Swadeshi Oratory and the Development of Tamil Shorthand

Vernacular political oratory in the Madras Presidency sought to bring the gospel of swadeshi to the common farmer and labourer and this was something entirely new. When police officers took cognisance of these meetings, they began to figure out new modes of surveillance and recording, and it was this that prompted the innovation of vernacular shorthand. By the 1920s, the age of vernacular politics had begun and the police had developed a really workable system of shorthand reporting, which soon had widespread applications in many other spheres of life.