M. C. Rajah
| Mylai Chinna Thambi Pillai Rajah | |
|---|---|
| Born |
17 June 1883 St. Thomas Mount, Madras |
| Died | 20 August 1943 (aged 60) St. Thomas Mount, Madras |
| Nationality | Indian |
| Other names | M. C. Rajah |
| Alma mater | Madras Christian College |
| Occupation | Dalit rights activist, freedom fighter, politician |
Rao Bahadur Mylai Chinna Thambi Pillai Rajah (17 June 1883 – 20 August 1943) was a Tamil politician, social and political activist from the Indian state of Tamil Nadu.
Rajah was born to a poor Tamil family of Madras. He entered politics after graduation and was a leader in the Justice Party. However, he quit the party in 1923 over the party's treatment of Dalits and allied with B. R. Ambedkar until, in turn, parting ways again over ideological differences. Rajah died in 1943. In his heyday, Rajah was considered to be a person equal in stature to Ambedkar. Rajah, along with Ambedkar and Rettamalai Srinivasan, represented the Dalits at the Second Round Table Conference in London.
Rajah was born to Mylai Chinna Thambi Pillai in 1883 at St Thomas Mount, Madras. Chinna Thambi Pillai was the manager of Lawrence Asylum. Rajah had his schooling at the Wesley Mission High School, Royapettah and Wesley College. He graduated from Madras Christian College and worked as a school master.
Rajah joined politics at an early age and was elected president of the Chingleput district board. In 1916, he became the Secretary of the Adi-Dravida Mahajana Sabha. He was one of the founder-members of the South Indian Liberal Federation. Rajah was elected to the Madras Legislative Council as a Justice Party candidate during the first general elections held in November 1920. He was elected Deputy Leader of the Justice Party in the house. Rajah was the first member of the Dalit community to be elected to the Madras Legislative Council. In 1922, Rajah passed a resolution demanding that the terms Paraiya and Panchama be dropped from official usage and instead be substituted with Adi-Dravida and Adi-Andhra.
In 1921, the Justice Party government of the Raja of Panagal introduced reservations for backward classes in government jobs. However, this act did not allocate quotas for Dalits. Disenchanted, Rajah led a delegation of Dalits to protest the act and press their demand for inclusion. But the Justice Party did not respond. Instead, when riots broke out in Puliyanthope the same year, top-ranking Justice Party leaders regarded the Government's policy of appeasement of Dalits responsible for the strike. Outraged at this, Rajah quit the party in 1923. He remained a member of the Madras Legislative Council till 1926. In 1928, he created and became the president of the All India Depressed Castes Association. From 1926 till 1937, he was a member of the Imperial Legislative Assembly. During April–July 1937 he was the Madras Presidency's Minister for Development in the short lived interim provisional cabinet of Kurma Venkata Reddy Naidu.
...
Wikipedia