Date:08/01/2009 URL: http://www.thehindu.com/2009/01/08/stories/2009010858140200.htm

Tamil Nadu - Madurai

Freedom fighter’s intriguing question

Mohamed Imranullah S.

“Did I fight for the freedom of the entire country or for Tamil Nadu alone?”

— Photo: G.Moorthy

Miffed: Freedom fighter C. Rengammal leaving the High Court Bench premises in Madurai after submitting a petition on Wednesday.

MADURAI: Eighty-five-year-old freedom fighter G. Rengammal of Andipatti in Theni district has raised a strange but intriguing question: “Did I fight for the freedom of the entire country or for Tamil Nadu alone?”

She was disturbed by an oil marketing company’s refusal to grant her LPG (Liquefied Petroleum Gas) distributorship on the ground that she was receiving freedom fighter’s pension from the State government and not the Centre.

She tried to persuade the authorities, submitted a number of representations and even went on a hunger strike on December 15. After all her attempts went in vain, she approached the Madras High Court Bench here on Wednesday.

Ms. Rengammal was there not to file a case but only to submit a memorandum to the Registry. She requested the judiciary to take up the issue suo motu and convince the oil company to relax the rules and grant her distributorship. Sitting on a wheel chair near the life size statue of Mahatma Gandhi on the High Court premises, the freedom fighter, a widow, became nostalgic recalling her experiences in the pre-Independence days. Her husband V. Gurusamy was a ‘Tamrapatra’ awardee and received freedom fighter’s pension both from the Centre and State government. She claimed to have participated in agitations led by the Mahatma and was imprisoned on many occasions. “I also took part in Quit India Movement in an advanced stage of pregnancy. Now my grandchildren are taking care of me during my twilight years and I want to bequeath the LPG distributorship to them,” she added.