Arutla Ramachandra Reddy

Arutla Ramachandra Reddy was born in 1909 at Kolanupaka, in Bhongir taluk of Nalgonda district.¹ He worked for the Arya Samaj and the Andhra Mahasabha in Hyderabad State from 1934 to 1952.¹ He campaigned against the jagirdari system (rule of villages by holders of land grants) of the Nizam’s state.¹ The Who’s Who names Arutla Kamala Devi, another worker of the Telangana struggle, as the wife of Ramachandra Reddy.²

His life is told briefly in the Who’s Who of Freedom Struggle in Andhra Pradesh, published by the state government in 1980.¹

The Vandemataram movement, 1938

In 1938 students of Osmania University were expelled for singing “Vande Mataram” in their hostel.³ Sarojini Regani names Arutla Ramachandra Reddy among those who took an active part in this Vandemataram movement.³ The Who’s Who says he was arrested during the movement.¹ It says he was badly beaten in police custody.¹

The Palakurthi case

Devulapalli Venkateswara Rao, a Communist leader of the struggle, tells of these years in his Telugu history of 1988.⁴ He writes that Ramachandra Reddy toured the villages around Palakurthi, in Jangaon taluk, and held public meetings without permission.⁵⁴ Volunteers of the village sangham (association) guarded one of these meetings at Palakurthi.⁶

The deshmukh (hereditary revenue chief and landlord) of Visnur then brought a case of attempted murder against about 20 people, Ramachandra Reddy among them.⁴ Devulapalli writes that the party at first decided he should not be arrested, because his arrest might discourage the people.⁴ When it learnt that the deshmukh’s men were pressing the jailed villagers to give in, it decided that he should be arrested and stay with them.⁴ After his arrest, he says, the police took him round the villages to frighten people, and then put him in jail.⁴

According to Devulapalli, the case took about a year.⁷ The judge then threw it out and criticised both the deshmukh and the police.⁷ Ramachandra Reddy and all the others were released.⁷ This fits the Who’s Who’s statement that he was held for a year as an undertrial prisoner and then acquitted.¹

Internment and the Razakar years, 1945–1948

He was the son of Raja Reddy and had passed the Intermediate examination.¹ In 1945 he was interned (confined by order) in his village, Kolanupaka.¹ He was later held for a year in the Central Jail, Hyderabad, as an undertrial prisoner.¹ The court then acquitted him.¹

During the campaign for joining India in 1947–48, the Razakars (the armed volunteers of the Ittehad-ul-Muslimeen) looted his house.¹ The Who’s Who gives the same detail for the house of his wife, Kamala Devi.²

After 1948

After the police action of September 1948, the Hyderabad government’s Hyderabad Reborn (1949) printed a list of communists captured by the army and police.⁸ The list includes the name “Arutla Ramachtndra Reddy”.⁸ The book gives no other details of him.⁸

The Who’s Who says that he joined the Communist Party in 1952.¹ It does not mention an arrest in 1948–49.¹

Where the sources disagree

The two government books describe him differently:

• The Who’s Who (1980) says he was an Arya Samaj and Andhra Mahasabha worker until 1952 and a communist only from 1952.¹
• Hyderabad Reborn (1949) lists a man of his name among captured communists in 1948–49.⁸ It does not say whether this is the same person.⁸

Footnotes

1. Regani (ed.), Who’s Who, Vol. II (1980), p. 551 (archive.org↗ (opens in a new tab)). ↩ ↩² ↩³ ↩⁴ ↩⁵ ↩⁶ ↩⁷ ↩⁸ ↩⁹ ↩¹⁰ ↩¹¹ ↩¹² ↩¹³ ↩¹⁴ ↩¹⁵

2. Sarojini Regani (ed.), Who’s Who of Freedom Struggle in Andhra Pradesh, Vol. II (1980), p. 484 (archive.org↗ (opens in a new tab)). ↩ ↩²

3. Sarojini Regani, Highlights of the Freedom Movement in Andhra Pradesh (1956), pp. 186–187 (archive.org↗ (opens in a new tab)). ↩ ↩²

4. Devulapalli, Sayudha Porata Charitra (1988), p. 299 (archive.org↗ (opens in a new tab)). ↩ ↩² ↩³ ↩⁴ ↩⁵ ↩⁶

5. Devulapalli, Sayudha Porata Charitra (1988), p. 298 (archive.org↗ (opens in a new tab)). ↩

6. Devulapalli Venkateswara Rao, Telangana Prajala Sayudha Porata Charitra (1988), p. 297 (archive.org↗ (opens in a new tab)). ↩

7. Devulapalli, Sayudha Porata Charitra (1988), p. 306 (archive.org↗ (opens in a new tab)). ↩ ↩² ↩³

8. Hyderabad Reborn (1949), p. 115 (archive.org↗ (opens in a new tab)). ↩ ↩² ↩³ ↩⁴ ↩⁵