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 4th 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.
