K. Umapathy was 27 when heard the former West Bengal Chief Minister, Jyoti Basu, address a rally at Mangollai in the city’s Mylapore area in May 1991.
A resident of Mylapore’s Warren Road, he used to attend every public meeting at Mangollai. “I cannot forget that meeting. Even as the meeting was on, it was wound up abruptly. Only later did we hear about the news of assassination of former Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi,” recalls Mr. Umapathy, now a resident of Mudichur on the city’s outskirts.
Similarly, V. Rama Rao remembers how he used to listen to politicians at Thana Street in Purasawalkam. For R. Ramesh, the arrest of some leaders under provisions of the Maintenance of Internal Security Act after their speech at Bharathi Thidal in West Tambaram remains a vivid memory.
These places, despite having transformed over the decades, remain political parties’ preferred venues for organising election meetings.
“Every political party used to organise public meetings on Thana Street. I used to have meals for just 50 paisa at Eswari Mess and then listen to speakers talk from the stage near Saraswathi Theatre. This was in the 1960’s and both the theatre and the mess have gone,” Mr. Rama Rao recalls.
Mr. Ramesh, a restaurant owner, says Bharathi Thidal was created by members of Communist Party of India. “Former Chief Ministers M.G. Ramachandran and Kamarajar have spoken here.”
Says historian V. Sriram: “The meeting in Robinson Park in 1948 was a turning point in the history of Tamil Nadu. C.N.Annadurai spoke from here to launch Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam after breaking away from Dravida Kazhagam.”
It is now known as Arignar Anna Poonga.
All trade union meetings in the city used to be held at Mayday Park, originally called Napier Park, in Chintadripet and leaders who spoke there went to become top political leaders too, Mr. Sriram adds.
A news report in The Hindu in March 1957 said that a meeting was organised by the Congress at Bandi Venkatesan Street in Triplicane (near CSI Kellet School) in support of Union Finance Minister and Lok Sabha candidate T.T. Krishnamachari.
Things have not changed at all as meetings continue to be held there.
