P. Kalifullah or P. Khalifulla (1888 - 1950), was a politician of the Madras Presidency

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...

, British India. He served as the minister for public works in the short lived ministry of 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...

 during April-July 1937. He was a Tamil Muslim

Tamil Muslim

Tamil Muslim refers to those Muslims who have Tamil as their mother tongue. There are around 500,000 in Malaysia which is 2.6% of the total population of Malaysia and 20,000 in Singapore.Tamil Muslims are largely urban traders rather than farmers...

 belonging to the 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...

 community. His father, Pitchai Rowther was a wealthy businessman in Tiruchirapalli at that time. He belonged to the All-India Muslim League and was elected to the Madras Legislative Assembly from Tiruchirappalli in the 1937 elections

Madras Presidency legislative assembly election, 1937

The First legislative assembly election for the Madras Presidency was held in February 1937. The Indian National Congress obtained a majority by winning 159 of 215 seats in the Legislative Assembly. This was the first electoral victory for the Congress in the presidency since elections were first...

. He was sympathetic to the cause of Periyar E. V. Ramasamy

Periyar E. V. Ramasamy

Erode Venkata Ramasamy , affectionately called by his followers as Periyar , Thanthai Periyar or E. V...

 (Periyar) and his Self-Respect Movement

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...

. In 1937, he spoke against the introduction of compulsory Hindi classes in the Madras legislature and later participated in the anti-Hindi agitation

Anti-Hindi agitation of 1937-40

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...

 started by Periyar. He was a lawyer by profession and was also known by his honorifics as Khan Bahadur P. Khalifulla Sahib Bahadur. He was also a member of the Madras Legislative Council

Madras Legislative Council

Tamil Nadu Legislative Council is the upper house of the bicameral legislature of the Indian state of Tamil Nadu. It began its existence as Madras Legislative Council, the first provincial legislature for Madras Presidency. It was initially created as an advisory body in 1861, by the British...

during the early 1930s. He was also the Dewan of Pudukottai for some period.