‘Amarajeevi’ Potti Sriramulu
| Photo Credit: Special arrangement
History is witness to the sacrifice that veteran freedom fighter and staunch Gandhian Potti Sriramulu made to carve out a separate State for the Telugu-speaking people. Tripuraneni Ramaswamy, lawyer, poet, playwright and reformer had been a close associate of Sriramulu and supported his demand for a separate State for the Telugus.
In 1952, Sriramulu undertook a fast-unto-death agitation for the cause and after 56 days, breathed his last on December 15. Three days later Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru announced his government’s decision to establish a separate State for the Telugus paving the way for the creation of Andhra State in 1953, the first State to be formed on a linguistic basis in Independent India. Kurnool became the capital of this new State.
On November 1, 1956, the States Reorganisation Act ensued the formation of Andhra Pradesh merging the Telugu-speaking areas of the Hyderabad State and Hyderabad was made the capital.
Actor Saichand is set to pay tribute to Potti Sriramulu by undertaking a padayatra
| Photo Credit:
Special arrangement
Now, 70 years after Potti Sriramulu’s death, Tripuraneni Ramaswamy’s grandson and actor Saichand is set to pay tribute to ‘Amarajeevi’ Sriramulu by undertaking a padayatra from Chennai to Padamatipalle in Prakasam district in Andhra Pradesh.
“It is a token of my gratitude to the noble soul who sacrificed his life for Telugu people,” says Saichand who will start his yatra on foot from Sriramulu Memorial Building in Chennai to Sriramulu’s native village, Padamatipalle, Kanigiri in Prakasam district on December 15.
Expecting to cover the distance of 300 km in 10 days, Saichand hopes his gesture will create awareness and highlight the significant role Sriramulu played in his fight for a separate State for the Telugus.
