Potti Sreeramulu

Potti Sreeramulu (16 March 1901 – 16 December 1952) (age 51), was an Indian revolutionary. He became famous for undertaking a fast-unto-death for achieving the state of Andhra and losing his life in the process. His sacrifice became instrumental in the linguistic re-organisation of states.He is revered as Amarajeevi (Immortal being) in Andhra Pradesh for his sacrifice. As a devout follower of Mahatma Gandhi, he worked life long to uphold principles such as truth and non-violence and objectives such as Harijan upliftment

Early Life

He was born to Guravayya and Mahalakshmamma on 16 March 1901 in house no. 165, Annapillai street, Chennai. His ancestors belonged to the Patampalle village of Nellore District. He studied in Madras until he attained the age of 20. Later, he studied Sanitary Engineering in the Victoria Jubilee Technical Institute in Bombay. He joined the Great Indian Peninsular Railway and worked for about four years there. After the death of his wife in 1927 when he was only 26, he lost interest in the material world and resigned from his job. He divided property between his brothers and mother and joined Sabarmati Ashram as a follower of Mahatma Gandhi

Independence Movement and Harijan Upliftment

Potti Sreeramulu took part in the Indian Independence Movement. He was imprisoned for participating in the 1930 Salt Satyagraha. Between 1941-42 he participated in the individual satyagraha and the Quit India movement and was imprisoned thrice. He was involved in the village reconstruction programmes at Rajkot in Gujarat and Komaravolu in Krishna district, Andhra Pradesh. He joined the Gandhi Ashram established by Yerneni Subrahmanyam in Komaravolu
Between 1943 and 1944 he worked for the widespread adoption of Charkha in Nellore district. He started partaking food from all houses without attaching importance to caste and creed. He undertook three fasts during 1946-48 for the entry of Harijans into religious places such as temples in Nellore. He fasted to gain entry for Harijans into the Venugopalaswamy temple in Moolapeta, Nellore and succeeded in achieving the objective. He again fasted to get favourable orders on Harijan upliftment passed by the Madras government
As a result, the government instructed collectors to attend to measures of Harijan upliftment at least one day in a week. During the last stages of his life, he stayed in Nellore and worked for Harijan upliftment. He would wear placards with slogans on Harijan upliftment and propagate the cause. He used to walk wearing these placards in the middle of the summer without wearing slippers or using an umbrella. People who did not know about his antecedents dismissed him as a mad man. He was chastied by the upper caste and his own caste for his support for Harijan upliftment

Separate State for Telugu people

In an effort to unify the Telugu people, and preserve the unique culture of Telugu people, he attempted to force the government to listen to public demands for the unification of Andhra based on linguistic lines. He went on a lengthy fast, and only stopped when Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru promised to support unification. However, there was no movement on the issue for a long time. He started fasting again for attaining statehood for Andhra in Maharshi Bulusu Sambamurthy’s house in Madras on 19 October 1952. It started off without fanfare but steadily caught people’s imagination despite the disavowal of the fast by the Andhra Congress committee.
The government of the day however did not make a clear statement about the formation of a new state despite several strikes and demonstrations by Telugu people. On the midnight of 15 December (i.e. early 16 December 1952), Potti Sreeramulu died and laid down his life trying to achieve his objective
In his death procession, people shouted slogans praising his sacrifice. When the procession reached Mount Road, thousands of people joined and raised slogans hailing Sriramulu. Later, they went into a frenzy and resorted to destruction of public property. The news spread like wildfire and created an uproar among the people in far off places like Vizianagaram, Visakhapatnam, Vijayawada, Rajahmundry, Eluru, Guntur, Tenali, Ongole and Nellore. Seven people were killed in police firing in Anakapalle and Vijayawada. The popular agitation continued for three to four days disrupting normal life in Madras and Andhra regions. On 19 December, the Prime minister of the country Jawaharlal Nehru made an announcement about formation of a separate state.
On 1 October 1953, the state of Andhra was established with Kurnool as capital carving it out from Madras State. However, the Telangana region existed prior as a separate state before merging with Andhra state. On November 1, 1956, Telangana was merged with Andhra and as a result Andhra Pradesh was formed with Hyderabad as its capital, against the States Reorganization Commission Report (SRC). Kerala and Karnataka states were formed the same day in 1956, followed by Gujarat and Maharashtra in 1960. The formation of linguistic states is the single most important event in the history of South Indian languages, as it provided an opportunity for these languages to develop independently, each of them having a state to support.[1]
NOTE: While Sri Potti Sriramulu has done a great sacrifice to achieve Andhra state from Madras Presidency, its noteworthy for the readers to understand that at that time, Telangana existed as a separate state and his efforts were mislead to the laymans understanding that he sacrificed his life for the formation of the present Andhra Pradesh