Person · freedom fighter & premier
Tanguturi Prakasam Pantulu
Also known as Andhra Kesari, Prakasam Panthulu
The Andhra freedom fighter and politician Tanguturi Prakasam Pantulu (23 August 1872 - 20 May 1957), called 'Andhra Kesari' (Andhra Lion) after the 1928 Simon Commission protest at Madras when he bared his chest to British police rifles and dared them to shoot. He served as the Premier of Madras Presidency (1946-1947), the first Chief Minister of Andhra State (1953-1954), and a Rajya Sabha MP. A disciple of B.G. Tilak and a Swadeshi-era lawyer at Rajahmundry, Prakasam led the 1921 Non-Cooperation movement in Andhra and was imprisoned repeatedly. The 1972 Prakasam district naming (formerly Ongole district) honours him; his 1983 Prakasam Barrage at Vijayawada bears his name.
- Date
- 1872–1957
- Function
- Social reform & movement
- Confidence
- Established / referenced
Connections (4)
- BirthplaceOngole
Tanguturi Prakasam Pantulu was born at Vinodarayunipalem village in Ongole taluk of the then Guntur district on 23 August 1872. The 1972 Prakasam district formation (renamed from Ongole district) honours him; the city of Ongole is the district headquarters and the central location of his boyhood and early legal practice.
- Patronage networkBal Gangadhar Tilak
Tanguturi Prakasam Pantulu was a disciple of Bal Gangadhar Tilak and modelled his 1921 Rajahmundry Non-Cooperation campaign on Tilak's Home Rule League work in Maharashtra. Both were founding members of the Congress's Extremist Faction (Garam Dal) that broke with the Moderate Faction at the 1907 Surat Session.
- Patronage networkPotti Sreeramulu
Potti Sreeramulu's 58-day fast and 15 December 1952 death at Madras was explicitly framed around realising Tanguturi Prakasam Pantulu's lifelong demand for a separate Telugu Andhra state. Sreeramulu died pursuing Prakasam's unfulfilled 1920s-1940s Andhra separation campaign; Prakasam became Andhra State's first Chief Minister within 10 months of Sreeramulu's death (1 October 1953).
- Site withinOngole
Tanguturi Prakasam's birthplace Vinodarayunipalem village sits within the Ongole administrative area of modern Prakasam district, Andhra Pradesh. The village is 12 kilometres from Ongole city centre and is maintained as the Tanguturi Prakasam Memorial by the Andhra Pradesh government since 1972. His primary education at Ongole and law practice at Rajahmundry link him firmly to the Ongole-Prakasam district landscape.
Sources
Standard biography; regional historiography.
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