Indians have a bad habit, we are quite casual about our history and historical figures. Our history has been fudged as well, since independence, we have been spoonfed with wrong facts due to malicious intent, which has also created this situation of misinformation and confusion.
One of the more ignored aspects of the Indian freedom struggle has been the various tribal revolts that broke out against the British rule. Tribals were prohibited from cutting trees for firewood, their traditional Podu cultivation was banned, and they were often exploited by contractors who used them as labor for building roads in those areas.
Today we will talk about a Hero, who did something unimaginable for the masses, he sacrificed his everything to ensure we get freedom, but alas, nobody even remember him now.
During British rule, many protests broke out in the tribal areas like Jharkhand, Chattisgarh, Bengal, Odisha. Apart from these locations, the area covering the current date Telangana and Andhra Pradesh and Telangana was also witnessing a sort of revolution amongst the locals to get the freedom from the clutches of British Administration.
This was mostly a tribal area, which was bordering Maharashtra, Odisha, Chattisgarh, and surrounded by the Eastern Ghats. It had several strategically important areas in this region, like Vizianagaram, Vizag, Srikakulam, Khammam, Adilabad, Warangal, Karimnagar.
This region was full of hills, thick forests, valleys, rivers, and other water bodies. Tribal people used to live here and they used to cut trees and consume other natural resources for their day to day living. The British Administration enacted the highly oppressive Madras Forest Act of 1882, which was indeed a curse for the tribals in this region, they were prohibited from cutting trees for firewood and carrying out their traditional occupations.
At such a critical juncture, Alluri Sitarama Raju emerged as a hero, who fought really hard for the tribal rights and mobilize them for an armed revolution. He successfully managed to orchestrate an armed uprising with whatever resources available. He motivated the poor and illiterate tribal against the mighty British empire.
Ramaraju was born on July 4th, 1897, the day when the USA became independent of British colonial rule. He was born at Pandrangi in Vishakapatnam to a Kshatriya family. He had a sister Sitamma and a brother Satyanarayana Raju. His real name was Sriramaraju named after his maternal grandfather, in due course of time, he came to be called Sitaramaraju.
His father died when he was just 6 years old, his family suffered a lot of financial and personal difficulties. His uncle Ramakrishna Raju helped the family both financially as well as assisting Raju in his education.
In 1918, when Raju was on a visit to nearby valley areas, then he came into contact with the tribal people, whoc were living in pathetic condition, Raju lived there and saw their condition first hand.
His life changed when he went on a tour of North India in 1916, he stayed with Surendranath Banerjee and attended the Congress session at Lucknow. He also learned the Sanskrit language and visited several holy cities like Indore, Baroda, Haridwar, Amritsar, and Badrinath. All these visits helped him come closure to Hinduism and Bharatvarsha.
This was a period of enlightenment for him, where he read books on religion, medicine, animal breeding, and a lot of other relevant topics. In 1918 he again went on another tour, this time he traveled to Mumbai, Nasik, Mysore, Pune, and Bastar. This tour helped him to gain prowess in various martial arts, religious practices, and Ayurveda. He became a mass leader and inspiration for people living in the surrounding areas. He began to fight for the rights of the tribals in the Manyam region, and also led a campaign against casteism and alcoholism.
The lot of the tribals was miserable in the Manyam region, suffering exploitation from the Britishers in all ways possible. They were used as laborers, their lands taken over and their women folk were sexually exploited too. They led a harsh life dependent on Podu(Shifting cultivation) and selling forest produce, and the exploitation made it even worse for them.
In collaboration with contractors, the tribals were made to work as coolies for building roads, and were not even paid for their services. The contractors would treat the tribals like slaves, making them work hard, not paying them, beating them up mercilessly. The tribals were made to carry the contractors from one place to another, their womenfolk were used sexually, it was a truly miserable existence for them. Sporadic revolts broke out in the Manyam region called Pithuri, one of them was at Lagarayi led by Verayya Dora, who was arrested at Rajavommangi.
Seeing the misery and exploitation, Alluri decided to stand along with the tribals, and fight for their rights. He bought awareness among them of their rights, infused courage and determination and motivated them to fight against the injustice meted out to them. The tribals in turn turned to him for guidance and advice,and he soon became a leader for the 30-40 odd tribal villages there. He made them give up their habit of toddy drinking, taught them in guerilla warfare and combat. The Gama brothers Gantam Dora and Mallu Dora, Kankipati Padalu, Aggiraju became some of his trusted lieutenants.
Bastian, the Tahsildar of Chintappali divison( now in Vizag district) was the most sadistic of all the British officers. He was notorious for his exploitation of the tribal coolies used for the construction of the road from Narsipatnam to Lambasingi. Tribals who demanded more pay were whipped to death, and Raju’s complaints to higher authorities fell on deaf ears. The authorities in turn getting reports of increasing revolutionary activity began to spy on Raju at Narsipatnam, Addateegala, and for some time he was in exile to avoid detection.With the help of Fazaulla Khan, the Dy.Collector of Polavaram, sympathetic to the tribal cause, Raju once again entered the Manyam region in 1922. For close to 2 years, Raju would lead one of the most intense uprisings against the British, that nearly shook them to the core. With Mallu Dora, Gantam Dora, Padalu, Aggiraju, he lead a team of nearly 15o fighters against the British, a formidable armed uprising.
On August 22nd, 1922, The Manyam rebellion started with Raju leading the first attack on Chintapalli police station in the Rampachodavaram Agency. With 300 rebels, Raju attacked the station, tore apart the records, and took away the arms and ammunition from there. 11 Guns, 5 swords, 1390 cartridges were taken away from there, and Raju personally noted this in the register. And soon it began to spread, Krishnadevipeta was attacked next and arms taken from there. On August 24, Rajavommangi was attacked, and after some resistance from the police there, it was overcome. Verayya Dora who was a prisoner there was also freed and he joined Raju in his struggle.
The British struck back sending Cabard and Haiter, who began to comb the Chintapalli region for Raju and his associates. They were both killed in a guerrilla attack by Raju, and the rest of the party had to beat a retreat. The people were now fully in support of Raju and his team of revolutionaries, with this victory. One of the most daring attack by Raju was on the Addateegala police station which was heavily secured by the British. He along with his associates attacked the station, overpowered the police there, and took away all the weapons. It was a huge blow to the British authority in the Manyam region.
Rampachodavaram police station was attacked on Oct 19, and after overpowering it, the people there turned out in huge numbers to greet Raju who by now had become a folk hero in the Manyam. He was turning out to be a thorn in the flesh for the British, who sent a huge force under the command of Sanders to capture him. In a pitched battle Raju defeated the forces and made Sanders retreat. Whenever Raju captured policemen who were Indian, they were not killed, but rather admonished and asked to go. The British however began to use spies as well as lure some of Raju’s associates who were captured to track him down.
The first blow to Raju came on Dec 6, 1922, when in a pitched battle at Peddagadepalem, the British used cannons against his army. 4 of Raju’s close associates died in that battle, and the forces captured some of the weapons. In further raids by British forces, 8 more of Raju’s men were killed too. For sometime there was a lull amidst rumors that Raju had died, but the British still kept tracking him. Finally Raju was again seen in Annavaram on April 17, 1923, where the people gave him a huge welcome. The Govt was more determined than ever to capture Raju, using spies to track him down. Regular clashes broke out between the forces tracking down Raju and his supporters. There was a pitched battle fought on Sep, 1923 between Raju and the forces under the command of Underwood, which resulted in latter defeat. Later his trusted lieutnant Mallu Dora was captured, however the British could not find out the whereabouts of Raju. Mallu was later shifted to Andamans Cellular Jail, and also represented Vizag in Lok Sabha in 1952. The Govt now cracked down even more harshly, tribals were beaten up, tortured to reveal Raju’s whereabouts, the entire Manyam region was sealed off, it became a huge prison. Food supplies were cut off, even women, children, old men were killed mercilessly.
In the meantime, the raids by Raju and his men continued at Paderu and the army camp at Gudem. The Govt appointed Rutherford as the Special Commissioner, to the Manyam region, who had a history of suppressing armed revolts. Aggiraju, one of Raju’s bravest lieutenants was captured after a fierce encounter and deported to Andamans. Rutherford sent out an order, that unless Raju surrendered in a week, the people in the Manyam region would be massacred en masse. Raju was staying in the house of the Mampa Munsab at that time, and when he came to know that the tribals were being harassed to reveal his whereabouts, his heart melted. He did not want the tribals to suffer for his sake and decided to surrender to the Government. But with none willing to surrender Raju to the Government, he himself decided to do so on his own. Finally on May 7, 1924 he sent an intimation to the Govt, that he was at Koyyur, and asked them to arrest him there. Raju was captured by the police, and on May 7, 1924, shot dead by a senior British officer Gudal. It was clear treachery by the British, who promised him amnesty if he surrendered. At 27 years, Alluri Sitarama Raju became a martyr, but not before he threw a formidable challenge to the British influence in the Manyam region.
Sadly Raju got no support from the Congress, they in fact welcomed the suppression of the Rampa revolt and his assassination. The Swatantra weekly magazine, in fact claimed that people like Raju should be killed, and the Krishna Patrika said that police, people should be given more weapons to protect themselves from the revolutionaries. It is another thing that after his death the same magazines praised Raju as another Shivaji, Rana Pratap, while the Satyagrahi called him another George Washington. The best tribute to Raju was paid by Netaji Subash Chandra Bose.
“I consider it my privilege to praise the services of Alluri Sitarama Raju to the national movement, the youth of India should see him as an inspiration”
This statement from Netaji Subhash Chandra Bose is itself a testament to the stature of Alluri Sitarama Raju.
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