Gottimukkala Gopal Reddy

Gopal Reddy was a Communist squad leader from Atmakur, in Suryapet taluk of Nalgonda district.¹² He led a guerrilla squad against the Nizam’s police and the Razakars (the armed volunteers of the Ittehad-ul-Muslimeen).¹³ He was killed in a fight at Patarlapadu, a village of the same taluk, in 1947–48.¹⁴

His story is told in the Andhra Pradesh government’s Who’s Who of Freedom Struggle (1980) and in the Telugu histories of two Communist leaders, P. Sundarayya (1973) and Devulapalli Venkateswara Rao (1988).¹⁴³ A photograph caption in Devulapalli’s book gives his full name as Gottimukkala Gopal Reddy.⁵

Early life

The Who’s Who says he was born about 1926 at Atmakur and studied up to middle school.¹ Sundarayya writes that he came from a poor farming family.² He wanted to study further but was too poor, and began to work in the fields.⁶

In 1946, at the age of 20, he joined the movement against the Nizam, Sundarayya writes.⁶ The Who’s Who says he became a member of the Communist Party that year.¹ In Sundarayya’s account he rose from village volunteer to leader of a central guerrilla squad.⁶ His squad often attacked the Nizam’s armed camps at Atmakur, Enubamula and other places.⁶

The fight at Patarlapadu

Sundarayya writes that a hundred soldiers and two hundred Razakars surrounded the village when they learnt the squad was there.⁴ Devulapalli writes that police came with Razakars.³ Both say Gopal Reddy ordered his men never to surrender or give up their arms.²³

According to Sundarayya, Gopal Reddy shot two of the attackers and led the fight himself.² He was hit in the stomach, and then in the neck and chest, and died fighting.² Four other members of the squad were killed, and ten of its 19 men escaped.² Sundarayya says six of the attackers also died.²

The Who’s Who also says he died of bullet wounds in the stomach, neck and chest.¹⁷ Devulapalli writes that the fight went on for some hours, and the squad leader and some others died.³ In his account the few who escaped rebuilt the squad.³ The photograph caption in his book marks the place where Gopal Reddy fell, in a hollow below a tank bund.⁵

Where the sources disagree

None of the three accounts gives the date of the fight.¹⁴³ Other Who’s Who entries say Razakars and the Nizam’s police killed villagers of Patarlapahad on 28 August 1948, for refusing to pay land revenue and levy.⁸⁹ Regani also dates a fight at Patarlapahad to that day, with 17 killed.¹⁰ None of these sources says whether Gopal Reddy died in that attack.¹¹⁰

The accounts also differ on who attacked:

• Sundarayya says soldiers and Razakars.⁴
• The Who’s Who says the Nizam’s military and the Razakars.¹
• Devulapalli says police with Razakars.³

Footnotes

1. Regani (ed.), Who’s Who, Vol. II (1980), p. 476 (archive.org↗ (opens in a new tab)). ↩ ↩² ↩³ ↩⁴ ↩⁵ ↩⁶ ↩⁷ ↩⁸ ↩⁹ ↩¹⁰

2. Sundarayya, Veera Telangana (1973), p. 128 (archive.org↗ (opens in a new tab)). ↩ ↩² ↩³ ↩⁴ ↩⁵ ↩⁶ ↩⁷

3. Devulapalli Venkateswara Rao, Telangana Prajala Sayudha Porata Charitra (1988), p. 483 (archive.org↗ (opens in a new tab)). ↩ ↩² ↩³ ↩⁴ ↩⁵ ↩⁶ ↩⁷ ↩⁸

4. P. Sundarayya, Veera Telangana Viplava Poratam: Gunapathalu (1973), p. 127 (archive.org↗ (opens in a new tab)). ↩ ↩² ↩³ ↩⁴ ↩⁵

5. Devulapalli, Sayudha Porata Charitra (1988), plates, caption to the photograph of Patarlapadu (archive.org↗ (opens in a new tab)). ↩ ↩²

6. Sundarayya, Veera Telangana (1973), p. 129 (archive.org↗ (opens in a new tab)). ↩ ↩² ↩³ ↩⁴

7. Regani (ed.), Who’s Who, Vol. II (1980), p. 477 (archive.org↗ (opens in a new tab)). ↩

8. Sarojini Regani (ed.), Who’s Who of Freedom Struggle in Andhra Pradesh, Vol. II (1980), p. 461 (archive.org↗ (opens in a new tab)). ↩

9. Regani (ed.), Who’s Who, Vol. II (1980), p. 463 (archive.org↗ (opens in a new tab)). ↩

10. Sarojini Regani, Highlights of the Freedom Movement in Andhra Pradesh (1956), p. 220 (archive.org↗ (opens in a new tab)). ↩ ↩²