'We were better under the British' 3 Jun, 2010 0408hrs IST TNN[ Kartikeya ]
[Also covered by TOI - Goa]
MUMBAI: More than six decades after Independence, freedom fighters who
helped overthrow foreign rule are struggling against the bureaucracy of
modern India.
"We were better under British rule,'' wrote 82-year-old S J Chughani,
president of the Mumbai Freedom Fighters Sabha, in recent letters to the
state and central governments to express the sabha's frustration at the slow
pace at which applications for freedom fighter status, under the Centre's
Swatantra Sainik Samman Scheme, are approved.
Thousands across the nation still await 'freedom fighter' status and the
pension and benefits that come with it. This includes at least 350 people
from Mumbai and hundreds more across Maharashtra, which was a hotbed of the
freedom movement.
Speaking of the Mumbai sabha's experience, Chughani said, "I have exchanged
innumerable letters with the President and written to various chief
ministers of Maharashtra, but they do not even bother to reply.'' The Mumbai
sabha has around 380 members, but only 30 or so are recognised as patriots.
The other 350 have been writing to officials for 20 years.
"I am sorry to say that in my last letter to the government I went to the
extent of saying that we were better under British rule,'' Chughani told
TOI.
In fact, as recently as May 2010, the Bombay High Court had to tell the
state government not to be unfair to Namdeo Gaikwad, whose plea for a
pension had been pending before a state panel for several years. Gaikwad, in
his 90s, fought for the liberation of Goa.
Pension has been granted to 1.71 lakh freedom fighters or their eligible
dependents across the country under the Centre's Swatantra Sainik Samman
Scheme, the main one for this purpose in the country, since its inception in
1972 and till October 2009.
Till January 2010, 17,909 people from Maharashtra had received pension under
the scheme, but many more await this recognition even as they and their
dependents get along in years.
According to official sources, the Ministry of Home Affairs is in the final
stages of clearing the names of 1,614 people who took part in the movements
to liberate Goa and Hyderabad. Many of those who fought to liberate Goa are
from Maharashtra.
If the recognition to those involved in the Goa Liberation Movement during
1954-55 (Phase II in the documents) comes this year, it would come 55 years
after their sacrifice. Likewise, participants of the Hyderabad Liberation
Movement during 1947-48 would be getting recognition 62 years after their
efforts. Such recognition might be too late, because the freedom fighters
and their kin would be well advanced in years or even deceased. Kin like
unmarried daughters, widows or parents also get benefits.
One reason for such delays is that certain historical events were not
considered part of the freedom struggle for several decades by the
government. For instance, only in 2003 did the government allow participants
of the Goa Liberation Movement and those of the Hyderabad Liberation
Movement to be included on the list of freedom fighters. This also means
they can be eligible for pension and benefits only from 2003 onwards.
Chughani recounted the pitched battles that freedom fighters in Mumbai
fought with colonial police to challenge foreign rule. His office at Grant
Road is now the nodal point for several freedom fighters to come together
and share their problems. "I have met almost every minister and MP who
matters. But nothing has been done. We just want our due, but what really
hurts is that in many cases they do not even reply to our letters,''
Chughani said.
Pension is granted according to guidelines in the Swatantra Sainik Samman
Scheme. In 2009-10 alone, the central government spent Rs 578 crore on
benefits such as free railway passes, medical facilities, accommodation and
monthly pensions, which can be as high as Rs 7,000 depending on which
movement the freedom fighter was involved in.
The largest number of beneficiaries of the scheme are from Bihar, followed
by West Bengal, Uttar Pradesh and Maharashtra. A large contingent of freedom
fighters who fought under the banner of the Subhas Chandra Bose-led Indian
National Army have been recognised by the government.
There have even been fake claimants, with the authorities coming across 35
cases last year in which details had been fudged to portray oneself as a
freedom fighter.
COMMENTS:
The Goa Su-Raj Party is on record for having said that if the rank and file
of Goa Freedom Fighters will not cull its list of freedom fighters of the
fakes and expose them, it will derecognize the freedom fighters of Goa when
it comes to power.
The Goa Su-Raj Party's stand on the speech given by Sir Winston Churchill
in the British Parliament during the debate of giving Independence to India
is vindicated when Sir Churchill had said to Clement Atlee : "You are
handing the reins of hungry millions in the hands of men of straw, looters
and freebooters. A time will come when even fresh air will not be free to
breathe". We are proud that Mahatma died bringing Independence to India. But
he does not know that he has handed his India in the hands of CHORS and
'Leu'mte' [ a konkani word of free f*****s] who want to extract their
pound of flesh from mother India for saving her even to this day by way of
expecting pensions for themselves and their kith and kin. A SHAME indeed.
Those who participated in the freedom struggle and living should have been
given a badge of 'honor' and nothing else. Those who had died during the
struggle, their immediate dependents should have been given the yearly
stipend until it was certified that they are self reliant or continued until
the dependents died dependents.
This country has been drained by giving pensions and hand-outs to the so
called freedom fighters who are still begging for the handouts as we can
see, most of them being fake. "Must you get pensions for life and be
pampered for saving your own mother in distress???" Is the question we ask.
W.R.T. Goa's so called Liberation, Goa is on record of hauling its aged
genuine freedom fighter Dr. Jose Francisco Martins of Paitona Bardez Goa in
his under-wear by an oaf of a Police Officer in the middle of the night
prompting him to cry tears of humiliation, frustration and anger, just
before he died and even wishing that he had strength in his feeble body to
fight the Indians to bring back the Portuguese again. If this is not a
shame, then we do not know what shame is.
Goa's fake freedom fighter Naguesh Karmali waited for 40 odd years to march
with the pariah communal elements of the Hindutva BJP to destroy the name
plaques of houses and streets in Fontainhas in Panjim City. We are on record
of declaring openly at a meet at the TB Cunha Hall (the real Goa's Freedom
Fighter) that Naguesh Karmali as the custodian of the TB Cunha Trust should
be thrown out for being a blot on TB Cunha's face.
63 years after India's Independence and 49 years after Goa's so called
Liberation [ actually an act of war - a conquest by the Indian armed forces
certified by the Supreme Court of India] the so called freedom fighters are
still piping for pensions and all the goodies that come with the title. This
should be recorded in the 'Guinness's Book of World Records' for being the
biggest and the tallest S H A M E.
Floriano Lobo
Gen. Secretary
Goa Su-Raj Party
9890470896
www.goasu-raj.org
