ALLURI SITARAMA RAJU-A GREAT REVOLUTIONARY.

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 4^th Form (9^th 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 22^nd, Krishnadevipeta PS on 23^rd and Rajavommangi PS on 24^th. 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.