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Indians resolve to fight
terrorism on I-Day eve

Priyanka Khanna in New Delhi

An 81-year-old freedom fighter, who was a part of India's freedom struggle against the British in his heyday, says he is ready to lay down his life, but will not let anyone take even an inch of his country.

This indefatigable spirit shines out of the faces of some 100 freedom fighters from all over India who converged at New Delhi on the eve of Independence Day celebrations.

Captain Sobha Ram Tokas may no longer have the strength he possessed when he was the bodyguard of India's greatest revolutionary Subhas Chandra Bose, more than 60 years ago, but even today he is ready to take up arms for his country.

"Terrorism is a disease, a termite that is eating into the very foundations of the country. It has to be stamped out at all cost," he said on Tuesday, at a gathering where more than 5,000 people resolved to fight terrorism.

The 100 freedom fighters, some of whom were members of the Indian National Army established by Bose, were felicitated at a meet organised by the All India Anti Terrorist Front in the capital to commemorate India's 54th Independence Day.

Family members of martyrs who died for the cause were also felicitated.

These included Mahatma Gandhi's grandson, Tushar Gandhi, Bose's niece and politician, Krishna Bose, Bhagat Singh's brother, S Kultar Singh, former president Shanker Dayal Sharma's wife, Vimla Sharma, and Bal Gangadhar Tilak's grandson, Rohit D Tilak.

Former president R V Venkataraman and former prime minister P V Narasimha Rao, who were also actively involved in the freedom struggle, were the chief guests.

Dressed mostly in white and holding the Indian flag, thousands of men and women from distant parts of the country sang and danced to patriotic songs that had galvanized the nation into a movement to overthrow the colonial British.

M S Bitta, chairman of the front and former Punjab cabinet minister, said: "On the eve of the Independence Day, we must resolve to fight terrorism in all its forms -- political, economical and cultural."

"We all -- Hindu, Sikhs, Muslims and Christians -- have to fight another freedom struggle, but this time it is against terrorism. The experience of the veteran freedom fighters among us should act as a guiding force."

"For us trans-border terrorism is the core issue. As a result we have lost innumerable precious lives. Trigger-happy terrorist outfits have, apart from shattering normalcy in India, been posing a grave threat to the very survival of democratic nations."

Some other prominent personalities present included former election commissioner and freedom fighter G V G Krishnamurthy and actor and freedom fighter A K Hangal.

Nirmala Deshpande, veteran freedom fighter and close associate of Acharya Vinobha Bhave, was given the Vinobha Bhave Award.

Indo-Asian News Service

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