Alluri Sita Rama Raju (Telugu: అల్లూరి సీతారామరాజు b. 4 July 1897- d. 1924), also known as Aluri Rama Raju, Rama Chandra Raju, and Alluri Seetha Rama Raju, was a young Indian revolutionary involved in the Indian independence movement and he remains an inspiring symbol of resistance to imperialism.
Raju led the ill-fated "Rampa Rebellion" of 1922-24, joined by tribal leaders and other sympathizers in a fight against the British Raj. He was referred to as "Manyam Veerudu" ("Hero of the Jungles") by the local people.
Early life
Raju was born July 4, 1897 in Pandrangi, near Visakhapatnam. His mother was from Visakhapatnam and his father from Mogallu, in the West Godavari district of the Andhra Pradesh state of India.
His father was an official photographer in the central jail at Rajahmundry. Raju lived mainly in Mogallu He was educated in Rajahmundry at Vullithota Bangarayya school, Kakinada,Tuni and Ramachandrapuram in the East Godavari district.
Raju's father died when he was in elementary school and he grew up in the care of his uncle, Rama Chandra Raju, a tehsildar in Narsapur in the West Godavari district. He studied at Taylor High School in Narsapur. Then, he moved to Tuni along with his mother, brother and sister. While there, Alluri visited areas of the Visakhapatnam district and became familiar with the needs of the tribal people.
When Sitaramaraju turned 15, he moved to his mother's home town of Vishakhapatnam and enrolled at Mrs. A.V.N. College. He dropped out of college after failing in the fourth form (Std. IX).
The Madras Forest Act of 1882 placed restrictions on the free movement of tribal peoples in the forest and prevented them from engaging in traditional "Podu" agricultural system involving shifting cultivation.
The policies of the British Raj, coupled with the deeds of the exploited the tribal peoples of the Visakhapatnam district, brought Alluri Sita Rama Raju into direct conflict with the bureaucrats and police who supported these contractors. This eventually culminated in 1922 with the Rampa Rebellion or "Rampa Pituri" ("Pituri" meaning "complaints" in Telugu).