M.C. Rajah pioneered Depressed Classes representation in Madras and national councils

Evidence

Rao Bahadur M.C. Rajah (1883–1943) and Rettamalai Srinivasan (1860–1945, conferred the title Dewan Bahadur) were Untouchable leaders from Madras Presidency. Rajah—author of The Oppressed Hindus (1925), the first ever book in English by an Untouchable in India—was the chief political rival of Ambedkar to the position of the representative of the Depressed Classes on the national scene. Like Ambedkar, his grandfather served the British army. In 1922, Rajah was conferred the British honorary title, Rao Bahadur, after his entrance to the Madras Legislative Council as the first Adi Dravida (as Untouchables were known in Tamil-speaking areas) member. In 1927, he became the first Depressed Classes member to be nominated to the Central Legislative Council. — Ambedkar, B R, Annihilation of Caste_ The Annotated…, 1218

Categorization

• XREF: Establishes the parallel track of Untouchable politics (Rajah, Srinivasan, Nagpur Conference) alongside Ambedkar’s, relevant to how caste annihilation scaled via competing leaders.