TAMIL
Satyamurti’s correspondence
C. G. RISHIKESH
SATYAMURTI KADITHANGAL — Vol. 1: Edited by K.V. Ramanathan; Tr. by Charukesi; Vikatan Prasuram, 757, Anna Salai, Chennai-600002. Rs. 165.
THIS COMPILATION of the papers of Congress leader S. Satyamurti throws light on various events during the later stages of India’s struggle for Independence. It includes letters and cables he sent or received , articles and open letters, he wrote in periodicals or to which he responded, and the texts of speeches he made in public forums during a tumultuous part of the nation’s history.
In nine sections, from the year 1914 — when Satyamurti who even as a college student enlisted himself as a Congress worker wrote a letter to the Editor of The Hindu on an economic issue — to 1937, when elections were held for provincial legislative assemblies, the papers are put together chronologically. Every section has an editorial note that places in perspective the topics alluded to in the correspondence that follows, sums up the salient features, and highlights the characteristics of the personages involved. Letters unfolded are from and to Gandhiji, Nehru, Rajaji, Netaji, and Vallabhbhai Patel, among others. Some sections such as the one on Montagu-Chelmsford reforms have Satyamurti’s correspondence with British leaders.
Steadfast in his opinions, frank and fearless in expression, Satyamurti did not hesitate to pit his arguments against anyone, however high he might have been. Charukesi’s translation has an easy flow.
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