Vanchinathan the Firebrand Indian Freedom Fighter from Tamizhagam

Vanchinathan the Firebrand Indian Freedom Fighter from Tamizhagam

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Today’s youngsters flaunt wearing Che Guevara t-shirt with no idea around his true history. Projecting Che Guevara as a youth icon was a branding effort taken by Urban-Naxals. While India has given birth to thousands of superheroes who have dedicated their lives to their country and the welfare of people. If only Congress Govt had groomed citizens, Lutyens had been truthful in adding patriotism to history, we would have seen our citizens pick youth icons from our motherland.

Macaulay English education system was the first weapon that was forced on us generation after generation and the reason why a valiant Vanchinathan from Sengottai was not promoted as our hero. His real-life story will match the screenplay of any adventurous movie. At the age of 25, he managed to access a Belgian-made Browning automatic pistol to assassinate Robert William Escourt Ashe, the district collector of Tirunelveli, who was also known as Collector Dorai.

Just read through the note he left after the incident:

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Each sentence in this note shows the willpower he possessed to safeguard Dharma. He considered the dreadful act as a contribution to his motherland. The pain he and his fellow freedom fighters had gone through and the fact that their country has been captured by England was something they could never accept in their lifetime.

Vanchinathan was 1 among 3000 who had taken a vow to kill King George, who was set to be crowned in India. As Ashe was part of this event, the ploy was to kill him also. The mastermind behind this operation was none other than Nilakanta Brahmachari who went around the Madras presidency in 1910 recruiting cadres and hatching plots against the British.

In this venture, he was accompanied by Shankar Krishna, Vanchinathan’s brother-in-law, who introduced the men to each other. To drive this mission to assassinate influential British men, along with few other freedom fighters Nilakanta Bramhachari found an organization called Bharatha Matha Sangam.

On 17 June 1911, Ashe boarded the 9:30 am Maniyachi Mail at Tirunelveli Junction. At 10:38 am, the train pulled in at Maniyachi. The Ceylon Boat Mail was due to arrive at 10:48 am. As the Ashes sat facing each other in the first-class carriage, waiting for the Boat Mail to arrive, a neatly dressed man with tufted hair and another young man wearing a dhoti approached the carriage. The former who was Vanchinathan pulled out his pistol and hit Ashe point-blank in the chest. He collapsed and died.

Vanchinathan took his life after this incident to avoid being caught by the Britishers. In his letter he proudly declares this to be his deed and that every Hindustan should do this as a duty.


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