Publication brings out oratorical prowess of veteran Marxist leader

The qualitative difference that a public-spirited legislator can make to the functioning of the legislature has been captured in a recent Tamil publication, Manitha Uyirgala? Sothudaimaiya? (Human lives? Possession of property?).

The qualitative difference that a public-spirited legislator can make to the functioning of the legislature has been captured in a recent Tamil publication, Manitha Uyirgala? Sothudaimaiya? (Human lives? Possession of property?).

The publication, containing select speeches of veteran Marxist leader P. Ramamurti (1908-1987), covers a host of issues — the “excesses” of the police, the creation of an “unpardonable tradition” of C. Rajagopalachari holding the office of Chief Minister despite not getting elected to the Legislative Assembly, the denial of permanent occupancy rights to farmers, the treatment of Scheduled Castes in villages and the impoverishment of the community, and the rights of industrial workers. 

His speech in the Lok Sabha in December 1967 on a piece of legislation concerning the amendment to the Official Languages Act assumes relevance. While describing himself as someone who spoke Hindustani in areas where people speaking the language and who were not against it resided, Ramamurti expressed himself forcefully against the imposition of Hindi on the people of the southern parts of the country. 

Most of the speeches found in the publication were made by Ramamurti when he was a Member of Legislative Assembly of Tamil Nadu during 1952-57. For most of the period, he was the Leader of Opposition. His election to the Legislative Assembly in 1952 was noteworthy as he won in Madurai North while being in jail.

When Rajagopalachari was nominated to the now-abolished Legislative Council in 1952, the Marxist theoretician, who was popularly called PR and then in the undivided Communist Party of India (CPI), challenged the nomination in the Madras High Court and argued fiercely against the Governor’s action, calling it “malafide exercise” and a “fraud” on the powers of the office. However, the Court had dismissed his petition. 

In 1964, when the CPI (Marxist) was established, PR was one of the nine founder-members of the Polit Bureau of the party. He was a Member of both Lok Sabha (elected from Madurai in 1967) and Rajya Sabha (1960-1966 and 1977-1983). 

The publication, brought out by the Bharathi Puthakalayam, has been compiled by R. Vaigai and Narmadha Devi. The translation of PR’s speeches into Tamil has been done by V. B. Ganesan and K. Ramesh. The book contains a note of the CPI(M) State unit’s Secretary K. Balakrishnan on the relentless work of the veteran leader.