6 days ago
Narayan Chandra Maiti: I went underground to evade arrest, hid in jute fields
Today, the nation marks its Independence Day. But 101-year-old Narayan Chandra Maiti, a resident of Chakdurgadas, a remote village in West Bengal's East Midnapore district, is still fighting a legal battle in the Calcutta high court to get a pension under the Swatantrata Sainik Samman Pension Scheme.'I had to go underground to evade arrest. I used to hide in jute fields. But one day when I was hiding in an abandoned village house, a villager recognised me and informed the police. I was arrested. Later I got bail,' he participated in the Quit India Movement of 1942 under the leadership of Sushil Kumar Dhara, freedom fighter who was later elected as an MLA in the West Bengal assembly and a Lok Sabha MP. A certificate given to Maiti by Dhara in 1981, states that between 1942 and 1944, Maiti was a worker of the government styled Tamralipta Jatiya Sarkar and a soldier of its militia.'Several decades have passed since we gained independence. But there are many freedom fighters who are yet to get their due respect. There are many like me who are still fighting to get a freedom fighters' pension,' said Maiti.
Narayan Chandra Maiti: I went underground to evade arrest, used to hide in jute fields
