When B.K.Krishnaraj Vanavarayar, a leading industrialist from Coimbatore, stepped out of a Skoda, a Czechoslovakian car brand, at Madurai District Tiny and Small Scale Industries Association (MADITSSIA) hall here on Wednesday evening to attend its 39th anniversary celebrations, little did the industrialists gathered there know that they were in for a discourse on patriotism on the eve of the 67th Independence Day.
Delivering the chief guest’s address, Mr.Vanavarayar urged the participants not to consider Independence Day as yet another holiday meant for leisure activities.
He insisted the day must be used as an occasion to recall the supreme sacrifice made by thousands of freedom fighters who did not expect anything in return. He wanted the day to be one of thanksgiving for them.
“It is not that Mahatma Gandhi is the greatest of those who made innumerable sacrifices for this country. There were thousands of others too whose names did not get registered in the annals of history. We see Mahatma Gandhi only as a symbol of all the martyrs. Therefore, it is very important that we take time to salute them and hoist the national flag in every house tomorrow,” he said amidst thunderous applause.
Pointing out that the blood-stained clothes worn by Mahatma Gandhi at the time of his assassination were preserved at the Gandhi Museum here, he said: “Jawaharlal Nehru chose to preserve the clothes in Madurai because this is the place where the Mahatma took his much-hailed decision not to wear an upper garment for the rest of his life. But it is ironical that even many youngsters residing in Madurai do not know this fact.”
He also recalled a few lines from ‘Tryst with Destiny,’ a speech made by Pandit Nehru to the Indian Constituent Assembly on the night of August 14, 1947, and said the speech was considered to be one of the finest speeches ever made in the world. Nevertheless, it was yet to find a place in school textbooks and regular curriculum, he lamented.
Earlier, Mr.Vanavarayar handed awards and certificates of merit to 17 entrepreneurs from the southern districts.
