Si. Balasubramania Athithan (also known as Si. Ba. Adithanar) 27 September 1905 – 24 May 1981), popularly called as "Adithanar", was an Indian lawyer, politician, minister and founder of the
Tamil
Tamil may refer to:
* Tamils, an ethnic group native to India and some other parts of Asia
**Sri Lankan Tamils, Tamil people native to Sri Lanka also called ilankai tamils
**Tamil Malaysians, Tamil people native to Malaysia
* Tamil language, nativ ...
daily newspaper ''
Dina Thanthi
''Dina Thanthi'' ( en, Daily Mail; known as Daily Thanthi in English) is a Tamil language daily newspaper. It was founded by S. P. Adithanar in Madurai in 1942. ''Dina Thanthi'' is India's largest daily printed in the Tamil language and the nin ...
''. He was the founder of the We Tamils ( ta, நாம் தமிழர்) party. He served as a member of 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 init ...
for two terms and as a member 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 system. The presiding officer of the Assembl ...
for four terms. He was the
Speaker of the Assembly during 1967–68 and Tamil Nadu's minister for Cooperation in the
M. Karunanidhi cabinets of 1969 and 1971. In his memory, two Tamil literary awards were created and are awarded annually by his son,
Sivanthi Adithanar ( former Director of the ''Dina Thanthi'' group).
Early life
Adithanar was born on 27 September 1905 at
Kayamozhi in
Tiruchendur
Tiruchendur is a municipality located in Thoothukudi District, Tamil Nadu, India. It is home to the Arulmigu Subramaniya Swamy Temple, which is one of the Six Abodes of Murugan.
Etymology
Tiruchendur, a temple town like many towns in the s ...
Taluk of
Tuticorin
Thoothukudi (formerly Tuticorin) is a port city, a municipal corporation and an industrial city in Thoothukudi district in the Indian state of Tamil Nadu. The city lies in the Coromandel Coast of Bay of Bengal. Thoothukudi is the capital and ...
district to Sivanthi Adithanar and Kanagam Ammayar as the heir of the Adityans, the highest aristocratic family among the
Nelamaikkarars. His father, Sivanthi Adithanar , was a lawyer. Adithan' sister, Vamasundari Devi, was mother of Indian business man
Shiv Nadar. He completed his schooling at
Srivaikuntam and joined
St. Joseph's College, Trichy. After obtaining a
M. A, he went to
Middle Temple
The Honourable Society of the Middle Temple, commonly known simply as Middle Temple, is one of the four Inns of Court exclusively entitled to call their members to the English Bar as barristers, the others being the Inner Temple, Gray's Inn ...
, London to study law. He became a
barrister in 1933 and practised in Singapore (during 1933–42) and later in his home town Srivaikuntam. He married Govindammal in 1933.
Publishing career
Adithan returned to India in 1942 when
Singapore fell to the Japanese. He established a Tamil weekly magazine, ''Tamizhan'', and a daily newspaper, ''Thanthi'', in November 1942. He set out to found a Tamil daily along the lines of the English tabloid ''
Daily Mirror
The ''Daily Mirror'' is a British national daily tabloid. Founded in 1903, it is owned by parent company Reach plc. From 1985 to 1987, and from 1997 to 2002, the title on its masthead was simply ''The Mirror''. It had an average daily print c ...
'', inspired by the ''Mirror''s reach of a large audience. He established ''Dina Thanthi'' (lit. The Daily Telegraph) from
Madurai
Madurai ( , also , ) is a major city in the Indian state of Tamil Nadu. It is the cultural capital of Tamil Nadu and the administrative headquarters of Madurai District. As of the 2011 census, it was the third largest Urban agglomeration in ...
in 1942 and it went on to become the flagship of his newspaper business. He expanded operations by opening additional editions in
Tirunelveli
Tirunelveli (, ta, திருநெல்வேலி, translit=Tirunelveli) also known as Nellai ( ta, நெல்லை, translit=Nellai) and historically (during British rule) as Tinnevelly, is a major city in the Indian state of Tam ...
,
Madras,
Salem and
Tiruchirapalli
Tiruchirappalli () ( formerly Trichinopoly in English), also called Tiruchi or Trichy, is a major tier II city in the Indian state of Tamil Nadu and the administrative headquarters of Tiruchirappalli district. The city is credited with bein ...
in the 1940s. By bringing out local editions, ''Dina Thanthi'' helped deliver news on the same day to the people in southern districts of Tamil Nadu, who until then had to read day-old newspapers printed in
Madras.
The paper was popular and it was said that people learned to read the
Tamil language
Tamil (; ' , ) is a Dravidian language natively spoken by the Tamil people of South Asia. Tamil is an official language of the Indian state of Tamil Nadu, the sovereign nations of Sri Lanka and Singapore, and the Indian territory of P ...
to read the newspaper.
The simplified language introduced by the paper helped it gain new readership.
Other publications from Adithan's ''Dina Thanthi'' group include the evening daily ''Maalai Murasu'' (lit. The Evening Drum), the weekly magazine ''Rani'' and the monthly novel imprint ''Rani Muthu''.
Political career
Adithan started the "Tamil Rajyam" party in 1942. During 1947–52, he was a member of 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 init ...
. He contested and won the
1952 election from
Tiruchendur
Tiruchendur is a municipality located in Thoothukudi District, Tamil Nadu, India. It is home to the Arulmigu Subramaniya Swamy Temple, which is one of the Six Abodes of Murugan.
Etymology
Tiruchendur, a temple town like many towns in the s ...
as a candidate of
T. Prakasam's
Kisan Mazdoor Praja Party
The Kisan Mazdoor Praja Party (''Farmer Worker People's Party'') was a political party of India. Established in 1951, it merged with the Socialist Party to form the Praja Socialist Party in the following year.
History
In June, 1951 Indian N ...
. He was elected as an independent candidate in the
1957 election from
Sathankulam
Sathankulam is a panchayat town in Thoothukudi district in the Indian state of Tamil Nadu.
Sathankulam town is located in the banks of the Karumeni river. It is from Tiruchendur and from Tirunelveli and from Thoothukudi and from Nagercoil a ...
.
Naam Tamilar party
In 1958, Adithan founded the "We Tamils" (
நாம் தமிழர் கட்சி) party with the platform of forming a sovereign Tamil state. It wanted the creation of a homogeneous
Greater Tamil Nadu
Greater Tamil Nadu is an irredentist and nationalist concept of Tamil nationalism that centers on forming a national homeland for the Tamils by merging the Tamil speaking areas of India proper (the "mainland") and Sri Lanka (the "island"). Ho ...
incorporating Tamil speaking areas of India and
Sri Lanka. The party's headquarters was named as Tamiḻaṉ Illam (lit. The Home of the Tamilian). In 1960, the party organised statewide protests for the secession of Madras and the establishment of a sovereign Tamil Nadu. The protests were marked by the burning of maps of India (with Tamil Nadu left out). Adithanar was arrested for organising them. The party along with
M. P. Sivagnanam's
Tamil Arasu Kazhagam was also involved in the movement to change the name of the state from
Madras State
Madras State was a state of India during the mid-20th century. At the time of its formation in 1950, it included the whole of present-day Tamil Nadu (except Kanyakumari district), Coastal Andhra, Rayalaseema, the Malabar region of North and ...
to
Tamil Nadu
Tamil Nadu (; , TN) is a state in southern India. It is the tenth largest Indian state by area and the sixth largest by population. Its capital and largest city is Chennai. Tamil Nadu is the home of the Tamil people, whose Tamil language ...
. Adithan lost the
1962 election from Tiruchendur and was elected to the Legislative Council in 1964.
The WT contested the
1967 election as an ally of the
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 ...
(DMK) under the DMK's "Rising Sun" symbol. It elected four members to the Assembly, including Adithan, who won from
Srivaikuntam. The party merged with the DMK in 1967.
As Speaker of the Legislative Assembly
On 17 March 1967, Adithan became the
speaker of the assembly defeating the
Swatantra Party
The Swatantra Party was an Indian classical liberal political party, that existed from 1959 to 1974. It was founded by C. Rajagopalachari in reaction to what he felt was the Jawaharlal Nehru-dominated Indian National Congress's increasingly soci ...
candidate K. S. Kothandaramiah, by 153 votes to 21. While he was the speaker he attended the DMK political conference held at
Tanjore
Thanjavur (), also Tanjore, Pletcher 2010, p. 195 is a city in the Indian state of Tamil Nadu. Thanjavur is the 11th biggest city in Tamil Nadu. Thanjavur is an important center of South Indian religion, art, and architecture. Most of the ...
in 1968 and also took part in political activities in his constituency. Due to these activities, the opposition parties accused him of partisanship. He defended himself as:
Due to this controversy, Adithan resigned as speaker on 12 August 1968.
As minister
Adithan became the Minister for Cooperation in the
M. Karunanidhi cabinet, which took power in February 1969. He was re-elected from Srivaikuntam in the
1971 elections and continued as the Minister for Cooperation.
Later political life
The DMK split in 1972, with
M. G. Ramachandran
Maruthur Gopalan Ramachandran (17 January 1917 24 December 1987), also popularly known as M.G.R., was an Indian politician, actor, philanthropist, and filmmaker who served as the Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu from 1977 until his death in 1987 ...
forming the
Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (ADMK). Adithan supported the ADMK.
He contested and lost the
1977 election as an ADMK supported independent from
Sathankulam
Sathankulam is a panchayat town in Thoothukudi district in the Indian state of Tamil Nadu.
Sathankulam town is located in the banks of the Karumeni river. It is from Tiruchendur and from Tirunelveli and from Thoothukudi and from Nagercoil a ...
. He also lost the
1980 election from Srivaikuntam.
Electoral performance in Assembly elections
Death and legacy
Adithan died on 24 May 1981. In 2005, the then Tamil Nadu Chief Minister,
J. Jayalalitha announced that his home in Srivaikuntam, built in 1928, would be converted into a memorial. He is survived by two sons. B. Ramachandran Adityan (founder of ''Devi Weekly'') and B. Sivanthi Adityan. On his birthday every year, the
S. P. Adithanar Senior Tamil Scholar Award of Rs. 300,000 and the
S. P. Adithanar Literary Award of Rs. 200,000 are awarded to Tamil scholars and people who excel in literature by Adithanar's son and the current director of the ''Dina Thanthi'' group,
Sivanthi Adithan.
A road in
Chennai
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 ...
, connecting
Egmore
Egmore is a neighbourhood of Chennai, India. Situated on the northern banks of the Coovum River, Egmore is an important residential area as well as a commercial and transportation hub. The Egmore Railway Station was the main terminus of the Ma ...
to
Anna Salai
Anna Salai (), formerly known as St. Thomas Mount Road or simply Mount Road, is an arterial road in Chennai, India. It starts at the Cooum Creek, south of Fort St George, leading in a south-westerly direction towards St. Thomas Mount, and e ...
, was named "Adithanar Salai" in his memory.
Bibliography
* ''Tamiḻp Pēraracu'' (lit. The Tamil empire) (1942)
* ''Idhalalar Kaiyedu'' (lit. The Journalist's Handbook)
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Adithanar, S. P.
Businesspeople from Tamil Nadu
Tamil businesspeople
1905 births
1981 deaths
Tamil Nadu ministers
Speakers of the Tamil Nadu Legislative Assembly
St Joseph's College, Tiruchirappalli alumni
Madras MLAs 1957–1962
Tamil Nadu MLAs 1967–1972
Tamil Nadu MLAs 1971–1976