ABSTRACT

During the anti-colonial movement leadership was usually drawn from the professional middle class, but the attitudes of the middle classes as a whole were ambiguous, even contradictory. In India the anti-colonial movement was, in essence, of the non-violent, constitutional variety. In India the anti-colonial movement was, in essence, of the non-violent, constitutional variety. In Tamilnad, the region of south India on which this study focuses, terrorism played very little part in shaping the nature and course of the anti-colonial movement. The story of the Congress in Tamilnad from 1919 to 1937 has two essential themes. One is the evolution of the Tamil Congress as a regional political party. The second theme is the changing relationship between a nationalist movement and a colonial regime. The paradox of the late colonial situation in Tamilnad was that the Congress was both the most powerful opponent of the British and their most promising ally.