The following is a translation of a Facebook post by Madurai MP S. Venkatesan. Translated from Tamil by Kavitha Muralidharan.
I was flooded with greetings from friends, comrades and readers for my birthday yesterday (March 16). I express my gratitude to everyone.
As Member of Parliament, I had also received the greetings from the honourable president and prime minister. I extend my warm gratitude to them.
Comrades at my MP office handed over a letter yesterday from a Mariam Beevi of Tiruchy. It was a letter written for some work that I had done as a Member of Parliament. The words in the letter are not something that I could easily get over. The letter carried love and overwhelming gratitude, for rescuing her from a particularly painful experience.
I received the greeting from the prime minister when I was reading Beevi’s letter. Both were written to me in my capacity as Member of Parliament.
In front of my eyes, there were words from the prime minister on one side and from Mariam Beevi on the other.
Beevi was struggling for over two years to get her birth certificate from the Madurai Municipal Corporation. From Tiruchy, she had travelled countless times to Madurai – 150 kilometres away – to secure her birth certificate. The corporation officials keep dodging her request, giving her a different excuse each time. She saw a poster announcing my participation at an anti-Citizenship (Amendment) Act (CAA) protest in Tiruchy and decided to meet me in person, to handover a memorandum on getting her certificate. I couldn’t go to the protest. A comrade had asked an exhausted Mariam Beevi to send the memorandum by post. She half-heartedly did it.
On seeing the letter in my office, I wrote to the corporation officials in Madurai, after which action was taken. Mariam Beevi was contacted over phone, asked to come in person and had her birth certificate handed over to her. Her letter yesterday was to thank me for this act.
Honourable prime minister, a woman has to run pillar to post for two years to get her birth certificate. And she still couldn’t. She brings it to the notice of the MP and only after his intervention, she gets the certificate.
In her letter, an emotional Beevi writes that for as long as she lives, she will never forget the act of the MP in getting her the certificate. I could see the tears welling up her eyes, as she added that she would pray for my well-being and welfare. Every word, I know, carries the pain of her two-year struggle to get the certificate. The pain and the suffering led her to believe that my simple act is rather extraordinary. In return, she wants God to take care of me.
My dear prime minister, I have not done anything great to deserve the prayer of a woman I have not seen, for my well-being and good life. I merely forwarded a letter that my office had received to the municipal corporation. If people are expressing overwhelming gratitude for this small act, how strong could be the walls that prevent them from getting this work done?
Honourable prime minister, we have countless Mariam Beevis and Mariammas facing endless struggles to get their own birth certificates. But you have been asking them to get the birth certificates of their parents too.
Honourable prime minister, you have said in your greeting, that let my rich and varied experiences help the growth of this country. I write to you on account of the truth in the greeting: Please withdraw the Citizenship (Amendment) Act. Please drop the National Population Register (NPR) and National Register of Citizens (NRC) exercises. If you do that, there are countless ordinary people who will pray for your welfare and well-being. It will be a great step towards the real development of this country.
In the period we live in, the positions we occupy have their own meanings. We must use them to work to remove the sufferings of the people and to make this country a blessed land for them. The greetings I had received on my birthday had helped reaffirm this belief of mine and to further myself towards this goal.
I thank you again for your greetings.
Best
S. Venkatesan
Member of Parliament
Madurai
CPI(M)