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Telugu Historyతెలుగు చరిత్ర

Devulapalli Venkateswara Rao

Communist leader of Nalgonda district (1917–1984) and historian of the Telangana armed struggle. Expelled from Osmania University in the Vandemataram strike, he joined the Communist Party in 1939, led its Nalgonda district committee and joined its state secretariat in March 1948. He sat in the Lok Sabha from 1957 to 1962, later led a revolutionary communist group, and spent long years underground and in jail. His Telugu history of the struggle was published in 1988, after his death.

Devulapalli Venkateswara Rao was a Communist leader of the Telangana armed struggle of 1946–1951.1 He led the party in Nalgonda district and helped to direct the struggle.2 He also wrote a Telugu history of it, Telangana Prajala Sayudha Porata Charitra.3 He died suddenly in July 1984, and the book was published in 1988.3

The facts on this page come from that book.4 Most of them are from a preface written by the comrades who finished editing it after his death.34 The editors were his party comrades, and they write in praise of him.45

Early life

According to the preface, he was born on 1 June 1917 at Inugurthi, in Manukota taluk of Warangal district, into a family of deshmukhs (hereditary revenue chiefs and landlords).4 His family’s village was Bandameedi Chandupatla, in Suryapet taluk of Nalgonda district.4 He studied at Suryapet and attended the third Andhra Mahasabha conference at Khammam as a schoolboy.4

He joined Osmania University for the B.A.4 There he took part in the students’ Vandemataram strike, and he was expelled with many others.4 He refused to sign an apology to be taken back, and finished his degree at Jabalpur.4 He returned to his village in 1938.4

The Communist Party and the Telangana struggle

In 1939, the preface says, the Communist Party of India approached him, and he agreed to work full time for it.41 The party was banned at the time.1 He became secretary of its Nalgonda district committee.2

The preface says the first case against him arose from the land struggle of the Lambada farmers of Mundrai, brought by the Nizam’s government.2 His own book says he ran that case together with the Lambada farmers.6 It also says he spent much of his time at Palakurthi, where the deshmukh of Visnur’s men were trying to frighten the villagers.7

In March 1948 he was taken into the secretariat of the party’s state committee, with charge of the armed struggle.2 The editors write that he first proposed the dividing of land and the forming of volunteer squads.5 In 1949 he wrote a party document arguing against calls to give up the armed struggle.52 The preface says the all-India and state leaders decided to withdraw the struggle without his knowledge.5

After the struggle

He spent about seven years underground during the Telangana struggle, from 1946 to 1952.8 He was a member of the party’s central committee or national council until he left the CPI(M) in June 1968.2 From 1957 to 1962 he was a member of the Lok Sabha for the two-member Nalgonda seat.2

He was detained under the Defence of India Rules in 1962, and again around the war with Pakistan in 1965.8 In 1969 he and others, among them Tarimela Nagi Reddy, were arrested in what was called the Hyderabad conspiracy case.8 They were held from December 1969 to May 1972.8 When the Emergency was declared in June 1975, he broke his bail and went underground again.8 He was sentenced to four years’ imprisonment in that case, but the sentence was never carried out.8

In 1969 he became secretary of the Andhra Pradesh Revolutionary Communist Committee.2 In April 1975 he and Tarimela Nagi Reddy founded the Unity Centre of Communist Revolutionaries of India (Marxist–Leninist), and he was its general secretary until his death.2 The preface counts about 17 years of his life spent underground and about five in jail.8

His history of the struggle

He was still editing his history when he died in July 1984.3 His comrades completed the editing of the first part and published it in 1988.3

Footnotes

  1. Devulapalli, Sayudha Porata Charitra (1988), editors’ preface, p. xxviii (archive.org (opens in a new tab)). ↩ ↩2 ↩3

  2. Devulapalli, Sayudha Porata Charitra (1988), editors’ preface, p. xxxi (archive.org (opens in a new tab)). ↩ ↩2 ↩3 ↩4 ↩5 ↩6 ↩7 ↩8 ↩9

  3. Devulapalli Venkateswara Rao, Telangana Prajala Sayudha Porata Charitra (1988), publishers’ foreword (archive.org (opens in a new tab)). ↩ ↩2 ↩3 ↩4 ↩5

  4. Devulapalli, Sayudha Porata Charitra (1988), editors’ preface, p. xxvii (archive.org (opens in a new tab)). ↩ ↩2 ↩3 ↩4 ↩5 ↩6 ↩7 ↩8 ↩9 ↩10 ↩11

  5. Devulapalli, Sayudha Porata Charitra (1988), editors’ preface, p. xxix (archive.org (opens in a new tab)). ↩ ↩2 ↩3 ↩4

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

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

  8. Devulapalli, Sayudha Porata Charitra (1988), editors’ preface, p. xxxii (archive.org (opens in a new tab)). ↩ ↩2 ↩3 ↩4 ↩5 ↩6 ↩7

References

Sources (1)
  1. Devulapalli Venkateswara Rao, Telangana Prajala Sayudha Porata Charitra (History of the Telangana people's armed struggle) (opens in a new tab), 1988, editors' preface xxvii–xxxii and foreword; 298, 306. Cite-only; paraphrased. The preface was written by his party comrades who edited the book. [All rights reserved (cited, not reproduced)]

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