Early Nationalist Stirrings in Tamil Nadu
• Tamil Nadu showed the lead in resisting colonial rule. As earlyas the late eighteenth century the Palayakarars, resistedthe English attempts to establish their political hegemonyin Tamil Nadu.
• Even after the defeat of the Palayakarars, an uprising was organisedby Indian sepoys and officers in Vellore Fort in 1806 that had its echoes in several cantonments in south India.
• Thanks to the introduction of Western education and eventualemergence of educated Indian middle class, the struggleagainst the British took the constitutional path.
• The freedom struggle in Tamil Nadu was unique, because fromthe beginning it was not only a struggle for independencefrom the English rule but also a struggle for independencefrom social disability imposed by the obnoxiouscaste system.
• In this lesson we shall study the role played by nationalists weddedto diverse ideologies in Tamil Nadu.
• The Madras Native Association (MNA) was the earliestorganisation to be founded in south India toarticulate larger public rather than sectarian interests
• It was started by Gazulu Lakshminarasu, Srinivasanarand their associates in 1852.
• It consisted primarily of merchants.
• The objective was to promote the interests of its membersand their focus was on reductionin taxation.
• It also protested against the support of the governmentto Christian missionary activities.
• It drew the attention of the government to the conditionand needs of the people.
(a) Madras Native Association
• One of the important contributions of the
MNA was its agitation against torture of
the peasants by revenue officials.
• These efforts led to the establishment of
the Torture Commission and the eventual
abolition of the Torture Act, which justified
the collection of land revenue through
torture.
• However, by 1862, the Madras Native
Association had ceased to exist
(b) Beginnings of the Nationalist Press: The
Hindu and Swadesamitran
• The appointment of T. Muthuswami as the first Indian Judge of the Madras
High Court in 1877 created a furore in Madras Presidency.
• The entire press in Madras criticized the appointment of an Indian as a .Judge
• The press opposed his appointment and the educated youth realized that thepress was entirely owned by Europeans.
• The need for a newspaper to express the Indian perspective was keenly felt .
• G. Subramaniam, M. Veeraraghavachari and four other friends together starteda newspaper The Hindu in 1878.
• It soon became the vehicle of nationalist propaganda.
Moderate Phase
• Provincial associations such as the Madras MahajanaSabha led to the formation of an all-India ,organisation the Indian National Congress Leaders fromdifferent parts of India attended several meetingsbefore the formation of the Congress.
• One such meeting was held in December 1884 in TheosophicalSociety at Adyar.
• It was attended by Dadabhai Naoroji, K.T. Telang, SurendranathBanerjee and other prominent leadersapart from G. Subramaniam, Rangaiah andAnandacharlufrom Madras.
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