THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: Opposition leader V S Achuthanandan has said that socialist leader and freedom fighter Ponnara Sreedhar was a glittering personality in the struggle for independence.
Inaugurating the fiftieth death anniversary of Ponnara Sreedhar here on Saturday, he said Sreedhar could merge nationalism and patriotism to fight against the British rule.
He said that Sreedhar entered into the fire of freedom struggle through the State Congress.
He pointed out that Sreedhar's activities as a socialist was a glittering chapter in the freedom struggle.
“He had spent over 10 years in around 25 jails across the country. But he had never surrendered before the might of power,” he said. Noted socialist P Viswambharan said that Sreedhar's role in Freedom struggle in its various phases had always been inspiring his generation.
During those days, Sreedhar had gone up to Nagpur and Gujarat to participate in the freedom struggle, including the Salt Satyagraha .
“Police used to assault him brutally. During his salt satyagraha days, police tortured him brutally and left him on the wayside believing that he was dead.
It was Sardar Vallabhai Patel's daughter, who had been leading a Congress Raksha Sena, took him to hospital and brought him back to life,” Viswambharan recollected.
Sreedhar once got elected unanimously to the post of Mayor of Thiruvananthapuram, but did not mind his post and participated in the agitation when the High court was shifted to Kochi. He also recollected him as a leader who always had encouraged youngsters to come to the leadership.
Freedom fighter and BJP leader K Ayyappan Pillai and former minister Sankara Narayana Pillai, among others, spoke.