Theagaroya Chetty

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Sir Pitti Theagaroya Chetty KCSI (1852-1925) was an eminent lawyer and a prominent political leader from the erstwhile Madras province. He was one of the founders of the Justice Party in 1916 along with Dr.T.M.Nair. T.Nagar is a locality in Chennai which is named after him.

1 The Dravidian Movement
2 Rise of the Justice Party
3 Legacy
4 References

[edit] The Dravidian Movement

The Madras Non-Brahmin Association was formed in 1909 by two lawyers from Madras city, P. Subramanyam and M. Purushotham Naidu. However, Sir Theagaroya Chetty did not involve himself in the movement until 1912, when the Madras United League (Later renamed as Madras Dravidian Association) was formed.

At a meeting held in Madras in November 1916 by a group of about thirty people, including P. Thaagaroya Chetti and Dr. T. M. Nair, it was resolved to start a company for publishing newspapers advocating the cause of the non-Brahmin community.

The South Indian People's Association was later formed as the mouthpiece of non-Brahmins with organizing the media arm of the non-Brahmin Movement as its main objective. A political party was organised by the South Indian People's Association under the leadership of Sir P.Theagaroya Chetty and Dr.T.M.Nair and was named the South Indian Liberal Federation which later came to be popularly known as the Justice Party after the English daily Justice. The Federation was organised in October 1917 and its objectives wore defined as :

(a) to create and promote the education, social, economic, political, material and moral progress of all communities in Southern India other than Brahmins,

(b) to discuss public questions and make a true and timely representation to Government of the views and interests of the people of Southern India with the object of safeguarding and promoting the interests of all communities other than Brahmins and

(c) to disseminate by public lectures, by distribution of literature and by other means sound and liberal views in regard to public opinion ".

[edit] Rise of the Justice Party

The newly-formed Justice Party enjoyed splendid successes at the beginning of the 1920s and captued power in Madras province when the first democratic elections were held in December 1920. A. Subbarayalu became its first Chief Minister. The successful run of the Justic Party continued till 1937 with 7 of the first 8 Chief Ministers of Madras province (Panagal Raja,P. Munuswamy Naidu,Ramakrishna Ranga Rao,P. T. Rajan and Kurma Venkatareddy Naidu)hailing from its ranks.

[edit] Legacy

Si P.Theagoraya Chetty was the founder of the Justice Party and the Dravidian Movement. Yet, today his popularity is completely overshadowed by that of Periyar E. V. Ramasamy Naicker that very few people today know about Sir Theagaroya Chetty or the origins of his movement.Theagaroya Nagar, a busy commercial district of Madras stands as the only reminder of the man and his movement.