Alluri Sitaramaraju was born at PANDRANGI Village in Viskahapatnam District, Andhra Pradesh in July 1897. His
father Venkata Narayana Raju was from Mogallu near Bhimavaram and he was a photographer
in the Central Prison at Rajahmundry. His mother Suryanarayanamma was from
Visakhapatnam.
Sitaramaraju lived mainly at Mogallu and was educated at
Rajahmundry at the “Vullithota Banagaryya School”, as well as at Kakinada, Tuni
and Ramachandrapuram of East Godavari District. While pursuing his studies at
Kakinada he came into contact with a notable freedom fighter Madduri
Annapurnayya and also with Rallapalli Achutaramiah a scholar of high repute.
Both have influenced his way of thinking.
His father died when he was in school and he was taken into
the care of his uncle Rama Krishnam Raju who was a Tehsildar of Narsapur in
West Godavari District. He studied at Taylor High School in Narsapur and then
shifted to Tuni along with his brother and sister. From here he travelled in the
Visakhaptanam District and became familiar with the problems of the tribal people
living there.
When he was 15 years old he joined Mrs AVN College at
Visakhaptnam which is the native place of his mother. He dropped out of college
after failing in the 4th Form (9th class). Though he was
not interested in studies he showed a keen interest in the political situation
in India at that time.
Following the death of his father, his
schooling got disrupted and he went on a pilgrimage and toured the Western, Northern,
North-Western, and North-Eastern India during his teens. The social-economic
conditions in the country under the British regime, particularly in the tribal
areas, deeply moved him. During these journeys, he met revolutionaries in
Chittagong (now in Bangladesh).
Sitarama Raju made up his mind to
build a movement against the British. He made Adivasi areas in the
Eastern Ghats (the forest area along the Visakhapatnam and Godavari district)
his home and decided to work for the Adivasis, who were living in abject
poverty and being fleeced by police, forest and revenue officials, in 'Manyam' (forest
area). He started working amongst them and helped them by educating them and
providing medical help, using the basic knowledge he gained from his extensive
travels. He decided to make this area the hub for his fight against the
British.
He began
to organise Adivasis against the atrocities by the police, the
forest and revenue officials and extensively toured the'Manyam' area.
He told them that they were the sole owners of the forest produce and prepared
them to fight against the oppressive Madras Forest Act, 1882. A slew of initial
successes to Sitaramaraju gave a lot of hope and confidence among
the Adivasis and people in the surrounding villages and more and more
of them began to rally behind Sitarama Raju.
He was so confident of the path he chose that
he told a reporter (incidentally the only interview he ever gave to a reporter)
that he could overthrow the British in two years time.
As he organised the tribals to
defend their rights on the produce, he gained tremendous understanding of the
terrain that had helped him in great deal in his future guerilla war against
the British forces. He would appear at one place this moment and disappear in
moment to appear somewhere else in no time, giving sleepless nights to the
British forces.
Legends on his attacks and exploits on the
police stations in the region have become part of the folklore of the region.
He built a strong team of followers from the area, and a formidable guerilla army
sporting traditional weapons like bow-and-arrow and spears and achieved number
of successes against the British forces.
He learnt from the Adivasis, the
time-tested methods of war and added his own tactics to put up a fight against
the British. For example, his team used whistles and beatings of the drums to
exchange messages amongst the revolutionaries. He soon realised that the
traditional weaponry would be of no use against the heavily armed the British
forces. He thought the best way is to snatch them from the enemy and launched
attacks on police stations with lightning speed.
Sitaramaraju mounted a raid on 3 police stations on 3
consecutive days in August 1922. Chintapalli Police Station was raided on 22nd,
Krishnadevipeta PS on 23rd and Rajavommangi PS on 24th. A
number of guns, swords and ammunition were obatined from these police stations.
In the process his tribal army has also released the revolutionary Verayya Dora
from detention.
Thereafter his army also raided Rampachodavaram, Dammanapalli,
Addateegala, Narsipatnam and Annavaram Police Stations.
All the attacks were concluded by a trademark
letter signed by Raju himself, giving details of the booty in the
station diary. Another hallmark of his attacks was that he would announce the
date and time of the attack.
A large contingent of Reserve Police personnel
from Visakhapatnam,
Rajahmundry, Parvatipuram and Koraput were rushed to these
areas led by British officers. Two of the officers – Scot
and Heiter were killed in battles with revolutionaries on September
24, 1922, and several others wounded.
The British Army got alerted and
platoons of Police and Army were sent to capture Sitarama Raju. At
Peddavalassa, Sitarama Raju attacked the British Army. The British were
defeated during this battle and suffered heavy casualties and retreated. From that day onwards there was a regular warfare between his army and the
Britishers. Sitarama Raju managed to hold the British during the fights and
emerged victorious.
In December 1922, the Britsih deployed a company of Assam Rifles
near Pegadapalle under Saunders. Sitaramaraju who has by then gone underground
resurfaced after 4 months and continued the fight strengthened by tribal
volunteers using bows and arrows under the leadership of Gam Mallu Dora and
Gantam Dora.
The Agency Commissioner J R Higgins had
announced a prize of Rs 10,000 for Rama Raju's head and Rs 1,000 each
on his lieutenants Gantam Dora and Mallu Dora . It
deployed hundreds of soldiers from Malabar Special Police and the Assam Rifles,
led by top British officers, to crush the movement. Officers like Sanders and
Forbes were on the back foot several times as Raju dared them to stop
him and his followers from carrying out certain attacks.
The British Government deputed the District
Collector T G Rutherford to quell the movement. Rutherford resorted to violence
and torture to get to know the whereabouts of Raju and his key
followers.
Following a raid led by Sitarama Raju on the Annavaram police
outpost on 18 September 1923, Gam Mallu Dora was arrested. Rutherford’s forces
also arrested Pericherla Suryanarayana Raju also known as Aggiraju who was a
devoted follower of Sitaramaraju.
The British campaign lasted for nearly a year from December
1922. Sitarama Raju was eventually trapped by the British in the forests of
Chintapalli and then tied to a tree and shot dead with a rifle in Mampa village.Alluri Sitarama Raju's tomb is located at Krishnadevipeta.
Following the martyrdom of Alluri, the tribal revolt lost its
momentum and petered out by October 1923. Police officer Mr. N. Gnaneswara Rao
responsible for Raju's entrapment was awarded the title of Rao Bahadur.
While describing the great exploits of Sitaramaraju it has to be
made clear that what he resorted to was guerilla warfare in which he was very successful due to the familiarity of the terrain. There were no direct battles. However,
the greatness of the man is evident from the fact that he dared to defy the
mighty British Empire with a few hundred soldiers of tribal volunteers armed
with bows and arrows and he was ready to lay down his life effortlessly for the
cause he believed in.
Sitarama Raju was shot dead by the British at the age of 26. His selflessness and scant regard for his life make him truly great in the annals
of the fight against the British. 