In honour of the Indian freedom struggle movement and the freedom fighters., the Indian flag.
Madabhushi AnaanthaSayanam Iyengar. 4.2.1981-19.3.1978.
A tribute to M.A.Iyengar.
He actively participated in the Indian freedom struggle movement and was a freedom fighter.He became a member of Congress party to pursue his goal to liberate India from foreign shackles.He was a ardent follower of M.K.Gandhi.He took part in all protests and meetings.Hence he was jailed by the British rulers for 4 years .
He sacrifised a highly lucrative legal practise and threw himself fully and wholeheartedly in the freedom struggle movement.Hence his large family was pushed to penury and were subject to untold hardships and sufferings for years.
He was elected several times to Parliament in pre as well as in post Independence era from Tirupathi, his home town.He was a member of the Constituent assembly of India .He took part in all the debates eagerly and energetically.He fully supported DR.Ambedkar and Pandit Nehru in all the debates.
He was later elected as Speaker of Lok sabha .He was the second Speaker.He thoroughly enjoyed his work as the presiding officer of the loksabha .His interpretation of the constitution and his rulings on the parliamentry proceedings have stood the test of time.They are so clear and authoritative that his rulings still hold sway..
There is a wealth of information about his views on laws that make our constitution,bills ,trade ,economics, society,foreign relations ,democracy, non violence , judiciary etc in the internet for all to read.As i went through some of them i was transported back to those days, 75 years back when the British rule was brought to an end and there was great excitement amongst the freedom fighters to shape a new Independant democratic India.The members of the elected constituent assembly were all highly educated, most of whom had protested against the British and therefore suffered internment for years and who were all fired with idealism as well as pragmatism.The destiny of India's future lay in their hands and MA .Iyengar had a word of caution for all the members.He said ,we are no longer under the British .The British would and at most time summarily dismissed our resolutions ,bills brought in the legislative assemblies but we are on our own with a majority and can pass any bill hence we need to be doubly cautious and discuss all provisions thorougly before we put it for a vote.
Though he had a great respect for Nehru reffering to the sacrifices he made by spending nearly12 years in jail for opposing the British rule it didnot inhibit him from criticing some of the laws passed under Nehru's Prime ministership .He openly made his discomfort known at the licensing policy introduced in foreign trade in a witty manner He referrered to a story from our puranas.in which a Brahmin who came seeking a horse from a king ,on getting it rode on it by sitting in reverse ,looking at the king fearing that the king who was notorious for taking back the almns given by him , may snatch the horse any time.MA Iyengar was known for diffusing any tense situation with his wit and sense of humour.
He has lamented at the indifference of the youth of his times viz 50'and 60' at their total indifference to nation building and in the elections.Dejavu ?A similar parrelel exists now.
His hackles rose when a delegation of Europeans visited India and commented on the miserable conditions of women and their ill treatment in India .He shot back saying we have given our women the right to vote but women in Switzerland do not have the right Should we send our women to Switzerland and make them protest at this denial of franchise to those European women?
He gives a the dismal picture of India's poverty soon after Independance when the govt advocated austerity measures to improve the economy.He pointed out the irony in this policy by commenting that majority of the population were leading a very austere life due to lack of food and resources .He has made poignant refferences and creates a word picture when he spoke about families down south who sat around their mother with their hands cupped to eat the rice cooked the previous day which was soaked in water to prevent its detoriation and ate only freshly cooked rice in the noon and ate the same in the night and next day without dal or vegetables or fruits.Similarily up North families ate only jawar chappatis thrice day with no ghee or vegetables or dal.And that many parents sacrifised their hard earned scant food for their children and went to bed hungry.This included the middle class as well.
He appreciated the govts move to import cereals but also critisised the govt for importing canned fruits from Singapore and Australia so that the few handful rich's palete could be satisfied .He asks. Can't we produce fruits in here? Can't we tin them here?He advocated self reliance in all aspects.
It would take me months to go through his views found in the internet .and lenghthen this blog on MA Ayangar to Hanuman's tail .
After completing his term as Speaker he was appointed as Governor of Bihar .At the end of his tenure he retired from active politics and settled in Tirupathi.Here he built housing tenements for leprosy patients and provided medical facilities,He organised sanitary workers into unions and helped them .
Earlier when he was in Delhi as a MP soon after the partition of India he received a series of letters from a Tamil Muslim who had migrated to Pakistan with great enthusiasm ,imploring him to bring him back to India.That person felt like a fish out of water in the brash culture that prevailed there.He didnt know the language ,didn't like the food nor the people and felt like a alien.He missed his village back in the South .He changed his plans of taking his entire family to Pakistan and instead asked them to strive to bring him back home.His wife and children approached MA iyengar when he visited his home in Chitoor and pleaded with him to bring him back.
In those days of extreme disturbances owing to the partition it was impossible to bring any one back once he migrated .But MA ayengar moved by the plight of that person used every possible avenue in the corridors of power at Delhi to bring him back and he succeeded in doing so !
He was a conessiure of Carnatic music and Bharat natyam.He was often moved to tears when Rukmani Arundale performed a piece from Thiyupavai and enacted Andal's role in it.. Rukmani devi 's husband was a English man who wore a huge cross around his neck .
Rukmani Devi soon became a member of Rajya Sabha owing to the strong recommendations made by M.A.Ayengar who was then the Speaker of Loksabha.
He was a unabashed Hindu and was proud of being one.When sanyasis from various Mutts from South like Ahobila, Andavan , Parakala ,etc visited Delhi he made sure that they were properly lodged and the premises where they were housed had wells so that they could perform their rituals properly.
When Ahobila mutt seer died suddenly at Naimisaranyam it was MA.Ayengar who had it announced in AIR so that the mutt members could appoint a new head .He sent numerous telegrams goading them to do so quickly.This urgency was due to a law that would enable the govt to take over this 600 year old mutt if a head was not appointed in a specific time period .A succesor was duly appointed within that period and independance of this hoary mutt was preserved.
When petitioned by Srivaishnavaites of Kanchipuram he ensured that the post office that bore the ancient name of birthplace of Swamy Desikan viz Toopul was not changed .
He not only enjoyed Sanskrit literature but also Tamil Prabhandhams..He strove to promote them.He donated his farm land to the government to build a airport at the temple town,Tirupathi.His house in Tirupati has been donated to Sanskrit Institute to set up a library of Ramanujar's treatises and teachings,
Being one of the founding father's of the constitution the Emergency shocked him and the suspension of fundamental rights which he had helped to embelish the constitution with ,made him furious.He was well past his prime he was in his late 80's with one leg in the grave yet his anguish was obvious and palpable.
Even at ripe old age he would attend to a long queue of petitioners seeking his help viz his good offices in the national arena,every day be it a commoner or highly placed people or even Chief ministers ,without any hesitation,and full of patience. He would help whole heartedly, and happily without expecting anything in return.
I am awestricken by the sacrifises my grand father made ,so that the people of this country , his country , our country,Bharat which is India would live freely and happily.
From left to right M.A.Iyengar, Radha Krishnan, Rajendra Prasad, and Nehru.
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