ALLURI SITARAMA RAJU - MODERN HISTORY
News: Real
tribute will be to imbibe values of Alluri Sitarama Raju, says President Murmu
What's in the news?
● The
President of India Droupadi Murmu invoked the Telugu movie Alluri Sitarama Raju
and the song by Sri Sri “Telugu veera levara... Deeksha booni saagara (Take a
vow and move forward)’ while paying tribute to the freedom fighter at the
closing ceremony of the celebrations of his 125th birth anniversary in
Hyderabad.
Alluri Sitarama Raju:
● Freedom
fighter, was born on 4th July, 1897.
● He
belongs to present day Andhra Pradesh.
Participation in Non-Cooperation Movement:
● He
joined the Non-cooperation movement under the influence of Gandhiji.
● He
Inspired the tribals to seek justice in the local panchayat courts and boycott the colonial courts.
Rampa rebellion:
● The
Rampa administrative area was home to about 28,000 tribes. These tribes
followed the 'PODU' system of
cultivation, whereby every year some amounts of forest tracts were cleared
for cultivation, as it was their only source for food.
● The
Britishers wanted to evict them to build their railways and commercial
cultivation.
● To
get the forests cleared, 'The Madras
Forest Act, 1882' was passed, thereby restricting the free movement of the
tribal communities and prohibiting them from engaging in their traditional PODU
agricultural system.
● This
oppressive order was the beginning of the tribal revolt and in August 1922, Alluri Sitarama Raju launched
the Rampa Rebellion against the
British also known as the Manyam
Rebellion.
● The
tribal folk refused to work as forced
labor in the construction of roads and railway lines in the hilly region.
● Sitarama
Raju used guerrilla warfare to fight
against the British. Along with his army of tribal people, he launched attacks
and raided numerous police stations, killed many British officers, and stole
arms and ammunition for their battle.
● However,
on 07 May 1924, he was treacherously
trapped, tied to a tree, and shot dead,
leading to the end of armed rebellion.
● He
is called Manyam Veerudu or Hero of the
Jungle.