Andhra Congressmen-The Illustrious Trio

Andhra Congressmen:

The Illustrious Trio

Much is rightly spoken in India to-day of the Andhra contribution to the strength of the Congress and to the evolution of Indian Nationalism, but unfortunately, as much is not known of the dominating personalities who have "flung sunshine" on the political landscape in Andhradesa. There are, of course, some others among Andhra public workers who are largely responsible for the general awakening and advancement in Andhradesa, and whose activities and achievements are worthy of emulation and recognition. Who can indeed forget or even ignore the services of reformers and men of letters like the late Viresalingam, scholars and sages like Venkata Ratnam, savants like Lakshmana Rao and Bhanumurti, statesmen like Subba Rau Pantulu and Ramachandra Rao, administrators like Visvesvaraya and Sarma, diplomats like Panagal, publicists Chintamani, educationists like Ramalinga Reddy, philosophers like Radhakrishnan, representatives of (Andhra) Renaissance like Hanumantha Rao and Gopalakrishnyya, artists like Rama Rao, and actors like Raghavachari? While I shall include them in my portrait gallery later, under a few general groups, I propose on this Occasion to confine myself to the illustrious triumvirate in the Andhra Congress camp, consisting of K. Venkatappayya, T. Prakasam and B. Pattabhi Sitaramayya.

I

By general consent, Venkatappayya is the leader of the Congress movement in Andhradesa. He is held in high esteem by men of all parties and communities. His title to lasting recognition is the great sacrifice he made so early as in 1914, when long before the ethical wave of N. C. O. swept over the country, he renounced practice as a lawyer on the ground that one should not go on earning for ever, and his since then placed himself at the service of the country. The spread of the Andhra movement–a movement for a separate University and province for the Andhras who are the third largest Community in India–owed not a little of its impetus and popularity to his selfless leadership. When Mahatma Gandhi unfurled his banner, the erstwhile leader of the Andhra Movement became the acknowledged leader of the Congress in this part of the country. If Guntur became the storm-centre of politics in Andhradesa, as undoubtedly it did, it was considerably due to the allegiance that a band of workers owed to himpersonally, as well as to the abundant confidence reposed in him by the people of his district. At one time, Guntur competed with Bardoli for the unique honour of fighting the battles of the nation on its fields, but the Gods–or was It the Mahatma? –willed it otherwise, and it is now difficult to guess whether Venkatappayya would have snatched away the laurels that to-day adorn the brow of Vallabhai Patel. Venkatappayya is now not a spent force but a retired leader. A whole-hearted believer in the cult of Gandhiji, he has been working, according to the measure of his opportunities, for the constructive programme. If his activities are not broadcasted, day in and day out, it is because he does not care to woo the press.

Venkatappayya, it must, however, be conceded, has no pretensions to striking forensic skill or marked intellectual powers. Either as a member of the Madras Legislative Council or of the All-India Congress Committee, he was not known to strike one new path, or give one new idea, or utter one arresting phrase. As Disraeli points out, "Greatness" especially political greatness, "depends not on rentals: the world is too rich; nor on pedigrees: the world is too knowing", and Venkatappayya, there is no wonder, is lost in the mists. A quick temper, allied to an ordinary intellectual equipment, has stood in Venkatappayya's way of becoming a front figure in Indian politics.

But he is content to do the day's work, believing that "a small daily task, if it be really daily, will beat the labours of a spasmodic Hercules" and to contribute his mite to the progress of the Motherland. His high idealism, genuine emotions, and unselfish devotion to a cause, have won for him, in Andhradesa, a place equaled by few and surpassed by none. A grateful people called him "Desabhakta"–the devotee of his country–and if public workers followed the example of his renunciation in the later stages of life, the history of India would be quite different from what it is now.

II

T. Prakasam was rather a late arrival in politics. Before the advent of the N. C. O. movement, he might have spoken at a meeting here and presided at a conference there, but he was hardly a force to be reckoned with. The turning point–it was really a landmark–in his life was due to the spell cast on him by Mahatma Gandhi. He sacrificed a lucrative career at the Bar which nearly culminated in a High Court Judgeship and took up "the cross." He made the biggest sacrifice in the Madras Presidency, and one of the most notable ones in the country. His was a whole-hearted and unconditional surrender, totally free from all calculations of chamber practice or ‘expert counsel.’

His easy victory in the last general elections over so eminent and, esteemed a legislator and statesman as Dewan Bahadur M. Ramachandra Rao Pantulu is an eloquent tribute to his towering personality. His massive figure and arresting features remind one of the late C. R. Das, while his heroic step and reckless optimism deepen the suggestion. As a speaker, he is rather volatile; as a writer, he is not particularly incisive; as a politician, he is not as well-informed as his distinguished predecessor in the Assembly, and yet he easily makes an impression by the gushing sincerity of his statements and the tragic emotion of his delivery. The Mahatma has many followers in the country but few more genuine than Prakasam–none at all, in the opinion of Sir C. Sankaran Nair, the author of "Gandhi and Anarchy." His phenomenal sacrifice, unsullied sincerity, dynamic energy, utter fearlessness, and untiring industry have made him a power in Indian politics. If manifestations of courage and heroism, devoid of all artfulness or artifice, are required to save the nation at any critical juncture in its history, Mr. Prakasam can be at once singled out for that rare honour and privilege. When the great Swami Shraddhanand laid his breast bare to the bayonets of the Gurkhas at Delhi, people attributed the Swamiji's singular courage to his spiritual power and religious fervour, but when the secular Mr. Prakasam braved the fire-arms of the Madras police, (unaided by his colleagues and compatriots at Madras who were not even guilty of rushing out of doors) people knew the real man and hero. Since his boyhood, Mr. Prakasam has been consistently brave and heroic, with this difference, that the "rowdy" of yesterday has

been transformed by the Mahatma's magic wand into the soldier of to-day. Others may desert the ranks of the army under a shower of bullets, but he will be there like a rock, solid and unassailable.

Beneath his rough exterior, there is a bosom which is as soft as it is spacious. His child-like simplicity and hearty laughter show that there is no venom in his shaft, no cunning in his design, no finesse in his word. He is "a plain, blunt man ", an open foe, a hard hitter. At his approach, any indignation that one harbours against him, melts like snow, and in his presence it totally disappears.

Even a hurried sketch of Prakasam like the present one cannot be justified unless it contains a reference to "the heroism and persistence", as the Janmabhumi so neatly acknowledges, "with which he is carrying on his daily–the Swarajya–in the midst of the most oppressing conditions. He has run through a lac of his own money and laid under obligation subscribers to the tune of four lacs, and yet he keeps the banner of Swarajya flying–and only few people know the difficulty of running a paper which keeps to an ideal and avoids the facile alternative of trimming the sails to the changing winds." The heavy sacrifices made under Prakasam's, inspiring auspices by noble and brilliant young men like G. V. Krupanidhi and K. Subba Rao, constitute an eloquent chapter in the history of Indian Journalism.

Prakasam's tenacity and doggedness are admirable in the extreme. To those who know too well how a candidate's enthusiasm for his constituency evaporates soon after the election, the movements of Prakasam in his unwieldy constituency consisting of three large districts are surprising. No place is too obscure, no area too remote, for his intimate study of the question with which his constituency is convulsed. In the hottest part of the tropical summer, he is to be found, not among the political leaders residing on the hilltops, but amidst the poor ryots in the plains. And if his presence is required at distant Multan or Shoranpur where there is a communal conflagration, he goes there post-haste.

Mr. Prakasam is one of the few men who can die for the country, and one of the fewer too, who can live for it. He is made of the stuff of heroes. A patriot and soldier of the first rank, he will be, quite naturally, within an ace of the Congress Presidentship one of these years, and will grasp it too, if there should be no political intrigue.

III

Dr. Pattabhi is the most fascinating personality, not merely in Andhra Congress circles but in Andhra Public Life. His career, right from the commencement of his studies, has been one of sustained brilliance. Like the late G. K. Gokhale, he was a graduate at eighteen. His under-graduate performances marked him out for a distinguished career. His medical studies never disturbed his literary pursuits, even as his medical practice never disturbed his political activities. And yet, a few months before the United Congress at Lucknow in 1916, he gave up his profession with little ostentation and no fuss, and has ever since devoted his whole time and wonderful talents to public causes and progressive movements. He was one of the pioneers of the Andhra Movement and unquestionably its most powerful advocate. His intellectual powers are of the widest range and of the highest order, their virility being matched only by their versatility. Whether it is a medical question or a co-operative problem, insurance or banking, national education or rural reconstruction, politics or journalism, he is on equally familiar ground. He is not merely a Jack but a master of all trades. He can unravel the tangle of any complicated problem or knotty issue with remarkable ease and he can explain the details of a budget with as amazing a facility as he can analyse the motives of a political opponent. An incisive writer, a powerful speaker, a brilliant debater, a lively conversationalist, and "a keen observer of human nature," he can come out in flying colors in any assembly that consists of the best brains of the nation. By his lucid exposition, he can shed much light on the most difficult of problems; by his penetrating criticism, he can tear the opposite viewpoint to tatters; by his debating skill, he can beat the most fiery orator hollow, and by mere heckling he can trip the subtlest of lawyers. Withering sarcasm, caustic wit, ready retort, pointed invective, searching analysis, and energy of expression, at times characterised by brilliant epigram, are among the weapons in his armoury. In literary elegance, Mr. C. R Reddy will excel him; in wealth of (political) information, Mr. C. Y. Chintamani is his superior, but in resourcefulness, neither of these two celebrities is a match for him. His resourcefulness is, indeed, the delight of his friends, the dread of his opponents, and the envy of all. Dr. Pattabhi is a frank and fearless critic. No Indian leader seems to have escaped his lashes. Motilalji fears him; lesser men avoid a tussle with him. Every inch a fighter, he is, in a public controversy, very liberal with his whip of scorpions.

Some wonder why this intellectual giant is not as widely known as he ought to be. His comparative obscurity is due, in the opinion of some, to his "sour temper", and, as all are agreed, to his utter lack of political ambition. He never plays to the gallery or courts the plaudits of the crowd; he shuns the camera, abhors adventitious aids, detests vulgar publicity. The whiff of native air is so intoxicating to his nerves that he took no time in rejecting the editorship of a leading Bombay daily. Masulipatam is his Mecca; Janmabhumi is his London Times;his innate worth is his sheet anchor. Wherever he is, his expert advice is sought as much by his detractors as by his devotees. If only he were guilty of political ambition, the keenest, the sharpest, and the subtlest of Andhras would have been a foremost figure in Indian politics, known as widely in London as in Madras.

THE TRIO

A cause gains its strength or a movement gathers its volume in proportion to the impress left on it and the colour imparted to it by its leaders. If to-day, the Congress owns the allegiance and wins the affections of thousands of people in Andhradesa, it is undoubtedly because Venkatappayya is its soul, Pattabhi its brain, and Prakasam its driving force.