Will establish Potti Sriramulu Telugu University, develop his house as a memorial, says A.P. Chief Minister

Chief Minister N. Chandrababu Naidu was speaking at Potti Sriramulu’s death anniversary — ‘Atmarpana Day’

Chief Minister N. Chandrababu Naidu expressed the government’s commitment to establish a Telugu University in the name of Potti Sriramulu, whose sacrifice for the formation of Andhra State set the stage for the creation of linguistic States in India, and develop his house in Nellore district as a memorial. 

Besides, Sriramulu’s 125th birth anniversary on March 16, 2025 would be celebrated in a grand manner, he announced. Participating as the chief guest at a function organised to mark the death anniversary of Potti Sriramulu, which has been named as his ‘Atmarpana Day’ (the day when he breathed his last on the 58th day of his fast) here on Sunday (Decemberr 15), Mr. Naidu recalled the determination with which Sriramulu fought for the formation of Andhra State in 1953.

The notable thing about the movement for the formation of India’s first linguistic State was that it peaked at a time when Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel was fighting the separatist forces bent on dividing the country on partisan grounds, and succeeded amidst the turbulence, he observed.

Rest of what happened i.e Andhra State becoming Andhra Pradesh (A.P.) following the merger with Telangana in 1956, and the bifurcation of unified State of A.P. a decade ago was history which no one should forget, lest statesmen like Sriramulu should completely fade into oblivion.

Mr. Naidu recalled that the need to have a separate State for Telugu-speaking people in the Madras Presidency, who were looked down upon as ‘Madrasis’, was initially felt at a meeting of Yuvajana Navya Sahiti Samithi held in Guntur way back in the year 1903.

The clamour for Andhra State had intensified over the next 50 years and it reached the climax with Sriramulu’s fast-unto-death. 

Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru had sent a telegram requesting Sriramulu to call off his hunger strike, but to no avail, and the movement gathered further steam with the organizing of the Andhra Mahasabha at Bapatla.

The aspirations of the Telugu people were taken to Mr. Nehru’s notice in 1948, after which the Dhar Commission (Linguistic Provinces Commission) was constituted, and Andhra State had eventually become a reality in 1953 after the struggle for it reached a flashpoint with the death of Sriramulu.

The CM said history took another turn in 1969 when the demand to concede Statehood to Telangana had first emerged in 1969. Telangana came into existence in 2014, which left A.P. without a capital of its own.

A.P. had thus gone through political turmoil from as far back as the early 1900s. It was now at an inflection point with its capital under construction from scratch and a plethora of challenges which it was grappling with.

“Keeping the future of A.P. in view, we came up with Vision-2047 and what was released on December 13 is not merely a paper document. It contains a well-planned roadmap for the development of A.P. A collective effort should be made to achieve that with the spirit shown by Sriramulu,” Mr. Naidu added.

Deputy Chief Minister K. Pawan Kalyan said the people were touched by Sriramulu’s selfless crusade for the formation of Andhra State and that his sacrifice should not go waste. Ministers P. Narayana and Kolusu Parthasarathy, Vijayawada MP Kesineni Sivanath, MLA Bonda Umamaheswara Rao and others were present.

Published - December 15, 2024 03:50 pm IST