Sundara Sastri Satyamurti, an Indian independence activist and leading Congress politician of Madras Presidency, was born on 19 August 1887 in Thirumayam (Pudukkottai) in present-day Tamil Nadu. He died on 28 March 1943. He is also regarded as the mentor of Madras state chief minister and senior Congress leader K. Kamaraj.
Satyamurti completed his college education from the renowned Madras Christian College and later worked as a lawyer. He was attracted to the national movement from an early age and joined the Indian National Congress. He became known for his great oratory skills.
In 1919, he was chosen by the Congress as its representative to Britain to protest the Rowlatt Act and the Montagu-Chelmsford reforms that were unpopular within India.
Interestingly, he wrote for The Hindu when he was in London as the newspaper’s correspondent had gone on leave.
Committed to constitutional ways, he opposed many Congress leaders’ view that Indians should boycott the colonial legislature. Satyamurti, along with senior Congress leaders like C.R. Das and Motilal Nehru, were Swarajists: they were in favour of gaining legislative experience even if it meant participating in the colonial government.
Satyamurti played a major role in the Congress’ victory in the 1937 polls to the Madras Legislative Assembly. But his outspokenness and differences with sections of the Congress leadership seemed to have worked against him.
As B.S. Raghavan wrote in the Hindu Business Line in May 2008: “Even though he (Satyamurti) was the sole architect of the matchless electoral triumph of the Congress in the Madras Presidency in 1937, casting a hypnotic spell with his powerful campaign speeches, he was left out of the first ever Congress Government formed by Rajaji. While outwardly being polite to him, the top Congress leaders never took kindly to his courage in speaking his mind and forcefully advocating what he considered to be the right course of action.”
Satyamurti was an enthusiastic promoter of theatre and the performing arts. He took the lead in arranging Hindustani musical concerts in Madras city. He served as president of Faculty of Fine Arts, University of Madras, and Chairman of Board of Studies in Music. As S.Sankaranarayanan wrote in Sruti magazine in August 2013: “In many of his speeches and writings, Satyamurti called for disciplined listening on the part of listeners. He had a piece of advice for musicians as well. He urged them not to give disproportionate importance to pallavi singing, and to include more Tamil songs in their concerts, particularly while giving performances to Tamil audience. He also urged them to project the spirit of the song — its sahitya and bhava.”
In 1939 Satyamurti became the mayor of Madras. The city faced a severe water crisis at the time. Among his many contributions, he appealed to the British to increase the water supply to Madras city by constructing a water reservoir west of the city.
The Poondi reservoir was built after his death.
Satyamurti was arrested several times including in 1930 for attempting to hoist the tricolour above a temple in Madras. In 1942 after the Quit India Movement had started, he was arrested and sent to Nagpur jail. The jail terms took a toll on his health and he died on 28 March 1943.
A report in The Hindu in March 2004 (quoting former Supreme Court Judge S. Mohan) said: "[Satyamurti] was the father of parliamentary democracy whose debating skill in Parliament and legislatures was acknowledged even by his rivals. He always cared for the poor and the downtrodden and was responsible in bringing the Cultivating Tenants Act. As a mayor he constructed the Poondi reservoir to solve drinking water scarcity in the city and was the first to launch the beautification scheme for the city with the help of volunteers of various social service organisations. Satyamurti was a man of the masses and believed in their welfare….”
Also on this day:
1926 — Polly Umrigar, Indian cricketer, was born
1948 — Moon Moon Sen, Indian film actress, was born
1975— Akshaye Khanna, Hindi film actor, was born
1976 — Chitrangada, Hindi film actress, was born
2002 — Francis Newton Souza, Indian artist and co-founder of Progressive Artists’ Group of Bombay, passed away
2006 — Bansi Lal, Chief Minister of Haryana, passed away
2012 — T. Damodaran, screenwriter of Malayalam cinema, passed away
