Alluri Sitaramaraju

Alluri Sitaramaraju (or Alluri Ramachandra Raju or Sitarama Raju 1897-1923) led a rebellion against the British occupiers in the agency areas of the Northern Circars of Andhra Pradesh, India.

He was a simple and unostentatious young man given to studies of spiritual importance. He was keen on the welfare of the lowly and the innocent. He contributed his mite in the days of the non-co-operation movement and later settled down among the hill tribes of the Visakhapatnam district, spending his time in spiritual practices. The misdeeds of British contractors, who took pleasure in under-paying the workers drawn from the hill tribes, brought him into a tussle with the police who supported the contractor. This led to encounters between the police and Sitaramaraju, who was supported by the hill tribes under the leadership of the Gamu brothers. Sitaramaraju raided many police stations and carried off guns and powder.

The alien Government then made use of all its resources to quell the rebellion. A company of the Assam Rifles under the leadership of Saunders was sent there. The campaign lasted nearly for one year from December 1922 and, in the end, many of the followers of Raju, especially the Gamu brothers, were overpowered in an encounter. The rebellion petered off by October 1923. Raju surrendered himself, so it was said, and shot dead without any trial. Thus, the 'Rampa Rebellion', as the revolt was known, ended with the killing of the great warrior.

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