N. Sivaraj

Rao Bahadur Namasivayam Sivaraj (29 September 1892 – 29 September 1964) was an Indian lawyer, politician and Scheduled Caste activist from the state of Tamil Nadu. He served as a Member of the Lok Sabha for Chengalpattu from 1957 to 1961.

Early life and education

Sivaraj was born to Namsivayam, an accounts officer, on 29 September 1892 in the town of Cuddapah in the then Madras Presidency. His ancestors were from the town of Poonamallee near Madras. Sivaraj passed his matriculation in 1907 and graduated in arts from Presidency College, Madras in 1911. In 1915 he graduated as a lawyer from the Madras Law College and practised as a junior under Sir C. P. Ramaswamy Iyer.^[1] He worked as a lecturer in the Madras Law College for a period of thirteen years.

Family

Sivaraj was married to Annai Meenambal and had four children.

Politics

Sivaraj was a prominent leader of depressed class federation and he supported the Justice Party. He was mayor in Madras corporation 1945-1946. He was elected to the Madras Legislative Council on a Justice Party ticket in 1926 and served as member till 1937. From 1937 to 1945, Sivaraj served as a member of the Imperial Legislature of India. He participated in the 1952, 1957 and 1962 Lok Sabha elections and served as Member of Parliament from 1957 to 1962 representing Chengalpattu constituency.

All India Scheduled_Castes_Federation was a first all India political party exclusively for the depressed Class founded by Dr Ambedkar in a national convention held at Nagpur during 17–20 July 1942. It was presided by Sivaraj and he was elected as its first President.^[2]

When the Republican Party of India was founded in 1957, he was again elected as its first president and continued working to establish the party's organisation until he died in 1964.

Notes

References

• Ramacandra Kshirasagara (1994). Dalit Movement in India. M. D. Publications. pp. 331–333. ISBN 978-81-85880-43-3.