Johannesburg, Oct 24 (PTI): A bust of teenage martyr Valliamma Munuswami, who marched in South Africa alongside then lawyer Mohandas Gandhi before he became the Mahatma, was unveiled recently at Tolstoy Farm, south of Johannesburg.
It was a collaborative effort by the Mahatma Gandhi Remembrance Organisation (MGRO), Progressive Tamil Movement (PTM), Tamil Federation of Gauteng and the Ahmed Kathrada Foundation.
Tolstoy Farm, the commune that Gandhi started at the turn of the last century, became a vibrant, almost self-sufficient commune for his followers, who were persecuted by racist government authorities demanding that all Indians carry permits at the time.
This and other discriminatory practices led to Gandhi organising many protest marches as he implemented his Satyagraha theories of peaceful resistance.
Valliamma, barely a teenager, was at the forefront of the women who joined these marches. She contracted an illness while in prison after one of these marches and succumbed to it, aged just 16.
This is what Gandhi wrote about Valliamma in his book Satyagraha in South Africa: “Valliamma R. Munuswami Mudaliar was a young girl of Johannesburg, only sixteen years of age. She was confined to bed when I saw her. As she was a tall girl, her emaciated body was a terrible thing to behold.
‘Valliamma, you do not repent of your having gone to jail?’ I asked.
‘Repent? I am even now ready to go to jail again if I am arrested,’ said Valliamma.
‘But what if it results in your death?’ I pursued.
‘I do not mind it. Who would not love to die for one’s motherland?’ was the reply.
Within a few days after this conversation, Valliamma was no more with us in the flesh, but she left us the heritage of an immortal name…. And the name of Valliamma will live in the history of South African Satyagraha as long as India lives.” Now a bust of Valliamma stands next to that of Gandhi, as well as one of Nelson Mandela, whom she would undoubtedly also have followed if she were still alive in his era, said PTM spokesman Nadas Pillay.
“Valliamma set the example for the scores of South African Indian women for the next three generations to be leaders in the decades-long fight against apartheid,” said Pillay, who spearheaded the erection of a marble bust of Valliamma in a popular Lenasia recreation venue, Rose Park, a few years ago. But sadly, the bust and two more to replace it were vandalised, leading to the idea to place a new one in an indoor venue where it would be safe from vandalism.
“We considered some temples, but since both Valliamma and Gandhi fought for the freedom of all Indian people and not just the Hindu community, we felt that might not be the right thing to do. When Mohanbhai approached us with the idea of getting a new bust made in India for placement at Tolstoy Farm, we wholeheartedly supported the idea,” Pillay added.
“It is most appropriate that the bust is now where Valliamma once worked side by side with Gandhi, his lieutenant Thumbie Naidoo and others to fight the apartheid government,” he said.
“Tolstoy Farm is where Valliamma worked side by side with the likes of Mahatma Gandhi, Thumbie Naidoo and others. How fitting that Valliamma’s bust is placed alongside Mahatma Gandhi and Nelson Mandela. She will now equally be recognised as a freedom fighter for our liberation in South Africa,” Pillay said.
After being completely vandalised for decades, MGRO, led by veteran Lenasia sportsman, Gandhian activist and Pravasi Bharatiya Samman Award recipient Mohan Hira, has revitalised Tolstoy Farm as a community facility, with a library and beautiful gardens.
Hira, who has previously arranged the busts of Gandhi and Mandela, which have become a major tourist attraction and even a pilgrimage site for many visitors, agreed with Pillay.
“Valliamma deserves this level of recognition, which was never given to her in South Africa, even though she has been honoured in India, despite never having been to that country after her parents migrated to South Africa,” Hira said. PTI HIG HIG
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