Independence Day Special: Unsung Freedom Fighters of Visakhapatnam

When we think of Visakhapatnam’s role in India’s freedom struggle, names such as Alluri Sitarama Raju and Tenneti Viswanadham are among those that readily come to mind. Their contributions have become an important part of the region’s history, but they represent only a fraction of the people who stood up against colonial rule. From the tribal resistance to the Salt Satyagraha, the freedom movement took many forms across the region.

While some of those who shaped these movements are remembered today, many others have gradually faded from public memory. This Independence Day, let’s venture down memory lane to revisit the stories of freedom fighters from Vizag and the wider North Andhra region whose contributions deserve to be remembered.

Kolluru Suryam Gupta

Suryam Gupta’s name is tied to one of the most visible episodes of civil disobedience in Vizag. During thi time, the city’s coastline had became a site of protest. Salt was an everyday necessity, yet the British government exercised a monopoly over its production and sale.

At this time, Kolluru Suryam Gupta participated alongside Tenneti Viswanadham, Bhamidipati Chinayagnanarayana Sarma and many others in the Salt Satyagraha. They marched with a group of volunteers towards the Town Hall in Vizag, which became an important gathering place during the nationalist movement.

Digumarthi Venkata Ramaswamy

Digumarthi Venkata Ramaswamy was among the same volunteers who marched towards the Town Hall in defiance of aforementioned colonial regulations. Records of the city’s freedom movement also note his arrest during the Quit India Movement phase.

Ramaswamy, alongside other local leaders, organised large-scale khadi sales and door-to-door awareness drives as part of the Swadeshi and Khadi movements in the 1920s. He was also a prominent leader of the Prabhat Bheris, the early-morning nationalist processions that helped spread awareness and patriotic sentiment among the people.

Digumarthi Janakibai

When the other leaders who were part of the Salt Satyagraha towards Town Hall were arrested, Digumarthi Janakibai did not step away from the protest. She took charge of the movement, leading to one of the most dramatic encounters of resistance during the campaign: when a local tahsildar attempted to make her drop the salt in her hand, she held on with all her might and refused to give in!

Janakibai was also actively involved in organising, reproducing and circulating material related to Congress programmes, helping sustain the movement.

Mallimadugula Jagannadha Rao

Mallimadugula Jagannadha Rao, along with Kodavanti Brahmaji Rao, Kandala Sarveswara Sastry and Dr M. V. Krishna Rao, was associated with the Individual Satyagraha movement in 1940.

He was also connected with Vijaya Bheri, a cyclostyled political newspaper that was produced and distributed during the movement. At a time when the colonial administration closely monitored political activity and attempted to suppress nationalist communication, such publications provided a means of keeping people informed and politically engaged.

Gouthu Latchanna

Born in Baruva in 1909, Gouthu Latchanna participated in the Salt Satyagraha at Palasa and was arrested in connection with a raid at Naupada. He later took part in the Quit India Movement.

Inspired by Gandhi’s campaign against untouchability, he organised a Harijan Seva Sangam at Baruva and worked towards improving access to education for marginalised communities. In 1948, he was elected to the Madras Assembly from a Visakhapatnam constituency. He was also associated with the Shipyard Labour Union in the city.

The freedom struggle in Visakhapatnam was not confined to one movement or one generation. Many of these stories may not occupy the most prominent pages of history books, but they remind us that Vizag’s freedom struggle was built by people who chose to act when they had the opportunity to do so.

Also read: Getting to know Vizag’s aredent Gandhian, Saraswati Devi

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