Bengaluru: Hulikal Nagabhushan Rao, one of Karnataka’s oldest freedom fighters, passed away on Wednesday at his residence in Malleshwaram. He was 105.A veteran of the Indian Independence movement, Rao hailed from Thirthahalli taluk in Shivamogga district. He joined the freedom struggle while still in school. Rao had received several honours in recognition of his contributions as a freedom fighter. Following the death of scholar and freedom fighter Pandit Sudhakar Chaturvedi in 2020, at the age of 122, Rao was recognised as Karnataka’s oldest surviving freedom fighter. During Azadi Ka Amrit Mahotsav, marking 75 years of Independence and 80 years of the Quit India Movement, Karnataka Governor Thaawar Chand Gehlot had called on Rao at his residence and felicitated him. In the 1930s, Rao actively opposed British rule by disrupting postal services and severing communication lines in Thirthahalli, as well as mobilising people to boycott British goods. He later participated in the Non-Cooperation and Quit India Movements. In an interview with TOI in 2022, Rao had urged the govt to retain young talent in India for nation-building and prevent their migration to the West. Rao was terminated from his job as a timekeeper at Hindustan Aircraft Ltd, after being jailed for his role in the freedom struggle. Undeterred, he remained committed to the cause of the nation. Trade union luminary dead Comrade H V Ananthsubba Rao, a prominent figure in Karnataka’s labour movement, passed away in Bengaluru on Wednesday. The 84-year-old union neta was suffering from age-related ailments. Rao, who had served as the president of KSRTC Staff and Workers Federation, fought for the cause of employees working in road transport corporations since the 1960s. He also worked as an office-bearer of the Communist Party of India (CPI) and contested assembly elections.As the longest-serving general secretary of All-India Trade Union Congress (AITUC), he fought for labour causes across various entities in the state. He was the president of the AITUC Karnataka unit until recently. Commenting on Rao’s death, transport minister Ramalinga Reddy said: “He fought for workers’ rights and cared for the growth of road transport corporations in the state.”
