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{{Short description|Indian politician, educationist and social and political activist}}
{{Use Indian English|date=August 2015}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=April 2015}}
{{Infobox person
| name = M. C. Rajah
| image =
| birth_date = {{Birth date|df=yes|1883|06|17}}
| birth_place = [[St. Thomas Mount]], [[Madras]], India
| death_date = {{Death date and age|df=yes|1943|08|23|1883|06|17}}
| death_place = St. Thomas Mount, Madras, India
| other_names = Perunthalaivar
| occupation = Scheduled Castes Rights Activist, Freedom Fighter, Politician
| alma_mater = Madras Christian College
}}

'''Mylai Chinna Thambi Pillai Rajah''' (17 June 1883 – 23 August 1943) was a [[Tamils|Tamil]] politician, educationist, social and political activist from the Indian union state of [[Tamil Nadu]].

Rajah was born to a Tamil family of [[Chennai|Madras]]. He entered politics after graduation and was a leader in the [[Justice Party (India)|Justice Party]]. However, he quit the party in 1923 over the party's treatment of the then Depressed Classes. He was the first leader who organized the Scheduled Classes at the national level in India, and the most prominent Scheduled Classes leader of pre-independent India.<ref name="cisindus"/> In his heyday, Rajah was considered to be a person equal in stature to [[B. R. Ambedkar]]. He was the pioneer of mid-day meal scheme in India.{{citation needed|date=June 2021}}

==Early life==

Rajah was born to Mylai Chinna Thambi Pillai in 1883<ref name="toidirectory">{{cite book | title=The Times of India Directory and Year Book Including Who's who| last=Reed | first=Stanley| year=1929| pages=114| publisher=Bennett, Coleman & Co.}}</ref> at [[St. Thomas Mount]], [[Madras]].<ref name="dalitidentity">{{cite book | title=Dalit Identity in the New Millennium| last=Chandra| first=Romesh|author2=Sangh Mitthra | year=2003| pages=91| publisher=Commonwealth Publishers| isbn=978-81-7169-765-6}}</ref> Chinna Thambi Pillai was the manager of Lawrence Asylum.<ref name="dalitmovement">{{cite book | title=Dalit Movement in India and Its Leaders, 1857-1956: 1857-1956 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Wx218EFVU8MC&pg=PA302 | last=Kshirasagara| first=Ramachandra| year=1994| pages=302| publisher=M. D. Publications| isbn=978-81-85880-43-3}}</ref> Rajah had his schooling at the Wesley Mission High School, [[Royapettah]]<ref name="dalitmovement" /> and Wesley College.<ref name="dictionarybio">{{cite book | title=Dictionary of Indian Biography| last=Indian Bibliographic Centre Research Wing, Indian Bibliographic Centre| year=2000| pages=348| publisher=Indian Bibliographic Centre| isbn=978-81-85131-15-3}}</ref> He graduated from [[Madras Christian College]]<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://mcc.edu.in/distinguished-alumni/|title=Distinguished Alumni - Welcome to MCC}}</ref> and worked as a school teacher<ref name="colonialismconflict">{{cite book | title=Colonialism, Conflict, and Nationalism: South India, 1857-1947| last=Chandrahekar| first=S.| year=1995| pages=110| publisher=Wishwa Prakashan| isbn=978-81-7328-040-5}}</ref> and later a professor.

==Politics==

Rajah joined politics at an early age and was elected president of the Chingleput district board.<ref name="indianreview">{{cite book | title=The Indian Review| last=Natesan| first=G. A.| year=1943| pages=425| publisher=G.A. Natesan & Co.}}</ref> In 1916, he became the Secretary of the Adi-Dravida Mahajana Sabha.<ref name="silentrevolution">{{cite book|title=India's silent revolution: Rise of lower castes in North India|year=2003|last=Jaffrelot|first=Christophe |author-link=Christophe Jaffrelot |publisher=C. Hurst & Co. Publishers|isbn=978-1-85065-670-8|page=169}}</ref> He was one of the founder-members of the [[South Indian Liberal Federation]]. Rajah was elected to the [[Madras Legislative Council]] as a [[Justice Party (India)|Justice Party]] candidate during the first general elections held in November 1920.<ref name="dictionarybio" /><ref name="nmmlmanuscripts">{{cite book | title=NMML Manuscripts: An Introduction| year=2003| pages=410| publisher=Nehru Memorial Museum and Library| isbn=978-81-87614-05-0}}</ref> He was elected Deputy Leader of the Justice Party in the house. Rajah was the first member of the scheduled caste community to be elected to the Madras Legislative Council.<ref name="cisindus"/> In 1922, Rajah passed a resolution demanding that the terms ''Paraiya'' and ''Panchama'' be dropped from official usage and instead be substituted with ''[[Adi Dravida|Adi-Dravida]]'' and ''Adi-Andhra''.<ref name="silentrevolution" />

In 1921, the Justice Party government of the [[Raja of Panagal]] introduced reservations for non-Brahmins in government jobs. However, this act did not allocate quotas for scheduled castes as demanded by Rajah.<ref name="dalits">{{cite book|title=India's silent revolution: Rise of lower castes in North India|year=2003|last=Jaffrelot|first=Christophe|publisher=C. Hurst & Co. Publishers|isbn=978-1-85065-670-8|page=175}}</ref> Disenchanted, Rajah led a delegation of scheduled castes to protest the act and press their demand for separate quota. But the Justice Party did not respond.<ref name="dalits" /> Instead, when riots broke out in Puliyanthope the same year, top-ranking Justice Party leaders regarded the Government's policy of appeasement of paraiyars responsible for the strike.<ref name="untouchables">{{cite book | title=The Untouchables: Subordination, Poverty, and the State in Modern India| last=Mendelsohn| first=Oliver|author2=Marika Vicziany | year=1998| pages=94| publisher=Cambridge University Press| isbn=978-0-521-55671-2}}</ref> Outraged at this, Rajah quit the party in 1923.<ref name="dalits" /><ref name="untouchables" /> He remained a member of the Madras Legislative Council till 1926. In 1925, he created and became the president of the All India Depressed Classes Association at Nagpur.<ref name="cisindus"/> From 1927 till 1937, he was a member of the [[Imperial Legislative Assembly]].<ref name="cisindus"/> During April–July 1937 he was the [[Madras Presidency]]'s Minister for Development in the short lived interim provisional cabinet of [[Kurma Venkata Reddy Naidu]].<ref>{{cite book | title=Justice Party Golden Jubilee Souvenir, 1968}}</ref>

In 1917, he was nominated by [[John Sinclair, 1st Baron Pentland|Lord Pentland]] to the Elementary Education Committee. In 1919, he served on the select committee of the Elementary Education Bill. He was also a member of the Secondary Education Reorganization Committee. In 1924, [[Lord Willingdon]] nominated him to the [[Senate House (University of Madras)|Senate of Madras University]].{{citation needed|date=January 2023}}

==Change of views==

Originally Rajah stood for the Separate Electorates and Ambedkar for the Joint Electorates with Adult Suffrage and Reservation of seats.{{citation needed|date=September 2021}} But Ambedkar changed his state of mind to the separate electorate, putting forth separate electorates as a united demand of the then Depressed Classes due to the pressure from Rajah and Madras Presidency Organisations in 1931.<ref name="cisindus"/> However, Rajah changed his mind to Joint Electorates with reserved seats on population basis due to lower representation of the Minority Pact in 1932.<ref name="cisindus"/> So he concluded a pact with the All India President of the [[Hindu Mahasabha]] [[B. S. Moonje]].<ref name="columbia">{{Cite web|url=http://ccnmtl.columbia.edu/projects/mmt/ambedkar/web/individuals/6750.html|title=Rajah, Rao Bahadur M. C. |access-date=5 January 2009|publisher=University of Columbia|author=Pritchett}}</ref><ref name="caste_indianpolitics">{{cite book | title=Caste in Indian Politics| last=Kothari| first=R.| year=2004| pages=46| publisher=Orient Blackswan| isbn=978-81-250-0637-4}}</ref> This was known as the Rajah–Moonje pact. According to this pact, Moonje offered reserved seats to the Scheduled Castes in return for Rajah's support. The Rajah-Moonje Pact was a precursor for the Poona Pact.<ref name="cisindus">{{cite web
| url = https://cisindus.org/2021/05/29/who-was-m-c-rajah/
| title = Who Was M. C. Rajah?
| last = Swarup
| first = Devendra
| date = 29 May 2021
| website = Cisindus.org
| publisher = Centre for Indic Studies
| access-date = 30 June 2021
| quote = }}</ref>

==Death==

Rajah died on Monday, 23 August 1943 at his house at [[St. Thomas Mount]], today named as "Rajah Street".<ref name="indianreview" /> To honour his works, [[Bayya Suryanarayana Murthy]] founded the M. C. Rajah Memorial Hostel for the college students of the Scheduled Classes in 1944 at Saidapet in Madras.{{citation needed|date=September 2021}}

==Publications==

* {{cite book | title=Independence Without, Freedom Within: Speech of Rao Bahadur M.C. Rajah, M.L.A., at the Madras Legislative Assembly on the 26th October 1939 on the Congress Resolution on India and the War| last=Rajah| first=M. C.| year=1939}}
* {{cite book | title=The Life, Select Writings and Speeches of Rao Bahadur M. C. Rajah| last=Rajah| first=M. C.|author2=J. Shivashunmugham Pillai | year=1930| publisher=Indian Publishing House}}
*Jain Meeanakshi, Rajah-Moonje Pact: Documents On A Forgotten Chapter Of Indian History (with Devendra Svarupa, Low Price Publishers, 2007), {{ISBN|8184540787}}.

==See also==

*[[Rettamalai Srinivasan]]
*[[B R Ambedkar]]

==References==
{{reflist}}

==Bibliography==
* {{cite book | last = Basu | first = Swaraj | author-link = | title = Unforgettable Dalit Voice: Life, Writings & Speeches of M C Rajah | publisher = Manohar Publishers | series = | volume = | edition = | date = 2012 | location = New Delhi | pages = 318| language = | url = | doi = | id = | isbn = 978-81-7304-966-8 | mr = | zbl = | jfm = }}

==External links==
*[https://web.archive.org/web/20110713043234/http://insightyv.com/?p=587 Celebrating the Birth Anniversary of M. C. Rajah]

{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Rajah, M. C.}}
[[Category:1883 births]]
[[Category:1943 deaths]]
[[Category:Madras Christian College alumni]]
[[Category:Members of the Central Legislative Assembly of India]]
[[Category:Politicians from Chennai]]
[[Category:Activists from Tamil Nadu]]

M. C. Rajah - Revision history

imported>Onel5969: Disambiguating links to Tamil (link changed to Tamils) using DisamAssist.