Hyderabad, April 06: The chants of “Raghupathi Raghava Raja Ram Patita Pavana Sita Ram” echoed at the Sabarmati ashram on the dawn of March 12, 81 years ago heralding the historic Dandi March by Mahatma Gandhi.
It was a march of the people, for the people and by the people which called for “Purna Swaraj”, complete independence from British Raj, in the year 1930 itself.
The frail-looking Gandhiji commenced his march, armed with the powerful weapon of ahimsa and accompanied by disciplined ashramites from Sabarmati Ashram in Ahmedabad to the remote sea coast village of Dandi to break the “salt law”. He walked about 390 km at a stretch encompassing four districts and 48 villages in 24 days and reached Dandi on April 6, 1930, to produce salt without paying tax, symbolising an act of Civil Disobedience by millions of Indians.
Initially, the Salt Satyagraha met with scepticism from Gandhiji’s close associates such as Motilal Nehru and his son, Jawaharlal. Sardar Patel suggested a Land Revenue boycott instead. Explaining his choice, Gandhiji said “next to air and water, salt is perhaps the greatest necessity of life. Slowly, but surely, the protest gathered momentum and leaders all over the country realised the power of salt.
Madras was agog with Gandhiji’s multi-pronged freedom struggle as also other important cities. Tanguturi Prakasam Panthulu, popularly known as Andhra Kesari, was at the centre of the events during those days. Tremendously moved, Prakasam renounced his lucrative legal practice (Rs. 1,000 a day), in response to Gandhiji’s call and decided to place his time, energy and wealth at the altar of the nation.
Taking a vow of non-possession, Prakasam decided to free himself from the fetters of office and plunged into the ‘Salt Satyagraha’. He took oath on March 18, 1930, and rose the very next day to deliver a fiery speech in the Legislative Assembly in defence of Satyagraha.
“Sir … Salt tax is such an unholy tax, a tax that touches the poor, a tax that cannot be justified. A man of 60 without much of strength marched himself to show how he can break your salt laws. Has not the salt that had been taken all these years sufficient for Great Britain.” He went on to submit his resignation on April 2, 1930, to participate in the Salt Satyagraha and proceeded to Madras.
Stops at Guntur
On his way, he stopped at Guntur on the invitation of the APCC to lead the movement in which stalwarts like ‘Desabhakta’ Konda Venkatappaiah, ‘Andhra Ratna’ Duggirala Gopalakrishnaiah, ‘Maharshi’ Bulusu Sambamurthy, ‘Desodharaka’ K. Nageswara Rao and Durgabai (later Durgabai Deshmukh) were involved.
The ‘Guru-ka-Bagh’ event of the Akalis of 1922 had an immense impact on Prakasam’s mind. As editor of his fearless ‘Swarajya’ paper and as a barrister, he had faith in the masses of Madras. He searched Madras city for a building to train volunteers and occupied a spacious building called “Udayavanam” at a high rent of Rs. 200 a month in Mylapore.
He handed over the camp to Durgabai and made a whirlwind tour of all the districts where the response exceeded all expectations. The vibrant satyagrahis of the camp included G. Rangaiah Naidu, V.L. Sastry, G. Hari Sarvothama Rao and Kamakshamma and other volunteers joined in response to Prakasam’s call.
On April 13, 1930, the last day of the National Week (April 6 -13, 1930) Prakasam and Nageswara Rao led the biggest procession through the streets to Triplicane beach to produce salt illegally. The Guru-ka-Bagh spirit was exhibited in all respects, deeds, words and thoughts.
One day as Prakasam started addressing a large gathering, someone said that his second son Hanumantha Rao died due to small pox. The ‘Andhra Kesari’ said if his son died he would be the first martyr in the Satyagraha. Fortunately he was saved by his doctor-brother Janakiramaiah. That was the commitment of Prakasam.
He donated his building with 2,500 sq.yds in Dwarampadu village for a Salt Satyagraha camp near his home town of Ongole. Five years later, Prakasam constructed a commemorative pillar (Vijaya Stupa) at the place which was unveiled by Dr. Rajendra Prasad, then Congress president. Prakasam contemplated a rural university with Dr. Rajendra Prasad as Chancellor and himself as vice-chancellor.
Prakasam was arrested thrice since launching the satyagraha and imprisoned for one year. On his refusal to pay the fine imposed on him, his new car was confiscated. Andhra Kesari can truly be called a ‘Bharat kesari.’
–Agencies