Editor: I. Mallikarjuna Sharma Volume 11: 15-31 March 2015 No. 5-6

(2015) 1 LAW Paruchuri Hanumantha Rao (I.M. Sharma) 7
associated with our IPT. Actually he used to work
in the Western Railway and inspired by our
activities he wrote a nice and inspiring song. Raj
Kapoor used to occasionally visit us and watch
our activities and he very much liked that song
and then took Sailendra to write songs for his
films. Gradually under Raj Kapoor’s patronage,
Sailendra became a great poet and writer of
wonderful film songs. Raj Kapoor was never a
member of the communist party but he was no doubt a
sympathizer. That is why we can find the social
consciousness against exploitation and oppression and
urge for betterment of society very much manifest in his
many films. There were about 2 lakh Telugu
workers in Bombay and when the elections to
Bombay Municipal Corporation were to be held,
three of us – Veerullapadu Suryam, another
person and myself formed a team of Telugu
balladeers and campaigned for the communist
candidates – Dange and others among the Telugu
workers through our Burra Kathas. Dange had
won as Municipal Corporator in those elections.
However, I had no personal acquaintance with
Dange. But I knew about him as a militant trade
union and very learned communist leader. When
his daughter Roza Deshpande was just a child
once during a picketing before the Gates of a
Factory he brought here and made her lie down
across the Gate with himself and other workers
also staging a sit-in as part of a militant dharna.
Prior to going to Bombay, there were celebrations
of the First Independence Day in Machilipatnam
on 15 August 1947. At that time I was in
Machilipatnam itself but though the communist
party participated in the celebrations I personally
refused to participate. Though I was specifically
called by comrades to come and participate I did
not go and replied to them that since anyway even
the party considers it as a mere transfer of power and I
consider it as a fake independence I saw no reason in
celebrating the occasion. But the then leaders in the
party at Machilipatnam, M. Srihari, V. Rama Rao
and others did participate. In Machilipatnam we
communist students generally used to stay
together in rented houses and set up common
messes. At first we about 10 progressive students
established one Pragati Mess at Frenchpet and
later only two of us - another comrade and I,
began to stay together at Frenchpet. Communist
leaders like Chandra Rajeswara Rao, Challapalli
Narayana Rao and others used to be
accommodated in our messes as and when the
need arose.
While I was at Bombay the entire Punjab was
burning and suffering with cruel and
unprecedented communal riots. In that
background Sailendra had written a really moving
song – Jalta hai Punjab Jalta hai, Bhagat Singh ka
aankhon ka tara, Jalta hai Punjab Jalta hai!, etc.
It became quite popular in those days. Kalyani,
wife of Mohan Kumara Mangalam, was also a
member in IPT. I also very much remember the
situation in Bombay on the day of Gandhiji’s
assassination, that is 30 January 1948.
Immediately as the news of Gandhi’s
assassination was broadcast there was great
tension in the whole city and merchants and
shopkeepers spontaneously downed the shutters
and closed their establishments. There was a
complete hartal in the city and an eerie silence.
Another comrade and I were stranded in the midst
of the city at that time and there was no public
transport at all. The identity and religion of the
assailant was not yet known clearly. Dadar had a
lot of Muslim population and there was every
danger of communal riots breaking down any
moment if the assailant were to be a Muslim by
any chance. In such a situation we walked all the
way from Prince’s street to Kamatipura and later
took shelter in a party office of ours. Luckily
there were no communal riots since the identity
of the assailant was ascertained as a Hindu
fanatic. I did not pursue the B.Sc. (Agri) Course
in Bombay but took my T.C. and came back to
Machilipatnam in March-April 1948. Later,
I joined the B.A. course in Hindu College,
Machilipatnam. Dandamudi Subba Rao (in later
days shot dead by the police) and Raavi Subba
Rao (later became a famous Advocate) also joined
there along with me. In those days other
comrades and I were fully supporting the militant
insurrectionary line of the party, especially the
Telangana Armed Struggle. As against the Nizam
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Law Animated World, 15-31 March 2015