At the Republic Day ceremony held at Armed Forces ground in Madurai, the kith and kin of freedom fighters were annoyed that they were not given due respect at the function. The video of the incident was making the rounds on social media platform X.
The freedom fighters and their descendants are miffed at the administration that they were not accorded their due respects during the Republic Day function! Shame 😣 pic.twitter.com/sBpHO5lfO7
— karthik gopinath (@karthikgnath) January 26, 2024
The video begins with the police trying to pacify some angry relatives of the freedom fighters who were attending the Republic Day function. The angry relatives were also seen having some heated arguments with others who were present in the place, who were also trying to pacify them.
One of the participants, the wife of a freedom fighter, said, ‘They honoured four freedom fighters next of kin with shawls and left. For the rest of us, no shawls were offered. We are the wives of the freedom fighters. We sent them to fight for the country, and we were suffering back at home. Shouldn’t they pay the same level of respect to us as well? They didn’t do that, that’s why he is angry (referring to the elderly person at the beginning of the video). Only two rows of us are remaining, hundreds have left. Only 50 of us are remaining, if they can’t pay respect to us, then what does this mean?’
Another participant added, ‘I am from Paravai municipality. I am the son of a freedom fighter. I am the son of Sonaimuthu. My name is Subbiah. I am maintaining the Gandhi statue, I am offering my service from 2014 until now. We came to this armed forces ground to pay our respects to the district collector and the flag. But we didn’t get respect, so I am asking the district collector and CM Stalin to give us due respect. Jai Hind.’
He then continued to say, ‘Sahayam used to honour each and everyone of us without fail. He honoured us with shawls and paid respect. What we are asking the District Collector – they called the next of kin of freedom fighters for a meeting and about 24 of us participated. All we are asking now is to honour all of us next of kin with shawls and pay respect to us. Honouring ten people with shawls is not paying respect. How much time is it going to take? (The community) should know who the freedom fighters are and who their relatives are. This culture should not be destroyed. Future generations should know about the freedom fighters and what their relatives are doing now.’
While controversial people like Mohammed Zubair and Vairamuthu are being honoured by the Tamil Nadu government, it is sad to see that deserving people are being left out.
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