Articles
Jayanti of Andhra Kesari Tanguturi Prakasam Panthulu
Dt: 11/8/14
Jayanti of Andhra Kesari Tanguturi Prakasam Panthulu
Dr T.H.Chowdary*
Government of Andhra Pradesh deserves to be congratulated for officially celebrating the 142th birthday of Andhra Kesari Tanguturi Prakasam Panthulu garu. He is one of the rarest freedom fighters who has sacrificed a lucrative career as Bar- at- law in the undivided Madras Presidency and spent all his wealth for the freedom movement. He was earning much more than the much publicised Motilal Nehru. but there is a great contrast between the careers of the two persons.
2. Prakasam was a person gave everything of his both for the freedom struggle as well as for the creation of the Andhra state by separation from the Madras Presidency. The legendary courage of his was displayed when the Simon Commission visited Chennai, and the Congress boycotting it, he led a demonstration with placards Simon go back. The British deployed armed police and ordered the demonstrators not to proceed. Prakasam went forward with bare chest and dared the police to shoot him. The stunned soldiers simply made way for Prakasam. It was this daring which no other Congress leader was prepared to undertake, that earned him the beloved title Andhra Kesari (Lion).
3. Unlike the present day Congress men whom Dr Ambedkar described in 1948 itself as people without any principles any view of society excepting flattering Gandhi, Prakasam had self -esteem and a definite philosophy on society and its welfare. He rendered Bhagawad Gita into Telugu with a commentary of his own. The Telugu people adored him.
4. When he was penny -less as a Congress leader he used to demand whomsoever he me to give money to buy his train tickets! None withheld what he wanted and all the money was spent for the party, never accumulating a single rupee for himself. Once Gandhiji wrote to him saying that some people complained to him that Prakasam was collecting money from the public but not rendering any accounts. Prakasam shot back saying that unlike what the nation is spending upon Gandhiji, he has spent every paisa that he got for the Congress movement for independence . It would be an insult for him to ask to give an account of that; he had no money with him, he lived on the offerings made by the people . Gandhiji was speechless .
5. After the 1947 general elections of the Congress Legislature party in the Madras Presidency Gandhiji and the Congress High Command did not want Prakasam to be the leader. But Prakasam defied them and won. He was the Premier of the undivided Madras Presidency. But conspirators from among the legislators from Andhra region and Tamils removed him as the Premier by a No -Confidence motion .
6. He was disgusted with the Congress -men jockeying for positions and not implementing the cherished Gandhijis reforms in favour of farmers and weavers and other weaker sections of the people . He was distressed and left the Congress and along with J B Kripalani, Rafi Ahmed Kidwai formed the Kisan Mazdoor Praja Party. Even Prof. N.G.Ranga had to leave the Congress as the party was sliding into the hands of manipulators and self seekers. In the 1952 general elections the KMPP of Prakasam and Krishikar Lok Party of N G Ranga contested the elections against the Congress. The Congress was reduced to a minority in the undivided Madras Province . Communists won a large number of seats in the Andhra area. The non-Congress parties elected Sri Praksam as leader. Jawaharlal Nehru and his Congress could not countenance a non-Congress Ministry in so important a Province as Madras. They nominated Rajaji to the Legislature Council and so manipulated that he was installed as the Premier of Madras. Sri Prakasam then intensified the movement for separation of Andhra. He encouraged Potti Sriramulu to fast unto death and in the aftermath of his death, Nehru had to concede the separate Andhra state in 1953 Oct. As a tribute to the sacrifices of Prakasam, the parties in the newly formed Andhra state agreed that he should be the first Chief Minister and so he was but after a few months the selfish and power -seeking Congress men again contrived to pull him down.
7. In 1980, Sanjeeva Reddy the President of India wrote a letter to the then Prime Minister Indira Gandhi drawing her attention to the talk of extensive corruption indulged in by Maharashtra’s Congress Chief Minister Abdul Rahman Antulay who in the name of Indira Prathibha Pratisthan was collecting money by allotting cement quotas . Sanjeeva Reddy advised Indira Gandhi that as she alone was powerful enough to tackle corruption, she should inquire into Antulya’s doings. Indira Gandhi replied that Sajeeva Reddy was attributing corruption to her or at least her patronage of the corrupt. She then wrote to the President, listing the great sacrifices that her grandfather, father, and herself had been making in the interest of the nation and therefore it is improper to allege any corruption to her . In a stinging reposte Sanjeev Reddy cited Prakasam as a freedom fighter and a Congress leader who sacrificed much more than the entire Nehru Dynasty. He further said that Indira’s grandfather, father and herself her aunt had all been holding high positions in government, Prakasam died in penury and that his progeny is also in penury; that he did not build any Dynasty and amass wealth .
8. It is rare that we have a leader who is so unselfish and who has lived every moment for the good of his people. He belongs to that rank of great selfless people like Acharya Kripalani, Jayaprakash Narayan, Prof. N.G.Ranga and P.Sundaraiah who even in the 1930s decided that they should not have children as they were involved in the freedom movement and should not be tempted to make money to benefit their children when freedom comes. What a contrast with Prakasam’s life to the politicians in almost all parties (excepting the BJP & Communists ) who are building Dynasties and feudalising the politics in India. (1,041 words)
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