Vemuri Ramji Rao

Vemuri Ramji Rao was a social worker of Machilipatnam who worked for Dalits and tribal people.¹ In 1930 he gave up a government title and a seat in the Madras Legislative Council to protest against Gandhi’s arrest.¹ The only source for this page is a short entry in the Who’s Who of Freedom Struggle in Andhra Pradesh, published by the state government in 1980.¹

Work for Dalits

According to the Who’s Who, he was born at Machilipatnam in about 1891 and studied up to the matriculation.¹ He gave his life to the uplift of the depressed classes and tribal people.¹ At Machilipatnam he set up a high school and a hostel for Dalit students.¹

The protest of 1930

The Government of Madras gave him the title Rao Saheb.¹ It also nominated him to the Madras Legislative Council.¹ In 1930 he gave up both the title and the seat in protest against the arrest of Gandhi.¹

Later life

He founded and edited a Telugu weekly, Deenabandhu.¹ He died on 17 June 1963.¹

Footnotes

1. Sarojini Regani (ed.), Who’s Who of Freedom Struggle in Andhra Pradesh, Vol. II (1980), p. 247 (archive.org↗ (opens in a new tab)). ↩ ↩² ↩³ ↩⁴ ↩⁵ ↩⁶ ↩⁷ ↩⁸ ↩⁹ ↩¹⁰ ↩¹¹