Minjur Bhakthavatsalam (9 October 1897 – 13 February 1987) was an Indian independence activist and politician who served as the chief minister of Madras State from 2 October 1963 to 6 March 1967. He was the last

Congress A congress is a formal meeting of the representatives of different countries, constituent states, organizations, trade unions, political parties, or other groups. The term originated in Late Middle English to denote an encounter (meeting of a ...

chief minister of

Tamil Nadu Tamil Nadu (; , TN) is a States and union territories of India, state in southern India. It is the List of states and union territories of India by area, tenth largest Indian state by area and the List of states and union territories of India ...

and the last to have taken part in the

Indian independence movement The Indian independence movement was a series of historic events with the ultimate aim of ending British Raj, British rule in India. It lasted from 1857 to 1947. The first nationalistic revolutionary movement for Indian independence emerged ...

. Bhaktavatsalam was born on 9 October 1897 in the

Madras Presidency The Madras Presidency, or the Presidency of Fort St. George, also known as Madras Province, was an administrative subdivision (presidency) of British India. At its greatest extent, the presidency included most of southern India, including the ...

. He studied law and practised as an advocate in the Madras High Court. He involved himself in politics and the freedom movement right from an early age and was imprisoned during the

Salt Satyagraha The Salt March, also known as the Salt Satyagraha, Dandi March and the Dandi Satyagraha, was an act of nonviolent civil disobedience in colonial India led by Mahatma Gandhi. The twenty-four day march lasted from 12 March to 6 April 1930 as a di ...

and the

Quit India Movement The Quit India Movement, also known as the August Kranti Movement, was a movement launched at the Bombay session of the All India Congress Committee by Mahatma Gandhi on 8th August 1942, during World War II, demanding an end to British rule in ...

. He was elected to the Madras Legislative Assembly in 1937 and served as Parliamentary Secretary in the Rajaji government and as a minister in the O. P. Ramaswamy Reddiyar government. He led the Indian National Congress during the 1950s and served as the Chief Minister of Madras Presidency from 1963 to 1967. Following the defeat of the Indian National Congress in the 1967 elections, Bhaktavatsalam partially retired from politics. He died on 13 February 1987 at the age of 89.

Early life

Bhaktavatsalam was born to C. N. Kanakasabhapathi Mudaliar and his wife Mallika in a

Saiva Vellalar ''Saiva'' is a genus of Asian planthoppers, family Fulgoridae. They are colourful insects, marked boldly in red, blue, white and black, with a prominent slender stalk like structure arising on the head that points upwards or forward. The known ...

family of Nazarethpet or Nazareth village,

. His father died when he was five and Bhaktavatsalam was brought up by his uncles C. N. Muthuranga Mudaliar and C. N. Evalappa Mudaliar. He completed his schooling in

Madras Chennai (, ), formerly known as Madras ( the official name until 1996), is the capital city of Tamil Nadu, the southernmost Indian state. The largest city of the state in area and population, Chennai is located on the Coromandel Coast of th ...

and enrolled at Madras Law College. On graduation in 1923, Bhaktavatsalam commenced practice as a lawyer of the

Madras High Court The Madras High Court is a High Court in India. It has appellate jurisdiction over the state of Tamil Nadu and the union territory of Puducherry. It is located in Chennai, and is the third oldest high court of India after the Calcutta High C ...

Indian Independence Movement

Bhaktavatsalam joined the

Indian Independence Movement The Indian independence movement was a series of historic events with the ultimate aim of ending British Raj, British rule in India. It lasted from 1857 to 1947. The first nationalistic revolutionary movement for Indian independence emerged ...

even during graduation. He joined the

Indian National Congress The Indian National Congress (INC), colloquially the Congress Party but often simply the Congress, is a political party in India with widespread roots. Founded in 1885, it was the first modern nationalist movement to emerge in the British Em ...

and became a member of the Madras Provincial Congress Committee in 1922. In 1926, he became a member of the Congress Working Committee. Bhaktavatsalam started the daily newspaper ''India'' which he managed till 1933. He was the Secretary of the Tamil Nadu Congress Civic Board during the district board and municipal elections of 1935 and 1926. He also served as the Secretary of the Madras Mahajana Sabha for sometime. Bhaktavatsalam was injured during the Salt Satyagraha at Vedaranyam. He was arrested in 1932 for conducting India's independence day celebrations and spent six months in prison. In the 1936 municipal body elections, Bhaktavatsalam was elected to the Madras City Corporation and served as Deputy Mayor.

Quit India Movement

At the age of 40, Bhaktavatsalam entered the Madras Assembly successfully winning the Thiruvallur seat in 1937 election. Bhaktavatsalam served as the Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Local Self-Government in the

Rajaji Chakravarti Rajagopalachari (10 December 1878 – 25 December 1972), popularly known as Rajaji or C.R., also known as Mootharignar Rajaji (Rajaji'', the Scholar Emeritus''), was an Indian statesman, writer, lawyer, and Indian Independence M ...

government. Bhaktavatsalam resigned along with the other office-holders of the Indian National Congress on declaration of war by the

United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Europe, off the north-western coast of the continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotland, Wales and North ...

. Bhaktavatsalam participated in the

agitations and was jailed by the British. On his release in 1944, he elected to the Constituent Assembly of India.

Indian independence and the Kamaraj era

Bhaktavatsalam stood in the Madras Assembly elections held in 1946 and was re-elected. He served as the Minister of Public Works and Information in the

O. P. Ramaswamy Reddiyar Omandur Ramasamy Reddiyar (1 February 1895 – 25 August 1970) was an Indian freedom-fighter and politician of the Indian National Congress. He served as the Premier of Madras Presidency from 23 March 1947 to 6 April 1949. Early life Oma ...

cabinet. In the 1952 Assembly elections, the first in independent India, Bhaktavatsalam lost. In 1957, he won the Sriperumbudur seat and entered the Assembly. He was appointed the Home Minister in the Kamaraj' cabinet and leader of the

Tamil Nadu Legislative Assembly The Tamil Nadu Legislative Assembly is the unicameral legislature of the Indian state of Tamil Nadu. It has a strength of 234 members of whom are democratically elected using the First-past-the-post voting, First-past-the-post system. The pres ...

House.

Chief Minister of Madras state

In 1962, the Indian National Congress won the assembly elections and formed the government in the state for the fifth time in 25 years. Winning again the Sriperumbudur seat, Bhaktavatsalam entered the Assembly On Gandhi Jayanti day, 2 October 1963, Bhaktavatsalam took office as the Chief Minister of Madras, after Kamaraj resigned to spend more time as an office bearer of the Congress. Bhaktavatsalam is, till date, the last Chief Minister of Madras from the Indian National Congress.

Construction of the Vivekananda Rock Memorial

In August 1963,

M. S. Golwalkar Madhav Sadashivrao Golwalkar (19 February 1906 – 5 June 1973), popularly known as Guruji was the second ''Sarsanghchalak'' ("Chief") of the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS). Golwalkar is considered one of the most influential and prominent fi ...

, the '' Sarsangchalak'' of the

Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh The Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh ( ; , , ) is an Indian right-wing, Hindu nationalist, paramilitary volunteer organisation. The RSS is the progenitor and leader of a large body of organisations called the Sangh Parivar (Hindi for "Sangh family" ...

established a

Swami Vivekananda Swami Vivekananda (; ; 12 January 1863 – 4 July 1902), born Narendranath Datta (), was an Indian Hindu monk, philosopher, author, religious teacher, and the chief disciple of the Indian mystic Ramakrishna. He was a key figure in the intro ...

Centenary Committee and a

Vivekananda Rock Memorial Vivekananda Rock Memorial is a monument and popular tourist attraction in Kanyakumari, India's southernmost tip. The memorial stands on one of the two rocks located about 500 meters off mainland of Vavathurai. It was built in 1970 in honour of ...

Committee and appointed

Eknath Ranade Eknath Ramakrishna Ranade (19 November 1914 – 22 August 1982) was a social activist and leader that led the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh. Having joined the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) while still in school, he became an organiser and le ...

as its secretary. The main function of the committee was to construct a rock memorial at Kanyakumari in order to honour Swami Vivekananda on his birth centenary. The Chief Minister Bhaktavatsam and the Union Minister for Cultural Affairs, Humayun Kabir vehemently opposed the move. However, Bhaktavatsalam yielded when Ranade presented him a letter with signatures of 323 members of Parliament in support of a memorial.

Anti Hindi imposition agitations

Bhaktavatsalam's tenure as Chief Minister witnessed severe anti-Hindi agitations in Madras state. Bhaktavatsalam supported the Union Government's decision to introduce

Hindi Hindi (Devanāgarī: or , ), or more precisely Modern Standard Hindi (Devanagari: ), is an Indo-Aryan language spoken chiefly in the Hindi Belt region encompassing parts of northern, central, eastern, and western India. Hindi has been de ...

as compulsory language and rejected the demands to make Tamil the medium of instruction in colleges saying that it was "not a practical proposition, not in the interests of national integration, not in the interests of higher education, and not in the interests of the students themselves". On 7 March 1964, at a session of the Madras Legislative Assembly, Bhaktavatsalam recommended the introduction of a

three-language formula The three-language formula is a language learning policy first formulated in 1968 by the Ministry of Education of the Government of India in consultation with the states. History The first recommendation for a three-language policy was made by the ...

comprising

English English usually refers to: * English language * English people English may also refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * ''English'', an adjective for something of, from, or related to England ** English national ide ...

, Hindi and Tamil. As 26 January 1965, the day when the 15-year-long transition period recommended by the Indian Parliament came to an end, neared, the agitations intensified leading to police action and casualties. Six of the agitators (Chinnasami, Sivalingam, Aranganathan, Veerappan, Mutthu, and Sarangapani) immolated themselves while three others (Dandapani, Mutthu, and Shanmugam) consumed poison. One of the agitators, eighteen-year-old Rajendran was killed on 27 January 1965 as a result of police firing.

Criticism of Bhaktavatsalam's regime

On 13 February 1965, Bhaktavatsalam claimed that the opposition

Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam The Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (; DMK) is a political party based in the state of Tamil Nadu where it is currently the ruling party having a comfortable majority without coalition support and the union territory of Puducherry where it is curre ...

and the Left parties were responsible for the large scale destruction of public property and violence during the anti-Hindi agitations of 1965. In January 2015, E V K S Elangovan, the chief of the Tamil Nadu Congress Committee (TNCC), (whilst reacting to the news of Bhaktavatsalam's grand daughter

Jayanthi Natarajan Jayanthi Natarajan (born 7 June 1954) is an Indian lawyer and politician. She was a member of the Indian National Congress and has been thrice elected Member of Parliament representing the state of Tamil Nadu in the Rajya Sabha. From July 2011 ...

resigning from the congress), blamed Bhaktavatsalam for killing of many anti-Hindi protestors. Further, he also blamed Bhaktavatsalam for ending the distribution of subsidised rice in the PDS (started by

K. Kamaraj Kumaraswami Kamaraj (15 July 1903 – 2 October 1975, hinduonnet.com. 15–28 September 2001), popularly known as Kamarajar was an Indian independence activist and politician who served as the Chief Minister of Madras State (Tamil Nadu) ...

), ending the golden rule of Kamraj in Tamil Nadu.

Later life and death

Bhaktavatsalam died at the age of 89. His tomb is situated next to Kamaraj tomb in Guindy.

Family

Bhaktavatsalam was related by marriage to some noted political families of

. The

politician and Union Minister

O. V. Alagesan Ozhalur Viswanatha Mudaliar Alagesan ( ta, ஒழலூர் விஸ்வநாத முதலியார் அழககேசன்) (6 September 1911 – 3 January 1992) was an Indian politician and freedom fighter from the Indian stat ...

and former Chief Minister of Madras Presidency,

P. T. Rajan Sir Ponnambala Thiaga Rajan (22 April 1892 – 25 September 1974) was the Chief Minister of Madras Presidency from 4 April 1936, to 24 August 1936 (143 Days). He was also the last President of the Justice Party. P. T. Rajan was born in a Thondai ...

were brothers-in-law of Bhaktavatsalam. Bhaktavatsalam's daughter

Sarojini Varadappan Sarojini Varadappan (21 September 1921 − 17 October 2013) was an Indian social worker from the state of Tamil Nadu. She was the daughter of former Chief Minister of Madras, M. Bhaktavatsalam. Early life Sarojini was born in Madras on 21 S ...

is a

social activist Activism (or Advocacy) consists of efforts to promote, impede, direct or intervene in social, political, economic or environmental reform with the desire to make changes in society toward a perceived greater good. Forms of activism range fro ...

while his granddaughter

was a politician of the Indian National Congress,

Rajya Sabha The Rajya Sabha, constitutionally the Council of States, is the upper house of the bicameral Parliament of India. , it has a maximum membership of 245, of which 233 are elected by the legislatures of the states and union territories using si ...

member and former Union minister.

Books authored

* *

Images

File:Bakthavatchalam memorial, Chennai.JPG, Bhaktavatsalam memorial,

Gandhi Mandapam (Chennai) Gandhi Mandapam is a series of memorial structures built on Sardar Patel Salai, in Adyar, Chennai. The first structure to be built on the premises was a memorial to Mahatma Gandhi, opened by then Chief Minister of Madras, C. Rajagopalachari on ...

File:Bakthavatchalam memorial in Chennai.JPG, Inside Bhaktavatsalam memorial File:Bakthavatchalam statue 1.JPG, A bust of Bhaktavatsalam File:Bakthavatchalam memorial opening.JPG, An inscription for Bhaktavatsalam

Notes

References

* *

External links

Stamps in memory of Bakthavatsalam, Bismilah Khan
{{DEFAULTSORT:Bhaktavatsalam, M. 1897 births 1987 deaths Indian National Congress politicians from Tamil Nadu Tamil Nadu ministers Members of the Constituent Assembly of India Indian independence activists from Tamil Nadu People from Tiruvallur district Chief ministers from Indian National Congress Madras MLAs 1952–1957