Independence
Day 2016
Director of sports, Directors of various faculties, Deans,
Professors, administrative staff and my
dear students,
Independence days are
days to remember the heroes of our country's independence struggle and re call
their contributions.
Mahatma Gandhi "How can one be compelled to
accept slavery? I simply refuse to do the master's bidding. He may torture me,
break my bones to atoms and even kill me. He will then have my dead body, not
my obedience. Ultimately, therefore, it is I who am the victor and not he, for
he has failed in getting me to do what he wanted done "-
Today let me recall some of the lesser known
freedom fighters who's contributions have missed the hype of media and the text
book writers but in no way lesser to those who's names you would have learnt in
schools. Let me start with three valliant ladies.
Velu Nachiyar was the
princess of Ramanathapuram and the only child of Raja Chellamuthu Sethupathy
and Rani Sakandhimuthal. The first queen to have ever actively opposed the British rule
and who fought against the colonial rulers many years before the Sepoy Mutiny. She was a scholar in many languages and she had proficiency
with languages like French, English and Urdu. She formed an army alligned
with Hyder Ali and in 1780, successfully fought the British.
When Velu Nachiyar found the place where the British stored their ammunition,
she arranged a suicide attack: a faithful follower, Kuyili, doused herself in oil, set herself alight and walked into
the storehouse. Velu Nachiyar formed a woman's army named
"udaiyaal" in honour of her adopted daughter — Udaiyaal, who died
detonating a British arsenal. Nachiar was one of the few rulers who regained
her kingdom and ruled it for ten more years.
Begum Hazrat Mahal
1820 – 7 April 1879), also known as Begum of Awadh, was the first wife ofNawab Wajid Ali Shah.
She rebelled against the British East India Company during the Indian
Rebellion of 1857 and seized control of Lucknow. She
protested against the obliteration of places of worship by the East India
Company, and thus, along with Raja Jailal Singh, led a huge army against the
British forces.
Rani Gaidinliu
She was a Naga spiritual and political leader who led a
revolt against the British rule in India . At the age of 13, she joined
the Heraka religious movement that her cousin had initiated, which later turned
into a political movement that tried to drive the British away from
Manipur and nearby Naga regions. She was 16 at the time of her arrest, and was
put into life imprisonment by the British. Five years later, in 1937, Nehru
visited and promised to get her out and gave her the title ‘Rani’. She
was released in 1947 after which she continued to work for the community.
She was also awarded a Padma Bhushan.
Pingali
Venkayya.
was a devout follower of Mahatma Gandhi and was also known as
Diamond Venkayya for his knowledge on diamond mining. He was an authority in
geology, agriculture and also an educationalist. His major contribution to the
movement was the design of the national flag of India, which was first modified
and adopted as the flag of Indian National Congress and later m The National Flag of India is a horizontal rectangular tricolour ofdeep saffron, white and India
green; with the Ashoka Chakra, a 24-spoke
wheel, in navy blue at its centre. It was adopted in its present form during a
meeting of the Constituent
Assembly held on 22 July 1947, when it became the
official flag of the Dominion of India. The flag was subsequently retained as that of the Republic
of India.
Tirupur
Kumaran
The
freedom fighter has been long forgotten, despite having given his life taking
part in the independence movement. He insisted on holding the national flag of
India, irrespective of the fact that at that time, it was prohibited by the
British government. It was during the same protest march that he succumbed to
the injuries caused by the police force.
V.O.
Chidambaram Pillai deserves a mention here.
It
was the time, when people with enormous wealth feared the British raj and
did not dare to do any sort of trade opposed to them.
VOC , as
he is popularly known, started a shipping service to compete against British
ships and trade.
Vanchinathan
Collector of Tinneveli Ashe was instrumental in working
against the Swadeshi shipping company started by freedom fighter
V.O.Chidambaram Pillai. On 17 June 1911, Ashe
was on his way to Kodaikanal. He boarded the train 9-30 a.m. Maniyachi
Mail at Tirunelveli junction. And it reached Maniachi where he was shot
point blank by Vanchinathan who committed suicide after that. He was
just 25 had a lucrative job and a young wife
Vanchi was a close collaborator of Varahaneri Venkatesa Subrahmanya Iyer (normally shortened to V.V.S.Aiyar or Va.Ve.Su
Iyer), another freedom fighter who sought arms to defeat the British. He
trained Vanchinathan to execute the plan in all perfection.
These women and men gave us independence from Foreign rule .
But still we are not economically, Intellectually and productively independent
of foreign nations. That independence can be achieved only by you starting your
own industries, Involve in research to make our own research products and serve
the society with better work culture.
Jai Hind
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