Prakasam
Prakasam Life
August 23, 1872 :
Born at maternal Grand father's house, at Vinodarayudpalem a hamlet of Kanuparti in Ongole taluk now in Prakasam District, Andhra Pradesh.
Early Education at Valluru, Addanki, Naidupeta and Ongole; came under influence of Immaneni Hanumantha Rao Naidu in stage dram activities at Ongole.
1886 - 1904 :
Prakasam went to Rajahmundry along with Hanumantha Rao Naidu, continued his studies and stage drama activities at Rajahmundry; proceeded to Madras and qualified himself as a Second Pleader from Madras Law Collee.
1900 :
Prakasam was elected as Muncipal Councilor of Rajahmundry with the support of Sri R. Subbaraidu.
1903 :
Became Chairman of the Rajahmundry Municipality after defeating Sri M. Achyutaramayya.
1904 December :
Left for the U.K. to study Law; there came into contact with Dadabhai Naoraji, Ramesh Chandra Dutt, Shyamji Krishna Varma and Lala Lajpat Rai and others.
1906 - 1907:
Returned to India as Barrister and setup practice in Madras, started taking interest in Indian politics; presided over a meeting addressed by Bepin Chandra Pal at Madras.
1907 :
Attended the Surat Session of the Congress. In the Surat split, Prakasam's sympathies were with Tilak whom he admired.
1912 :
Prakasam and his lawyer colleagues purchased the Madras Law Times.
Prakasam, C. Madhavan Nair and M. Devadas were the joint Editors of the Journal.
1916 :
Joined the Home Rule League launched by Dr. Annie Beasant.
February 1919 :
Gandhiji issued the famous Satyagraha pledge and Prakasam came forward to sign it along with C. Rajagopala Chari.
Presided over the Nellore District Political conference held at Atmakuru.
Organised the "Nationalist Group" inside the Congress and donated Rs. 5,000/- to it.
December 1919 :
Attended the Amritsar Session of the Indian National Congress.
1920 :
In his Presidential address to the conference of the Andhra Provincial Congress at Mahanandi, Kurnool district, Prakasam pleaded for linguistic resdistribution of provinces.
January 1921 :
Give up his lucrative practice at the Bar in response at the Nagpur Congress Resolution inspired by Gandhiji.
October 29, 1921 :
a) launched from Madras nationalist English daily, Swarajya which continued for 14 years, though not very successfully, closed in 1935 under financial distress and British Government's repression.
b) Undertook constructive programme - Basic education, Khadi etc., at Ongole and other places.
c) Congress propaganda all over the country.
March 1922 :
Elected President of the Andhra Provincial Congress Committee (APCC); Between 1922 and 1946, Prakasam was President of APCC for a record number of years; except on two occassions, he was always elected unanimously.
In 1931, he defeated the Raja of Gampalagudem; but in the middle of the same year he handed over charge to the latter.
June 1922 :
Elected to the All-India Congress Working Committee. When Prakasam was President of APCC (1922-23), Andhra topped the list of Khadi producing States in India.
December 1923 :
Prakasam played a leading part in the Kakinada Session of Indian National Congress: Resigned the APCC Presidentship over council-entry issue.
Settled Hindu-Muslim Communal Dispute in Nellore.
December 1926 :
Elected to Central Assembly, Delhi Member of that Assembly during 1926-30.
February 3, 1928 :
Simon Commission arrived in India.
Prakasam made history during the boycott and hartal at Madras.
The boycott of the Commission was organised thrice, first of the day of the arrivial of the Commission in India on 3-2-1928 and twice latter when the Commission actually visited Madras. on the first occassion the Police resorted to firing and one person was killed. Prakasam bared his chest to the bayonets of the British Soldiers, and went to see the body of the person killed which was laid before the High Court Buildings, Madras - became famous as Andhra Kesari.
December 1929 :
Visited South-East Asian Countries for about eight months.
April 1930 :
Resigned the membership of the Central Legislature and coutosted independently and won. Again at the time of Dandi Satyagraha, he resigned to join the movement Organised Salt Satyagraha in Madras City at Udayavanam Building; courted arrest.
1935 :
Prakasam lost his properties to the creditors of Swaraj Paper, Swarajya closed down.
Elected as one of the Aldermen to the Madras Corporation. Became Revenue Minister headed by Sri. C. Rajagopalachari in the Ministry that was in office till 1939.
September 1937 :
Initiated Zamindari Abolition in Master Prince. A 9 member committee with Prakasam as Chairman was constituted to enquire into the conditions of Zamin riots.
The Committee was directed to "divise suitable legislation in order to bring about a complete and lasting understanding between the Zamindars and the tenants".
December 1937 :
Accepted Sribagh Pact ratified by the APCC.
"Sribagh" was the name of the house of Sri Kasinadhuni Nageswara Rao where the fact was signed. It was signed by Sri K. Reddi, Kallur Subba Rao, L. Subba Rama Reddi, H.H. Sitarama Reddi, Pappuri Ramacharyulu and R. Venkatappa (all belonging to Rayalaseema districts) and Konda Venkatappayya and Dr. B. Pattabhi Sitaramayya (representing the coastal districts).
1940 :
Prakasam launched a weekly called "Village Republic" and its counter parts in Telugu and Tamil. It, however, ceased publication in 1942.
The paper was started with the object of educating the masses and also the classes on the lines that should be adopted not only for reviving the ancient village republic but also to propagate the idea of establishing the republican sysem in towns and cities as well as in villages. Participation in Individual Satyagraha; and Jailed for eight months.
August 1942 :
"Quit India" movement, Prakasam detained at Cuddapah while on his way to Madras from Bombay.
August 1945 :
Prakasam released along with other national leaders.
In view of his unparalleded sacrifices, purses were presented to Prakasam for his personal use.
January 1946 :
Gandhiji, in his letter to Prakasam, raised the purses issue for the first time. Prakasam defended himself with his characteristic courage.
April 1946 :
Prakasam elected leader of the Legislature Congress Party against the wishes of Gandhiji, became Prime Minister of Madras on April 30, 1946.
During his tenure of office, Prakasam took up Gandhian constructive programme Firka Development scheme, and produce-cum-consumer co-operative societies etc., all forming part his Gram Swaraj concept and programme. He gave up the quota of mill spindles for encouraging Khadi, setup a Khadi development department in government.
August 1946 :
Delivered convocation address to the graduates of Madras University.
"Education should enable the students to create a society .... where there is no exploitation of class by class, of caste, of man by man" he said.
December 1946 :
Delivered convocation address to the Graduates of Andhra University.
Gandhiji wrote to Prakasam on December 5, 1946.
"Please keep me informed of what is going on about the (Khadi) scheme and do not hesitate to make a concrete suggestion if you expect me to do anything concrete".
March 1947 :
Resigned the Prime Ministership of Madras.
August 31, 1947 :
Prakasam along with other Andhra Members of the Constituent Assembly presented a petition to Sardar Patel, the then Union Home Minister urging the formation of Andhra State.
1947 - 1948 :
Prakasam visited the "Union Villages" inside the Nizam's territory.
November 1949 :
J.V.P. Report accepted by the Andhra Provincial Congress Committee, the resolution was moved by Prakasam.
December 7, 1949 :
Madras Government constitued a Partition Council; Prakasam, Kala Venkat Rao, B. Gopal Reddy, N. Sanjeeva Reddi, K. Madhava Menon, T.T. Krishnamachari, M. Bhaktavastalam and P.S. Kumaraswami Raja (Chief Minister) were on the council.
January - March 1950 :
Partition Council finalised its report to the Government of India, Prakasam appended a note of dissent.
He maintained that inter alia the temporary capital of Andhra State should be in Madras city.
March 1950 :
Prakasam and his followers asked for seats in the opposition benches in the Legislative Assembly of Madras, makring the beginning of his severance with the Congress.
November 1950 :
Prakasam and J.B. Kripalani, Rafi Ahmed Kidwai and P.C. Ghosh organised "The Congress Democratic Party" inside the Indian National Congress.
January 1951 :
The Congress Democratic Party met at Tirupati.
April 14, 1951
Praja Party formed.
May 1951 :
Prakasam, J.B. Kripalani, P.C. Ghosh and K.Kelappan formed the Kisan Mazdoor - Praja Party (KMPP); its formation was officialy declared after the new party's Patna Convention in June 1951.
May 1952 :
Prakasam interrupted the Governor's address to the Joint session of the Madras Legislature for ignoring his claim to form Government as leader of United Democratic Front.
June 12, 1952 :
English weekly "Praja Patrika" was launched.
The weekly ceased publication in 1953 a few months after the announcement of the formation of Andhra State.
September 1952 :
Praja Socialist Party (PSP) was formed by the fusion of the K.M.P.P. and the Socialist Party of India-Prakasam becam the leader of Madras state P.S.P.
December 15, 1952 :
Potti Sreeramulu passed away after 58 days of fast.
Prakasam in a signed editorial in the Praja Patrika said: After 58 days of taps, he had laid down his dedicated life on the altar of a cause that should inspire the living. By his one supreme act of self immolation Sri Sreeramulu has carved out for himself a glorious niche in the annals of the Andhras.
December 19, 1952 :
The Prime Minister announced the constituttion of one man Wanchoo Commission in Parliament.
January 1953 :
Prakasam submitted a detailed memorandum to Justice Wanchoo at Madras on Andhra State.
February 26, 1953 :
With Prakasam as Editor "Praja Patrika" a new Telugu daily made its debut.
March 25, 1953 :
The Prime Minister announced in Parliament that the Andhra State would be inaugurated on October 1, 1953.
May 1953 :
With Prakasam as presiding officer, Andhra Members of the Madras legislature elected Kurnool as the Capital of the new Andhra State.
October 1, 1953 :
Prakasam was sworn in as the first Chief Minister of Andhra State.
The highlights of the Prakasam administration were inauguration of the High Court at Guntur on July 5, 1954, Sri Venkateswara University on September 2, 1954 and the Krishna Barrage on February 13, 1954.
November 6, 1954 :
The Prakasam Ministry fell.
November 1, 1956 :
Andhra Pradesh was formed. Prakasam participated in the Celebrations.
May 20, 1957 :
Prakasam passed away at Hyderabad. Soon after returning from a town in Ongole District.
posted by suresh prasad @ 5:34 AM
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