இன்னொரு ஆலமரத்தின் கதை

இது பத்ரியின் பின்னூட்டத்தில் நான் குறிப்பிட்டிருந்த ஆங்கிலக் கட்டுரை.

Tale of Two Banyan Trees

Maalan

Many morning walkers strolling past the grand old banyan tree in the wooded Theosophical Society at Adyar may not know a great political movement that changed the course of history of India was born under its shade. Alan Octavian Hume, a former British Civil Servant but remembered in history as the founder of Indian National Congress was a staunch Theosophist. In 1885, during a discussion with his friends from Mylapore, under the banyan tree, he first mooted the idea of Congress.

Thirty years later the same banyan tree and history stood witness to the birth pangs of another political movement, Home Rule. Dr. Annie Besant , described bitterly by her rivals as a ’woman of deep penetration, quick conception and easy delivery’ held consultations with her colleagues, under the great banyan tree, for a movement that would like ’India to be a sovereign nation within her own boundaries owing only allegiance to the imperial crown’

New generation Congressmen may not remember. But history acknowledges that it was Dr.Besant, who played a pivotal role in reunifying the Moderate and the Extremist factions of the then Congress, which had split at the Surat sessions. Madras was the venue for this reconciliation.

Dr.Besant’s political maneuvers sowed seeds for another banyan tree- the Justice Party- at the other side of the bank. Prof.Eugene.F. Irsschick of University of California at Berkeley, (who was born and had his early education in Tamilnadu) observes, ‘the catalyst which triggered the formation of the Justice Party was the foundation by Annie Besant of the home rule movement’.

Justice Party, the mother of all later day Dravidian movements had its genesis in Madras Dravidian Association, founded by Dr.C.Natesa Mudaliar of Triplicane. A significant task of the Dravidian Association was the running of the hostel for non-Brahmin students at Akbar Sahib Street in Triplicane. This was a long felt need at that time, as students who moved from districts to pursue higher studies at the city colleges were not served food at Brahmin hotels. Hundreds of lilies bloomed from this Thiruvallikeni hostel, the most prominent among them were Justice Subramania Nadar who rose to the position of a judge at Madras High Court and Dr.T.M. Narayanaswami Pillai who later became the Vice-Chancellor of Annamalai University.

Congress and Dravidian movements have molded the mindset of millions of Tamils over many decades. If Tamils are what they are today, they owe it primarily to these political movements. But what is not said often is the role played by the Dravidian movements in steering the destiny of the nation. Dravidian political leaders, described merrily as regional chieftains by the national news papers, foresaw quite early, the course of national politics. They predicted the end of confrontational politics and the beginning of the era of multi -party coalitions as early as in 1980, when DMK and Congress, the arch rivals forged an alliance to face the Parliament elections. In this backdrop, the launch of National Front, a political formation that led the country under Mr.V.P.Singh, at Chennai on September 18, 1988 is no surprise.

Chennai has been regarded as a cultural capital by many for many years. But it has been a political hub as well and history stands testimony to this claim.