Subhas Chandra Pattanayak
Immortal freedom fighter Man Mohan Mishra’s widow Nirmala Devi passed away at the age of 81 in the Ispat General Hospital, Rourkela. She breathed her last in the morning of July 12.
As long as there should be people to whom Man Mohan Mishra remains the unforgettable epitome of the romance of revolt against oppression, Nirmala Devi would remain in memory as his partner in left activism aimed at upliftment of the working class from the labyrinth of wretchedness.
Time has changed and politics has become a fortune fetching profession and India has clandestinely changed from democracy to plutocracy and traitors who have caused this change by rendering our national resolve, enshrined in the Preamble of our Constitution, for socialism inconsequential by signing the GATT agreement behind the back of our Parliament and have pushed us into the pernicious clutch of capitalism, have shockingly stayed in power at the helm of our affairs.
At such a time, when a person is eager to live only for itself, what was the life of Nirmala when she was partnering her revolutionary husband for betterment of others in the society, may remain beyond comprehension of many.
But to any one, who prides in the feeling of dwelling on a soil where this unique couple had once prioritized its agenda for emancipation of man from the chain of exploitation, it would certainly give a feeling of personal loss.