[1]Eighty-six-year-old freedom fighter Thiruvengidammal is not alien to physical torture. But what inflicts more pain for her, she says, is the rampant corruption and political mileage that various people seek by taking to the streets as anti-corruption crusaders. “This is not why we struggled for freedom.
Everything has become more about power and money than about the good of the people,” she said.
Ms Thiruvengidammal, a native of Sivakasi, currently resides in Chennai. Her father was a very close associate of Vanchinathan, known for assassinating collector Ashe of Tirunelveli at Maniachi railway station.
Recounting her younger days, she said, “My husband S.R. Ramaswamy took part in the Quit India Movement and Non-Cooperation Movement. He was arrested and asked to apologise, which he refused to. So, he was lodged in Alipuram prison, near Bellary, for two years.” While Ramaswamy was slogging in prison, Thiruvengidammal worked with her neighbours for a literacy movement by which she trained women to be communicators between freedom fighters in the prison and the public outside.
“My husband told me that the inmates had to bathe using the very mug into which they urinated. Stones and worms were found liberally in their daily meals. But my husband motivated the inmates by staging patriotic dramas in jail, for which his jail term was extended by four months,” she reminisced. “The police arrested and raped women,” she informed.
“Early morning of August 15, 1947, we received a message from nearby villagers that India got independence. The whole village celebrated. Both rich and poor fought for freedom. But I am depressed that many politicians these days amass wealth and exploit people under the cloak of democracy,” she added.
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