¹ See, for example, Times of India, April 14, 1959. The editorial noted a “growing evidence of an anti-Congress trend in the larger cities” of Bombay, Delhi, and Madras, and found local issues and conditions important in all three cases. For a portrait of Bombay politics, see Henry C. Hart's article, this issue; for Calcutta, see Myron Weiner's.

² See Lerner, Daniel, The Passing of Traditional Society: Modernizing the Middle East (Glencoe, 1958).Google Scholar

³ See Rudolph, Lloyd I. and Rudolph, Susanne Hoeber, “The Political Role of India's Caste Associations,” Pacific Affairs, XXXIII, No. 1 (March 1960), 5–22.CrossRefGoogle Scholar

⁴ Times of India, April 24, 1959. In a joint statement issued on April 22, 1959, the eve of the mayoralty elections, the DMK pledged to support the CPI in Coimbatore and the Communists to support the DMK in Madras where together they controlled 47 out of 100 seats. The vote in Coimbatore was 19 to 15. See also the Hindu Weekly Review, June 1, 1959, for Ajoy Ghosh's statement concerning the alliance.

⁵ These figures are based on unofficial data for which we are indebted to Mr. V. K. Narasimhan of The Hindu.

⁶ At a public meeting in March 1957, Naicker claimed that Brahman C. Rajagopalachari resigned his Chief Ministership because of his “threat of violent direct action using the knife.” Express, March 5, 1957. When a DK member actually tried to carry out Naicker's injunction three years later, he completely repudiated the idea. See Link, April 24, 1960, for a DK member's attempt to assassinate Rajagopalachari. After the incident Naicker expressed his abhorrence of violence as a means of settling political differences and C. N. Annadurai, leader of the DMK, condemned the attempt with the “utmost disgust.” By October 1960, Rajagopalachari, as leader of the new Swatantra Party, was paying tribute to Naicker on his 82nd birthday. He claimed to be his friend, and hoped to win him over in politics. Link, October 30, 1960. Such are the miracles wrought by the strength of the Dravidian appeal in Madras politics.

⁷ Bahadur, Rao, Patro, A. P., “The Justice Movement in India,” Asiatic Review, XXVII, No. 93 (January 1932), 29.Google Scholar

⁸ For more detail, see Memoranda of the Madras Government on the Working of the Reformed Government Submitted to the Indian Statutory Commission, Madras, Superintendent (Government Press, 1930), p. 13Google Scholar; Patro, “The Justice Movement,” passim; and Nichols, Ralph W., “Caste and Politics in Madras, 1920–1952,” Anthropology Tomorrow (Journal of the Anthropology Club of the University of Chicago), VI, No. 3 (April, 1960), 17–26.Google Scholar

⁹ Patro, “The Justice Movement,” pp. 29, 31.

¹⁰ Interviews with Mssrs. Nedunchezhian and the late Balasubramaniam, General Secretary of the DMK and MP candidate respectively, were helpful in enabling me to understand the DMK outlook. EVR's marriage at the age of 72 to a 28-year-old woman touched off the break between the two. It seemed that some of his followers would affect the distribution of his estate after his death, which in turn would affect the financial support of the movement.

¹¹ The DMK's 1957 Election Manifesto called for, among other things, the nationalization of all “productive enterprise” and a ceiling on salaried income of Rs. 1200 per month. Mail, February 11, 1957. These demands echo those of the right radical Jan Sangh and a section of the Congress. The small man's leveling impulses are seen in this willingness to nationalize big business and limit big incomes but leave private property intact.

¹² The DMK does not bar any caste from membership, nor does it wish to drive Aryans or Brahmans from Tamil Nad. According to Annadurai it is open to all people in Dravida Nad irrespective of their religion or caste. Hindu, April 1 and 8, 1957. On April 15, 1957, he announced “that more than 1000 Brahmans had recently enrolled themselves as members of the DMK.” Mail, April 16, 1957.

¹³ See Harrison, Selig S., India, the Most Dangerous Decades (Princeton, 1960), 182–190 for details concerning the CPI-DK alliance in 1951–52 and the role of the DK in the first general election.CrossRefGoogle Scholar

¹⁴ See Infra, Table I, 20. See Link, March 20 and April 17, 1960; Organiser, Dec. 19, 1960, for discussions of the Tamil film industry.

¹⁵ Controversy over the interpretation of the Ramayana is not confined to South India. Aubrey Menon's “retold” Ramayana published by Chatto and Windus in the UK and by Scribner's in 1944 in the US, where it became a Book-of-the-Month Club selection, was proscribed by the Central Government when it prohibited its importation, publication, or circulation in India. New York Times (July 31, 1955). For the DMK's view on the ban, see the Madras Sunday Observer, part of the DMK press, (December 11, 1955). Mr. E. V. Ramaswami Naicker's Rational Books Publishing Co., which publishes books opposing “God, Religion and Superstition,” has brought out ten volumes under the title, “Vulgarities in Ramayana.” For further details see Harrison, India, pp. 127–128. For Vinoba Bhave's defense of the Ramayana, not as history, but as a devotional book of ethics against the DK attacks, see Asian Recorder (August 4–10, 1956), p. 972.

¹⁶ Mail, April 28, 1955; December 2, 1954; December 29, 1955; April 20, 1957; Express, July 7, 1956.

¹⁷ Express, August 30, 1953; Mail, January 14, 1955; Link, August 28, 1960. The objective of the Self-Respecters in not registering and in pressing for special legislation is to establish that their rite is as good as that of orthodox Hinduism since the latter automatically makes a marriage legal.

¹⁸ Asian Recorder, August 4–10, 1956, p. 972.

¹⁹ Many cafes and restaurants in Madras State designate themselves Brahman Hotel. In most, this indicates the kind and preparation of food and drink available; it also indicates a pretension to be a higher class establishment. The appellation does not necessarily indicate or limit the caste of customers who will be served, although it may. See the Hindu's editorial, “Kazhagam Campaign,” May 9, 1957, where it is argued that the designation “is no bar to the entry of persons belonging to other castes.” Other caste names, (Mudaliar, Reddiar, Nadar, etc.) also appear on “hotels,” Express, May 8, 1957.

²⁰ Express, April 27 and May 10, 1957.

²¹ Express, April 27; Hindu, May 5, 1957.

²² Hindu, May 6, 1957. On May 13, 1957, the Express reported that the word Brahman has been restored on most of the name-boards … which had been subjected to the smear-campaign.”

²³ Express, May 8, 9, 10, 13, 1957; Hindu, May 10, 12, 16, 21, 23, 1957; Mail, May 10, 1957.

²⁴ The Act made it an offense punishable by up to three years in prison, a fine, or both, to attempt to destroy or insult the Constitution, the Indian flag, or a bust or portrait of Gandhi.

²⁵ Asian Recorder, December 14–21, 1957, p. 1802.

²⁶ Link., June 5, i960, p. 4. EVR was careful to explain, however, that he intended no harm whatsoever to the “good Tamilian Ministry headed by Kamraj.” While EVR hoped that 3000 Kazhagamites would be sent to jail, Government was reluctant to oblige him, hesitating to class map-burning with flag-burning, Constitution-burning, or the destruction of portraits or statues of Gandhi.

²⁷ Mail, April 1, 23, 1957. In May 1957, Annadurai again linked himself with Rajagopalachari by publicly agreeing with his solution for weavers' unemployment. Express, May 12, 1957.

²⁸ Hindu, April 1, 1957; see also, Hindu, April 8, 1957.

²⁹ See Link., March 27, April 17, May 22, July 3, August 21, and October 2, 1960. Home Minister Pant gave assurances that legislation will be introduced extending the use of English for official purposes beyond 1965, Nehru assured Sampath that he stood by his position that English would continue to be used as long as people in non-Hindi areas required it, and Finance Minister (Madras) Subramaniam “promised to fight the Center if it was proved that it was pursuing a ‘Hindi only’ policy.”

³⁰ Mr. Ajoi Ghosh, General Secretary of the CPI, denied in May 1959 that these CPI-DMK electoral adjustments meant that the CPI supported all the DMK stood for. “We do not like the idea of municipalities becoming forums for political battles,” Ghosh observed, “but I do not see anything wrong about adjustments with other parties.” Ghosh went on to say that “I do not accept that all the people who voted for the DMK want a separate state of Tamil Nad … people voted for the DMK because they got fed up with the Congress-managed corporation of Madras. Our party is totally opposed to any idea of a separate State and has effectively campaigned against this idea. …” Hindu Weekly Review, June 1, 1959. The DMK declaration of support for the Communist Party in Kerala's special election in early 1960 continued the CPI-DMK alliance. See Times of India, January 8, 1960, for the DMK declaration.

³¹ See Overstreet, Gene D. and Windmiller, Marshall, Communism in India (Berkeley and Los Angeles, 1959). Chapter 20Google Scholar; and Harrison, India, Chapter V.

³² Harrison, India, p. 180, where he entitles a section of a chapter with the phrase which he took from an interview he had with the late Dr. B. R. Ambedkar.

³³ At a speech in Tiruchi on July 2, 1956, EVR announced the failure of the demand for Dravidisthan and its abandonment. He said they should be satisfied if a Tamil State was formed. Asian Recorder, July 6, 1956, p. 912.

³⁴ Hindu, December 26, 1956. Ajoi Ghosh, General Secretary, echoed the sentiments when he met the press some months later. See Hindu, February 26, 1957.

³⁵ Hindu, February 21, 1957. A few weeks later, P. Ramamurthi, a leading member of the Madras party, echoed Ranadive's view when he said that the cry for Dravida Nad by the DMK “was an attempt … to cover the exploitation of the people by South Indian capitalists.” To attribute the ills of the South to North Indian domination was “meaningless.” Hindu, March 7, 1957.

³⁶ Express, February 21, 1957.

³⁷ Link, November 6, 1960. Just after the 1957 general elections “A Communist Party spokesman said his Party … underestimated the influence of the DMK … he further admitted his party's inability to extend its influence beyond the areas and classes over which it already had a hold … the DMK had successfully created the impression among Tamil people, particularly the youth, that it is a better protector of Tamil interests than any other party.” Express, March 21, 1957.

³⁸ For a lengthy, highly critical analysis of the Fair Rent Act, see the Hindu's editorial of September 28, 1956. For Kamraj's use of the Fair Rent Act in the election, see Express, February 27, Hindu, March 11, 1957. During the last days of polling, Kamraj observed on March 10, “… the Communists could not secure more than two seats so far. The Congress Government had taken the wind out of the sails of the Communists by bringing in socialistic measures. …”

³⁹ See Rudolph, “India's Caste Associations,” for the meaning and role of these parties.

⁴⁰ Mr. T. T. Krishnamachari, Union Finance Minister at the time of the 1957 elections, stated that only 54 of 204 candidates nominated by Congress belonged to upper castes, while 12 IAS (Indian Administration Service, the “Senior” service) Collectors belonged to backward communities, and 8 DSP's (District Superintendent of Police) were Harijans. Express, March 13, 1957.

⁴¹ Hindu, October 10, 1956; see also Express, February 3 and 19, Mail, March 3, 1957, for further expressions of EVR's support of Kamraj in the election.

⁴² Express, February 14, and Hindu, February 16 and March 10, 1957.

⁴³ See, for example, Hindu, March 6, 1957, where the Minister for Agriculture, Mr. Bhaktavatsalam “categorically affirmed that the Congress had no alliance electoral or otherwise with the Dravida Kazhagam.” On March 10, both T. T. Krishnamachari, Union Finance Minister, and Mr. C. Subramaniam, State Finance Minister, “repudiated allegations that DK men had been given Congress tickets. Mr. Subramaniam also declared that he would resign if the contrary were proved.” Express, March 13, 1957. However, the Times of India reported on February 2, 1957, that the DK had “printed and issued nearly 200,000 pamphlets asking people to vote for Mr. Nadar and to deny their franchise to the Munnetra Kazhagam.” We saw campaign jeeps carrying flags of both parties. See also Hindu, March 11, 1957: At Tiruvalur “Dravida Kazhagam volunteers and workers wearing black shirts were seen in large numbers greeting the great Tamilian leader (Kamraj).” At Keevalur various Dravida Kisan associations garlanded him. An editorial in the Express on April 11, 1957, one month after the election, charged that “the pretense that Mr. Naicker's help was unsolicited though not unwelcome has been discarded.”

⁴⁴ For a description of the sample and some of the problems encountered, see Rudolph, Lloyd I. and Rudolph, Susanne Hoeber, “Surveys in India; Field Experience in Madras State,” Public Opinion Quarterly, XXII, No. 3 (Fall 1958), p. 235–244.CrossRefGoogle Scholar

⁴⁵ The DMK's appeal to the youth in the rural areas as well as in the cities is recognized by Congress. Immediately after the 1957 general elections, Mr. G. N. Naidu, a leader of the Tanjore District Congress Committee, “… drew the attention of the members to the tremendous influence the DMK was able to exercise on the minds of the younger generation.” He particularly emphasized its influence among students. Hindu, April 2, 1957; Mail, April 3, 1957.

⁴⁶ DMK leaders are at pains to deny the charge. See, for example, Hindu, March 5, and 23, 1957; Mail, April 1 and 15, 1957.