We had a successful symposium on "Gokhale’s Legacy.” The inaugural Address by Dr. Aroon Tikekar drew much appreciation; so did the speech by Mr. Sunil Gokhale. The symposium which was organised to mark the 100th death anniversary of Gopal Krishna Gokhale ends in February next year. We shall dedicate the February 2015 issue of Freedom First in his honour along with an extensive coverage of the presentations made at the symposium.

If any of you reading this would like to contribute any article, comment or draw attention to any aspect of Gokhale’s life and work, please do send it along to us for possible inclusion. Also the February issue may, hopefully, carry additional pages. Any advertising support we can get with your help will be much appreciated.

This issue now in your hands could not carry all the contributions that were received due to space constraints. Nevertheless the canvas is wide. PM Narendra Modi continues to dominate in terms of the number of pages. Of particular interest is the one from our subscriber from the US, Dr. Sardul Minhas who writes on those who opposed the PM’s visit to the US.

There is a considerable revival of interest in the life and work of Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel. We would be fully justified in blaming the Indira Congress for this, as this was no lapse of memory but a deliberate policy to deny the post-independence generations the names of the large number of participants in the freedom movement particularly in rural India.

December 10 this year marks the 136th birthday of Chakravarthi Rajagopalachari (variously addressed as C. Rajagopalachari, CR or Rajaji).We honour him on the cover and apart from the ‘Wit and Wisdom of Rajaji’ on the inside front cover we have, on this occasion, wherever there was space filled it with Rajaji’s quotes.