Another interesting feature of this election was this. Very much ahead of the 1937 elections to the Madras Legislative Assembly, THEVAR had enlisted youths from the Mukkulathor communities to work in a determined and tireless manner for the victory of the Congress Party. His vigorous, hectic and irrepressible political activities had created an atmosphere of untold tension and unknown worries for the Justice Party government which was in power at that time in Madras Presidency. The small and petty anti-national men in the Justice Party Government took action to forbid him from travelling outside of the Ramnad district and to make speeches in public. Thevar used to attack this uncalled for action of the British Government in those days as "Vaipootu-Sattam" (Locking the Mouth Law!). What is fascinating to note is that Thevar continued to use this biting term of "Vaipootu-Sattam" against the repressive and dictatorial anti-people policies of Nehru government in New Delhi after our Independence and the Rajaji and Kamaraj Congress governments in Madras State from 1952 till his death in 1963.What is most significant about the general elections of 1937 in Madras Presidency is the fact that THEVAR defeated the Sethupathy Raja of Ramanathapuram in a very convincing manner. The candidature of Thevar for the Ramanathapuram constituency was recommended by Rajaji and Satyamurthy to Sardar Patel in the High Command of the Congress Party. Sardar Patel approved the name of Thevar and he fully vindicated the great faith reposed in him by the Congress High Command by winning a spectacular landslide victory against the Sethupathy Raja of Ramanathapuram in February 1937. Thevar secured 11, 942 votes against 6, 057 votes secured by the Sethupathy Raja. Satyamurthy, the Congress leader paid a rich tribute to the extraordinary leadership qualities of head and heart displayed by Thevar during this election of 1937.
Rajaji himself acknowledged this fact 23 years later when he paid his rich personal tribute to THEVAR on 22-5-1960 at a public function at Madurai. Rajaji went to Madurai along with Kalki editor Sri T. Sadasivam on that day to release a book in Tamil titled: 'Thevar Idayanaadam' edited by Kannagi R. Chandramohan. This book contains all the important political speeches of Thevar. Rajaji made it very clear that without the unstinted support and involvement of Thevar, he could never have formed the government in 1937. Only from this fully documented speech of Rajaji we come to understand that it was Thevar who used to drive the bullock cart carrying Rajaji to the remote and totally inaccessible villages of Ramanathapuram District during the hectic election campaigns for the Congress Party in 1937. The following picture shows Rajaji releasing this book.
THEVAR had entertained high hopes that following the election when the Congress formed the government in the Madras Presidency, the new Congress ministry would revoke the Criminal Tribes Act. But the new Premier, C. Rajagopalachari, did not fulfill those hopes. When THEVAR found to his dismay that Rajaji was dilly-dallying in this matter, he took energetic action to organise a two-mile long public procession in Madurai City in 1937 to lodge a strong protest against the Rajaji Government of Madras for their failure to fulfil the hopes and aspirations of the Marava community in the southern districts of Madras Presidency. Bowing to the wishes of Thevar, Rajaji Government initiated the process of relaxation of certain provisions of the CT Act and finally the CT Act was abolished only in May 1948.Thus THEVAR came to be hailed as the unmatched hero of the total liberation of the Marava community from the clutches of colonial British Government sponsored system of legal thraldom and slavery.
During the late 1930s, THEVAR got increasingly involved in labour activities. He formed and led the Pasumalai Mahalaskshmi Mill Workers' Union, the Meenakshi Mill Workers' Union and the Madura Knitting Company Labour Union. During a prolonged strike of the Pasumalai Mahalaskshmi Mill Workers' Union, demanding the reinstatement of a section of fired trade unionists, Thevar was jailed for seven months from October 15, 1938. In the end, the management of the Mahalakshmi Mills accepted the demands of the Union. In 1945, he became the founding president of the TVS Thozhaili Sangam.
THEVAR attended the 52nd annual session of the Indian National Congress, held in Tripuri in March 1939. At this meeting Subhas Chandra Bose was elected as Congress President. He defeated Pattabhi Sitaramayya who had the active support of Mahatma Gandhi. Thevar strongly supported Bose in this intra-Congress dispute. Thevar mobilized all southern India votes in favour of Subhas Chandra Bose.
However, on account of the undemocratic maneuvers of the dictatorial Gandhi-led clique in the Congress Working Committee, Bose was forced to resign from the Office of the Congress President. He then launched the Forward Bloc on June 22, 1939. Bose gave a clarion call for the unification of all the leftwing elements into a united organisation within the Congress Party. THEVAR, who was disillusioned by the Congress Government of Rajaji in Madras which had not revoked the CT Act, joined the Forward Bloc. The veteran Congress leader Sri S. Srinivasa Iyengar also resigned from the Congress at that time and joined the Forward Block. When Subhas Chandra Bose visited Madurai on September 6, 1939 Thevar organized a massive public meeting in honour of Bose. This meeting was held under the Presidentship of Karumuthu Thyagaraja Chettiar, the owner of Meenakshi Mills at Madurai. More than 75,000 people attended this meeting. Both Thevar and Bose addressed this massive public meeting. I am presenting below the photograph of Thevar sitting on the right of Netaji Subhash Chandra Bose.
Even before the Quit India Resolution of August 1942, the colonial British Government had imposed a ban on the Forward Bloc Party of Subhas Chandra Bose. Soon thereafter THEVAR was arrested and charged with treason and put in prison for three years. He was released from prison only on September 5, 1945. Thevar was elected unopposed to the Madras Legislative Assembly in 1946. He addressed a massive public meeting at Madurai on 23-1-1949 on the occasion of Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose Jayanthi.Thevar was the first to declare that Netaji Bose was still alive and that the Congress Party under Nehru was doing a false propaganda regarding his death in 1945.
In 1952 THEVAR was elected unopposed to both the Madras Legislative Assembly and the Lok Sabha. Thevar chose to remain in the Madras Legislative Assembly. He sent M.D Ramaswamy to the Lok Sabha.
When Venkatakrishna Reddiar started a new reformist Congress Party in 1957 called Indian National Democratic Congress with the blessings of Rajaji, THEVAR also supported it. In the 1957 General Elections, Thevar was elected to the Lok Sabha from Srivilliputhur and to the Madras Legislative Assembly from Mudukulathur. He polled 206,999 votes in Srivilliputhur Parliamentary Constituency and 55,333 votes in Mudukulathur Assembly Constituency.
A by-election was held in the Mudukulathur assembly constituency on July 1, 1957, as THEVAR had resigned from his assembly seat. The election was won by D.V. Sasivarna Thevar of the Forward Bloc. Immediately clashes between Maravars, who largely supported the Forward Bloc, and pro-Congress Dalits began in a few villages soon after the election result was acknowledged. Gradually the violence spread to more and more villages, and by August 1957 the riots had spread throughout the entire district. Several persons were killed and thousands of houses were torched.
Emmanuel, the leader of the Congress Dalits was killed Soon thearafter the following day. On September 28, a few days after the clashes had ceased, THEVAR was arrested by the police under the Preventive Detention Act. Upon direct instructions of the then Chief Minister, Kamaraj, the Police foisted a false case of murder against THEVAR. He was accused of having masterminded the murder of Emmanuel. His trial was held in Pudukottai. Thevar was honourably acquitted by Hon'ble Justice Ananthanarayanan I.C.S. in January 1959. The underground efforts of the Congress Party to purchase him to get Thevar convicted by hook or by crook failed. Years later Hon'ble Justice Ananthanarayanan I.C.S. told me in 1975: "I was governed by the law of my conscience and not the blandishments of the Congress party in power. I acquitted Thevar because he was totally innocent."
After release from prison, THEVAR began mobilising for the Madurai municipal elections, held in March 1959. An alliance of the Forward Bloc, Communist Party of India, Indian National Democratic Congress and Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam was formed. The alliance won the elections, and for the first time Congress lost its hold over the city administration.
Following the Madurai Election, THEVAR's rabidly deteriorated and he largely withdrew from public life. However he was again re-elected to the Lok Sabha in 1962. He could not even take the oath of office in New Delhi because of his serious illness. Thevar passed away at Madurai on October 30, 1963. THEVAR never lost any democratic election in his life time. He was truly a genuine leader of the masses.
The pillars of THEVAR's political thought were spiritualism, nationalism, anti-communism, anti-imperialism and non-Congressism (wanting to create a non-Congress political alternative). The best tribute I can pay to Pasumpon Muthuramail nga Thevar is in the following words of Rajaji which he spoke for all time on the occasion of the release of Thevar's book containing his political speeches at Madurai on 22-5-1960.
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