On the eve of Republic Day, the Rotary Club of Madras hosted an event where the noted senior advocate Arvind P Datar looked back on his career. In conversation with him was young and fast-rising lawyer Vikram P Raman. The highly engaging conversation repeatedly went back to the Constitution of India and that made me ponder over the Madras members of the Constituent Assembly.
Madras as a vast Presidency
Madras then was a Province that covered almost of all of present-day Andhra, Tamil Nadu, and some parts of Kerala and Karnataka. And so it would not be correct to say that all the 38 Madras members were from the city. But they all had something do with the city and there were 16 of them who had lived in, and left their impress on, Madras the metropolis. Most of that city-based subset are commemorated in some way or the other here. If you want to know more, there is an excellent website – www.constitutionofindia.net which has all details, including personality profiles.
Language – An emotive issue in Madras
What struck me about the Madras list was the way language was an emotive issue for many of them. It was this lot that carved the present contours of Tamil Nadu and later defined the politics of the State as well. There were firstly the Andhras – Prof NG Ranga for instance was talking about the creation of a separate province for the Telugu-s even in the Constituent Assembly debates. T Prakasam, though not as vocal on the subject, was a strong supporter. Others such as Kala Venkata Rao and Tirumala Rao were ardent champions of Telugu as a language. And by 1949, a three-member committee was formed to look at dividing India on linguistic lines. This had Nehru, Patel, and a third member from Madras – Pattabhi Sitaramayya.
The Carving Out Of Andhra
The creation of Andhra would become reality in 1953 thanks to the unrest that followed Potti Sriramulu’s death by fasting of but another member of the Constituent Assembly – C Rajagaopalachari – had a role too. After serving as Governor General and later cabinet minister, CR was by then CM of Madras State and it was his immutability over Sriramulu that forced matters! All the Telugu-speaking Madras members of the Constituent Assembly migrated to the new state and became powerful leaders there. And some went even higher – Neelam Sanjeeva Reddy, who hardly spoke in the Constituent Assembly would wind up as President of India!
The Anti-Hindi Agitation
Rajagopalachari had, while Premier of Madras in 1937, ignited another tinderbox – the Hindi issue. Though a member of the same party, K Kamaraj, also to become a Constituent Assembly member, was opposed to the idea as were the then fledgling Dravidian leaders. The Second World War rather ironically brought peace on that issue but Hindi festered. It was the subject of much debate in the Constituent Assembly, and it was another Madras member – Sir N Gopalaswami Ayyangar, who together with KM Munshi, that drafted a policy to hold for fifteen years – Hindi would be the official language but English would also be used for all transactions. By 1965 the debate was back.
New Political Alignments
Only this time, Kamaraj was on the backfoot when his party, with Bhaktavatsalam as CM, bungled over handling the agitations. Rajaji, now Swatantra Party leader, sided with the DMK! Madras State, which following the birth of Andhra had shrunk to its present contours, became Tamil Nadu in 1968 and then in 1996, the city was renamed Chennai on the mistaken claim of it being a Tamil word. Strangely enough, it may well be Telugu! The Andhras may have had the last laugh.
This article was published in The Hindu. CLICK HERE to read it.