Gadicherla Harisarvottama Rao (Telugu: గాడిచెర్ల హరిసర్వోత్తమారావు; 14 September 1883 – 29 February 1960) was a freedom fighter from Andhra during the Indian independence movement. He was inspired by the ideologies of Bal Gangadhar Tilak and Bipin Chandra Pal and joined the freedom movement at a very young age.
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Rao was born in Kurnool in 1883. After finishing school and college education in Kurnool, Nandyal and Gutti, Rao finished his M.A. from Madras Christian College in 1906. While training as a teacher at the Teachers Training College of Rajahmundry, he joined the Indian Independence movement.[1] While at the Teachers Training College, Rao and his fellow students attended a lecture by Bipin Chandra Pal at Rajahmundry. Inspired by Pal's speech, the students wore badges with 'Vande Mataram' inscribed on them to the college the next day. Mark Hunter, the principal of the college, objected to this and refused to admit the students into the college until they removed the badges. The students refused. The principal dismissed Rao, who was the student leader, from the college. This was a critical moment in Rao's life.
In 1908, Rao started a telugu weekly newspaper publication called 'Swarajya' with the help of Bodi Narayana Rao. He wrote numerous essays in this newspaper criticizing the many unfair policies adopted by the British government. The British declared that his article 'Viparita Buddhi', which adopted a very severe tone in criticizing violence against the Indians, was an act of sedition and sentenced Rao to 3 years of imprisonment.
In 1914, Gadicherla was made the Secretary for the Andhra division of the Home Rule League formed by Tilak and Annie Besant [2]. In this position, he played a pivotal role in inspiring the people by traveling widely to lecture. In 1923, he joined the Swarajya Party formed by Chittaranjan Das and Motilal Nehru. He was elected to the Madras Legislative Council as a candidate for the Andhra Congress from the Nandyala constituency.