The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) State President, K. Annamalai, on Saturday said that youth should read more about freedom fighters. “We just read two paragraphs about freedom fighters in our history books. We should read more and it is because of such people we live freely today,” he said after launching a book titled Heroes: Tales of Courage, Love and Sacrifice written by J.S. Rajkumar, founder and chairman of Lifeline Hospitals.
Citing examples, Mr.Annamalai spoke about the contribution of Kuyili, the army commander of Rani Velu Nachiyar who was instrumental in attacking a fort of the East India Company.
“Kuyili was the first suicide bomber of India during freedom struggle. She applied ghee on herself and set herself ablaze and destroyed the armoury of the East India Company,” he pointed out. Commenting on the book he said that when one reads the book one would get a feeling that they were present when the incident happened.
H.V. Hande, former Minister, that for those who were already imbued with nationalism, a perusal of this book would deepen their national spirit.
The book brings together the life stories of Rani Velu Nachiar, Vanchinathan, Shivaji Maharaj, Subramania Bharathi, Surya Sen, Bhagat Singh, V.O. Chidambaram Pillai and others from the Sangam age. The descendants of all these freedom fighters were present at the book launch.
