Pity that Tamil Nadu does not know some illustrious details about Sir Pitty Thyagaraja Chetty. So brace for some interesting stories. First who was he. A moneylender,
capitalist weaver, hide and skin merchant and joint-stock banker who dominated local affairs of Madras 1/n
capitalist weaver, hide and skin merchant and joint-stock banker who dominated local affairs of Madras 1/n
You would have heard about Dr. TM Nair, the person, one of the core members of the Justice Party. You would be surprised to know that while Sir PT and his friends were dominating Madras Corporation, he opposed PT for their corrupt means. TM Nair was not able to beat PT. 2/n
You would be surprised to note that Sir PT formed an association with other people of his caste network and dominated the Corporation and worked towards using the power to protect their commercial interests 3/n
For all the talk about opposing Brahminical dominance, he would not eat foot not cooked by a Brahmin. He was friends with Desikachari who in turn was related to @the_hindu Kasturi group and surprisingly protested against European Corporation officials comment on Brahmins 4/n
Sir PT's fight against Brahminism started after his choke hold on Madras Corporation & using it for personal benefits were broken by CP Ramasami Iyer & GA Natesan. His sole purpose in life was to oppose. In 1916 this led to political anti-Brahminism, which soon became racial 5/n
Remember TM Nair's opposition to Sir PT for corrupt practices. In 1917 he gave the famous "Spur Tank" speech laden with invectives against, Congress, Brahmins, Marwari's etc and commended Sir PT for the financial support. 6/n
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So what was a struggle for regaining temporary loss of power, was storified into centuries of oppression which was then conveniently converted to a racial construct. Politically insecure British civil servants exploited this to build narrative 7/n
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One additional point to ponder for the "Green Warrior" @SundarrajanG the area that he is glowingly talking about, T Nagar, was made by draining Long tank of Mylapore. Vani Mahal was the deepest point of the entire Long Tank of Mylapore 8/n
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