The Hindu : Andhra Pradesh News : An unsung hero of Telangana

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Monday, Sep 13, 2004

Andhra Pradesh

Andhra Pradesh

An unsung hero of Telangana

By S. Ramu

Bakkulu

NALGONDA, SEPT. 12. The very mention of the words, Veera Telangana Raithanga Saayudha Poratam, meaning Telangana Peasants' Armed Struggle, stirs this 85-year-old man to the core. Without notice, he breaks into a revolutionary song, albeit with a choked voice. He also narrates his experiences as a courier during the Nizam's draconian rule with a revolutionary zeal.

Greatest revolutionary

If you ask him about the stalwart Communist leader, Puchhalapalli Sundarayya, who had led the dalams from the front, the man joins his fragile hands as a mark of respect. "He is the greatest revolutionary and his leadership qualities are unique,'' says Kaaringu Bakkulu, who worked as a courier for Sundarayya for five long years at the peak of the struggle.

A native of Regatte village in Kanagal mandal near here, Mr. Bakkulu played a pivotal role in collecting information from villagers and passing it to his leader. He was a bridge between "praja dalams'' and the leaders. "I was rated the best courier during war time. You know, I escaped from jails on three occasions,'' Mr. Bakkulu chuckles with pride. As a young revolutionary, he travelled, albeit clandestinely, extensively with Sundarayya.

``My leader reposed tremendous confidence in me. If I am given a job, the rest is assured. Only once he scolded me for a misadventure,'' Mr. Bakkulu told The Hindu on Saturday.

The adventure

Mr. Bakkulu organised a group of young men to strike at the Nizam's soldiers and Razakars, who molested women at Munapally near Tipparthy. "We were waiting for the enemies to come into the village. As they outnumbered us, I ordered for a retreat. However, a young man fired at the passing soldiers, who in turn indiscriminately opened fire at us,'' Mr. Bakkulu recalled. Showing the bullet wound on his left leg, he said: "I was grievously injured. But, my colleague, Pullayya, carried me to a safer place, where I took out the bullet with my hand,'' he said.

``Sundarayya asked me as to why I had committed the fault and advised me not to repeat such adventures again,'' he said. He revealed that he had killed seven enemies and hurled bombs on a mob as "they had raped our sisters and mothers'' in the villages.

On present politics

Asked to comment on contemporary politics, Mr. Bakkulu fired a salvo against the Telugu Desam president, N. Chandrababu Naidu, and the Chief Minister, Y.S. Rajasekhara Reddy. "They are two sides of the same coin. This is not the State we dreamt of," he said. To a question, he said he was following the developments with the help of television channels.

Mr. Bakkulu approached Sundarayya when the latter become a legislator in 1982 and asked him to dig a tank in his village to help farmers. "Sundarayya immediately got sanctioned Rs. 5 lakhs, but somehow the works could not be completed. As an MLA, Nandhyala Narasimha Reddy sanctioned Rs. 30 lakhs in 1998 and completed the works,'' he added.

Interestingly, Mr. Bakkulu named the tank after his master, Sundarayya, while the villagers call it "Bakkulu cheruvu'' as a mark of respect to the unsung hero of their village.

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