The Travancore Tamil Nadu Congress (TTNC) was a political party in the Indian state of Travancore-Cochin. The party was founded by Sam Nathaniel and led by A. Nesamony, both natives of Palliyadi.[1]
History
The Kingdom of Travancore was a princely state of India. Its population included an ethnic Malayali majority and a Tamil minority; the later suffered linguistic discrimination in education,[1] and leaders of Tamil organisations expressed concern about disadvantage from lack of economic development.[2][3] The Tamil minority formed several political parties, one of them being Travancore Tamil Nadu Congress.[4]
The party's original platform was the formation of a separate Tamil state within Travancore.[5] The party contested the first Travancore constituent assembly election in 1948 and won 14 seats in the 120-seat legislature.[6]
Following the recommendations of the States Reorganisation Commission, the States Reorganisation Act, 1956 restructured Indian regional jurisdictions. In this process, some Tamil regions (present day Kanyakumari district[a]) of Travancore-Cochin merged with Madras state (present day Tamil Nadu[b]) on 1 November 1956.[12][14] Other Tamil-majority areas remained in Travancore–Cochin, including Neyyatinkkara South, Nedumangad East, Devikulam and Peerumedu. Following this reorganisation, the Travancore Tamil Nadu Congress successfully fielded a candidate in the Travancore–Cochin state election; once in the Assembly, he lobbied for amalgamation of further Tamil areas into the Tamil Nadu state.[15]
After the merger of the regions, the leaders dissolved the party in 1957 and joined the ruling Congress party.[16]
Notes
^Kanyakumari district consists of former Travancore taluks such as Agastheeswaram, Kallkkulam, Thovalai and Vilavancode[12]
^Madras state renamed as Tamil Nadu on 14 January 1969[13]