POTTI SRI RAMULU PASTING DATED BACK FOR WHOM
1.Online edition of India's National NewspaperSaturday, Dec 14, 2002
Appeal to Potti Sriramulu
Hyderabad's Chief Minister, Mr. B. Ramakrishna Rao sent a telegram to Mr. Sriramulu, fasting in Madras. It read, "Your fast is causing much anxiety and distress in the whole country. Panditji (Jawaharlal Nehru) is prepared to constitute a Boundary Commission immediately and has given an assurance of other steps. I earnestly entreat you to break your fast, and give all leaders a fair opportunity."
2 This Day That Age dated December 17, 1952:
Fasting Sriramulu passes away
Mr. Potti Sriramulu (51), on a fast unto death from October 19 pressing for the immediate forming of a separate Province for the Andhra people, died in Madras on December 15, the 58th day of his ordeal.
Potti Sriramulu was born in Madras City, qualifying himself as a sanitary engineer, he took employment with the G.I.P. Railway in Bombay. After resigning his job in 1930, Sriramulu participated in the Salt Satyagraha movement started by Gandhiji and continued to do constructive work on Gandhian lines. He was in the Sabarmati Ashram till 1938, Sriramulu was imprisoned for 18 months in Rajkot during the Individual Satyagraha movement.
Later he took part in the Quit India movement launched by the Mahatma in 1942.
3 After Sriramulu, Andhra State:
The last rites for the late Potti Sriramulu were conducted at Choolai in Madras. The cortege started from the residence of Mr. Buhisu Sambamurti in Mylapore and reached the Vysya Crematorium after five hours. Young men in the procession shouted slogans demanding that Andhra Ministers in the Madras Cabinet and Members in the Legislature resign. Before the body of Mr. Sriramulu was consigned to the flames, a funeral oration was delivered by Andhra Kesari, Mr. T. Prakasam. Mr. Prakasam said that Sriramulu had made history by fasting unto death for a noble public cause. A few days earlier he had met the fasting man who had asked him, "Is there still a place for truth in this world?" But, Sriramulu stuck to his principles and ideals, showing tremendous spiritual strength. He scrupulously adhered to Gandhian ways and faced his death courageously. He laid down his life convinced that it would bring good to millions of others. Mr. Praksam hoped that after Sriramulu's supreme sacrifice, the Andhras would stand united and follow in the footsteps of the great departed soul to achieve what he had fasted grimly and died nobly for.
A PTI report from New Delhi said that the Government of India would very soon announce the appointment of a high judicial functionary, either a Judge of the Supreme Court or a Senior Judge of a High Court, to proceed to Madras and submit a report within thirty days on positive steps to be taken to create a separate State for Andhra.
The Union Cabinet was likely to be convened within a day or two to consider the matter. Dr. S. Radhakrishnan told the Council of States that the Prime Minister had taken steps in regard to the formation of an Andhra Province out of the undisputed Telugu areas. The Prime Minister himself told the House of People that "some steps would be taken fairly soon." Government was to take advice on the specific steps to be taken and on the terms of reference for a Boundary Commission, or any other body to be appointed to straighten out matters and bring into existence a separate Andhra State soon. Prime Minister, Mr. Jawaharlal Nehru, was already in touch with the Madras Chief Minister, C. Rajagopalachari, on this matter.
4 dated December 19, 1952:
Rajaji's Call to the People
As Tanjore reeled from severe storm havoc, and parts of Madras province were torn by disturbances triggered off by the life sacrifice of Potti Sriramulu pressing for a separate Andhra State, the Chief Minister, C. Rajagopalachari, issued the following statement from his camp in Kumbakonam: "Our misfortunes are mounting one upon another. Here in Tanjore, the people are showing to me, with tears in their eyes, the devastated gardens and huts all over the area, and miserable people are crowding round me giving vent to their distress.
At the same time, news of very grave happenings in the Andhra areas is reaching me in spite of the difficulty of communications. It is a matter of great grief that just while the Prime Minister of India and myself are trying to solve the problem and remove all impediments so that a separate Andhra State can be set up as soon as possible, people have suddenly lost their head and no one seems to be capable of or, as far as I can see, even inclined to exert himself to stem the tide of insane disorder. It is needless to emphasize that what the students have started has been taken advantage of by bad characters in society.
Mob rule and looting cannot be permitted to go on. Many lives have been lost — probably innocent lives — in the process of coping with these disorders. I earnestly appeal to all good people with any influence to exert themselves in the cause of peace and order and restore normal conditions."
5 dated December 27, 1952:
Andhra-Tamil dispute about Madras
Meeting in Vijayawada, the Andhra Pradesh Congress Committee decided to present a Memorandum to Mr. Justice Wanchoo setting out demands regarding a separate State of Andhra. The Committee wanted the capital of the new State to be in Madras, till such time as a new capital was identifiedand the City of Madras to be formed into a Chief Commissioner's State. A Sub-committee of the Tamil Pradesh Congress Committee, meeting under the presidentship of Mr K. Kamaraj Nadar, welcomed Prime Minister Nehru's announcement of an Andhra State without Madras City, but expressed its determination never to have Madras City made into a Chief Commissioner's province, or to have Andhra's capital located in it even temporarily.
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6 dated December 30, 1952:
Rayalaseema people oppose Andhra
T. Pulla Reddi, president of the Cuddappah District Board, said in a statement, "The people of Rayalaseema oppose a separate Andhra State, and they can never think of severing their connection with Madras. When their conditions cannot now be improved with all the resources of the composite State, it is futile to think that a divided State can do so. The people of Rayalaseema are looking forward to the Prime Minister, Jawaharlal Nehru, to postpone this issue by another 10 years."
7 dated January 07, 1953:
Nellore's demand to be A.P. Capital
A meeting of the Nellore Bar Association held on the 5th with Mr. T. V. Sivaramayya presiding, made the following demands: Forming a separate Andhra State should not be delayed any longer; Madras City should be divided between the Tamils and the Telugus, or the city made into a Part C State of India with Andhra having its capital in it along with Madras State, and Nellore should eventually be made Andhra's capital, as it had plentiful supply of water, was located on the sea-coast, and offered ample scope for future expansion.
8 dated October 1, 1953:
May Andhra, and India progress
In a special message to The Hindu to mark the inauguration of the new Andhra State on the 1st of October, Dr. S. Radhakrishnan, Vice-President of India, said: This day is important in the history of the Andhra and of our country. Andhra people have been working for nearly 40 years for a separate State, and the present Government of India have granted it, it is now for the people to work in a spirit of good-will and co-operation, and make Andhra State contended and prosperous. Andhra played a great part in the struggle for freedom, and their sacrifices and sufferings were as good as those of any others. Today, it is their duty to show the same qualities and work for the progress of Andhra as well as of India. Unfortunately on the eve of the establishment of the separate State, this part of the country had a severe blow and suffered immense loss of life and property.
The problems ahead are serious, and require for their solution intelligent leadership and public support. As in the rest of India when freedom was won, the evils of our society have come to the surface; the baser qualities of greed, personal ambition, and love of power, are manifesting themselves. Public interest has suffered from divided and incompetent leadership. Love of freedom is love of others, love of power is love of one's self. When love of power becomes an obsession, it blinds our eyes, distorts our vision, infects our thoughts, and hardens our hearts. Democracy is a means to achieve democratic, and not personal, ends. If we are to be loyal servants of a free India, we must practise self-effacement and devotion to the public good. The new State is on trial. Policy makers and administrators should realise that a Government should not only control the governed but also control itself. All those speaking the Dravidian group of languages, Tamil, Telugu, Malayalam and Kannada, lived together and worked together for centuries. Culturally, politically and administratively, the Andhras worked with others in South India. In recent years suspicions developed. But I do hope they will all be forgotten, and a new era of friendship will start from now. The spirit of caste and outcaste still prevails.
With a sensitive and emotional people, who have had a noble inheritance, I feel that these prejudices will soon become things of the past in Andhra. The recent attack on Vinoba Bhave by the Pandas at Deoghar shows how far behind our ideals some of our people are. The faith of democracy is based not merely on the leadership at the top but the wisdom and conscience of the common people. While the top leaders may determine our future, the common people will decide our destiny. Caste prejudices should be removed from the hearts of our people, and not merely in our Constitution. If Andhra proposes, if it helps, to strengthen our national unity, it will remove the fears of many who feel that linguistic States will prove a strain on Indian unity. Great, therefore, is the responsibility of Andhra leaders and Andhra people. We cannot build a nation if our patriotism is local or communal.
Appeal to Potti Sriramulu
Hyderabad's Chief Minister, Mr. B. Ramakrishna Rao sent a telegram to Mr. Sriramulu, fasting in Madras. It read, "Your fast is causing much anxiety and distress in the whole country. Panditji (Jawaharlal Nehru) is prepared to constitute a Boundary Commission immediately and has given an assurance of other steps. I earnestly entreat you to break your fast, and give all leaders a fair opportunity."
2 This Day That Age dated December 17, 1952:
Fasting Sriramulu passes away
Mr. Potti Sriramulu (51), on a fast unto death from October 19 pressing for the immediate forming of a separate Province for the Andhra people, died in Madras on December 15, the 58th day of his ordeal.
Potti Sriramulu was born in Madras City, qualifying himself as a sanitary engineer, he took employment with the G.I.P. Railway in Bombay. After resigning his job in 1930, Sriramulu participated in the Salt Satyagraha movement started by Gandhiji and continued to do constructive work on Gandhian lines. He was in the Sabarmati Ashram till 1938, Sriramulu was imprisoned for 18 months in Rajkot during the Individual Satyagraha movement.
Later he took part in the Quit India movement launched by the Mahatma in 1942.
3 After Sriramulu, Andhra State:
The last rites for the late Potti Sriramulu were conducted at Choolai in Madras. The cortege started from the residence of Mr. Buhisu Sambamurti in Mylapore and reached the Vysya Crematorium after five hours. Young men in the procession shouted slogans demanding that Andhra Ministers in the Madras Cabinet and Members in the Legislature resign. Before the body of Mr. Sriramulu was consigned to the flames, a funeral oration was delivered by Andhra Kesari, Mr. T. Prakasam. Mr. Prakasam said that Sriramulu had made history by fasting unto death for a noble public cause. A few days earlier he had met the fasting man who had asked him, "Is there still a place for truth in this world?" But, Sriramulu stuck to his principles and ideals, showing tremendous spiritual strength. He scrupulously adhered to Gandhian ways and faced his death courageously. He laid down his life convinced that it would bring good to millions of others. Mr. Praksam hoped that after Sriramulu's supreme sacrifice, the Andhras would stand united and follow in the footsteps of the great departed soul to achieve what he had fasted grimly and died nobly for.
A PTI report from New Delhi said that the Government of India would very soon announce the appointment of a high judicial functionary, either a Judge of the Supreme Court or a Senior Judge of a High Court, to proceed to Madras and submit a report within thirty days on positive steps to be taken to create a separate State for Andhra.
The Union Cabinet was likely to be convened within a day or two to consider the matter. Dr. S. Radhakrishnan told the Council of States that the Prime Minister had taken steps in regard to the formation of an Andhra Province out of the undisputed Telugu areas. The Prime Minister himself told the House of People that "some steps would be taken fairly soon." Government was to take advice on the specific steps to be taken and on the terms of reference for a Boundary Commission, or any other body to be appointed to straighten out matters and bring into existence a separate Andhra State soon. Prime Minister, Mr. Jawaharlal Nehru, was already in touch with the Madras Chief Minister, C. Rajagopalachari, on this matter.
4 dated December 19, 1952:
Rajaji's Call to the People
As Tanjore reeled from severe storm havoc, and parts of Madras province were torn by disturbances triggered off by the life sacrifice of Potti Sriramulu pressing for a separate Andhra State, the Chief Minister, C. Rajagopalachari, issued the following statement from his camp in Kumbakonam: "Our misfortunes are mounting one upon another. Here in Tanjore, the people are showing to me, with tears in their eyes, the devastated gardens and huts all over the area, and miserable people are crowding round me giving vent to their distress.
At the same time, news of very grave happenings in the Andhra areas is reaching me in spite of the difficulty of communications. It is a matter of great grief that just while the Prime Minister of India and myself are trying to solve the problem and remove all impediments so that a separate Andhra State can be set up as soon as possible, people have suddenly lost their head and no one seems to be capable of or, as far as I can see, even inclined to exert himself to stem the tide of insane disorder. It is needless to emphasize that what the students have started has been taken advantage of by bad characters in society.
Mob rule and looting cannot be permitted to go on. Many lives have been lost — probably innocent lives — in the process of coping with these disorders. I earnestly appeal to all good people with any influence to exert themselves in the cause of peace and order and restore normal conditions."
5 dated December 27, 1952:
Andhra-Tamil dispute about Madras
Meeting in Vijayawada, the Andhra Pradesh Congress Committee decided to present a Memorandum to Mr. Justice Wanchoo setting out demands regarding a separate State of Andhra. The Committee wanted the capital of the new State to be in Madras, till such time as a new capital was identifiedand the City of Madras to be formed into a Chief Commissioner's State. A Sub-committee of the Tamil Pradesh Congress Committee, meeting under the presidentship of Mr K. Kamaraj Nadar, welcomed Prime Minister Nehru's announcement of an Andhra State without Madras City, but expressed its determination never to have Madras City made into a Chief Commissioner's province, or to have Andhra's capital located in it even temporarily.
Printer friendly
6 dated December 30, 1952:
Rayalaseema people oppose Andhra
T. Pulla Reddi, president of the Cuddappah District Board, said in a statement, "The people of Rayalaseema oppose a separate Andhra State, and they can never think of severing their connection with Madras. When their conditions cannot now be improved with all the resources of the composite State, it is futile to think that a divided State can do so. The people of Rayalaseema are looking forward to the Prime Minister, Jawaharlal Nehru, to postpone this issue by another 10 years."
7 dated January 07, 1953:
Nellore's demand to be A.P. Capital
A meeting of the Nellore Bar Association held on the 5th with Mr. T. V. Sivaramayya presiding, made the following demands: Forming a separate Andhra State should not be delayed any longer; Madras City should be divided between the Tamils and the Telugus, or the city made into a Part C State of India with Andhra having its capital in it along with Madras State, and Nellore should eventually be made Andhra's capital, as it had plentiful supply of water, was located on the sea-coast, and offered ample scope for future expansion.
8 dated October 1, 1953:
May Andhra, and India progress
In a special message to The Hindu to mark the inauguration of the new Andhra State on the 1st of October, Dr. S. Radhakrishnan, Vice-President of India, said: This day is important in the history of the Andhra and of our country. Andhra people have been working for nearly 40 years for a separate State, and the present Government of India have granted it, it is now for the people to work in a spirit of good-will and co-operation, and make Andhra State contended and prosperous. Andhra played a great part in the struggle for freedom, and their sacrifices and sufferings were as good as those of any others. Today, it is their duty to show the same qualities and work for the progress of Andhra as well as of India. Unfortunately on the eve of the establishment of the separate State, this part of the country had a severe blow and suffered immense loss of life and property.
The problems ahead are serious, and require for their solution intelligent leadership and public support. As in the rest of India when freedom was won, the evils of our society have come to the surface; the baser qualities of greed, personal ambition, and love of power, are manifesting themselves. Public interest has suffered from divided and incompetent leadership. Love of freedom is love of others, love of power is love of one's self. When love of power becomes an obsession, it blinds our eyes, distorts our vision, infects our thoughts, and hardens our hearts. Democracy is a means to achieve democratic, and not personal, ends. If we are to be loyal servants of a free India, we must practise self-effacement and devotion to the public good. The new State is on trial. Policy makers and administrators should realise that a Government should not only control the governed but also control itself. All those speaking the Dravidian group of languages, Tamil, Telugu, Malayalam and Kannada, lived together and worked together for centuries. Culturally, politically and administratively, the Andhras worked with others in South India. In recent years suspicions developed. But I do hope they will all be forgotten, and a new era of friendship will start from now. The spirit of caste and outcaste still prevails.
With a sensitive and emotional people, who have had a noble inheritance, I feel that these prejudices will soon become things of the past in Andhra. The recent attack on Vinoba Bhave by the Pandas at Deoghar shows how far behind our ideals some of our people are. The faith of democracy is based not merely on the leadership at the top but the wisdom and conscience of the common people. While the top leaders may determine our future, the common people will decide our destiny. Caste prejudices should be removed from the hearts of our people, and not merely in our Constitution. If Andhra proposes, if it helps, to strengthen our national unity, it will remove the fears of many who feel that linguistic States will prove a strain on Indian unity. Great, therefore, is the responsibility of Andhra leaders and Andhra people. We cannot build a nation if our patriotism is local or communal.
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