Chennai: With India’s 73rd Independence Day nearing, News Today meets Chakrapani, a resident of the neighbourhood, who shared the memories of his freedom fighter father T C Krishnamurthy.
“He used to run a Khadi shop in Dharmapuri, which was inaugurated by Rajaji. It was called Thiruchengodu Gandhi Ashram Kadhar Kadai. He was an active participant in boycotting foreign goods and was extremely patriotic,” he said.
“He used to say, back in those days, they had secret codes to communicate. For example, whenever freedom fighters wanted to hold a meeting, they passed messages in the form of signals or codes, so that third parties won’t know about it,” he added.
Krishnamurthy is said to have participated in the Quit India Movement and in Kallukadai Poraattam.
“My father was imprisoned for two years and told us that his inmate was ex- minister Kakkan. He has also met leaders like Kamarajar, HV Kamath and others,” Chakrapani stated.
“I remember vividly. One day more than 200 police men gathered at my house to arrest him for participating in the freedom struggle. Luckily, he was not at home,” he smiled.
Post independence, Krishnamurthy was into politics for a while, and he quit it after a decade.
“When former PM Indira Gandhi declared emergency, he was one among those who stood against it. That was when we shifted from Dharmapuri to Chennai,” he noted.
Chakrapani thanked the government for having honoured his father with the ‘Thaamirapathiram’ and providing him a monthly pension.