Rarely does one come across the tales of twin brothers
becoming leaders in their chosen field, vying with each other in
accomplishments and contributing enormously to public policies in a
variety of areas. This summarises the life history of Arcot Ramaswami
(A.R.) Mudaliar (1887-1976) and Arcot Lakshmanaswami (A.L.) Mudaliar
(1887-1974), whose 125th birth anniversary falls on October 14 (Sunday).
Famously called the twin stars of Arcot, the
brothers had long innings in public life, spanning over 50 years. Both
were educationists and vice-chancellors, one still holding the record of
having the longest tenure of 27 years as V-C in any Indian university.
Both occupied several positions at the national level, before and after
Independence and were seasoned parliamentarians. They received honours
both from the British Government and the post-freedom Indian regime.
Despite not belonging to the Congress school of political thought, they
protected and promoted the interests of the nation. Even in death, they
were pretty close: A.R. Mudaliar lived about two more years after his
brother A.L. Mudaliar died. And they were institution-builders and
visionaries.
Born in a Tamil-speaking Tuluva
Vellalar family that followed the Vaishnavite tradition, the twins lost
their parents before they were 15. After initial education at Kurnool
[now part of Andhra Pradesh] where they were born, they moved to Chennai
in 1903 to join the Madras Christian College, which was then located at
George Town. On completion of intermediate course, A.R. Mudaliar
continued in the same college for B.A. while A.L. Mudaliar chose
medicine and joined the Madras Medical College.
A.R.
Mudaliar went on to do law and joined the South Indian Liberal
Federation, popularly called the Justice Party. He became editor of
‘Justice,’ the party organ. In 1920, he was elected to the Madras
Legislative Council and re-elected three years later. Between 1930 and
1934, he was a member of the Council of States and Central Legislative
Assembly. He lost to Congress stalwart S. Satyamurti in the famous
electoral battle of November 1934 from the Madras constituency for the
Central Legislative Assembly but the British government utilised his
services on many occasions, as he was renowned for his knowledge of
public affairs and power of articulation.
During the
Second World War he was made the Commerce Member of the
Governor-General’s Executive Council and, later, in-charge of planning
and development (1942-1946). He visualised the formation of the Council
of Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR), which, after Independence,
became the nucleus of various national laboratories. He represented
India in the Imperial War Cabinet, chaired by Churchill, and led his
country at the UN Conference in San Francisco in 1945. He had several
international assignments, prominent among which were his presidency
(1945-1947) of the UN Economic and Social Council and India’s spokesman
on the Hyderabad issue at the UN Security Council.
On
the domestic front, during the 1940s and 1950s he was Dewan of Mysore
and Vice-Chancellor of the University of Travancore (now University of
Kerala). He headed a committee to study the Sethusamudram Canal and
Tuticorin Harbour projects. The committee had concluded that the
proposed Canal and the Tuticorin Harbour formed two components of one
project. But, in 1963, Centre sanctioned the harbour component but left
out the canal, which is yet to become a reality. A.R. Mudaliar later
headed companies such as Tube Investments of India and Ashok Leyland.
A.L. Mudaliar, after completing medicine, specialised in obstetrics and
gynaecology (O&G). He became principal of the college in 1939, the
first Indian to occupy the post. His book on O&G, regarded as a
classic, was prescribed even in foreign countries. He was also leader of
the Indian delegation to annual conferences of the World Health
Organisation in the 1940s and 1950s. He became Chairman of the Executive
Board of the WHO in 1949-50 and that of UNESCO during 1954-56, besides
chairing the 14th World Health Assembly in 1961. Higher education was
his other passion. His association with the University of Madras lasted
over 45 years. Elected to the Senate in 1923, he became Vice-Chancellor
19 years later. That marked the remarkable phase in the history of the
university.
Even in the midst of the emergence of a
strong political movement in the 1950s and 1960s that advocated the
promotion of Tamil, A L Mudaliar, who was V-C till 1969, remained an
ardent votary of English on the ground that more and more people would
take to English. He was also known for emphasising the need for
postgraduate courses in subjects such as engineering and medicine. Even
in 1953, he underscored the importance of judging all studies,
especially professional courses, only by international standards.
A.L.
Mudaliar represented the Graudates’Constituency in Chennai in the
erstwhile Legislative Council from 1947 to 1970. As former Union and
State Minister and his political adversary C. Subramaniam later pointed
out, A L Mudaliar, who was virtually the Leader of Opposition in the
Upper House in the 1950s and 1960s, was a “shining example” of how the
Opposition should function in a parliamentary democracy. To perpetuate
his memory, two arms of the University — Post-Graduate Institute of
Basic Medical Sciences and the Centre for Basic Science Development —
are named after him.
When there is a widespread
scepticism about those in public life, the Arcot twins symbolise a
combination of the virtues of political sagacity, administrative
ability, courage of conviction and concern for social justice.
source:the Hindu
No comments:
Post a Comment