SAHASA LAKSHMI PASSES AWAY
The springing tigress of the Azad Hind Fauz (INA) is
no more amidst us. One of the loyal aides of Netaji’s stupendous effort to free
the country by armed struggle and war from outside the borders, she was humane
to the core and an able, kind-hearted physician. A faithful partner of Colonel
Sahgal, of the same INA fame, and an affectionate mother to Subhashini Ali and
Anisa, she always held the whole world a family and assiduously worked in her
clinic for the cure and alleviation of health problems and social miseries of
the poor people. She was quite vocal and steadfast in her politics and pedagogy
of the oppressed and that was what brought her into the communist movement.
Even so, she was never, to our knowledge, a doctrinaire, authoritarian party-boss
but an affectionate and helpful guide to several young and active militants
working for the cause of socialism and democracy. Her faith and confidence in
the democratic destiny of the country and her devotion and commitment to the
cause of the unity and integrity of the nation spurred her, at a definite
juncture, to contest for the Presidency of the country locking horns with the
esteemed Abdul Kalam-ji in the electoral battle and it was then that this
editor wrote, “Springing
tiger was the emblem of the Indian National Army led by that valiant tiger of a
man, Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose, and his illustrious disciple, Dr. Lakshmi only
inherited that ferocious grit. … Knowing full well that the odds are heavily
against her, she has now sprung up like a tigress to counter the foxy maneuvers
of the Indian bourgeois classes and to champion the causes and claims of the
downtrodden people of India,” that “her contest itself will be more glorious than
any victory” and that “One need not worry that the wall on writing is obvious
and defeat is certain, for the very endeavour itself is noble to be undertaken
in the spirit of Karmanyevaadhikarastae
maa phaleshu kadachana {Worry
not for the fruit of action, you have only right to do the action}!” She always lived, served, fought,
sacrificed and ultimately breathed her last in the same spirit, leaving a huge void in the leftist political circles
and profound sorrow in the hearts of all lovers of socialism and democracy. To
try to emulate her example by deed would be the best possible tribute to her
indeed. §§§
1 comment:
A man does not die of love or his liver or even of old age; he dies of being a man.
Post a Comment