Suresh Reddy Highlights Telugus Role in Indian Independence
BRS MP highlights Telugu icons and student protests sparked by 1938 prohibition
Nizamabad: BRS Rajya Sabha member K.R. Suresh Reddy said Vande Mataram was instrumental in shaping the revolutionary spirit of freedom fighters. The song’s author, Bankim Chandra Chatterjee, had envisioned the spirit of a sovereign and independent motherland that was both fierce and nurturing.
Speaking in the Rajya Sabha on Tuesday, Suresh Reddy said Vanda Mataram had been banned in 1938 in Hyderabad state. Its prohibition sparked the Vande Mataram movement in the Hyderabad-Karnataka region. “Students from my state, from my alma mater, Osmania University, united to sing Vande Mataram as a form of protest against the ban on the song and as a commitment to the free India that it represented,” he said.
Officials at that time refused to let students leave the hostel buildings where they were protesting, only releasing them upon signing a declaration. Amongst these students was the future Prime Minister P.V. Narasimha Rao, he said.
“I would like to use this opportunity to celebrate the contribution of the Telugu people to the fight for independence,” Suresh Reddy said. “From the hands that designed our National Flag to the hearts that marched and fought beneath it, Telugu contributions shaped the soul of India’s freedom struggle,” Suresh Reddy explained. “Alluri Sitarama Raju, Komaram Bheem took up movements for justice,” he said.
‘I stand to commemorate the contribution of fearless women leaders like Mallu Swarajyam who were part of the Telangana people’s struggle of the 1940s that laid the foundation for democracy in Telangana, Suresh Reddy said.
