People's Democracy

THOUSANDS of people of the city of Chennai turned out to give a rousing reception to Dr. (Capt.) Lakshmi Sahgal, the presidential candidate of the Left and its allies, at a public meeting held at the Anand theatre complex on July 6.

School children in uniforms, leaders and representatives of various organisations garlanded her in expression of their support and solidarity. While the meeting was presided over by N Varadarajan, state secretary of the CPl(M), T Nandagopal, secretary of the South Chennai district committee of the Party welcomed the gathering.

The leaders while addressing the meeting stressed the background in which the Left had to assert its right to contest even as the major opposition party, the Congress caved in to the machinations of the BJP. They lambasted the NDA, mainly the regional parties who were at their opportunistic best when they waxed eloquent about Abdul Kalam’s candidature and about BJP’s "secular credentials" in nominating a minority candidate for the post of President of India.

N Sankaraiah, freedom fighter and central committee member of the CPI(M) and R Nallakannu state secretary of the CPI graphically explained the role played by INA during the freedom struggle and the patriotic sacrifices made by its leaders. Mythilli Sivaraman, working president of AIDWA state committee, Shantha Kumari, general secretary of NFIW also spoke on the occasion.

N Ram, editor of Frontline, was forthright in decrying the way the BJP attempted a consensus and finally backstabbed the other two candidates for whom they had settled for at earlier stages.

In the end, Capt. Lakshmi spoke for about 25 minutes and explained why she had finally decided to take on the fight as a candidate of the Left and other parties. The need of the hour is to preserve the unity of the people and secular tradition of India, she said. When she announced that she is prepared to continue the struggle for these ideals till her final breath – that was the lesson taught by Netaji during her INA days- the whole house stood up in a standing ovation. She finished her speech with Inquilab Zindabad - the slogan adopted by INA.

S S Tyagarajan deputy general secretary of the CPI Tamilnadu state committee proposed the vote of thanks.

Earlier, on the previous night when Capt. Lakshmi arrived by a scheduled Indian Airlines flight, she was given a rousing reception by the workers belonging to CPI(M), CPI and other parties. AIDWA also mobilised large number of women workers to receive their revered senior leader. Capt. Lakshmi's visit to Chennai generated a keen debate and interest among the educated sections of the city on the presidential contest and the issues involved in it.