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Impressive show thrills Lakshmi Sahgal

By Our Special Correspondent

BANGALORE JULY 7. It was an impressive reception for Lakshmi Sahgal, the non-conformist heroine of the freedom struggle and candidate of the Left parties in the Presidential election, but a dismal display of support on the part of the electors. Not one of the four Janata Dal (Secular) MLAs was present at the civic reception given to her at the Sir Puttannachetty Town Hall here on Sunday. Ms. Sahgal, who is well known to the older generation here, was in the forefront of the protest voiced against the Miss World beauty contest held here five years ago.

The four MLAs are the only committed voters of Ms. Sahgal in the Presidential election to be held on July 15 in the State. The votes of the MLAs from the ruling Congress and the principal Opposition, the BJP, will go to the NDA candidate, A.P.J. Abdul Kalam. The Janata Dal (United), which has 19 MLAs and is a constituent of the NDA at the national level, is yet to decide on its stand in the State.

Never before did a Presidential candidate sponsored by the Opposition parties of the day, including the Revolutionary Socialist Party leader, Tridip Chaudhury, in 1974, V.R. Krishna Iyer in 1987, and T.N. Seshan in 1997, have such a poor following among MLAs in Karnataka. Even K.T. Shah, who was Professor of Economics in the University of Mysore in its formative years and gave a fight to Rajendra Prasad in 1952, had managed some votes in the erstwhile Mysore Assembly, though the Congress was in majority at that time.

Though activists of the CPI(M) were prominent in organising the reception, the party and the CPI have no representation in the State Assembly. Leaders of the Janata Dal (S) were, however, present in strength on the dais. The reception was well attended by members of the Communist parties and those belonging to Left leaning organisations.

Ms. Sahgal said she was overwhelmed by the reception given to her. She seemed to be thrilled by the cavalcade of motorcycle outriders. She remarked that nowhere was she given such a welcome. Her short speech was also notable for the fact that she preferred to speak about herself and did not mention even the name of her rival, and the NDA and the other parties supporting him. "The more we talk the more we forget,'' she said.

Her candidature signified the acceptance of the role played by Netaji Subashchandra Bose in the freedom struggle. "He today stands vindicated'' as many had questioned whether the line he took at that time was right. She recalled that Netaji had opposed the division of India, but there was nobody to listen to him. Her candidature was a tribute not merely to her own role but also to that of the 1,500 women who had joined the "Jhansi Rani Regiment'' of the Indian National Army. She, no doubt, had the backing of her parents, but not those women who were forgotten after Independence. After the Second World War ended many of those women went to Malaya and lived in poverty. Free India forgot them.

Ms. Sahgal said that the "battle is not yet over.'' The India of today was not the country they had intended. Poverty, oppression, and suppression existed in the country. A social upheaval was needed and the unity forged around her candidature should be strengthened. She ended the speech with the INA war cry, Inquilab Zindabad.

Subashini Ali, former CPI(M) MP from Kanpur and daughter of Ms. Sahgal, said the Presidential election this time was between those who cared for the country and the poor, and stood for secularism on the side, and those who had betrayed their duty to protect the Constitution. It was not a token contest as many had believed. Attacking the NDA, she alleged that what it attempted at turned out to be a "bogus consensus'' on the candidate for the Presidency. Ms. Sahgal was not the representative of any political party but of all the secular forces.

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