‘upper-caste’ students were fed in separate halls. He supported Periyar’s protest against this practice and quit the ashram. Later, he took charge of an ashram funded by a philanthropist in Siruvayal near Karaikkudi. The ashram life gave him an opportunity to read a lot of books. In this ashram, he got opportunity to meet Gandhi. Jeeva had written a letter to Gandhi disagreeing with his methods. When Gandhi came to Madras, he had this letter in his pocket and wanted to meet Jeeva. Rajagopalachari asked Gandhi to name the person he wanted to meet so that particular person can be called. Gandhi mentioned that he did not want the person to be called and would like to go to the ashram where Jeeva resided and meet him. When Gandhi went to the Siruvayal ashram and asked for Jeeva a young man of around 25 years appeared before him. Gandhi asked him if he was the same person who wrote the 'letter' and Jeeva replied in the affirmative. When Periyar (Periyar E. V. Ramasamy), on returning from a visit to the Soviet Union, spoke highly of its achievements and expressed his desire to propagate socialism, Jeevanandham, who was by then familiar with the egalitarian principle, felt elated. His hopes of getting the national movement merged with the Congress Socialist Party were dashed when Periyar began dragging his feet. He, however, remained in the Congress. He was elected as a member of the All India Congress Committee, a prestigious post in those days, and was also a member of the working committee of the State Congress unit. Later, when the Madras Provincial Congress Socialist Party was formed in 1937, Jeevanandham became its first secretary. He joined the Communist Party of India (CPI) two years later along with P. Ramamurthi, another veteran of the movement. Communist years (before Indian independence) The last 25 years of colonial rule saw the emergence of two movements in Tamil Nadu – the Self-Respect Movement (which was a precursor to the Dravidian movement led by Periyar) and the Communist movement. Before enrolling himself as the first member of the CPI in Tamil Nadu, Jeevanandham was an active participant in these two earlier movements. His patriotism took him to the national movement; his revulsion toward untouchability and caste-based discrimination led him to support the Self-Respect Movement. After joining the CPI, Jeevanandham and Ramamurthi organized rickshaw-pullers and factory workers on