Alluri Sitarama Raju, Rampa Rebellion or Manyam Rebellion (1922 to 1924)

Alluri Sitarama Raju

• Context (PIB): The 125th birth anniversary of Alluri Sitarama Raju is being observed.
• Sitarama Raju was born on July 4, 1897, into a middle-class family in a village near Visakhapatnam.
• The 4^th of July, the individual’s birth date, is celebrated as a state festival of Andhra Pradesh.
• He was a sanyasi and a firm believer in justice who waged many battles against unlawful British policies.
• Sitarama Raju, under the influence of Gandhiji’s Non-cooperation movement, inspired the tribals to seek justice in the local panchayat courts and boycott the colonial courts.

Rampa Rebellion (1922 to 1924)

• In 1882, the British government introduced the Madras Forest Act,1882, which prohibited the traditional shifting cultivation practice known as Podu cultivation.
• This act compelled villagers to cultivate specific crops and imposed strict restrictions on their movement within forest areas.
• Alluri Seetarama Raju led the renowned Rampa Rebellion or Manyam Rebellion (1922 to 1924) in the Visakhapatnam-Godavari agency region of the former Madras Presidency.
• Seetarama Raju employed guerilla tactics during the rebellion.
• He fought against the British using traditional weapons like bows, arrows, and spears.
• He also established effective means of communication among the rebels by using whistles and drums.
• After an intense struggle spanning almost two years, he was apprehended by the British in the Chintapalli forests. He was subsequently executed by a firing squad at 27.