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When Prime Minister Narendra Modi unveils a 30-ft bronze statue of Alluri Sitarama Raju in Bhimavaram (Andhra Pradesh) on Monday, it, perhaps, will be the first such gesture by the Union Government in honouring the awe-inspiring freedom fighter that made the British spend sleepless nights a century ago.

Modi’s visit is part of the Azadi Ka Amrit Mahotsav, celebrations to mark 75 years of Indian Independence. The initiative is aimed at throwing light on the lesser-known contributions that helped the country wrest freedom.

The occasion marks the 125th birth anniversary of Alluri Sitarama Raju and the centenary of the Rampa Rebellion, which he led. Though a hero and a household name in the two Telugu States, and a folk hero, he is not known much elsewhere.

Born on July 4, 1897, into a middle-class family, Alluri, as a boy, was deeply disturbed when he heard about the untold miseries that the countrymen were suffering under British rule.

Known for the brief but emphatic Rampa Rebellion in the Eastern Ghats of Andhra Pradesh against the British, Alluri, who is also referred to as Manyam Veerudu (Jungle Warrior), rallied thousands of poor Adviasis and kindled the spirit of freedom among them.

When a friend gave him badges with King George’s image on it, the teenager wore it on his shirt and famously said that wearing it was to flaunt one’s servitude. “But I pinned it on my shirt near my heart to remind all of you that a foreign ruler is crushing our lives,” he said.

He toured the country to understand things better and returned to the area where he belonged and decided to wage an armed rebellion – to free the country from the British and to protect the rights of Adivasis.

He won a few battles, using traditional weapons such as bows and arrows, including attacks on police stations. Legend has it that all his attacks were informed well in advance. Also, he would leave a letter with inventory of weapons and bullet stocks that he was taking with him.

With great knowledge of the terrain and the people’s support in the jungles, he waged a spirited war against the British. Not many historians captured his heroics and contributions. Historian Sumit Sarkar was an exception and described him as a truly remarkable man who had become a folk hero.

“The most striking evidence of continued popular militancy came from the ever-restive semi-tribal Rampa region in the north of the Godavari, the scene of a veritable guerrilla war between August 1922 and May 1924 led by Sitarama Raju,” he said in his work Modern India 1885-1947.

Modi’s visit will kickstart year-long festivities marking the freedom fighter’s 125th birth anniversary. The birthplace of Alluri Sitarama Raju at Pandrangi in Vizianagaram district and the Chintapalli Police Station, which he raided (to mark 100 years of the Rampa Rebellion), will be restored. An Alluri Dhyana Mandir at Mogallu will be built, capturing the main events from his life through mural paintings and an AI-enabled interactive system.

After failing to crush the rebellion several times and announcing a ₹10,000 prize on his head, the British deputed TG Rutherford in April 1924, who resorted to unprecedented violence in Adivasi villages to find his coordinates. He was finally caught and killed on May 7, 1924. What followed his killing was untold repression, in which scores of fighters were killed.

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