- Draupadi Murmu, the President of India, saluted independence warrior Alluri Sitarama Raju during the closing ceremony of his 125th birth anniversary festivities in Hyderabad.
- The President emphasised Raju’s struggle against injustice and exploitation in India’s freedom movement.
- Raju is thought to have been born in Andhra Pradesh in 1897 or 1898.
- At the age of 18, he became a sanyasi (ascetic), and his austerity, knowledge of astrology and medicine, and ability to tame wild animals earned him a mythical aura among the hill and tribal people.
Activities that are revolutionary
- Raju organised the hill people’s anger in Ganjam, Visakhapatnam, and Godavari into effective guerilla resistance against the British.
- The Forest Act of 1882, among other colonial policies, threatened native podu agriculture and drove people to work.
- In August 1922, tribals and muttadars (village headmen) affected by the British government’s limitation of their rights banded together in armed resistance against colonial rule.
Contribution to the Liberation Struggle
- The Rampa or Manyam Rebellion, Raju’s guerrilla campaign, lasted until May 1924.
- The insurrection took place at the same time as Mahatma Gandhi’s Non-Cooperation Movement.
- Raju admired Gandhi and advocated for him to wear khadi (homespun cloth) and abstain from drinking.
- However, Raju believed that India could only be liberated by the use of force, which contradicted Gandhi’s nonviolent ideal.
Detection and Execution
- Raju’s resistance ended when he was apprehended by the British in May 1924.
- He was executed for his participation in the uprising.
- Raju became renowned as the ‘Manyam Veerudu,’ or Hero of the Jungle, and his contributions to India’s freedom war remain honoured.
Conclusion
Overall, Alluri Sitharama Raju was instrumental in spearheading a guerilla rebellion against British colonial control, battling for tribal communities’ rights, and lobbying for India’s independence through coercive means.
Source: http://indianculture.gov.in/node/2796629