Potti Sriramulu, The Martyr Who Breathed Life Into Andhra

AMARAVATI: The pride of Andhra was upheld by the heroic deeds of great patriot Potti Sriramulu, who fought for a separate state to retain their own identity, as he refused to accept discrimination being shown by the then powers that were.

Some people live for a cause, very few people die for a cause and a lesser number of people attain martyrdom to achieve the cause.

Potti Sriramulu belongs to this genre and is perhaps the only second person, after Jatin Das, to die during fasting for a cause.

He could not have defied death after 58 days of fasting, but victory could not be denied to him and his cause. He lives in the hearts of people even today through his martyrdom took place more than half a century back.

The unflinching determination and resolute commitment seeking a separate state of Telugu speaking people took shape when there were despair and resentment among Telugus who were being treated as second class citizens in the Composite Madras State.

The script was on familiar lines with one section siding with the State and the other seeking a separate state.

It was 1952 and the nation was coming to grips with the Partition blues and it was a time of mergers of Princely states into Indian Union.

Sriramulu, however, raised the banner of revolt and was very firm on upkeeping Telugu pride and vociferously advocated for separate Andhra State.

However, the JVP (Jawaharlal Nehru, Sardar Vallabbhai Patel, and Pattabhi Sitaramayya) Committee was not in favour of Partition and made it clear.

Potti Sriramulu undertook a tour and visited every nook and corner of the Andhra Province and studied the grievances of people, their aspirations and the adamant attitude of leadership.

He sat on an indefinite hunger strike demanding separate Andhra state and as is its wont, the Government did not take it seriously.

Seriousness was flowing in the blood of Sriramulu and his followers and with every passing day, the pressure was mounting on the Centre and State Governments.

When the going gets tough, the tough get going and the fast-unto-death of Potti Sriramulu has shaken the nation.

October seems to look long as the unflinching Sreeramulu did not relent and continued with his protest.

He began his fast-unto-death on October 19 (Bali puja day of Hindus) in 1952 and on the 58th day December 15 he breathed his last.

Even in his dying moments, Sreeramulu was visualizing a separate Andhra state, governed by natives with self-respect and dignity.

While the son of the soil has laid down his life for the noble cause, a new dawn was breaking on the horizon of Indian political panorama.

The martyrdom of Sreeramulu was the death knell of the ruling dispensation and it sounded the requiem to the authoritarianism.

Things moved quickly within days, Prime Minister Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru carved a separate Andhra state.

Thus Andhra became the first state to be created out of martyrdom and on a linguistic basis with Potti Sreeramulu being the singular driving force behind it

It is imperative to pay wholehearted tributes to the great person who sacrificed his life for achieving Andhra state on the occasion of the State Formation Day.

Also Read: AP Formation Day To Be A 3-Day Celebration