. Kalifulla
, a Muslim League member representing Trichy in the Legislative Assembly, declared "I may at once say that I am a Rowther
myself; my mother tongue is Tamil and not Urdu. I am not ashamed of it; I am proud of it.. We have not been told why Hindi after all has been chosen as the common language of India". Financial support for the agitation was provided by industrialists and landlords like W. P. A. Soundarapandian Nadar
and G. D. Naidu. Acknowledging the agitation's popular support, Lord Erskine, the then Governor of Madras wrote to Viceroy Linlithgow
in July 1938 that "Compulsory Hindi has been the cause of great trouble in this province and is certainly contrary to the wishes of the bulk of the population..."
used Jagadeesan as an example. Annadurai declared in an anti-Hindi meeting that "If Jagadeesan dies, I am ready to take his place, and die along with ten others. As soon as Jagadeesan dies, you should also be prepared to die". Jagadeesan's fast was called off after ten weeks and it was reported that he had been eating regularly during the nights.
, the Board High School at Tiruvarur
and the Hindu Theosophical School at Triplicane
, Madras became popular targets for the picketers. Most of the picketers in Madras city were not residents of the city and were bought from the outlying areas. Some of them were paid "spending money" to take part in the protests. Until October 1938, the picketing was relatively ineffective and contained. In that month Periyar started playing an active role in the agitation and the movement heated up. In November an anti-Hindi procession in Madras city turned violent and developed into a riot with protesters stoning the offices of Indian Express, Ananda Vikatan
, Dina Mani
and Tamil Mani. With Periyar's fiery speeches motivating them, the agitators succeeded in provoking disproportionate response from the Police. The agitation which started relatively small, began to gain momentum.
) was arrested On 5 December 1938. He was admitted to the hospital on the 30 December and died on 15 January 1939. On 13 February 1939, Thalamuthu Nadar was arrested with others for picketing the Hindu Theological High School in Madras. While imprisoned, he fell ill on 6 March and died on 11 March. The government claimed that his death was due to Cellulitis
and Amoebic dysentery
and he was already in poor health when he died. It dismissed their deaths and claimed they were illiterates. When the issue was raised in the Assembly, Rajaji dismissed it casually. The agitators were incensed by the government attitude and turned the dead men into martyrs. Their funeral processions in Madras were attended by hundreds of mourners and witnessed fiery speeches denouncing the government. Annadurai proclaimed that Natarajan’s name and deeds should be inscribed in gold in the history of the world. The agitators praised their sacrifices and claimed that the dead men had refused early release in exchange for ending their activities. In an interview given to the Sunday Observer on 27 January 1939, Natarajan's father K. Lakshmanan said when his son was hospitalized he refused to apologize to get an early release.
over Tamil. Rajaji's earlier attempt to translate an English Language Physics book into Tamil using Sanskrit words was viewed as proof of his preference of Sanskrit over Tamil. The anti-Hindi movement portrayed the Brahmin dominated Tamil Nadu Congress party as a stooge of "Hindi Imperialists" from the North. The resistance of the Brahmin Tamil scholars for removing Sanskrit words from Tamil was viewed by some in the agitation as proof of Brahmin complicity in the attempt to destroy Tamil. Rajaji was identified as an enemy of Tamil. Dravidian movement newspapers carried cartoons depicting Rajaji hurling a dagger at Tamil Thai and disrobing her. Similar banners were displayed in the processions taken out by anti-Hindi agitators. In an anti-Hindi meeting organised in August 1938, Pavalar Balasundaram accused the Brahmin community of "killing Tamil Thai". Rajaji's dismissal of Natarasan's death in the Assembly was denounced as "Aryans laughing while Tamils shed tears for their hero". Rajaji complained that the agitators were describing their opponents "by caste, by their sacred thread, by the tuft of the hair on their head". In a riot that happened in Madras city in November 1938, acts of violence were committed against Brahmins by the agitators.
and Sarvepalli Radhakrishnan
were against it. They wanted Rajaji to make Hindi optional or to provide a conscience clause for allowing parents to withhold their children from Hindi Classes. Satyamurti also disagreed with the use of Criminal Law Amendment Act of 1932 against the anti-Hindi agitators. In a letter written to Mahatma Gandhi
on 7 July 1938, he wrote:
Rajaji defended his action in another G.O. issued on 14 June 1938:
He refused to give in to the demands of the agitators. He claimed they were motivated by their "prejudices of anti-aryanism" and "hatred of the Congress". The police response to the agitation grew progressively brutal in 1939. Rajaji used the Criminal Law Amendment Act against the agitators, so that they could be charged of "non-bailable" criminal offenses. Displeased by his high handedness, Governor Erskine complained: "..[Rajaji] was too much of a Tory
for me, for though I may want to go back twenty years, he wishes to go back two thousand and to run India as it was run in the time of King Ashoka". During the agitation, a total of 1,198 protesters were arrested and out of them 1,179 were convicted (73 of those jailed were women and some of them went to jail with their children; 32 children accompanied their mothers to prison). Periyar was fined 1,000 Rupees and sentenced to one year of rigorous imprisonment for inciting "women to disobey the law" (he was released within six months on 22 May 1939 citing medical grounds) and Annadurai was jailed for four months. On 7 June 1939, all those arrested for participating in the agitations were released without explanation. Rajaji also organised pro-Hindustani meetings to counter the agitators.
In the words of Sumathi Ramaswamy (Professor of History at Duke University
),
Madras Presidency
The Madras Presidency , officially the Presidency of Fort St. George and also known as Madras Province, was an administrative subdivision of British India...
of the British Raj
British Raj
British Raj was the British rule in the Indian subcontinent between 1858 and 1947; The term can also refer to the period of dominion...
during 1937-40. It was launched in 1937 in opposition to the introduction of compulsory teaching of Hindi
Hindi
Standard Hindi, or more precisely Modern Standard Hindi, also known as Manak Hindi , High Hindi, Nagari Hindi, and Literary Hindi, is a standardized and sanskritized register of the Hindustani language derived from the Khariboli dialect of Delhi...
in the schools of the presidency by the Indian National Congress
Indian National Congress
The Indian National Congress is one of the two major political parties in India, the other being the Bharatiya Janata Party. It is the largest and one of the oldest democratic political parties in the world. The party's modern liberal platform is largely considered center-left in the Indian...
government led by C. Rajagopalachari
C. Rajagopalachari
Chakravarti Rajagopalachari , informally called Rajaji or C.R., was an Indian lawyer, independence activist, politician, writer and statesman. Rajagopalachari was the last Governor-General of India...
(Rajaji). This move was immediately opposed by E. V. Ramasamy
Periyar E. V. Ramasamy
Erode Venkata Ramasamy , affectionately called by his followers as Periyar , Thanthai Periyar or E. V...
(Periyar) and the opposition Justice Party
Justice Party (India)
The Justice Party , officially known as South Indian Liberal Federation, was a political party in the Madras Presidency of British India. The party was established in 1917 by T. M. Nair and Theagaroya Chetty as a result of a series of non-Brahmin conferences and meetings in the presidency...
(later Dravidar Kazhagam
Dravidar Kazhagam
Dravidar Kazhagam or Dravida Kazhagam was the first fully Dravidian party in India. It was a radical party formed by E. V. Ramaswamy, also called Thanthai Periyar of erstwhile Madras Presidency...
). The agitation, which lasted three years, was multifaceted and involved fasts
Fasting
Fasting is primarily the act of willingly abstaining from some or all food, drink, or both, for a period of time. An absolute fast is normally defined as abstinence from all food and liquid for a defined period, usually a single day , or several days. Other fasts may be only partially restrictive,...
, 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
John Erskine, Lord Erskine
John Francis Ashley Erskine, Lord Erskine GCSI, GCIE was a British soldier, Conservative Party politician and administrator who served as Member of Parliament for Weston-super-Mare and Brighton...
in February 1940 after the resignation of the Congress government in 1939.
Background
The Republic of India has hundreds of languages. According to the Census of 2001, there are 1,635 rationalized mother tongues and 122 languages with more than 10,000 speakers. During the British RajBritish Raj
British Raj was the British rule in the Indian subcontinent between 1858 and 1947; The term can also refer to the period of dominion...
, English was the official language
Official language
An official language is a language that is given a special legal status in a particular country, state, or other jurisdiction. Typically a nation's official language will be the one used in that nation's courts, parliament and administration. However, official status can also be used to give a...
. When the Indian Independence Movement gained momentum in the early part of the 20th Century, efforts were undertaken to make Hindustani
Hindustani language
Hindi-Urdu is an Indo-Aryan language and the lingua franca of North India and Pakistan. It is also known as Hindustani , and historically, as Hindavi or Rekhta...
as a common language to unite various linguistic groups against the British Government. As early as 1918, Mahatma Gandhi
Mahatma Gandhi
Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi , pronounced . 2 October 1869 – 30 January 1948) was the pre-eminent political and ideological leader of India during the Indian independence movement...
established the Dakshin Bharat Hindi Prachar Sabha (Institution for the Propagation of Hindi in South India). In 1925, the Indian National Congress switched to Hindustani from English for conducting its proceedings. Both Gandhi and Jawaharlal Nehru
Jawaharlal Nehru
Jawaharlal Nehru , often referred to with the epithet of Panditji, was an Indian statesman who became the first Prime Minister of independent India and became noted for his “neutralist” policies in foreign affairs. He was also one of the principal leaders of India’s independence movement in the...
were supporters of Hindustani and Congress wanted to propagate the learning of Hindustani in non-Hindi speaking Provinces of India. The idea of making Hindustani or Hindi the common language, was not acceptable to Periyar, who viewed it as an attempt to make Tamils subordinate to North India
North India
North India, known natively as Uttar Bhārat or Shumālī Hindustān , is a loosely defined region in the northern part of India. The exact meaning of the term varies by usage...
ns.
The Indian National Congress won the 1937 elections in Madras Presidency. Rajaji became the Chief Minister on 14 July 1937. He was a supporter of propagating Hindi in South India. Even before the elections, he had expressed support for Hindi in a newspaper article (Sudesamithran, 6 May 1937): "Government employment is limited. All cannot get it. Therefore one has to search for other jobs. For that and for business, knowledge of Hindi is necessary. Only if we learn Hindi, the south Indian can gain respect among the others." On 11 August 1937, within a month of coming to power, he announced his intention to introduce Hindi language teaching in secondary schools by issuing a policy statement. This move followed lobbying by pro-Hindi organisations like Hindustani Seva Dal and Hindustani Hitashi Sabha. These organisations had earlier convinced many Justice Party
Justice Party (India)
The Justice Party , officially known as South Indian Liberal Federation, was a political party in the Madras Presidency of British India. The party was established in 1917 by T. M. Nair and Theagaroya Chetty as a result of a series of non-Brahmin conferences and meetings in the presidency...
led local governments to introduce compulsory Hindi in schools in the early 1930s. Periyar and the opposition Justice Party led by A. T. Panneerselvam immediately opposed the move. An Anti-Hindi conference was organised on 4 October 1937 to protest the announcement. On 21 April 1938, Rajaji went ahead and passed a government order (G.O) making the teaching of Hindi compulsory in 125 Secondary schools in the Presidency. Rajaji's persistence was viewed by Hindi's opponents as an attempt to destroy Tamil and promote Hindi. They started state wide protests against Rajaji and Hindi. The agitation was marked by protest marches, anti-Hindi conferences, observing an anti-Hindi day (1 July and 3 December 1938), fasts against government policies, black flag demonstrations and picketing of government offices and institutions. It was active in Tamil speaking districts of the Presidency - Ramnad
Ramanathapuram District
Ramanathapuram District is an administrative district of Tamil Nadu state in southern India. The city of Ramanathapuram is the district headquarters. Ramanthapuram District has an area of 4123 km²...
, Tinnevely
Tirunelveli District
Tirunelveli District is a district of Tamil Nadu state in southern India. The city of Tirunelveli is the district headquarters. A unique feature of this district is that it encompasses all five geographical traditions of Tamil Literature; kurinji , mullai , marudham , neithal and palai...
, Salem
Salem District
Salem District is a district of Tamil Nadu state in southern India. The city of Salem is the district headquarters. Other major towns in the district are Mettur, Omalur and Attur...
, Tanjore
Thanjavur District
Thanjavur District is one of the 32 districts of the state of Tamil Nadu, in southeastern India. Its headquarters is Thanjavur.-Geography:...
and North Arcot
North Arcot
The Indian District of North Arcot was split on 30-09-1989 into Tiruvannamalai-Sambuvarayar and North Arcot Ambedkar .- History :...
. The agitation lasted till the order was withdrawn in February 1940. Two persons -Thalamuthu and Natarajan - lost their lives. Around 1,200 people including Periyar were imprisoned.
Support for the agitation
Self-Respect Movement
The Self-Respect Movement was founded in 1925 by Periyar E. V. Ramasamy in Tamil Nadu, India. The movement has the aim of achieving a society where backward castes have equal human rights, and encouraging backward castes to have self-respect in the context of a caste based society that...
and Justice Party. The Justice party was led by older, established leaders like Kurma Venkata Reddy Naidu
Kurma Venkata Reddy Naidu
Rao Bahadur Sir Kurma Venkata Reddy Naidu KCSI was an Indian lawyer, professor, politician and Justice Party leader who served as the Chief Minister of Madras Presidency from April 1, 1937 to July 14, 1937...
and Pannirselvam, who did not have reputations as agitators and derived their power from patronage. Their representatives in the Madras Legislature demanded that the Hindi teaching be made optional. The more militant agitators led by Periyar did not have any patronage, but derived their influence from activism and politics of agitation. Periyar eventually became the president of the Justice Party during the course of the agitation. The agitation was also supported by Tamil scholars like Maraimalai Adigal
Maraimalai Adigal
Maraimalai Adigal was an eminent Tamil orator and writer. He was a devout Hindu as a staunch follower of Saivism. He has authored more than 100 books, including works on original poems and dramas, but most famous are his books on his research into Tamil literature. Most of his literary works were...
, Somasundara Bharathi, K. Appadurai, Mudiyarasan and Ilakkuvanar. In December 1937, Tamil Saivite scholars were among the first to announce their opposition to the Hindi teaching in the Saiva Sidhandha Maha Samaja conference at Velur. Women also participated in the agitation in large numbers. Moovalur Ramamirtham
Moovalur Ramamirtham
Moovalur Ramamirtham was a Tamil social reformer, author, former Devadasi and political activist of the Dravidian Movement, who worked for the abolition of the Devadasi system in the Madras Presidency. She was the author of the autobiographical 1936 novel Dasigalin Mosavalai alladhu madhi pettra...
, Narayani, Va. Ba. Thamaraikani, Munnagar Azhagiyar, Dr. Dharmambal, Malar Mugathammaiyar, Pattammal and Seethammal were some of the women who were arrested for participating in the agitation. On 13 November 1938, the Tamil Nadu Women's Conference was convened to demonstrate women's support for the movement. Despite the anti-Brahmin sentiments of the backers of the agitation, a few Brahmins like Kanchi Rajagopalachari also participated in the movement.
The Tamil speaking Muslims in the Madras presidency supported the agitation (in contrast to the Urdu
Urdu
Urdu is a register of the Hindustani language that is identified with Muslims in South Asia. It belongs to the Indo-European family. Urdu is the national language and lingua franca of Pakistan. It is also widely spoken in some regions of India, where it is one of the 22 scheduled languages and an...
speaking Muslims, who supported the propagation of Hindi). P. Kalifulla
P. Kalifulla
P. Kalifullah or P. Khalifulla , was a politician of the Madras Presidency, British India. He served as the minister for public works in the short lived ministry of Kurma Venkata Reddy Naidu during April-July 1937. He was a Tamil Muslim belonging to the Rowther community. His father, Pitchai...
, a Muslim League member representing Trichy in the Legislative Assembly, declared "I may at once say that I am a Rowther
Rowther
Rowther or Ravuthar or Rawthar or Rawther is a distinctive Islamic community from the Southern Indian state of Tamil Nadu. Together with the Kayalar, Lebbai and Maraikayar communities, they constitute the multi-ethnic Tamil Muslim, an Islamic community spread across South India and South East...
myself; my mother tongue is Tamil and not Urdu. I am not ashamed of it; I am proud of it.. We have not been told why Hindi after all has been chosen as the common language of India". Financial support for the agitation was provided by industrialists and landlords like W. P. A. Soundarapandian Nadar
W. P. A. Soundarapandian Nadar
W. Pattiveeranpatti Ayya Soundarapandian Nadar was a leading figure in Nadar Mahajana Sangam and became the first Nadar member of the Madras Legislative Council upon a recommendation by P.T. Rajan in 1920. He is known for his effort to associate the Nadar community with the Self-Respect Movement...
and G. D. Naidu. Acknowledging the agitation's popular support, Lord Erskine, the then Governor of Madras wrote to Viceroy Linlithgow
Victor Hope, 2nd Marquess of Linlithgow
Victor Alexander John Hope, 2nd Marquess of Linlithgow KG, KT, GCSI, GCIE, OBE, PC was a British statesman who served as Governor-General and Viceroy of India from 1936 to 1943.-Early life and family:...
in July 1938 that "Compulsory Hindi has been the cause of great trouble in this province and is certainly contrary to the wishes of the bulk of the population..."
Fasts
On 1 May 1938, a young man named Stalin Jagadeesan went on a fast demanding the withdrawal of compulsory Hindi teaching. He became a symbol for the anti-Hindi agitators. In an interview published in Periyar's magazine Viduthalai he declared that his fast was to prove that Tamil Thai (lit. Mother Tamil) still had loyal sons. On 1 June, another man named Ponnusamy began a fast in front of Rajaji's house. Periyar did not approve of fasting as a form of protest. But other leaders of the agitation like C. N. AnnaduraiC. N. Annadurai
Conjeevaram Natarajan Annadurai , popularly called Anna , or Arignar Anna was a former Chief Minister of the South Indian state of Tamil Nadu...
used Jagadeesan as an example. Annadurai declared in an anti-Hindi meeting that "If Jagadeesan dies, I am ready to take his place, and die along with ten others. As soon as Jagadeesan dies, you should also be prepared to die". Jagadeesan's fast was called off after ten weeks and it was reported that he had been eating regularly during the nights.
Picketing and processions
A major feature of the agitation was the picketing of government offices and the schools where Hindi was being taught compulsorily. A boycott committee was formed on 1 June 1938 to coordinate the picketing. Rajaji's house in MambalamMambalam
Mambalam is a working class residential and commercial area in the heart of Chennai , India. It is best known for its shops, bazaars and Hindu temples. It is bounded by Kodambakkam to the north and Saidapet to the south. T. Nagar and Nandanam stretch all along its eastern frontiers while K. K....
, the Board High School at Tiruvarur
Tiruvarur
Tiruvarur is a town and a municipality in Tiruvarur district in the Indian state of Tamil Nadu. Tiruvarur is the administrative headquarters of Tiruvarur district. Tiruvarur is one of the oldest towns which has been popular as cultural head quarters for many centuries...
and the Hindu Theosophical School at Triplicane
Triplicane
Triplicane also has the famous powerful Ellamman temple in SMV Koil street. A beautiful Sundaramurthy Vinayagar temple is right opposite to the Ellamman Temple....
, Madras became popular targets for the picketers. Most of the picketers in Madras city were not residents of the city and were bought from the outlying areas. Some of them were paid "spending money" to take part in the protests. Until October 1938, the picketing was relatively ineffective and contained. In that month Periyar started playing an active role in the agitation and the movement heated up. In November an anti-Hindi procession in Madras city turned violent and developed into a riot with protesters stoning the offices of Indian Express, Ananda Vikatan
Ananda Vikatan
Ananda Vikatan ஆனந்த விகடன் is the leading Tamil language weekly magazine published from Chennai, India. It is part of the Vikatan group which also publishes Junior Vikatan , Chutti Vikatan , Aval Vikatan , Naanayam Vikatan , Sakthi Vikatan , Motor Vikatan and Pasumai Vikatan Ananda Vikatan ஆனந்த...
, Dina Mani
Dina Mani
Dina Mani is daily Tamil newspaper printed and published from Chennai, Coimbatore, Vellore, Trichy, Madurai, Tirunelveli, Dharmapuri, Bangalore, and New Delhi in India. The newspaper was established in 1933 and owned by The New Indian Express Group.The first edition came in 1934 september 11...
and Tamil Mani. With Periyar's fiery speeches motivating them, the agitators succeeded in provoking disproportionate response from the Police. The agitation which started relatively small, began to gain momentum.
Tamil brigade
In August–September 1938, a protest march was jointly organised by the Self-Respect movement and the Muslim league. It was flagged of by Periyar and Khaliffullah. The marchers who called themselves Tamilar Padai (lit. Tamil brigade), started from Trichy on 1 August 1938. They were led by Kumarasamy Pillai and Moovalur Ramamirtham. In the next 42 days, the marchers covered 234 villages and 60 towns. They addressed 87 public meetings and received widespread coverage in the press. They reached Madras on 11 September 1938 and were arrested for picketing government offices. The march succeeded in raising anti-Hindi and pro-Tamil support in smaller towns and villages they covered.Thalamuthu and Natarajan
Two persons died during the agitation and were claimed as martyrs by the agitators. Their deaths fueled the protests further. Natarajan (a DalitDalit
Dalit is a designation for a group of people traditionally regarded as Untouchable. Dalits are a mixed population, consisting of numerous castes from all over South Asia; they speak a variety of languages and practice a multitude of religions...
) was arrested On 5 December 1938. He was admitted to the hospital on the 30 December and died on 15 January 1939. On 13 February 1939, Thalamuthu Nadar was arrested with others for picketing the Hindu Theological High School in Madras. While imprisoned, he fell ill on 6 March and died on 11 March. The government claimed that his death was due to Cellulitis
Cellulitis
Cellulitis is a diffuse inflammation of connective tissue with severe inflammation of dermal and subcutaneous layers of the skin. Cellulitis can be caused by normal skin flora or by exogenous bacteria, and often occurs where the skin has previously been broken: cracks in the skin, cuts, blisters,...
and Amoebic dysentery
Amoebic dysentery
Amoebic dysentery is a type of dysentery caused primarily by the amoeba Entamoeba histolytica. Amoebic dysentery is transmitted through contaminated food and water. Amoebae spread by forming infective cysts which can be found in stools, and spread if whoever touches them does not sanitize their...
and he was already in poor health when he died. It dismissed their deaths and claimed they were illiterates. When the issue was raised in the Assembly, Rajaji dismissed it casually. The agitators were incensed by the government attitude and turned the dead men into martyrs. Their funeral processions in Madras were attended by hundreds of mourners and witnessed fiery speeches denouncing the government. Annadurai proclaimed that Natarajan’s name and deeds should be inscribed in gold in the history of the world. The agitators praised their sacrifices and claimed that the dead men had refused early release in exchange for ending their activities. In an interview given to the Sunday Observer on 27 January 1939, Natarajan's father K. Lakshmanan said when his son was hospitalized he refused to apologize to get an early release.
Anti Brahminism
The anti-Hindi movement viewed the Hindi legislation as an attempt by Brahmins to impose Hindi and SanskritSanskrit
Sanskrit , is a historical Indo-Aryan language and the primary liturgical language of Hinduism, Jainism and Buddhism.Buddhism: besides Pali, see Buddhist Hybrid Sanskrit Today, it is listed as one of the 22 scheduled languages of India and is an official language of the state of Uttarakhand...
over Tamil. Rajaji's earlier attempt to translate an English Language Physics book into Tamil using Sanskrit words was viewed as proof of his preference of Sanskrit over Tamil. The anti-Hindi movement portrayed the Brahmin dominated Tamil Nadu Congress party as a stooge of "Hindi Imperialists" from the North. The resistance of the Brahmin Tamil scholars for removing Sanskrit words from Tamil was viewed by some in the agitation as proof of Brahmin complicity in the attempt to destroy Tamil. Rajaji was identified as an enemy of Tamil. Dravidian movement newspapers carried cartoons depicting Rajaji hurling a dagger at Tamil Thai and disrobing her. Similar banners were displayed in the processions taken out by anti-Hindi agitators. In an anti-Hindi meeting organised in August 1938, Pavalar Balasundaram accused the Brahmin community of "killing Tamil Thai". Rajaji's dismissal of Natarasan's death in the Assembly was denounced as "Aryans laughing while Tamils shed tears for their hero". Rajaji complained that the agitators were describing their opponents "by caste, by their sacred thread, by the tuft of the hair on their head". In a riot that happened in Madras city in November 1938, acts of violence were committed against Brahmins by the agitators.
Government response
The ruling Congress Party was divided on the Hindi issue. While Rajaji and his supporters stuck to their position, SathyamurtiS. Satyamurti
S. Satyamurti was an Indian politician and patriot. A protege of S. Srinivasa Iyengar, Satyamurti was the political mentor of Kumaraswami Kamaraj....
and Sarvepalli Radhakrishnan
Sarvepalli Radhakrishnan
Sir Sarvepalli Radhakrishnan , OM, FBA was an Indian philosopher and statesman. He was the first Vice President of India and subsequently the second President of India ....
were against it. They wanted Rajaji to make Hindi optional or to provide a conscience clause for allowing parents to withhold their children from Hindi Classes. Satyamurti also disagreed with the use of Criminal Law Amendment Act of 1932 against the anti-Hindi agitators. In a letter written to Mahatma Gandhi
Mahatma Gandhi
Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi , pronounced . 2 October 1869 – 30 January 1948) was the pre-eminent political and ideological leader of India during the Indian independence movement...
on 7 July 1938, he wrote:
I personally believe that where a parent or guardian swears an affidavit before a magistrate stating his reasons that it is against his conscience that his boy or girl should learn Hindustani compulsorily, the child may be exempted. I personally believe very few parents or guardians will claim this exemption. This will expose the hollowness of the agitation and kill it. I wish you to write to Sri. C. Rajagopalachari suggesting this to him. Moreover, I am not very happy over the use by the Madras Government of the Criminal Law Amendment Act against these picketers.
Rajaji defended his action in another G.O. issued on 14 June 1938:
The attainment by our Province of its rightful place in the national life of India requires that our educated youth should possess a working knowledge of the most widely spoken language in India. Government have therefore decided upon the introduction of Hindustani in the secondary school curriculum of our province. Government desire to make it clear that Hindi is not to be introduced in any elementary school whatsoever, the mother tongue being the only language taught in such schools. Hindi is to be introduced only in secondary schools and there too only in the 1st, 2nd and 3rd forms, that is to say in the 6th, 7th and 8th years of school life. It will not therefore interfere in any way with the teaching of the mother tongue in the secondary schools....Hindi will be compulsory only in the sense that attendance in such classes will be compulsory and pupils cannot take Hindi as a substitute for Tamil, Telugu, Malayalam or Kannada, but must learn Hindi only in addition to one of these languages.
He refused to give in to the demands of the agitators. He claimed they were motivated by their "prejudices of anti-aryanism" and "hatred of the Congress". The police response to the agitation grew progressively brutal in 1939. Rajaji used the Criminal Law Amendment Act against the agitators, so that they could be charged of "non-bailable" criminal offenses. Displeased by his high handedness, Governor Erskine complained: "..[Rajaji] was too much of a Tory
Tory
Toryism is a traditionalist and conservative political philosophy which grew out of the Cavalier faction in the Wars of the Three Kingdoms. It is a prominent ideology in the politics of the United Kingdom, but also features in parts of The Commonwealth, particularly in Canada...
for me, for though I may want to go back twenty years, he wishes to go back two thousand and to run India as it was run in the time of King Ashoka". During the agitation, a total of 1,198 protesters were arrested and out of them 1,179 were convicted (73 of those jailed were women and some of them went to jail with their children; 32 children accompanied their mothers to prison). Periyar was fined 1,000 Rupees and sentenced to one year of rigorous imprisonment for inciting "women to disobey the law" (he was released within six months on 22 May 1939 citing medical grounds) and Annadurai was jailed for four months. On 7 June 1939, all those arrested for participating in the agitations were released without explanation. Rajaji also organised pro-Hindustani meetings to counter the agitators.
Cancellation
On 29 October 1939, Rajaji's Congress Government resigned protesting the involvement of India in the Second World War. Madras provincial government was placed under Governor's rule. On 31 October, Periyar suspended the agitation and asked the Governor to withdraw the compulsory Hindi order. On 21 February 1940, Governor Erskine, issued a press communique withdrawing compulsory Hindi teaching and making it optional.Impact
The anti-Hindi agitations of 1937-40 led to a change of guard in the Madras Presidency. The main opposition party to the Indian National Congress in the state, the Justice Party, came under Periyar's leadership on 29 December 1938. In 1944, the Justice Party was renamed as Dravidar Kazhagam. The political careers of many later leaders of the Dravidian Movement, such as C. N. Annadurai and M. Karunanidhi, started with their participation in these agitations. The agitations stopped the compulsory teaching of Hindi in the state. The agitations also reshaped the Dravidian Movement and broadened its political base, when it shifted from its earlier pro-Tamil (and anti-Brahmin) stance to a more inclusive one, which was both anti-Hindi and pro-English.In the words of Sumathi Ramaswamy (Professor of History at Duke University
Duke University
Duke University is a private research university located in Durham, North Carolina, United States. Founded by Methodists and Quakers in the present day town of Trinity in 1838, the school moved to Durham in 1892. In 1924, tobacco industrialist James B...
),
[The anti-Hindi agitations knit] together diverse, even incompatible, social and political interests... Their common cause against Hindi had thrown together religious revivalists like Maraimalai Atikal (1876-1950) with avowed atheists like Ramasami and BharathidasanBharathidasanBharathidasan was a twentieth century Tamil poet and rationalist whose literary works handled mostly socio-political issues. His writings served as a catalyst for the growth of the Dravidian movement in Tamil Nadu...
(1891-1964); men who supported the Indian cause like T.V. KalyanasundaramV. KalyanasundaramThiruvarur Viruttacala Kalyanasundaram, , better known by his Tamil initials Thiru Vi Ka , was a Tamil scholar, essayist and activist. He is esteemed for the strong humanism of his essays, the analytical depth of his commentaries on classical Tamil literature and philosophy, and the clear, fluid...
(1883-1953) and M. P. Sivagnanam with those who wanted to secede from India like Annadurai and M. Karunanidhi (b.1924); university professors like Somasundara Bharati (1879-1959) and M.S. Purnalingam Pillai (1866 -1947) with uneducated street poets, populist pamphleteers and college students.
See also
- Anti-Hindi agitations of Tamil Nadu
- Dravidian partiesDravidian partiesDravidian 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 Dravidian movement of Periyar E. V...
- Rise of Dravidian parties to power in Tamil NaduRise of Dravidian parties to power in Tamil NaduDravidian parties rose to power and prominence in the political stage of Tamil Nadu, a state in India, in the 1960s. The rise in power and political support was gradual until Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam , a Dravidian party, formed the government in the state in 1967...