Tributes Paid to Eashwari Bai on 35th Death Anniversary; J.B. Raju Receives Memorial Award
The commemoration began in the morning with garlanding at Eashwari Bai’s statue in West Marredpally, Secunderabad.
Hyderabad:The 35th death anniversary of J. Eashwari Bai was observed with floral tributes, speeches and the screening of a documentary on her life. “The real reason this meeting is a success is the people sitting in front of us, not those on the stage,” said J.B. Raju, retired Indian Information Service officer and national chairman of the Rashtriya Dalit Sena, after receiving the 2026 Eashwari Bai Memorial Award.
The commemoration began in the morning with garlanding at Eashwari Bai’s statue in West Marredpally, Secunderabad. The evening sabha was held at Ravindra Bharathi under the aegis of the department of language and culture, along with the Eashwari Bai Memorial Trust. Dr J. Geeta Reddy, chairperson of the trust, presided over the programme.
Speaking at the meeting, minister G. Vivek Venkatswamy referred to her role in the Telangana movement and her advocacy in the Assembly. The documentary screened at the event showed “her courage in the Assembly,” he said, recalling that “in those days, speaking strongly for Telangana was not easy.” He described J.B. Raju as “the most appropriate person to receive this award,” adding, “Whenever injustice happened to the poor, whenever there was violence or discrimination, he was always the first person to reach there.”
Raju, now 86, spoke about his decades-long association with Eashwari Bai. “In nearly 80 per cent of Telangana’s villages, I carried Babasaheb Ambedkar’s message directly to the people and installed his statues,” he said. He thanked people who had travelled from different regions to attend the programme. “I thank each one of you from the bottom of my heart,” he said.
Dr Geeta Reddy spoke about continuing her mother’s work. “J.B. Raju is one of my mother’s most committed disciples. He stood by her in every struggle,” she said. She recalled that Eashwari Bai “contested against ministers and won,” adding that her popularity stemmed from work among the people rather than resources.
Eashwari Bai, born in 1918 in Secunderabad, served as a municipal corporator and later as a member of the undivided AP Legislative Assembly. A leader of the Republican Party of India and an Ambedkarite activist, she founded Geetha Vidyalaya in Chilaklguda and worked for Dalit rights, women’s welfare and education. She died on February 24, 1991.
