From The Hindu
Chennai or Madras originates
from Fort St. George, built on land that was leased by the East India Company
on August 22, 1639 — now celebrated as Madras
Day. On this occasion, we step back from neighbourhoods and streets, and take a
look at the city as a whole — its past, present and future
About 70 years ago, Chennai
or Madras as it
was earlier known faced anxious moments when Telugu-speaking citizens demanded
the city as theirs and wanted it to be the capital of their future state. The
demand in itself was not problematic, but the solutions proposed to solve the
dispute between Tamil and Telugu-speaking citizens over the future of the city
were.
The city came close to being
split into two along River Cooum – the northern part assigned to Andhra and the
southern to Tamil Nadu. However, a combination of factors settled the issue in
Tamil Nadu’s favour. This not only saved the traumatic partition, but also
avoided two other equally vexatious possibilities: declare Madras as a plebiscite or a centrally
administered province. As the city celebrates its past, it would be worthwhile
to recall how the city survived its testing moments and retained its cosmopolitan
nature.
Madras was a presidency town – the
largest colonial city in south India
with Telugus, Tamils, Kannadigas and Malayalees all living here. As the
struggle for independence intensified, the formation of States on linguistic
principles became imminent. Telugus were among the first to raise the demand
for the need of a separate province. As early as 1912, Telugu leaders and
newspapers started to complain that the ‘progress of Dravidians overshadowed’
that of the Andhras (Telugu speaking) and the creation of a separate province
would ‘cure this handicap.’ However, they did not step up the demand
immediately, but wanted to do so only after independence. Until then, they
decided to keep the issue alive. In the initial years, the status of Madras city was not a
central issue. The situation changed in the 1940s. An intriguing tale in
November, 1941 brought the city of Madras
to centre stage.
Mr. T. Prakasam, the Congress leader, who later
became the first Chief Minister of Andhra told the Mahasabha conference in
Vishakapatanam that the cabinet of the Madras Province
had met a few months ago to discuss the formation of Andhra province. They
invited Lord Erskine, the Governor, to attend the meeting as a matter of
goodwill. Erskine suggested that both provinces — Andhra and Madras — be located in the city. Everyone
including the Tamil Ministers agreed to this idea, Prakasam claimed. Prakasam then alleged that an ‘evil genius in
the cabinet’ poisoned Erskine’s mind later and made him write a letter to the
Secretary of State against the move. Prakasam refused to divulge the name of
the ‘evil genius’ but told the gathering that Erskine cautioned the British
government that ‘blood would flow in the streets of Madras’ if Andhra was formed.
Remarks by Mr. O.P. Ramaswamy
Reddiar, the premier of Madras
province in September, 1947 complicated matters. He told a group of press
persons that if Andhra claimed Madras then
Tamils would claim Nellore,
Chittor and Tirupati in return. Positions hardened and Telugu leaders demanded
that the government settle the future of the city first. For their part, Tamil
writers and leaders aggressively opposed Andhra’s claim over Madras. Notable writer Mr. Kalki Krishnamuthi
remarked that the Tamils and Telugus had turned ‘strange brothers’ and the city
had greater contact with Tamilians than with Telugus. Rajaji dismissed the claim over Madras as untenable and
citied population figures in support.
A solution was in sight in 1949.
The Indian National Congress set a three-member committee comprising Nehru, Patel
and Pattabi Sitaramiah to look into linguistic provinces. The committee report
— known as the JVP report — recommended the formation of Andhra province but
concluded that Madras
would not be part of it. With Nehru and Patel involved, many thought the JVP
report would be accepted. On the contrary, the fight over Madras escalated.
While the JVP’s position
pleased Tamil leaders, the Telugus agitated. Mr. Sitaramiah, who was a
signatory to the report tried to clarify that though the JVP report said Madras could not be part
of Andhra, it did not specify that it should be part of the Tamil province. The
city should be a centrally administered area, he demanded. Matters came to a flash point in 1952 when Mr.
Potti Sreeramulu, a Gandhian who was fasting for an Andhra province and the
inclusion of Madras,
died. Sreeramulu, was born in Madras.
He quit his well-paying job
in the Railways in 1930 to join Gandhi in his Sabarmati ashram. Later, after
independence, he took up social work. On October 19, 1952, Sreeramulu decided
to indefinitely fast in support of the Andhra issue. His fast neither altered
the position of the national Congress or the Madras government. After 51 days, Sreeramulu died. His death
sparked violent protests across Telugu-speaking areas of the Presidency. Nehru
appealed for calm and assured people that the issue would be settled soon.
Following this, in January 1953,
the government appointed Justice Wanchoo to look into the formation of the
Andhra province. The Wanchoo committee identified boundaries of the new State, but
concluded that Madras
could be the temporary capital for three to five years. If that was not
possible, until a permanent city was found, Guntur or Vishakapttanam could the temporary
capital, the committee suggested.
This was not acceptable to
Rajaji and other Tamil leaders. Finally,
in December 1953, Nehru announced that Madras
would not be the temporary capital. In October 1954, the Andhra province was
formed with Kurnool
as its temporary capital.
Mr. V. Kaleeswara Ro, the
vice-president of the Andhra Pradesh Congress committee was practical. He told
other Telugu leaders that they should now work ‘increasingly with the Karnataka
brethren for the disintegration of Hyderabad
State’ and combine the
Telugu-speaking areas with Andhra. This way, Andhra could get the twin city of Hyderabad and
Secunderabad as its permanent capital. He was right. After two years, a larger
Andhra Pradesh with Hyderabad
as its capital emerged. Madras remained with Tamil Nadu.
