CHENNAI: Hailing from an agricultural family in a very backward village Kathiranampatti in Dindigul district, K Balabharathi (53) had just completed her third term as a legislator of the CPM, representing the Dindigul Assembly constituency. On the occasion of the International Women’s day, she shared her experiences as a political functionary, as a public servant and as a woman over the past three decades.
Balabharathi was born in a political family. Her father Kathiriappan, a teacher in a private school, who was murdered by political opponents in 1980, was the president of the Kathiranampatti village twice. But she was moulded into a public servant by her class teacher A Subramanian. “From VII Standard, I studied in government high school in K Pudukottai, where my teacher Subramanian used to inculcate rational thoughts among students. Once, on an Independence Day, he asked the students to enquire with the local people on the importance of the day. Most people in that village were unaware of it. Then the teacher said, “The poor people here are not aware of it as the benefits of Independence have not reached them. We have to secure their rights so that they will understand the importance of independence,” she recalled.
Just after she completed Class 10, her father was murdered. Later, she joined Plus Two in Kambithottam, and went on to complete B.Sc in the Gandhigram University. After her mother death, she was appointed an anganwadi teacher. At that juncture, her school teacher Subramanian, a member of the Progressive Writers Association, came into picture again. “Subramanian sir gave me a few books stating that we have to work for changing the social set-up. These books ignited a fire within me,” she recalls. By then, she had joined the Youth Wing of the Communist party and DYFI, and started participating in the agitations for people’s issues. Following advice from Subramanian and others that she should become a full-time worker, she joined the CPM in 1985 and later became a full-time worker of the party in 1990, after resigning her job. “Becoming a full-time worker means dedicating our lives to the social revolution, following all ideologies of the party and implementing all decisions of the party. In short, dedicating our entire life to the party.” Asked how she got the conviction to sacrifice her life for the society without marriage, Balabharathi smiles and says, “in my childhood, I witnessed the torture undergone by many a woman in our villages. Almost every day, many of them used to get beaten by their drunk husbands. I strongly felt that if I got into this trouble, I may not be able to live a life of my own and hence I remained single.”
In 1996, she unsuccessfully contested the Assembly elections from the Athur constituency in Dindigul district. Later, in 2001, 2006 and 2011, Balabharathi got elected consecutively from Dindigul. Balabharathi says on many occasions, she received anonymous mails threatening and abusing her. Sometimes she lodged complaints with the police. “On one such occasion, the late leader N Varadharajan, at a public meeting, asked the people: “We have been fighting for many problems. Is it correct that you people make us stage agitations for these reasons also?” On that day, I decided to ignore these unjust comments on me.”