Their vision for the country
NEED FREEDOM FROM CORRUPTION
ALLAHABAD: Gandhi, khadi and the Ganga rule the heart of Raj Kumar Mittal, 89.
As the veteran freedom fighter fights old age related ailments and a severe chest infection at his Minto Road home in Allahabad while breathing through an oxygen mask, this retired chief mechanical engineer of UP State Roadways Transport Corporation (UPSRTC) still has an unfulfilled dream in his heart.
Having fought against the British and seen the Tricolour flutter with pride as a young student in 1947, Mittal now wants his country to become truly free of the scourge of corruption, which he sees ruling all walks of life.
“Having spent 10 months in prison as a 12-year-old at Bijnore for leading a freedom march during the 1942 Quit India movement and helping India get Independence, corruption is the biggest pain that my husband has in his heart. All his life he remained a true Gandhian but shares his sadness on corruption raising its ugly head,” says Pratibha Mittal, wife of Raj Kumar Mital, as she attends to her ailing husband.
As Raj Kumar attentively listens to her and nods in agreement, Pratibha shares how her husband, as a teen, was greatly moved by Mahatma Gandhi’s call for a peaceful struggle against the British to win independence and started taking part in freedom marches sporting khadi.
“While he was leading one such march in Bijnore on August 9, 1942 the British cracked down. Every person, scared of police action, scattered but Raj Kumar, then just 12, stood his ground waved the flag in his hand. He was soon joined by others and they took out the march. The British arrested Raj Kumar and he spent the next 10 months in jail in Bijnore (four months of the case and six months as awarded sentence),” she added. “When India finally gained Independence, my husband who was pursuing his mechanical engineering studies at Banaras Hindu University, Varanasi (he completed the course in 1950) was among the hordes of Indians who celebrated the occasion distributing sweets – happy to see his motherland free,” she added. “However, ever increasing corruption always pained him and he dreams of an India winning its freedom from this scourge too,” adds Pratibha. Raj Kumar’s elder daughter, Deepali Agarwal, married to chartered accountant Vinay Kumar Agarwal also takes care of her father. She resides at Sardar Patel Marg in Sangam city. “My father has always lived life with principles and always earned respect for his honesty and patriotism. We are three sisters, including Shalini who lives in Lucknow and Dr Avanti Goyal in Agra (a practicing eye surgeon). He got us married and settled, but without dowry, a practice which he always opposed,” shared Deepali. Though never posted in Allahabad during his service period, Raj Kumar chose Sangam city to settle down after retirement in 1988 as he wanted to live close to the Ganga.
On the 25th anniversary of India’s Independence, the then Prime Minister Indira Gandhi presented Raj Kumar Mittal a ‘Tampatra’ on August 15, 1972, for his great contributions to the Indian freedom struggle, which occupies a place of pride in the Mittal home.