“I Have Been Writing My CV,” Says H S Doreswamy 102-year-old Freedom Fighter

Centenarian freedom fighter H.S. Doreswamy was previously called “fake freedom fighter” and “Pakistani agent” by a Karnataka BJP MLA.

Bengaluru| Doreswamy, who has been actively protesting against CAA, was questioned by BJP MLA seeking proof of his involvement in the Independence movement which ultimately led to a political storm.

An MLA from the ruling BJP in Karnataka, who has made controversial statements in the past, has welcomed his government’s decision to scrap a wedding scheme for poor women from minority communities, saying “those who want the scheme can go to Pakistan”.

The “Shaadhi Bhagya” scheme was launched by the previous Congress government in 2013, promising a one-time wedding expense of Rs 50,000 to women from minority communities who are below the poverty line.

“I have been writing my CV,” says H S Doreswamy, peering closely at a bunch of papers he has been scribbling on. In the dim light of his ground-floor residence in south Bengaluru, the 102-year-old reads out a summary of his life, from his birth in the city in 1918 to a family of landed gentry to his participation in the Quit India movement and Vinoba Bhave’s Bhoodan movement, and, most recently, a campaign to revive lakes in Bengaluru. “You can read it and tell me if there is anything anti-national in it,” he says.

A familiar figure in civil society movements in Karnataka for decades, Doreswamy finds himself at the centre of a political storm. It began when the BJP MLA from Bijapur, Basangouda Patil Yatnal, called him a“fake freedom fighter” and a “Pakistani agent” last month, seeking proof of his involvement in the Independence movement. Several senior BJP leaders, including Union minister Pralhad Joshi, backed Yatnal.

Last Tuesday, in response, the Congress produced a document, dated 1971, signed by the senior superintendent of the Bengaluru Central Jail, attesting that, as a 25-year-old unmarried man, Doreswamy had been imprisoned therefrom “December 18, 1942 (and) released on December 8, 1943”.

Earlier this month, a huge political row broke out over Mr Yatnal’s comments against HS Doreswamy, a 102-year-old freedom fighter, for his stand on the Citizenship (Amendment) Act.

Mr Yatnal called him a “fake freedom fighter” and a “Pakistani agent”. The comments snowballed into a major row, causing uproar in the state assembly.

Mr Doreswamy has been a prominent figure at protests against the controversial Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) and has been openly critical of BJP-led central government’s policies.

Doreswamy says he is as surprised. “I have been in public life for 60 years. We have differences in ideology but I have friends in the BJP and RSS too. I never expected that the BJP as a whole would attack me like this.”

Admitting he has been critical of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, the centenarian adds, “I have criticised every government. That is a citizen’s privilege. During the Emergency, I wrote a letter to then PM Indira Gandhi, saying, ‘You are ruling in the name of democracy, but behaving like a dictator… If this continues, I will go house to house telling people you are a dictator’.” Doreswamy was imprisoned for four months consequently and released when a magistrate dismissed the case, saying “he has every right to criticise his prime minister”.

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A teacher of physics and maths at a school in Bengaluru, Doreswamy joined the freedom struggle in June 1942, on Mahatma Gandhi’s call. “We would place small ‘time bombs’ in post boxes near government offices. They were not meant to kill people. They would burn documents, disrupting government communication. Sometimes, we would tie bombs to tails of rats and throw these into record rooms,” he recalls.

Barely six months in, Doreswamy was arrested for arson. When he was released in 1943, he plunged into the Independence movement.

In decades since, Doreswamy has taken up several causes, from the protests against the Kaiga nuclear plant in north Karnataka to rights of landless farmers.

(Inputs from Indian Express)