Remembering Anabheri Prabhakar Rao, the Telangana Bhagat Singh
Telangana armed struggle leader Anabheri Prabhakar Rao was remembered on his 78th death anniversary in Karimnagar. CPI leaders paid tributes to the revolutionary, who was killed in an encounter with the Nizam’s forces in 1948
Karimnagar: It has been 78 years since the death of Telangana armed struggle leader Anabheri Prabhakar Rao, who remains an unforgettable figure in the region’s history.
Considered the Telangana Bhagat Singh, Prabhakar Rao fell to the bullets of the Nizam’s army in the Mohammadapur hillocks near Husnabad on March 14, 1948. Born into a landlord family, Prabhakar Rao was drawn towards communism and fought for the poor. As a teenager, he studied revolutionary movements and gained public support while fighting for equal rights for Telugu-speaking people under the Nizam’s rule.
His legacy inspired youth in Telangana to begin the struggle for independence from the Nizam’s rule and also contributed to the rise of socialist thought in the Hyderabad State. Prabhakar Rao was born on August 15, 1910, in Polampalli of Thimmapur mandal to Venkateshwara Rao and Radhabai. While studying at Nizam College, he was inspired by the ideology of freedom fighters Mahatma Gandhi, Bhagat Singh, Subash Chandra Bose and Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel.
He was later elected Karimnagar district secretary of the Andhra Mahasabha. On the call of the then district president Baddam Yella Reddy, a dalam was formed under the leadership of Prabhakar Rao, which fought against bonded labour, suppression and the dominance of landlords and doras. The dalam led by the 37-year-old Prabhakar Rao burnt land patta papers belonging to poor farmers that were allegedly kept illegally by landlords and zamindars.
Apart from fighting social evils, the Communist Party dalam also confronted the Razakars, the private militia of the Hyderabad Nizam, formed by his close adviser Khasim Razvi. The Nizam offered Prabhakar Rao the post of Talukdar Collector, but he rejected the offer and continued his struggle for the poor. At one stage, the Nizam also issued ‘Nazar Bandh’ orders against him.
Members of the entire dalam, comprising 12 members, were killed in an exchange of fire with the Nizam’s police and Razakars in the Mohammadapur hillocks near Husnabad on March 14, 1948. It was the first encounter in the district during the Telangana Armed Struggle movement. Tumoju Narayana, Papaiah, Singireddy Bhupathi Reddy, Balram Reddy and others were killed in the encounter.
On the occasion of the 78th death anniversary of Prabhakar Rao, CPI leaders, including Chada Venkat Reddy, paid tributes by garlanding his statue near the vegetable market in Karimnagar town.
