The ruling Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam’s decision to admit AIADMK’s former MP V. Maitreyan has attracted an adverse reaction in certain quarters owing to his Brahmin roots. With the Assembly election due next year, it has led some commentators to assume the former MP will be fielded in a suitable constituency. The question, according to such commentators, is whether the DMK can go to such an extent of accommodating the Brahmins. However, not many are aware that B. Munuswami Nayudu (1885-1935), the Chief Minister of the Madras Presidency during 1930-32, made an unsuccessful attempt to admit “willing” Brahmins to the Justice Party, a precursor of the DMK. At the party’s two-day Nellore confederation in October 1929, Nayudu sought to amend the party by-laws, as he felt that the explicit exclusion of one community had resulted in the party not being a “full representative” of the Presidency.
Debate within the party
A perusal of reports in The Hindu Archives reveals the change in the rules, as suggested by Nayudu, had triggered a huge debate within the Justice Party, formally called the South Indian Liberal Federation (SILF). The purpose of the organisation was to “promote the political interests of non-Brahmin caste Hindus,” writes Eugene F. Irschick in Politics and Social Conflict in South India (University of California Press, 1969).
The Nellore meeting took place almost a year before the 1930 election to the Legislative Council. As Nayudu had made it clear that he wanted the party to consider amending its constitution, his move ruffled the feathers of many. At a meeting of the party’s Chennai branch held on Anna Salai on September 20, many stalwarts, including V. Chakkarai Chettiar, A. Ramaswami Mudaliar, and J.S. Kannapar, were present, with G. Narayanaswami Chetti presiding. Calling the Nellore event “very important”, Chettiar expressed his opposition to the admission of Brahmins as the organisation primarily existed to “advance the interests” of the Non-Brahmins. But, at the same time, he favoured the idea of assigning the party’s work in the Legislative Council and the local bodies to the Brahmins as the objective was to “do justice to all communities”. Mudaliar was categorical in saying that there was to be “no pact or compromise” with the Brahmins.
Meanwhile, the party’s Srivilliputtur unit adopted a resolution that “until the non-Brahmins establish equality with the Brahmins in political and social fields”, the Brahmins should not be admitted to the party. Regarded widely as a close associate of the Raja of Panagal who was the Chief Minister during 1921-26, Nayudu became the president of the Justice Party at the Nellore meeting. A galaxy of leaders, such as P.T. Rajan, P. Subbaroyan, R.K. Shanmugam Chetti, the Raja of Bobbili, A.P. Patro, Mudaliar, and ‘Periyar’ E.V. Ramaswamy (EVR), attended the conference.
Delivering his presidential address, Nayudu referred to the Article 4 of the party constitution, wherein it was stated that “every Non-Brahmin who is over 21 years of age and who accepts the creed of the SILF shall be eligible for membership”. Pointing to this clause that excluded only one community, he argued the organisation was not started as an “anti-Brahmin movement”. Its main objective was the improvement of non-Brahmin communities and securing the equal opportunities for all communities in the governance of the country.
‘A real Congress Party’
Tracing the genesis of the party, Nayudu, who hailed from a Kamma family of the then Tirutanni taluk and learnt the basics in law practice from P.R. Sundara Aiyar and T.T. Vijayaraghavachariar, said that when the Home Rule Movement was launched in 1916, “a considerable number of influential and representative Non-Brahmins” felt “the devolution of power from the bureaucracy to a responsible legislature should not result in the substitution of one oligarchy by another”. He went on to say that by removing the ban on the entry of the Brahmins, the organisation would be the “real Congress Party in south India”, according to The Hindu on October 5, 1929.
Many speakers deliberated on the issue of allowing membership to the Brahmins either in the party or in the Legislative Council arm of the party. At the two-hour session of the subjects committee that discussed the issue, Shanmugam Chetti, EVR, and Surendranath Arya spoke against the amendment. Earlier, two, including Patro, had favoured the proposed change. Chetti said it would be “too early to take” such a step. EVR said he had “no objection” to the admission of the Brahmins to the legislature arm of the party, if the organisation was so inclined. He had also contended that it was “ideal” to think of admitting the Brahmins to the party when non-Brahmins from other organisations were joining the Justice Party, “being fed up with Brahmin methods”.
Motion defeated
Eventually, the motion was defeated. While delegates from 14 districts went against the resolution, those from 13 districts supported it. Chennai, Tiruchi, Thanjavur (East & West), Madurai, Ramanathapuram, Tirunelveli, Godavari (East & West), Kurnool, Malabar, the Nilgiris, North Arcot, and Salem voted against the motion, while Ganjam Visakapatnam, Guntur, Kadapa, Krishna, Anantapur, Bellary, Nellore, Chengalpattu, South Canara, Chittoor, South Arcot, and Coimbatore backed the resolution.
Nayudu took the decision sportingly and called the event “a splendid success”, The Hindu reported on October 7, 1929. Though the party did not agree to his idea of admitting the Brahmins into it, the motion of allowing them to the legislature arm of the party was defeated by only one vote, an outcome that he called “significant”. However, P. Varadarajulu Naidu, a nationalist, described the decision of the Justice Party as “simply deplorable”. Shortly after quitting the post of Chief Minister, Nayudu left the Justice Party to form the Justice Democratic Party, which had the support of 20 legislators. His untimely death in January 1935 led to the disintegration of the new body. A road at K.K. Nagar in Chennai has been named after the former Chief Minister. M. Chakravarthy, one of the members of the Nayudu family, says there is a plan to install a statue of the leader in a park in Chittoor, which is also named after the leader.
Published – October 10, 2025 06:30 am IST
