Coimbatore For a Repeatition of 1967

P R Natarajan on campaign

South Indian Manchester, as it is commonly called, The south Indian city of Coimbatore holds the legacy of many a glorious struggles before and after independence.Coimbatore has for long been a bastion of working class movement and struggle. It had been known as ‘South Indian Manchester’ in view of the large cluster of textile mills that sprang up here during the British Raj. The late lamented freedom fighter V O Chidambaram Pillai laid the foundation of the trade union movement here by forming the first ever union in 1920. The textile workers under the red flag had waged many a heroic struggle on this soil. Comrades K Ramani, P Ramamurti, P Jeevanandam and A S K Iyengar had taken the leading role in organizing these workers and leading their struggles. Many have become martyrs during such struggles. Notable among them are the four mill workers of Chinniyampalayam (who were falsely implicated in a murder case and hanged to death in 1946) Abhai, Uppilipalayam Muthu, Selvapuram Poosari, Rackiannan and others. Tirupur Kumaran who laid down his life for the cause of our national flag belonged to this Coimbatore district .
Way back in 1967, on the occasion of General elections to the parliament Coibatore constituency saw a unique fight. Between a Big Industrialist and a Humble Mill worker. Pollachi alias Mahalinga who was a big textile industrialist and Mill owner was one person. The other person was Com. K Ramani one of the stalwarts of communist movement in Tamil Nadu, was a mill worker. In that electoral battle between the odds K Ramani became victorious by a huge margin of more than 1.5 lak votes. Such is the legacy of that consituency.

Com. K Ramani

Now Coimbatore had become a graveyard for industries. The globalization policies which started by 1990's and the recent economic meltdown had resulted in the closure of many industries in the district. Due to this closure of textile industries around 2 lakh people lost there jobs and around 1.5 lakh people lost jobs due to the closure of motorpump production units. Around 1 lakh people who were engaged in gold related works too have to leave there jobs. Adding to the burden DMK government's policy of Power cut increased the cut down in jobs.
It is in this context that the 15th Lok sabha election is going to be held. This time around, the constituency is seeing a repeatition of the 1967 elections. On the one hand CPIM candidate, Com P R Natarajan, who is worker is facing congress candidate and sitting Nilagiri Mp and also the owner of many mills, R Prabhu. PR Natarajan is among the people for the last 36 years in their struggles and activities. He is quite a familier face to the people of coimbatore. Another striking coincidence to the 1967 election is that PR Natarajan is the son in law of Com. K Ramani.
Palladam, Sullur, Kounderpalayam, Coimbatore South, Coimbatore North and Singanellure Assembly constituencies make up the Coimbatore Parliamentary constituency. Third front is quite confident that the people of coimbatore will uphold the great legacy of this constituency by voting Com. P R Natarajan with a huge margin.