THE CONSTITUTIONAL CRISIS

In the heat and dust of the present political crisis that Tamil Nadu sees itself in, not many may remember that the country’s first-ever such situation was also played out here.

This was then Madras Province, with much of Andhra and parts of Kerala in it, and of course, the stature of those involved in the crisis then cannot be compared with those jockeying for office now.

It was 1952. India had adopted its Constitution two years earlier, and on that basis, elections were held to the Lok Sabha and the State Legislatures. As the results trickled in, it became clear that Madras was the one State where the Congress had done badly — it won only 152 out of 375 seats. The Chief Minister, Kumaraswamy Raja and five of his Cabinet had been defeated. The principal cause for this loss was poor showing in the Telugu and Malayalam-speaking areas. With the Congress itself split between the Andhras and the Tamils (and they had as many rival groups as there are in the party today), there was no clear consensus as to what could be done.

In Madras, the new Governor, Sri Prakasa, and a few others felt that only a leader of Rajaji’s stature could form the Government and give it stability. He had just returned from his tenures as Governor -General and later Union Home Minister, was most reluctant, but when persuaded, made it clear that he would not fight an election to enter the Legislature. Madras at that time was bicameral and a way out was found — Rajaji would be nominated to the Upper House for his contributions to literature. Not everybody was impressed.

Nehru, a strong believer in elected representatives, was furious. Those who had framed the Constitution were not happy either — they never envisaged a situation when a nominated member would become an executive head. A cartoon in?Shankar’s Weekly?said it all — it depicted a Gitopadesam scene with the Governor as Arjuna and Rajaji, as Krishna, saying “O Prakasa, the Constitution and the Common Man are nothing but illusions.” The new Chief Minister, as quoted by Rajmohan Gandhi in his biography of Rajaji, was quite aware of the backlash of popular opinion and wrote in his journal that accepting the office was ‘a downfall’.

Once in office, Rajaji proved a tough administrator. But his drive eventually led to his resignation. In 1952, Potti Sriramulu fasted unto death, demanding a separate Andhra State, dying in a house just off where Vidya Mandir school now is. The Centre gave in, and with that, the number of seats in the Madras Legislature reduced, giving the Congress a clear majority. In 1953, Rajaji introduced the Kula Kalvi Thittam, a scheme wherein traditional skills were to be taught in the villages. This was interpreted by the Dravida Kazhagam and the Kamaraj faction in the Congress as the perpetuation of caste. The uproar led to Rajaji’s resignation and Kamaraj being sworn in as Chief Minister. We know the rest.

Courtesy: THE HINDU