December 1916: the Non-Brahmin Manifesto and the storm it raised
A month after its founding, the new association published a manifesto that pledged loyalty to the Raj and demanded a fair share of public life. The nationalist press was furious.
In December 1916, a month after it was founded, the South Indian People's Association published "The Non-Brahmin Manifesto". It was the first public statement of the movement that would become the Justice Party.
What the manifesto said
According to Wikipedia's account, the manifesto affirmed loyalty and faith in British rule, but decried what it saw as Brahmin dominance of the bureaucracy and urged non-Brahmins to organise. Its best-known phrase called on them to
From the Non-Brahmin Manifesto, December 1916 (as quoted in Wikipedia)"press their claims as against the virtual domination of the Brahmin Caste"
Context
The manifesto's figures on the share of public posts held by different communities were, historians note, prepared by senior Indian Civil Service officials for the Public Services Commission. That fact feeds a long debate. Some historians, such as David Washbrook, saw non-Brahminism as partly a product of colonial policy. Others, such as P. Rajaraman, argued that it was the inevitable result of a deep social cleavage. Most agree that both the grievance and the colonial interest in exploiting it were real.
The manifesto also opposed Annie Besant's Home Rule movement, which the founders believed would hand power to the same small elite.
The reply
The nationalist press reacted sharply. The Hindu, then edited in Madras by nationalists, published a stinging response four days before Christmas 1916.
The Hindu, 20 December 1916, on the manifesto (as quoted in Wikipedia)It is with much pain and surprise that we have perused this document. It gives a manifestly unfair and distorted representation of many of the matters to which it makes reference. It can serve no purpose but it is bound to create bad blood between persons belonging to the Great Indian Community.
Why it matters
Other papers were just as dismissive. Hindu Nesan questioned the timing; New Age, the Home Rule paper, predicted the association's early death. The founders' answer was to start a newspaper of their own. Within two months they had raised money by selling 640 shares of one hundred rupees each, bought a press and published the first issue of Justice.
The episode set a pattern for the next three decades: a movement demanding social justice, accused of dividing the nation, and answering in print.
Sources
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