Word: sriramulu
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Dates: during 1950-1959
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...Holyman Sriramulu made his fast in Madras city, and the objective was to force Prime Minister Nehru to carve a slice out of Madras state, to be called Andhra, where the Telugu could develop their own culture. Three years ago, a separation plan broke down over the failure of the Telugu (38% of the population) and the Tamils (49%) to agree on the Telugu claim to include Madras city (pop. 1,400,000) in Andhra. Since then the issue has been complicated by the Indian Communists, who have taken up the Telugu grievance, are now by one vote the largest...
Hungry Crows. Day after day, Sriramulu lay on a charpoy (stringed cot) on the veranda of his bungalow in Madras, where the raucous cries of hungry crows mingle with the whine of pariah dogs and the screech of ancient street cars. While Sriramulu lost weight, Andhra lobbyists tried to convince Nehru. As Gandhi's dis ciple, Nehru knows the political value of a prolonged fast, but unlike the British, who eventually quavered under Gandhi's persistence, Nehru stood firm. On Sriramulu's 52nd day, Nehru warned: "This method of fasting to achieve administrative or political changes will...
...days later, Sriramulu came to the crisis. His eyes were sunken, his skin a ghastly pallor, and he was hiccuping continuously. His throat was so inflamed he was unable to swallow water and he vomited blood. One of the doctors at his bedside suggested that it was time to end the fast. Sriramulu had lost the power of speech, but he lifted his hand, slowly and unsteadily placed a finger on his lips in refusal. A few hours later he was dead...
...Communists hailed Sriramulu's "supreme sacrifice," accused Nehru of "deliberate delay in [forming] Andhra state." When the All-India Parliament refused to stand up in homage to Sriramulu's memory, the Communist members walked out. A wave of hysterical emotion swept Andhra territory. Students, youths and workers, led by Communists, attacked Indian government property, cut telegraph wires, damaged railroads, burned rail cars and stoned fire engines, looted railroad restaurants, hoisted black flags of mourning over government buildings. Police, firing on rioters, killed seven and wounded forty. A 13-year-old boy attempted to halt a moving...
...week's end Prime Minister Nehru, responding perhaps as much to the violence as to Sriramulu's nonviolence, announced that his government had decided to establish Andhra state. But he still refused to include Madras city. To that extent, Potti Sriramulu of Madras city had died in vain...