The Hindu : Andhra Pradesh News : Freedom-fighter recalls life under Nizam rule

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Tuesday, Dec 11, 2007
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Andhra Pradesh

Andhra Pradesh

Freedom-fighter recalls life under Nizam rule

S. Ramu

Turning nostalgic: Vantapaaka Narsaiah at his home in Nakrekal in Nalgonda district.

NAKREKAL (NALGONDA): Atrocities of Razaakars, people’s valiant struggle for freedom and his narrow escape from death during his underground life are still afresh in the memory of the 75-year-old Vantapaaka Narsaiah.

“Once I thought I should fool the ‘Ameen’ (police officer), who was in search of the Communists. I caught a big fish and went close to him in the guise of a gipsy,” Narsaiah, a native of Babasahebgudem, told The Hindu with a loud laughter.

While bargaining for the catch, the ‘Ameen’ tried to solicit information about the fighters from Narsaiah, who was already a dalam member by that time.

“I feigned ignorance when he asked for a tip-off on the movement of Communists. I enjoying the conversation with him. I was bothered him deliberately by not giving him any concession. Irked by my nonchalant attitude, he menacingly rose to shoe me away from the place. In the process, he fell down and got injured,” Narsaiah narrated with mighty contentment.

He recounted the incident in which his comrades had to slit the throats of about dozen people of the enemy camp. “They were a bunch of cruel rouges. They would undress women and force them to be with them. We used to be merciless in dealing such nasty fellows,” Narsaiah, a hearing-impaired, said.

He worked with the dalams from March 1945 in the face of many odds. He would take shelter in Vijayawada before and after an action in Nakrekal region.

New lease of life

“He surrendered to the Indian forces on September 25, 1949, and was sent to a jail in Gulbarga, Karnataka,” according to an affidavit given by another freedom fighter, B. Venkata Narasimha Reddy of Marrur.

After his release, he married Lakshmamma and they were blessed with two sons and six daughters.

“I started a fresh lease of life as a mason in Independent India and I struggled very hard to give my family a good life,” he said.

Like many other freedom fighters hailing from weaker sections, Narsaiah too is not receiving freedom-fighter’s pension. “I wish to go to Gulbarga to get the certificate of incarceration. Once I get it, I will get the pension,” he says with a mountain of confidence.

However, his family members are not allowing him to travel all the way to Gulbarga at this twilight age.

“It is unfair to ask him to produce a certificate now. The Government should honour him with freedom fighter’s pension,” his daughter Sandhyarani says.

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