Gandhi and Rajaji
The Congress had won 5 bye-elections between 35 and 37, and it knew that it was sure of a victory. Various Justice leaders began joining the Congress en mass and they encouraged local support as well.In July 1936, the Congress took a decision to contest the following years elections. Sathyamurthi was the main driving force of the Congress in the province. At first Rajaji was not too enthusiastic about it, but he gave in a few months before the elections, and contested.
By this act, the Madras Presidency, along with Bengal, Bombay, Bihar, Assam and the United Provinces, had a separate upper house as well, for which elections were held. The lower house was the Assembly, and the upper house the council. Madras’s Council had 56 seats.
The Assembly now had a five year term, and the Council, one third of its members resign every three years.
In 1936, the Raja of Pithapuram and Muthiah Mudaliar created a People’s party, that split the Justice votes. They also served in drawing Justice attention away from the Congress, so the Justice party ended up focusing its campaign against the Peoples party rather than the Congress. The people were also expecting a change in government and did not want any more of the Justice government.
In the famous 1937 elections, the Congress swept the polls. The Congress made every candidate take a pledge that they would not defect. It won because of its organizational ability, and the fact that it gave those with local support a seat. The Justice party was also losing its support, and trying to ensure the same leaders were re-elected.
Rajaji became the Chief Minister. At first, while the Congress hesitated to form the Government, the Governor, Irskine, set up an independent ministry, headed by Kurma Venkata Reddy Naidu, who had been acting governor earlier, in 1936. (He was also a part of the 1920 ministry).
This was the most convincing victory for the Congress, in any province, and one they had not expected. They were soon convinced of pushing their right to form government, and Rajaji was sworn in. This was also the elections Kamaraj entered politics.
Between 37 and 39, the Congress had empowered local administration, lowered their salaries, and worked to empower the people. But the problems of the Justice party plagued them as well. Congressmen were given preference over others, and there was clashes in the party for positions of power. By October 1937, Rajaji began issuing charges of sedition against people who spoke out against the government.
But then came 1939. The Congress ministries across the country resigned. Except for Bengal, Sindh and the NWFP, the Congress was a part of the Provincial government. They protested India’s involvement in the Second World War without the approval of the legislature, and resigned in protest. Governors rule was imposed in Madras from 1939 to 46, till the next elections were called.
The Governors during the war were Lord Irskine and Arthur Hope(Lord Rankeillour)
In 1946, the Congress again swept the polls. Justice party had been converted during governors rule to the apolitical Dravidar Karzagam, under Periyar, EV Ramaswamy Naikar. The Chief Minister was Prakasam. Factionalism emerged between Rajaji and Kamaraj. After a few weeks of politics, Prakasam was elected as the Chief Minister.
In December that year, the Provinces elected members to the Constituent Assembly. Due to their being 163 Congress members out of a house of 215, they elected 44 of the 49 members from Madras.
Prakasam lasted only a year, when differences emerged between himself and the high command. O P Ramaswamy Reddiar was appointed, and he would be the Chief Minister at the time of independence. But he too lasted only two years, when a no-confidence motion was passed against him. The last Chief minister in this tenure was PS Kumarawamy Raja who would remain until the General Elections of 1951.
Independence and after:
The Congress retained power till 1967, when the DMK won, pushing the Congress to the side-lines, where they remain to this day in Madras politics.
In 1956, with the linguistic reorganisation of states, the Andhra region had broken away, and become its own state. Very soon, the Kannada districts had been unified with Mysore to form Karnataka, and the Malabar district with Travancore-Cochin to form Kerala. The Tamil region was renamed Tamil Nadu under the first DMK government.
In the end of the second decade of the 21st century, we see a change in the politics of the state. Emergence of new parties, and increasing dominance of national parties, may indicate that we are entering a fourth era of politics in Madras, the first being Justice rule, the Second Congress, the third DMK-ADMK.
A biopic on Rajaji, the first Congress CM of Madras
(FIN)
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