Kamaraj’s hideout during freedom struggle in Ranipet to wear a new look

The restoration will help promote local history and heritage structures: chairman

A dilapidated, tiled-roofed, small building inside the Ranipet municipality premises will be back to its original splendour for its historical significance of have been a hideout for the former Chief Minister and senior Congress leader, K. Kamaraj, during the Quit India movement seven decades ago.

Based on local reports and records, along with a team of municipal officials and councillors, Minister for Handlooms and Textiles R. Gandhi inspected the crumbled structure on Friday. He directed the municipal officials to restore the building before August 15, coinciding with the celebrations of the country’s 75 years of independence.

“The restoration of the building will also help to promote local history and heritage structures in Ranipet town. Once restored, the building will be open for public view, especially school students, to know about their rich past,” Sujatha Vinoth, Chairman, Ranipet Municipality, told The Hindu.   Work to give a facelift to the building has started with workers removing thick vegetation including deeply rooted Indian tulip trees on the walls of the building. The entire tiled roofing of the building was removed on Friday. Artisans from Nemili, Sholinghur and Walajah were roped in to make similar tiles and wooden beams for the building.

The building has three small rooms with concrete slabs as almirah with separate wooden doors. The slabs and doors have been damaged. An estimation is being prepared by the local body to fund the restoration work after the nod from the council. As per the plan, the building will be restored to its original design with a collection of old framed photographs that will be displayed for visitors.   Tracing its origin, the officials said the dilapidated building was part of the municipality premises. The entire plot belonged to a local tanneries owner, Mohammad A.B. Sulaiman Sahib, who was also a freedom fighter, in the erstwhile North Arcot district. His long-time friend and neighbour A. Kalyanaraman Iyer was also a freedom fighter..   It was said that after the Bombay session of the Indian National Congress (INC) where the resolution for Quit India movement was adopted on August 8, 1942, K. Kamaraj, who attended the meeting, was returning to Madras when he was alerted that he would be arrested. He got down at Arakkonam railway station and went to Mr. Kalyanaraman’s house in Ranipet. However, the help of Sulaiman Sahib was sought to provide a safe place for Kamaraj. The dilapidated building was used to store haystacks by Sulaiman for his cattle. The former Chief Minister stayed in the storehouse for two days before leaving to Madurai via Tiruvannamalai and Tiruchi.   Two decades later, Sulaiman Sahib sold the place to the then Ranipet town panchayat for a sum of 65,000. Over the years, due to poor upkeep, the building was used as a storehouse to dump used materials by the local body, officials said.