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Potti Sreeramulu

One man stopped eating, in a house in Madras. Fifty-eight days later, he was dead, and India began redrawing its own map.

Potti Sreeramulu, whose 1952 fast-unto-death led to the creation of Andhra State. Photo via Wikimedia Commons, CC BY 2.5.

📑 Contents

16 March 1901: Born in Madras Presidency.
1930: Imprisoned during the Salt Satyagraha.
1942: Imprisoned again, during the Quit India Movement.
1946-1949: Undertakes four fasts in Nellore for Dalit rights. The first two win temple entry.
19 October 1952: Begins a fast-unto-death, demanding a separate Telugu-speaking state.
Night of 15-16 December 1952: Dies, after 58 days without food.
19 December 1952: Nehru announces the creation of Andhra State.
1 October 1953: Andhra State is formally created, with Kurnool as its capital.

Potti Sreeramulu (1901-1952) was a Gandhian freedom fighter and social reformer.
He trained as a sanitary engineer, and worked for the Great Indian Peninsular Railway, in Bombay.
He was imprisoned during the 1930 Salt Satyagraha, and again during the Quit India Movement.
On 19 October 1952, he began a fast-unto-death, demanding a separate Telugu-speaking state.
He died on the night of 15-16 December 1952, after 58 days without food.
His death forced the government’s hand. Nehru announced Andhra State’s creation, on 19 December 1952.

After losing his wife and newborn child around 1929, he resigned his railway job in 1931. He then devoted himself to Gandhian constructive work.
Between 1946 and 1949, he undertook four fasts centred on Nellore’s Venugopalaswamy Temple, at Moolapeta.
His first two fasts, in 1946, won Dalits access to that temple.
His later two fasts, in 1948 and 1949, demanded something different: a weekly day of service for Dalit welfare, not temple entry itself.
Gandhi is widely quoted as having said that with eleven more followers like Sreeramulu, he could win freedom within a year. This quote is well attested by tradition, though not traced to a dated primary source.

Andhra State was formally created on 1 October 1953, with Kurnool as its capital.
T. Prakasam became Andhra State’s first Chief Minister. See ModHist0220 — T. Prakasam: The Andhra Kesari.
His sacrifice set the precedent for the States Reorganisation Act, 1956, which redrew India’s states along linguistic lines. See ModHist0054 — The States Reorganisation Commission and Linguistic States.
He is revered in Andhra Pradesh as “Amarajeevi”, the Immortal Being, for his sacrifice.
His death house, in Chennai’s Mylapore neighbourhood, is preserved as a memorial today.
India issued a postage stamp in his honour, in the year 2000.
On 1 November 1956, Andhra State merged with nine Telugu-speaking districts of Hyderabad State. This formed today’s Andhra Pradesh.