Alluri Sita Rama Raju (Telugu: అల్లూరి సీతారామరాజు 4 July 1897 – 1924), also known as Aluri Rpia page on Mogallu Village]</ref>
Contents |
Raju was born on July 4, 1897 in Mogallu, near the town of Bhimavaram in the West Godavari district of Andhra Pradesh. His mother was from Visakhapatnam while his father was a native of Mogallu, near Bhimavaram and an official photographer in the central jail at Rajahmundry. The young Raju lived mainly in Mogallu[1] and was educated in Rajahmundry at the Vullithota Bangarayya school, as well as in Kakinada, Tuni and Ramachandrapuram in the East Godavari district.
Raju's father died when he was in elementary school and he grew up in the care of his uncle, Rama Chandra Raju, a tehsildar in Narsapur in the West Godavari district. He studied at Taylor High School in Narsapur then moved to Tuni along with his mother, brother and sister. While there, Alluri visited areas of the Visakhapatnam district and became familiar with the needs of the indigenous people.
When Raju turned 15, he moved to his mother's home town of Vishakhapatnam and enrolled at Mrs. A.V.N. College.[2] He dropped out of college after failing in the fourth form (Std. IX).
After the passing of the 1882 Madras Forest Act, its restrictions on the free movement of tribal peoples in the forest prevented them from engaging in their traditional "Podu" agricultural system, which involved shifting cultivation.
The policies of the British Raj, coupled with the deeds of the exploited tribal peoples of the Visakhapatnam district, brought Sita Rama Raju into direct conflict with the bureaucrats and police who supported contractors working in the forest. This eventually led to the 1922 Rampa Rebellion or Rampa Pituri ("Pituri" meaning "complaints" in Telugu). he is great person
Sita Rama Raju led the movement in the border areas of the East Godavari and Visakhapatnam districts of Andhra Pradesh. Inspired by the patriotic zeal of revolutionaries in Bengal, Raju raided police stations in and around Chintapalle, Rampachodavaram, Dammanapalli, Krishna-devi-peta, Rajavommangi, Addateegala, Narsipatnam and Annavaram.
Raju and his followers stole guns and ammunition and killed several British army officers, including Scott Coward near Dammanapalli.[3] Despite being outnumbered and having fewer weapons, Raju's group caused tremendous damage to the British, since they were adept in guerilla tactics and much more familiar with the hilly terrain. At the time, the British Raj offered a Rs. 10,000 award for Raju's capture.
In December 1922, the British deployed a company of Assam Rifles, near Pegadapalle under the leadership of Saunders. Sita Rama Raju, who had by then gone underground, resurfaced after about four months and continued the fight, strengthened by tribal volunteers using bows and arrows under the leadership of Gam Mallu Dora and Gantam Dora.
Following a raid led by Sita Rama Raju on the Annavaram police outpost on September 18, 1923, Gam Mallu Dora was arrested. The Government entrusted the task of containing Sita Rama Raju's activities to District Collector of Visakha patnam District Rutherford, who then fired the first salvo when his forces arrested Surya Narayana Raju Pericherla, popularly known as Aggiraju, a devoted follower of Sita Rama Raju.
The British campaign lasted for nearly a year from December 1922. Sita Rama Raju was eventually trapped by the British in the forests of Chintapalli then tied to a tree and shot dead with a rifle in Mampa village. Following the martyrdom of Alluri, the tribal revolt lost its momentum and petered out by October 1923. Police officer Mr. N. Ganeswara Rao responsible for Sita Rama Raju's entrapment was awarded Rao Bahadur.
Today a statue of Raju stands at Seethammadhara Junction and another on the beach road near The Park Hotel in Visakhapatnam. A statue was erected in Pandringi, his maternal grand mother's village near Bheemili, about 28 kilometres (17 mi) from Visakhapatnam.
In 1986 the Indian Postal Department issued a commemorative stamp featuring Sri Alluri Seetarama Raju in the series 'India's struggle for freedom'.[4]
The block buster Telugu movie Alluri Seetharama Raju was made about Raju's life directed by V. Rama Chandra Rao and starring Krishna as Raju. The popular song 'Telugu Veera Levara' from the film has inspired generations of the Telugu community.
Legendary Telugu Actor NT Rama Rao once stated that one of his dream roles is to act as Alluri Sita rama Raju. Hence in his last film, he acted as Alluri Sita Rama Raju in the super hit song "Punyabhumi Naa Desam" from the movie "Major Chandrakant".
The only photograph of Raju, which was taken after his death, is preserved in the A.P. State Archives, Hyderabad.
The railway station at 'Narsipatnam Road', between Waltair and Tuni, was built specially to deal with the rebellion and the unusually long platform for a way-side station was built to facilitate offloading of troops and reserve police forces.
Gam Mallu Dora, who was interned at the Andaman jail after his capture, became a Member of Parliament from Visakhapatnam after the first Indian general elections. During his swearing in, Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru said he was honoured to introduce this proud son of our motherland to the first Lok Sabha