ALLURI SITA RAMA RAJU

1. ALLURI SEETARAMA RAJU:    In the agency areas of Andhra Pradesh a mass agitation was led by Alluri Seetarama Raju in 1922-24. The movement synchronized with Non-cooperation and civil disobedience movements launched by Mahatma Gandhi against the British Government. According to available documented official records and ethnohistorical facts related to the Agency inhabitants the chief causes of Alluri upraising during 192-24 were:

1. Strict restrictions imposed by the forest officials on the tribal and non-tribal who practiced slash and burn cultivation (Podu) in forest areas.

2. The extraction of free forced labor from the tribal living in the Andhra agency for constructing a highway from Narsipatnam to chintapalli (villages in A.P). As the Koyas, the inhabitants of the hilly-forest areas, were unfamiliar with the wage-labor system they did not cooperate with the construction officials. They along with the plain dwellers went against the forced labor. The government was determining to complete the construction work within a stipulated period of time. Mr.Bastain, an unpopular tahasildar was posted to implement the order. He began using all sorts of methods for achieving government objectivity. By this time ALLURI along with his associates started organising activities against the BRITISH. It is reported that he instructed his followers not to take even a single Indian life But to aim at the European Troops.

ALLURI and his associates were involved have been described by Sri M.Venkata rangaiah,a noted historian of Hyderabad The Following major events that occurred during 1922-24:

1. On 22nd and 23rd of August 1922, ALLURI and his strong followers raided the police stations, in order to resecuer Veeraiah Dora, a principal man of earlier rebellion in 1918, ALLURI attacked Raja Vommangi police station. The Government took immediate steps to quell the revolt by posting a number of British officers, in different places of the region.

2. In an another encounter ALLURI killed 2 commanding officers and 4 police. From August to December 1922 ALLURI and his associate attacked so many police stations in the region. During the rebel with British forces in December the administration announced a cash award of 1500/- on the head of ALLURI. After that the Freedom fighters moved in to dense forests. According to official records 9 major clashes occurred between ALLURI and British police from January to October 1923. Ultimately the British forces Encircled the area of ALLURI operations and practically $ off the connections with Agency tacks, they were unable to get food, and other commodities of daily use. Soon the police began capturing the rebels. Looking at the miserable situation of the fellow tribal ALLURI thought that stops the rout and surrender himself to the administration. He headed towards the headquarters and was immediately arrested. Major GOODALL wanted to shoot him, but instructed the police to shoot him. The order was carried out immediately on 8th may, 1924. The story of ALLURI is a sad one, but on the other hand it is really an eye-opener for the pitiful conditions of the Koyas in particular, the tribes of Andhra Pradesh in general. ALLURI was not a tribal by birth. He was a Kshatriya young man from the West Godavari District in Andhra Pradesh. His deep involvement with the tribal made him "IMMORTAL RAJU" among the Tribals.