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A great sentinel of freedom

V SUNDARAM

        We celebrate tomorrow, (Sunday, 19 August, 2007), because it happens to be the 120th birth anniversary of one of the most heroic captains in our struggle for freedom - the great Satyamurthi. He was a product of the Indian freedom movement and a highly respected leader of the Indian National Congress. A great freedom fighter, a brilliant Parliamentarian, a lover of Sanskrit, a fiery and passionate orator in Tamil and English, a versatile man with wide interests ranging from the fine arts to education - Satyamurthi was not just a MAN; but a massive procession of MEN.
 

History repeated

        Accompanying is the crisp and classy introduction that News Today's Founder-Editor TRR wrote when V Sundaram wrote a article on the occasion of Sathyamurthi's birth centenary in 1987. The same introduction, rising over the passing of time, is still valid and we present here along with another piece on Sathyamurthi by V Sundaram

        Satyamurthi entered the nationalist movement in 1919, when there was a universal outcry against the stringent provisions of the Rowlett Act. Like C R Das in Bengal, Pandit Motilal Nehru, Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru and Govind Vallabh Pant in the then United Provinces, Rajaji and Kamaraj in erstwhile Madras Presidency and many other great leaders from different parts of India, Satyamurthi also came under the magic spell of Mahatma Gandhi.

        At the call of Mahatma Gandhi in 1919, a demoralised backward and broken-up people suddenly straightened their backs and lifted their heads and took part in a disciplined, joint action on a country-wide scale, ultimately resulting in the attainment of our freedom on the 15 August 1947. In this great struggle for freedom, Satyamurthi became a legendary figure in the public life of erstwhile Madras Presidency.
 

TRR's Note

        'On Tuesday, 19 August the country is observing, though not in visible glare of publicity and ostentation the birth anniversary of the 'never-say-die' freedom fighter and parliamentarian S Satyamurthi. 

        In this article V Sundaram, the scholar civil servant sets out thoughts on the legend of a leader in simple words.

        It is good the nation, in at least a small part, remembers one of its tragically unremembered and largely unsung heroes. As Kalki, the veteran Tamil-writer once pointed out there were hardly a dozen at the funeral of Satyamurthi when he passed away on 27 March 1943 before he could see independence dawn on his country for which he had fought so much inside and outside the legislative forums at the Centre and in his home ground of Madras. If the noble dozen had multiplied now into few hundreds then it should show that the country is not wholly ungrateful. 

        Satyamurthi was feared in the Central Assembly by the official block for his supplementaries. Sir James Grigg, Finance Member who was once called by an opposition Member as Sir James Hitler nicknamed Satyamurthi as ''Supplemurthi''. This was because Satyamurthi fired supplementary questions with the rattle of a machine gun and he took delight in crossing swords with ''Sir James Grigg. Sir F.E. James who was a bitter opponent of ''Supplemurthi'' acknowledged his opponents greatness outside the House. He said: ''Like the Niagara he was torrential, deafening and unceasing; but unlike the Niagara he had never been known to freeze into silence''.
       When C R Das visited Madras in 1923 to canvass support of Congressmen in the South to the Council Entry Programme, Satyamurthi became one of the most ardent disciples of C R Das. In 1923, Satyamurthi contested the elections and became a member of the Madras Legislative Council. He made his mark as a skilful debater and brilliant Parliamentarian during his membership of the Council. Justice Party was then in power. With their biting sarcasm, C R Reddy and Satyamurthi always managed to outwit the British Executive Councillors' and their Indian allies. For all the purposes of discussion, argument, exposition, appeal or altercation, Satyamurthi had a complete armoury. The bludgeon for the platform; a rapier for a personal dispute; the entangling net and unexpected trident for matters of law and a jug of clear spring water for an anxious perplexed conclave. One of the most memorable speeches he made in the Council was in 1926 when the songs of poet Subrahmaniya Bharathi were seized and impounded by the State police, acting under the inspiration of the Government of Burma. By reciting some of Bharathi's most famous patriotic lyrics in the council, with all the aplomb of a brilliant actor that he was on the amateur stage, Satyamurthi succeeded in getting all the proscribed songs into the Parliament record!
S Satyamurthi
(1888-1943)
Satyamurthi is seen here with poetess,
politician Sarojini Naidu and his
beloved protege K Kamaraj.
          Here are a few flashes from his soul-stirring speech on that occasion:

        'President, Sir, I beg leave to move that the business of this House be adjourned to consider a matter of urgent public importance, namely, the, recent action of the City Police in entering upon and searching the premises of the Hindi Prachar Sabha on the High Road, Triplicane, for copies of Bharathi's songs, and seizing nearly two thousand copies of the same'.
  
       'Sir, in support of this motion, I don't think I need advance any elaborate or detailed arguments. For, I know, Sir, I am not exaggerating the feeling of any Member of this House who is a Tamilian, or who knows Tamil, or who is a patriot, or who is not afraid of patriotism, when I say that one wants no arguments to support this vote of censure on the action of the Madras Government in having acquiesced in or directed the City Police to seize what will remain, in spite of the Madras Government's activities, so long as the Tamil language lasts or a single Tamilian exists, as the most priceless and patriotic songs in that great language'.
       'Sir, the late Subramania Barathi was a man on whose tongue, to use the language of romance for half a minute, the Goddess of Saraswathi can honestly be believed to have danced the dance of patriotism. If he had been born in any free country, why in any country of the world except in India, that man would have been made the Poet-Laureate of that country, would have been given honours and titles by a Government which knows how to respond to the feelings of the people, and would have lived and died among the most honoured of the nation. But, Sir, being the slave country that we are, he had to live as an exile in Pondicherry, enjoying the hospitality of the French Government, and die as a broken wreck, because he found no use for himself under the auspices of the present Government. But, Sir, martyrs and patriots before him have gone to the same fate. Subramania Bharathi lived and died a patriot. I want to repeat President, that so long as the Tamil language lasts, you may confiscate all the copies which exist even as our sacred Vedas were handed down from generation to generation, for aeons, without a single piece of writing, by the memory of our ancient Hindu ancestors, even as Macaulay was able to repeat every line of Milton's 'Paradise Lost', I have no doubt, that so long as a single Tamilian lives, these songs will remain the priceless heritage of the Tamil race. I can inform this House, President, after this ill-advised action of the Government, we are starting a propaganda for getting by heart every song of Subramania Bharathi and although the Hon the Law Member and the Hon the Home Member may between them confiscate every printed word of those patriotic songs, human ingenuity has not yet invented any machinery which is able to confiscate thoughts and memories. Thoughts and memories will flourish, and wherever the Hon the Home Member goes, they will hear only these songs sung, and they will have to apply cotton wool to their ears if they want to save themselves from being polluted by hearing these brave and patriotic songs'.
Satyamurti, with his wife and daughter
Lakshmi Krishnamoorthy on his left.
       In the 1934 general elections to the Central Assembly, in which the Indian National Congress participated for the first time, Satyamurthi was the obvious choice for the Madras City Constituency. His opponent was Sir A Ramasamy Mudaliar who was the Justice Party candidate. Satyamurthi won the election and entered the Central Assembly. Bhulabhai Desai was elected Leader of the Congress Party. Satyamurthi was first chosen as Secretary of the party and became its first deputy leader. There were many occasions when Satyamurthi dominated the Central Assembly with his great debating skill and masterly exposition of the Congress point of view. He employed his ability to put questions and supplementaries to keep the Members of the Treasury Benches on their toes. To hear him wind up a debate, speaking for an hour at a time without a note, dealing with point after point, weaving them all into an ordered texture of argument, darting aside, now here, now there, upon some retaliatory foray, but returning always surely and easily to his main theme, and reach his conclusion without the slightest appearance of effort, all this constituted an impressive and enviable gift. Finally, he had a brilliant gift for exposition. He could reduce a tangled problem to a rational pattern before he had done more than apprehend its details. He delighted in summing up an argument stressing the essentials, taking sides in any dispute, introducing new points of view, pursuing some arguments to their logical conclusions and others to their ultimate absurdities, laughing at lapses and mocking at muddles, with epigrams and paradoxes tumbling over each other.

        As a Parliamentarian, he displayed all the canine virtues in a remarkable degree - courage, fidelity and vigilance. Man of the world; man of affairs, master of law; adept at the written or spoken word, lover of music and fine arts and a book-lover - there were few topics in which he was not interested and whatever attracted him, he would expound and embellish to the total delight of the audience. Above all he was a gay, brilliant, loyal and lovable being.

        Satyamurthi rendered yeoman service to the Congress party and the country during the first elections held in 1937 under the Government of India Act of 1935, which brought the Congress Party to power in six provinces. He participated in the famous 'Quit India' Resolution of 1942 and soon thereafter he was arrested for the fourth and last time and sent to the distant jail at Amaravathy in the then Bombay State. He suffered a paralytic attack in Amaravathy Jail and was transferred to Madras Jail. Later he was taken to the General Hospital in Madras where he died on the 28 March 1943.

        (The writer is a retired IAS officer)

        e-mail the writer at vsundaram@newstodaynet.com
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