Question

Who were alluri sitaram and baba ramchandran what role did they play in andhra pradesh and awadh?

Answer 1

In Awadh, peasants were led by Baba Ramchandra – a sanyasi whohad earlier been to Fiji as an indentured labourer. The movementhere was against talukdars and landlords who demanded frompeasants exorbitantly high rents and a variety of other cesses. Peasantshad to do begar and work at landlords’ farms without any payment.As tenants they had no security of tenure, being regularly evicted sothat they could acquire no right over the leased land. The peasantmovement demanded reduction of revenue, abolition of begar, andsocial boycott of oppressive landlords. In many places nai – dhobibandhs were organised by panchayats to deprive landlords of theservices of even barbers and washermen. In June 1920, JawaharlalNehru began going around the villages in Awadh, talking to thevillagers, and trying to understand their grievances. By October, theOudh Kisan Sabha was set up headed by Jawaharlal Nehru, BabaRamchandra and a few others. Within a month, over 300 brancheshad been set up in the villages around the region. So when the Non-Cooperation Movement began the following year, the effort of theCongress was to integrate the Awadh peasant struggle into the widerstruggle. The peasant movement, however, developed in forms thatthe Congress leadership was unhappy with. As the movement spreadin 1921, the houses of talukdars and merchants were attacked,bazaars were looted, and grain hoards were taken over. In manyplaces local leaders told peasants that Gandhiji had declared thatno taxes were to be paid and land was to be redistributed amongthe poor. The name of the Mahatma was being invoked to sanctionall action and aspirations.

Alluri Sitaram Raju claimed that he had a variety of special powers: he could make correct astrological predictions and heal people, and he could survive even bullet shots. Captivated by Raju, the rebels proclaimed that he was an incarnation of God. Raju talked of the greatness of Mahatma Gandhi, said he was inspired by the Non-Cooperation Movement, and persuaded people to wear khadi and give up drinking. But at the same time he asserted that India could be liberated only by the use of force, not non-violence. The Gudem rebels attacked police stations, attempted to kill British officials and carried on guerrilla warfare for achieving swaraj. Raju was captured and executed in 1924, and over time became a folk hero.