Elections in the Madras Presidency, Pre Independence - Part 3: The dominance of Justice, 1923-34

Raja of Panagal statue, Panagal park


In the Second elections, the Justice party faced a united opposition under - The Swarajists.

The Congress was represented by both groups, the Moderates and the extremeists, in the Presidency. However, the bulk of the party top brass were from the capital city, Madras, and at this point, the party was dominated by Moderates. In 1920, just a few months before the elections, Gandhi called for non-cooperation, and the Congress in Madras immediately pulled out of the elections. The Moderates had thrown their weight behind Gandhi and they dominated the Congress here. This irked a group in the party, who had been raring to fight the elections. From then on, until 1937, Gandhi set the Congress against constitutional agitation. However, this group felt that only by entering politics and elections could they make a difference. Some of those members fought the 1920 elections as independents anyway.

They received support and financing from CR Das and Motilal Nehru, and in the 1922 Congress session at Gaya, they attempted to bring the Congress back to elections the following year. However, they were outvoted. In 1923, they formed the Swaraj party within the Congress, and fought elections under that name.

 In 1923, the Swaraj party contested. Voting was higher this time,  58.8%. Dissent towards the Justice party had grown and the Swarajists took advantage of that. Initially the parties had contested to further their representation, the Justice Party for the non-Brahmin manifesto and the Congress for increased local control,  and get benefits from the government. But in the process, the Justice Party became all-powerful in under two years of governance, and corruption and nepotism started to set in.  Though the party won the 23 elections, they lost some seats to the Swarajists. T Rangachari, a Congress party member, was re-elected to the Central Legislative Assembly from Madras city.

The party had no real party structure, and it was not a single unified body. In 1923, there were only 63 SILF members in Madras city. Across the Presidency the party popped up and dissolved  just as quickly.

Willingdon wanted to create a happy family, and all sessions were held with members together. But Justice ministers were unable to do anything because finance and other important aspects were in the reserved list, and under the British.
Raja of Panagal continued as First Minister after the elections. Patro and TR Sivagnanam Pillai were the other two ministers.

The day after the formation of the Council, a group split away from the Justice Party, and CR Reddy, one of those who split away, called for a no-confidence motion. It was only by enlisting the votes of the nominated members did it fail, and that too by 1 vote. The Justice Party now did not have a majority but was still the single-largest party.

The idea of T nagar, the large area in Chennai city, had its origins in this government. The process of filling up Long tank began here.

In 1925, Thyagaraya Chetty died, and the Raja of Panagal was also made leader of the party. He influenced local elections, and nominated members who were favourable to him, a process that worked against him.

In 1926, the Swarajists won the elections. C R Reddy banded together all the Justice opposition under the Swarajists, saying “ Two Bad Parties are better than 4 logical groups” . Due to shifting loyalties, it was estimated between 40 and 48 of those elected were Swarajist supporters. Unfortunately, the Congress did not assent to them forming a ministry, and as they were still a part of the Congress, they had to agree. The Justice Party formed the opposition, and government was an independent government. However, the Swarajists were involved in the negotiations, and promised external support. The governor, now Viscount Goschen from 1924,  chose Dr Subbaroyan to be First Minister, and nominated others out of the elected representatives, to form the government. S Srinivasa Iyengar was elected to the Central Assembly.

In 1927, the Simon commission was sent to India, as part of a clause in the Act of 1919 to review the working of dyarchy. But the commission was rejected by the Congress on the grounds that there was no Indian member. They organized strikes everywhere it went, including Madras.

That year,  the Cabinet was reshuffled. Panagal had been working towards getting the Justice Party back in power. Technically, the Swaraj party was officially meant to obstruct the working of the government but they had given it their support. Panagal managed to bring some Swarajists over to the Justice side, and two of them, Muthiah Mudaliar, and Seturatnam Iyer, were installed as Ministers by the Governor, who dissolved the Council. In the new Cabinet, Dr Subbaroyan continued as First Minister. However, for a brief while now, the Swarajists were unable to function, having lost their influence, and having almost no patronage or finance. Many influencial Swarajists like CR Reddy began to work alongside the Justice party. For another year, Ramarayaningar would enjoy his earlier status and influence, but would never be First Minister again, because,
In 1928, the Raja of Panagal died. After a hard fought battle within the Justice Party, B Munnuswamy Naidu became the President of the Justice Party.

In the 1930 elections, the Justice party won with 35 seats. 43% of the electorate had voted this time, and Munnuswamy Naidu was sworn in as Chief Minister (the official term from now on). But to win, he had created alliances and factions. This was the beginning of the end of the Justice Party. Anti-zamindari riots began in Andhra that year, led by a Justicite-turned-Congressman, NG Ranga.
Munnuswamy Naidu was forced to resign in 1932 by the pro-zamindari faction, due to their unhappiness that none of their top candidates were accomodated in the new Cabinet. the Raja of Bobbili was appointed as Chief Minister, with RK Shanmugam Chetty and Arcot Ramaswamy Mudaliar(later the first Chair of ECOSOC in the UN). Ramaswamy Mudaliar would later go on to serve in the Central Legislature in 1934.(with two new ministers).

The Swarajists had looked to contest the election, but when Gandhi called for the Civil Disobedience movement, they dropped out. But some continued to contest as Independents, ignoring the Congress. The opposition was formed by Independent Nationalists, as they were called, led by Dr Subbaroyan.
The Great Depression had taken place in 1929, and it was felt right from 1930, and it began to hit hard under Naidu. Bobbili did not take steps to ensure that everyone was equally taken care of, and instead implemented pro-land policies.


In 1932, the Tamil newspaper ceased publication. Soon Justice also sank, and Bobbili put his own money in to support it. But when he was accused of influence, he let it sink.

Justice newspaper

(to be continued)

Munuswamy Naidu, Panagal's successor

Governors of the Presidency so far during Justice rule: 

Willingdon: 1919 - 1924

Sir Charles Todhunter(acting)

Goschen 1924 - 1929

Sir Norman Marjoribanks(acting)

Stanley 1929 - 1934

Click here for a video to the Prince of Wales's tour in 1922, that was during the Non-Cooperation movement, and part of the reason why the Congress did not fight the 1920 elections