Udhayanidhi Stalin to inaugurate restored Kamaraj memorial in TN's Ranipet today

Chennai, Nov 3 (IANS) Tamil Nadu Deputy Chief Minister Udhayanidhi Stalin will inaugurate a restored memorial to former Chief Minister and Congress stalwart K. Kamaraj in Ranipet on Monday.

The historic building, where Kamaraj once stayed to evade British Police during the freedom struggle, has been meticulously restored by the Ranipet municipality to preserve its heritage value.

Officials said the small structure, situated within the 8.5-acre municipal office complex, had fallen into disrepair over the years and was being used to store cattle feed. The municipality has now restored the building to its original form with traditional Mangalore-tiled roofing, wooden doors, old-style electrical switches, and hurricane lamps.

“The memorial has been restored to its original splendour and will soon be open to the public,” said Ranipet municipal commissioner S. Buvaneswaran.

The house consists of three compact rooms of about 100 sq. ft each, constructed in traditional style. Over time, dense vegetation had grown around the pillars, the walls had cracked, and most roof tiles had collapsed. In 2022, Minister for Handlooms and Textiles and Ranipet MLA R. Gandhi inspected the structure and directed municipal officials to restore it as a memorial to commemorate Kamaraj’s role in the freedom movement.

Historians point out that the entire municipal complex originally belonged to local leather merchant and freedom fighter Mohammad A. B. Sulaiman Sahib. The house became significant during the Quit India Movement in 1942.

After attending the Indian National Congress session in Bombay that passed the Quit India resolution, Kamaraj was returning to Madras when he was alerted that he might be detained by British Police at the Central Railway Station.

Acting swiftly, he got down at Arakkonam and took a bus to Ranipet, seeking help from his friend and fellow freedom fighter A. Kalyanaraman Iyer. Since Kamaraj was being closely watched, Iyer sought the help of Sulaiman Sahib, who offered his storehouse as a hideout. Years later, Sulaiman sold the storehouse to the civic body. Now restored and reopened as a memorial, the site stands as a living reminder of Kamaraj’s courage, simplicity, and the solidarity among Tamil Nadu’s freedom fighters who risked everything to keep the movement alive.

--IANS

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