Editorial: "Salute to the Socialist Sentinels" in LAW ANIMATED WORLD, 31 December 2010 issue (Vol. 6, Part 2, No. 24)

Salute to the Socialist Sentinels

Dr. C.R. Rajagopalan, Surendra Mohan, B. Lokanadham, K.G. Kannabiran

A doctor and expert surgeon, a teacher turned political activist, a political activist turned teacher and an intellectual advocate – all prominent in their respective fields with the common streak of adherence and dedication to the cause of socialism, democracy and human rights have passed away in quick succession in the last three months, with Kannabiran being the last to depart just about 32 hours before the new year. Another common characteristic among them all was their ‘high thinking and plain living’, always caring more for the social good than personal pelf. Sri Rajagopalan was a communist activist for some time in his student days, was even associated with the renowned Amir Haider Khan – the first organizer of the communist movement in South India, and, in course of time, became a prominent civil liberties leader in Andhra Pradesh. As a socialist doctor he was in the forefront of the successful struggle by medical students and doctors to claim and obtain the site of the Musheerabad Jail for the Gandhi Hospital in Secunderabad. Sri Lokanadham was active in Marxist Study Forum before and after his retirement and ideologically and morally helped this editor to propagate the cause of socialism among the masses. Surendra Mohan was a most prominent socialist ideologue in India with close contacts with the grassroots and was always ready with affectionate aid to the efforts of this editor to spread socialist consciousness. He and Kannabiran have been our editorial advisers and their loss, particularly of the latter who has been a frequent contributor, is certainly irreparable for this journal too. Kannabiran was doyen of the Hyderabad Bar, has been a member of the A.P. Bar Council, and a much respected senior advocate who mainly took up and pursued the causes of the poor, downtrodden and oppressed and initiated an ‘advocacy of insurgence’ apart from his immense contribution to the development of human rights movement in India. We take this occasion to sincerely salute these socialist sentinels with a vow never to depart from their ideals and work traditions. §§§