T. M. Nair
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Taravath Madhavan Nair (15 January 1868 – 17 July 1919) was an Indian politician and political activist of the Dravidian Movement from the
Madras Presidency The Madras Presidency or Madras Province, officially called the Presidency of Fort St. George until 1937, was an administrative subdivision (province) of British India and later the Dominion of India. At its greatest extent, the presidency i ...
. He founded the Justice Party along with Theagaraya Chetty and C. Natesa Mudaliar.


Early life

Nair was born in
Tirur Tirur is a major municipal town in Tirur Taluk, Malappuram district, in the Indian state of Kerala, spread over an area of . It is one of the major business centers in Malappuram district and is situated west of Malappuram and south of Kozh ...
,
Malabar District Malabar District, also known as British Malabar or simply Malabar was an administrative district on the southwestern Malabar Coast of Bombay Presidency (1792–1800), Madras Presidency (1800–1950) and finally, Madras State (1950–1956) in ...
(in present day Ponnani taluk,
Malappuram district Malappuram (), is one of the List of districts of Kerala, 14 districts in the States and union territories of India, Indian state of Kerala, with a coastline of . The most populous district of Kerala, Malappuram is home to around 13% of the tot ...
,
Kerala Kerala ( , ) is a States and union territories of India, state on the Malabar Coast of India. It was formed on 1 November 1956, following the passage of the States Reorganisation Act, by combining Malayalam-speaking regions of the erstwhile ...
, India) on 15 January 1868. He belongs to an affluent Kiriyathil-Charna Nair subcaste of North Kerala. His father Chingicham Veetil Sankaran Nair was a District Munsiff in the Judicial service at Tirur. Madhavan Nair's elder brother Sankaran Nair studied law and served as Deputy Collector while his sister Taravath Ammalu Amma was a Sanskrit and Malayalam scholar who wrote a book in Malayalam on the lives of the 63 Nayanmars. Nair was educated at the Government High School, Palghat. He was known for his academic proficiency and he passed his matriculation exam one year in advance. He graduated from the Presidency College, Madras and joined Madras Medical College. However, he did not complete his course in medicine moving to continues his studies at the
University of Edinburgh The University of Edinburgh (, ; abbreviated as ''Edin.'' in Post-nominal letters, post-nominals) is a Public university, public research university based in Edinburgh, Scotland. Founded by the City of Edinburgh Council, town council under th ...
. He graduated from the University with an in MBChB, and obtained his MD in 1896, with Sanskrit as the compulsory classical subject. He researched in ENT diseases at Paris and returned to India in 1897. During his stay in the United Kingdom, he was a member of the Edinburgh Student's Representative Council, Secretary and later, President of the Edinburgh Indian Association, member of the Edinburgh University Liberal Association and University Union and one of the editors of Edinburgh University Liberal's magazine "The Student". Prior to his return to India, Nair spent some time in London where he served as Secretary and later Vice-President of London Indian Society which was led by
Dadabhai Naoroji Dadabhai Naoroji (4 September 1825 – 30 June 1917), also known as the ''"Grand Old Man of India"'' and "Unofficial Ambassador of India", was an Indian independence activist, political leader, merchant, scholar and writer. He was one of the f ...
. He also served as a member of the
British Medical Association The British Medical Association (BMA) is a registered trade union and professional body for physician, doctors in the United Kingdom. It does not regulate or certify doctors, a responsibility which lies with the General Medical Council. The BMA ...
,
the Royal Asiatic Society The Royal Asiatic Society of Great Britain and Ireland, commonly known as the Royal Asiatic Society, was established, according to its royal charter of 11 August 1824, to further "the investigation of subjects connected with and for the encourag ...
, the National Liberal Club and
the Royal Society The Royal Society, formally The Royal Society of London for Improving Natural Knowledge, is a learned society and the United Kingdom's national academy of sciences. The society fulfils a number of roles: promoting science and its benefits, r ...
.


Public offices

Nair represented
Triplicane Thiruvallikeni known as Triplicane, is one of the oldest neighbourhoods of Chennai, India. It is situated on the Bay of Bengal coast and about from Fort St George. The average elevation of the neighbourhood is 14 metres above Mean sea leve ...
in the Madras Corporation from 1904 to 1916. During his term he frequently attacked the Corporation and its President Molony over the quality of water supplied. In 1910 he agitated for the revival of the Palghat Municipal Council. In 1908 Nair was appointed member of the Labor Commission by the Government of India. He submitted a report condemning the situation of workers in factories and recommended the reduction of hours of work. He personally submitted his condemnation and recommendations before the Secretary of State for India at London. In 1912 Nair was elected to the
Madras Legislative Council Tamil Nadu Legislative Council was the upper house of the former bicameral legislature of the Indian state of Tamil Nadu. It began its existence as Madras Legislative Council, the first provincial legislature for Madras Presidency. It was initia ...
. When the
First World War World War I or the First World War (28 July 1914 – 11 November 1918), also known as the Great War, was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War I, Allies (or Entente) and the Central Powers. Fighting to ...
broke out Nair served as one of the surgeons on the hospital ship SS Madras, and was commissioned as a lieutenant. At the end of the war he was awarded the Kaiser-i-Hind medal and posthumously the War Service medal.


In the Indian National Congress

Nair was associated with the
Indian National Congress The Indian National Congress (INC), colloquially the Congress Party, or simply the Congress, is a political parties in India, political party in India with deep roots in most regions of India. Founded on 28 December 1885, it was the first mo ...
right from the time of his return to India in 1897. In the Congress sessions in 1898 and 1899, he strongly condemned the present status of Indian officers in the Medical services and campaigned for equal treatment to be meted out to them. He presided over the District Congress at Chittoor,
North Arcot North Arcot was a former district in Madras Presidency, acquired by the annexation of the Arcot State in 1855 when its Nawab died without issue. It had Chittoor as its headquarters (currently in Andhra pradesh). On 1 April 1911, the Chittoor d ...
in 1907.


Formation of the South Indian Liberal Federation

When Nair lost the elections to the Imperial Legislature of India held in 1916 he blamed caste-based prejudices in the Indian National Congress for his loss. Nair felt that the
Brahmins Brahmin (; ) is a ''Varna (Hinduism), varna'' (theoretical social classes) within Hindu society. The other three varnas are the ''Kshatriya'' (rulers and warriors), ''Vaishya'' (traders, merchants, and farmers), and ''Shudra'' (labourers). Th ...
were dominating the Indian National Congress. He protested the
Home Rule Movement Home rule is the government of a colony, dependent country, or region by its own citizens. It is thus the power of a part (administrative division) of a state or an external dependent country to exercise such of the state's powers of governanc ...
launched by
Annie Besant Annie Besant (; Wood; 1 October 1847 – 20 September 1933) was an English socialist, Theosophy (Blavatskian), theosophist, freemason, women's rights and Home Rule activist, educationist and campaigner for Indian nationalism. She was an arden ...
. In 1917 Nair left the Indian National Congress. At a meeting in August 1917 he said: In October 1917, Nair launched the South Indian Liberal Federation, also known as the Justice Party in collaboration with Sir Pitti Theagaroya Chetty. Encyclopedia of Political Parties, p. 16


Editorship of the ''Justice''

In November 1916 a meeting was held at Madras in which Sir P. Theagaroya Chetty and Nair participated. The meeting brought out a resolution mandating the establishment of a newspaper for voicing the aspirations of non-Brahmins. From 26 February 1917 onwards, the ''Justice'' began to be published. Nair was the chief editor until his death in 1919. In his newspaper he attacked his opponents in the Indian National Movement and supporters of the Home Rule Movement. Encyclopedia of Political Parties, p. 19 Once when the Indian National Congress carried out agitations in Ernad Tirur and Valluvanad, he prophesied that "the Congress was smoking in a gunpowder magazine". His words proved to be true when the Moplah Rebellion broke out in the region in the year 1921.


Mission to England and death

In 1918–19, despite warnings from fellow doctors not to travel abroad as his health was deteriorating, he led a mission to England to speak in support of communal representations before a Joint Parliamentary Committee. Encyclopedia of Political Parties, p. 7 He remains one of the few Indians to have addressed a meeting of the members of the UK Parliament. However he was prohibited from speaking to the public on the orders of Edwin Samuel Montagu, the
Secretary of State for India His (or Her) Majesty's Principal Secretary of State for India, known for short as the India secretary or the Indian secretary, was the British Cabinet minister and the political head of the India Office responsible for the governance of ...
. Nair died on 17 July 1919 at the age of 51 due to heart seizure following diabetic
gangrene Gangrene is a type of tissue death caused by a lack of blood supply. Symptoms may include a change in skin color to red or black, numbness, swelling, pain, skin breakdown, and coolness. The feet and hands are most commonly affected. If the ga ...
and
Bright's disease Bright's disease is a historical classification of kidney diseases that are described in modern medicine as acute or chronic nephritis. It was characterized by swelling and the presence of albumin in the urine. It was frequently accompanied ...
. His body was cremated at Golders Green, cemetery in London and is still a pilgrim's centre for many who admire him. Encyclopedia of Political Parties, p. 8


Inclination

Nair always wore Western clothes and followed Western manners and customs. As a result, he was frequently criticised as an
anglophile An Anglophile is a person who admires or loves England, its people, its culture, its language, and/or its various accents. In some cases, Anglophilia refers to an individual's appreciation of English history and traditional English cultural ico ...
. Encyclopedia of Political Parties, p. 10 However, at the same time, he displayed his love for his mother tongue
Malayalam Malayalam (; , ) is a Dravidian languages, Dravidian language spoken in the Indian state of Kerala and the union territories of Lakshadweep and Puducherry (union territory), Puducherry (Mahé district) by the Malayali people. It is one of ...
by speaking and writing in chaste Malayalam. Encyclopedia of Political Parties, p. 11


Commemoration

In 2008, the
Government of India The Government of India (ISO 15919, ISO: Bhārata Sarakāra, legally the Union Government or Union of India or the Central Government) is the national authority of the Republic of India, located in South Asia, consisting of States and union t ...
released a postage stamp in his honour. Dr. Nair Road, an arterial road running through T. Nagar,
Chennai Chennai, also known as Madras (List of renamed places in India#Tamil Nadu, its official name until 1996), is the capital city, capital and List of cities in Tamil Nadu by population, largest city of Tamil Nadu, the southernmost states and ...
connecting Pondy bazar and GN Chetty Road – is named after him, since he lived and practised medicine from there.


References


Further reading

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Nair, T. M. 1868 births 1919 deaths People from British India Alumni of the University of Edinburgh Malayali politicians Recipients of the Kaisar-i-Hind Medal Justice Party (India) politicians Politicians from Palakkad Indian National Congress politicians from Kerala 19th-century Indian politicians 20th-century Indian politicians People from the Madras Presidency Egmore clique