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Pattabhi Sitaramayya

Congress leader of Machilipatnam and historian of the Indian National Congress. He worked for the National College and khadi in the Krishna district, planned the salt satyagraha in the Telugu districts in 1930, and was arrested during the boycott of the Simon Commission and again in 1930, 1932 and 1942. In 1939 he lost the election for Congress president to Subhas Chandra Bose.

Pattabhi Sitaramayya was a Congress leader of Machilipatnam (then Masulipatam), in Krishna district.1 He worked in the national movement from the Swadeshi years to Quit India in 1942.23 Sarojini Regani calls him “the historian of the Congress”.4 The source for this page is her Highlights of the Freedom Movement in Andhra Pradesh.4

Swadeshi and non-cooperation, 1905–1922

Regani names him among the people who started the National College at Machilipatnam.2 Government intelligence (C.I.D.) reports of the Swadeshi years listed “Pattabhi Sitaramaiah of Masulipatam” among leaders working against the government.1

He attended the special Congress session at Calcutta in September 1920.5 During non-cooperation he spread the use of khadi (handspun cloth) in Machilipatnam and the eastern part of Krishna district.6

The 1920s

After non-cooperation, some Congress leaders formed the Swaraj Party in 1923 to enter the legislative councils.7 Regani names Pattabhi Sitaramayya among the leaders who opposed this.7 In the mid-1920s, she writes, he was among the Andhra leaders who favoured dominion status rather than a change to complete independence.8

He and other Andhra leaders worked for a complete boycott of the Simon Commission.9 The government arrested him with Konda Venkatappayya and others, and later released them.9

The salt satyagraha, 1930

Regani writes that the salt satyagraha in the Telugu districts was spread over many centres on his advice.10 This was to stop the government from gathering its armed forces at any one place.10 She quotes the District Magistrate of Krishna, who wrote that Pattabhi had long avoided jail but was the “brains” behind the organisation.10

On 6 April 1930 he, A. Kaleswara Rao and Mutnuri Krishna Rao picked up salt on the seashore.11 On 9 April he broke the salt laws again, and the salt was auctioned at a meeting near Tilak Chowk in Machilipatnam.11 He was among the leaders arrested during the movement.12 In the civil disobedience of 1932 he was arrested again.13

Congress politics, 1937–1946

In 1937 he was a member of the Andhra Congress Working Committee.14 In 1939 Subhas Chandra Bose defeated him in the election for president of the Congress.14 Regani writes that Gandhi had backed him, and that Gandhi called the defeat his own.14

He was sentenced in the satyagraha against the war in 1940–41.15 By 1942 he was a member of the Congress Working Committee.3 On 29 July 1942 Kala Venkata Rao drafted the Andhra Congress instructions known as the “Kurnool circular”.3 Regani writes that they were sent to the Working Committee for approval through Pattabhi Sitaramayya.3 When the Quit India movement began in August 1942, he was among the Andhra leaders detained.3 In the elections of 1945–46 he campaigned for the Congress.16

Hyderabad State

Regani writes that by 1940 the Nizam’s government had refused to let him enter Hyderabad State.17 Regani writes that the minister, Akbar Hydari, asked Jamnalal Bajaj to keep Nehru and Pattabhi Sitaramayya from visiting Hyderabad.17 In 1947–48 he was among the Andhra leaders who raised support and money for the Hyderabad State Congress.1819

Footnotes

  1. Regani, Highlights (1956), p. 47 (archive.org (opens in a new tab)). ↩ ↩2

  2. Sarojini Regani, Highlights of the Freedom Movement in Andhra Pradesh (1956), p. 44 (archive.org (opens in a new tab)). ↩ ↩2

  3. Regani, Highlights (1956), p. 148 (archive.org (opens in a new tab)). ↩ ↩2 ↩3 ↩4 ↩5

  4. Regani, Highlights (1956), p. 67 (archive.org (opens in a new tab)). ↩ ↩2

  5. Regani, Highlights (1956), p. 69 (archive.org (opens in a new tab)). ↩

  6. Regani, Highlights (1956), p. 73 (archive.org (opens in a new tab)). ↩

  7. Regani, Highlights (1956), p. 101 (archive.org (opens in a new tab)). ↩ ↩2

  8. Regani, Highlights (1956), p. 103 (archive.org (opens in a new tab)). ↩

  9. Regani, Highlights (1956), p. 110 (archive.org (opens in a new tab)). ↩ ↩2

  10. Regani, Highlights (1956), p. 115 (archive.org (opens in a new tab)). ↩ ↩2 ↩3

  11. Regani, Highlights (1956), p. 118 (archive.org (opens in a new tab)). ↩ ↩2

  12. Regani, Highlights (1956), p. 117 (archive.org (opens in a new tab)). ↩

  13. Regani, Highlights (1956), p. 130 (archive.org (opens in a new tab)). ↩

  14. Regani, Highlights (1956), p. 142 (archive.org (opens in a new tab)). ↩ ↩2 ↩3

  15. Regani, Highlights (1956), p. 145 (archive.org (opens in a new tab)). ↩

  16. Regani, Highlights (1956), p. 162 (archive.org (opens in a new tab)). ↩

  17. Regani, Highlights (1956), p. 191 (archive.org (opens in a new tab)). ↩ ↩2

  18. Regani, Highlights (1956), p. 201 (archive.org (opens in a new tab)). ↩

  19. Regani, Highlights (1956), p. 202 (archive.org (opens in a new tab)). ↩

References

Sources (1)
  1. Sarojini Regani, Highlights of the Freedom Movement in Andhra Pradesh (opens in a new tab), Ministry of Cultural Affairs, Government of Andhra Pradesh, Hyderabad, 1956, pp. 44, 47, 67, 69, 73, 101, 103, 110, 115, 117–118, 130, 142, 145, 148, 162, 191, 201–202. Cite-only; paraphrased. [All rights reserved (cited, not reproduced)]

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