U. Muthuramalingam Thevar - After Release From Jail

After Release From Jail

In 1945 C. Rajagopalachari tried to make a comeback within the Congress organisation in Tamil Nadu. He had the support of Gandhi and Sardar Patel, but the majority of in the Tamil Nadu Congress Committee opposed him. A conference was held in Tirupparankundram, in which the leadership should be elected. Chaos broke about during the conference, as warring factions confronted each other. Thevar interrupted the disputes and passed a motion reelecting Kamaraj as the TNCC President.

Elections to the assembly of the Madras Presidency were again held in March 1946. Thevar contested from the Mudukulathur constituency, and was elected unopposed. Soon thereafter, the CTA was repealed.

In February 1948 the Congress expelled all dissenting fractions, including the Forward Bloc. The Forward Bloc became an independent opposition party, and Thevar became its president of its Tamil Nadu state unit (a position he would hold for the rest of his life).

On January 23, 1949, in connection with birthday anniversary celebrations of Subhas Chandra Bose, Thevar publicly announced that Bose was alive and that he had met him. Soon thereafter Thevar disappeared without any explanation. He returned to public life in October 1950. Rumours claimed that he had travelled to Korea and China during this period.

On the national level the Forward Bloc had been suffering from internal ideological divisions. In 1948 two separate Forward Blocs had emerged, a 'Forward Bloc (Marxist)' (out of which the Forward Bloc of today emerged) and a 'Forward Bloc (Ruiker)' (led by R.S. Ruiker). On June 23, 1951, the two parties reunified at a meeting in Calcutta. A central committee was announced for the united party, which included Thevar as one of its members.