Arutla Lakshminarasimha Reddy

Arutla Lakshminarasimha Reddy was a lawyer from Kolanupaka, in Bhongir taluk of Nalgonda district.¹ He went to jail in the Hyderabad State Congress satyagraha of 1938–39.¹ From 1940 he was a member of the Communist Party.¹ He was born in 1918 and died at Secunderabad on 14 March 1976.¹

The main source for this page is the Who’s Who of Freedom Struggle in Andhra Pradesh, published by the state government in 1980.¹ It calls him a noted leader of the Communist Party of India.¹

Early work, 1936–1938

He was the son of Narasimha Reddy.¹ As a student he set up libraries, debates and night schools.¹ In 1936–37 he organised campaigns in Nalgonda district against religious conversion and against the jagirdars (holders of land grants who ruled their villages).¹

The State Congress satyagraha, 1938–1939

In 1938 the Nizam’s government banned the newly formed Hyderabad State Congress, and the Congress began a satyagraha on 24 October.² The Who’s Who says he was the “second dictator” (leader of the second batch) of the satyagraha offered at Hyderabad on 31 October 1938.¹ Sarojini Regani names “Arutla Lakshmi Narsimha Reddy” among those who offered satyagraha and went to jail.³ He was held in the Warangal and Hyderabad jails until 10 April 1939.¹

The Andhra Mahasabha and the Communist Party, 1940–1948

He joined the Communist Party in 1940.¹ From 1942 to 1944 he was a member of the working committee of the Andhra Mahasabha.¹ In 1944 he was president of the reception committee of the Mahasabha’s conference at Bhongir.¹

The Who’s Who says he worked for poor farm labourers during what it calls the communists’ “anti-feudal struggle” in Telangana.¹ On 5 April 1947 the Nizam’s government issued a warrant for his arrest.¹ He was also general secretary of the All Hyderabad Kisan Sabha.¹

After 1948

He was later chairman of the Nalgonda Zilla Parishad.¹ He served in both the Andhra Pradesh Legislative Assembly and the Legislative Council.¹ On 1 November 1972 the Government of India gave him a tamrapatra (copper plaque honouring freedom fighters).¹

Footnotes

1. Sarojini Regani (ed.), Who’s Who of Freedom Struggle in Andhra Pradesh, Vol. II (1980), p. 497 (archive.org↗ (opens in a new tab)). ↩ ↩² ↩³ ↩⁴ ↩⁵ ↩⁶ ↩⁷ ↩⁸ ↩⁹ ↩¹⁰ ↩¹¹ ↩¹² ↩¹³ ↩¹⁴ ↩¹⁵ ↩¹⁶ ↩¹⁷ ↩¹⁸ ↩¹⁹ ↩²⁰

2. Sarojini Regani, Highlights of the Freedom Movement in Andhra Pradesh (1956), p. 189 (archive.org↗ (opens in a new tab)). ↩

3. Regani, Highlights (1956), p. 190 (archive.org↗ (opens in a new tab)). ↩