ABSTRACT
Tamilnad has been described as "a country, almost a nation, on its own". Distinctive though the Tamil region was, it nonetheless remained throughout the colonial period an integral part of the British province of Madras. The first steps towards nationalist agitation in Tamilnad were taken by the non-Brahmin merchants of Madras city. Thus the second phase of early nationalist agitation in Tamilnad in the 1880s was largely that of an emerging Brahmin professional middle class in conflict with European professionals. This conflict was expressed in various forms: one was sustained Brahmin criticism of European government servants; another was resentment against European arrogance and racialism. The first clash between the Khilafat-Gandhian forces and the Nationalist leadership occurred at the Madras Provincial Conference held at Tinnevelly. The next round of the struggle was decided outside the regional arena when, at the beginning of September 1920, a Special Congress was called at Calcutta to decide the party's stand on non-cooperation.
