Justice Party (India)
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Justice Party
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|---|---|
| President |
Theagaroya Chetty Raja of Panagal B. Munuswamy Naidu Raja of Bobbili E. V. Ramasamy P. T. Rajan |
| Founder |
T. M. Nair Theagaroya Chetty C. Natesa Mudaliar |
| Founded | 1917 |
| Dissolved | 27 August 1944 |
| Preceded by | Madras Dravidian Association |
| Succeeded by | Dravidar Kazhagam |
| Headquarters | Madras |
| Newspaper |
Justice Dravidian Andhra Prakasika |
| Ideology | Socialism Anti-Brahminism |
The Justice Party, officially the South Indian Liberal Federation, was a political party in the Madras Presidency of British India. It was established in 1917 by T. M. Nair and P. Theagaraya Chetty as a result of a series of non-Brahmin conferences and meetings in the presidency. Communal division between Brahmins and non-Brahmins began in the presidency during the late-19th and early-20th century, mainly due to caste prejudices and disproportionate Brahminical representation in government jobs. The Justice Party's foundation marked the culmination of several efforts to establish an organisation to represent the non-Brahmins in Madras.
During its early years, the party was involved in petitioning the imperial administrative bodies and British politicians demanding more representation for non-Brahmins in government. When a diarchial system of administration was established due to the 1919 Montagu–Chelmsford reforms, the Justice Party took part in presidential governance. In 1920, it won the first direct elections in the presidency and formed the government. For the next seventeen years, it formed four out of the five ministries and was in power for thirteen years. It was the main political alternative to the nationalist Indian National Congress in Madras. After it lost to the Congress in the 1937 election, it never recovered. It came under the leadership of Periyar E. V. Ramaswamy and his Self-Respect Movement. In 1944, Periyar transformed the Justice Party into the social organisation Dravidar Kazhagam and withdrew it from electoral politics. A rebel faction that called itself the original Justice Party, survived to contest one final election, in 1952.
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