Prof. Thanthai Sivaraj -- National Level Leader Who Worked For The Scheduled Classes of India.

Prof. Thanthai Sivaraj and Dr. Babasaheb Ambedkar

Tribute to the great national leader Diwan Bahadur N. Sivaraj who worked for the Scheduled Classes of India.
Born: September 29, 1892. Died: September 29, 1964.

* He was a born Buddhist.
* Also called as 'Thanthai' which means 'Father' in Tamil. Just like 'Babasaheb' for Dr. Ambedkar.

Education: * 1907- Matriculation * 1911- B.A. from Presidency College, Madras. * 1915- B.L. from Madras Law College.

Served as:
* Advocate, High Court Madras;
* Professor of Law, Madras Law College (14 Years);
* Member, Justice Party (1917-26);
* Member, Madras Legislative Council (1926-37); * Member, Central Legislative Assembly (1937-47);
* Member, National Defence Council;
* Mayor of Madras (1945-46);
* Member of the Lok Sabha for Chengalpattu Constituency (1957-62).

* Thanthai Sivaraj was the Second person from the Scheduled Classes to be nominated the Member of Parliament the then Central Legislative Assembly (1937 to 1947) in India. [ Note: Perunthalaivar M.C. Rajah was the first person from the Scheduled Classes (1927 to 1937)].

* Representation in the All-India Services: Through the relentless efforts of Prof. Thanthai Sivaraj and Dr. Babasaheb Ambedkar, the Scheduled Classes of India secured one out of 12 posts or 8.33% representation for the first time in 1943 by a resolution of the Government of India on All India basis. It was applied to the direct recruitment in fixed representation in annual vacancies for All-India Services posts (Indian Civil Services) and Central Services. * First President of 'All India Scheduled Castes Federation'. AISCF was a first all India political party exclusively for the Scheduled Class. AISCF was founded by Prof. Thanthai Sivaraj and Dr. Babasaheb Ambedkar in a national convention of the Scheduled Classes held at Nagpur during 17-20 July 1942. It was presided by Thanthai Sivaraj and he was elected as its first President.

* Thanthai Sivaraj represent the cause of the Scheduled Classes of India as a delegation at the Pacific Relations Committee in Quebec in December 1942.

* 'Jai bheem' - The English weekly published by him in Madras.
* When the Republican Party of India was founded in 1957, he was again elected as its First President and continued working to establish the party's organization until he died in 1964.

Thanthai N. Sivaraj and Mr. Jawaharlal Nehru

* His wife Annai Meenambal was the first Scheduled Classes woman President of AISCF Women wing. Meenambal Sivaraj presided over the SCF women’s conference held at Madras, in 1944, which was attended by Dr Babasaheb Ambedkar. Also she presided over the 'All India SCF' women’s conference held at Bombay, on May 6th, 1945.

* Dr. Babasaheb Ambedkar himself often called Annai Meenambal as "My dear Sister".

* As a Mayor of Madras (1945-1946), Thanthai Sivaraj was instrumental in bringing the People Stadium in Madras. It was built and inaugurated in 1946. After the demolition of 'People Stadium', the new stadium was built in 1993. Later it was named after Mr. Jawaharlal Nehru in 1993 by Ms. Jayalalitha.

* Renounced 'Diwan Bahadur' title at Poona: Through the Congress machination, the Cabinet Mission ignored the Scheduled Classes as a separate political entity and rejected the demands made by Prof. Thanthai Sivaraj and Dr. Babasaheb Ambedkar. To protest against the injustice done to the Scheduled Classes by the British Government and the Congress, on 25 August 1946, Thanthai Sivaraj renounced his 'Diwan Bahadur' title at Poona.

Prof. Thanthai Sivaraj

                 

Here I have given some few words address by the President of AISCF - Thanthai Sivaraj at Nagpur in July 1942:

".... We are the real sons of the soil in India. Our blood is pure and heart is sound. We are the back bone even today of the economic structure of this Country. We are hard and honest workers. We are Tolerant and a generous nature and we have in our daily life a real democratic outlook. We have also our own culture, tradition and literature. We are proud people and in-spite of the attempts, subtle and open, made through ages to subdue and absorb us, we have remained as an independent group. This has brought about racial antagonism between us and the people called the Hindus. In this antagonism we have to seek the origin of Untouchability and not in their religion of which it now forms a plank. I do not want to go into the methods resorted to by the Hindus to exterminate our people. But I may say that the treatment of the Australian Bushman by the Colonizers, that of the Negroes by the Ku-Klusk Klan and of the Jews by the Nazis is less heinous than the suffering we were subjected to in the name of Religion, Caste and the like by the Hindus. It is slow Poisoning".

Dr. Babasaheb Ambedkar on Thanthai Sivaraj: "Rao Bahadur N. Sivaraj has long laboured in the cause of our people. He represents our people in the Central Legislature. By his education there are very few who are as well qualified as he is. He is B.A., B.L of the Madras University. He has been practicing lawyer and he has been a professor of Law in Madras for over ten years." [ At Nagpur, All India DC Conference, July 1942 ]

Regards,
Ambeth,
Dharmapuri,
Tamil Nadu.

Jai bheem..!
Long Live Ambedkarism....!!

Thanthai N. Sivaraj and Dr. Ambedkar

Thanthai Sivaraj inaugurated the 'People Stadium' (Nehru Stadium).

Read More about:

* 'Jai Bheem' (English Weekly) and Thanthai N. Sivaraj.
* Annai Meenambal Sivaraj -- National Level Woman Leader From The Scheduled Classes of India.