HYDERABADIAMBEDKAR (1896-1953)

VENKAT RAO BATHULA SAYANNA ALIAS HYDERABADIAMBEDKAR (1896-1953) (Remembering with reverence, Dalit icon, Baba Saheb’s confident on his 70th Death Anniversary falling on 4th Nov,2022) By: Er H.R. Phonsa, jammu( J&K,UT), Contact( 9419134060--,hrphonsa@gmail.com) Khusru-E- Deccan, Mr. Bathula Venkat Rao a Dalit hero of Hyderabad was one of the most trustworthy comrades of Dr. B. R. Ambedkar. He belonged to Mala caste included in Scheduled Castes. In Andhra Pradesh 59 Dalit castes and one Neo Buddhists are included in scheduled caste. Mala and Medigas form 80% of Scheduled castes which have 16.5% population of the total state population (2001 censes). Shri Bathula Sayanna Venkat Rao was born in October, 1896. His father Bathula Sayanna worked as a domestic servant. He had formal education only up to ninth class but had gained proficiency in English, Marathi, Persian, Urdu and Telgu. He observed that the Dalits in Hyderabad were facing dual discriminations, because Muslims rulers took them as Hindus and Hindus treated them as Shudras or untouchables. 1941 census had estimated the population of Hyderabad to be 16.34 million, over 85% of whom were Hindus ( Shudras included), Muslims accounting for about 12%. It was also a multi-lingual state consisting of peoples speaking Telugu (48.2%), Marathi (26.4%), Kannada (12.3%) and Urdu (10.3%). In spite of the overwhelming Hindu majority, Hindus were severely under-represented in government, police and the military services. Of 1765 officers in the State Army, 1268 were Muslims, 421 were Hindus, and 121 others were Christians, Parses and Sikhs but none from Dalits. The Nizam and his nobles, who were mostly Muslims, owned 40% of the total land in the state. When this was the state of affairs in the state services, the conditions of untouchables can be well imagined, who faced dual discrimination. Mr. Bathula Venkat Rao worked as a sculptor in Poona (Now Pune) from 1914 to 1918. There after he got employment in the Public Works Department of Nizam's Government as an overseer and after some time he got appointed as an Assistant Recruiting Officer at Nizamsagar Project. He continued to assist Dalits all the times. Mr. B.S Venkatrao married Shanta Devi and later on Nalini Devi. He had one daughter from his first wife and one son from his second marriage. He keenly observed public effects of untouchability on the Depressed Classes and decided to fight it with all his might to get this social evil eliminated. He formed the Adi-Dravida Sangham in 1922 with the assistance of M. Govindrajulu and M. Venkata Swamy. Main objective of the Sangham was to remove the Devadasi system and unite the Dalits. Devidasies were the women, who were offered to gods in the temples in their childhood to save their families from deity’s curse. These women in their youth sang and danced in the temples to entertain the priests in the name of deitie’s. The priest also exploited them sexually and made their life like hell. The illegitimate children born out of sexual exploitation of these poor and helpless women were named as "Harijans" meaning - 'children of God'. When Gandhi Ji named Untouchables as Harijans it was opposed by one and all comrades of Dr. Ambedkar. Subsequently on the advice and co-operation of his associates Shri Venktrao formed the Adi-Hindu Mahasabha in April 1927. The working committee besides himself consisted of Ramaswamy, M. Venkata-Swamy, Arigay Rama Ramaswamy, C.S Ethirajan, and others. In Nizam's state they tried to bring a new awakening among the untouchable masses. Shri Venktrao led a delegation to the Maharashtra A-sprishya (Untouchables) Youth's Conference, Poona in January 1936. The conference was presided over by N. Shivraj. Dr Ambedkar addressed it. Later on, at the initiative of P.R. Venkataswamy the Youth League of Ambedkarite was formed with. B.S.Venkat Rao as its President and P.R. Venkata-Swamy its Secretary. In recognition of B.S.Venkatrao's contribution to the Dalit uplift in Hyderabad area, Dr. Ambedkar invited him to preside over the Bombay Presidency Mahar conference held on 30 May 1936, at Bombay. The conference was attended by 10,000 people. The conference unanimously resolved to support the conversion move initiated by Baba Saheb. B.S. Venkatrao continued with the welfare efforts for the Dalits. He constructed a library in the Ghasmandi (Grass Market) area. He also got constructed some houses in the Ghasmandi area and named it Audia Nagar after the name of first engineer from Dalit Castes of Hyderabad, Shri M. L . Audio did a pioneering job for Dalit masses.. When Shri Venkatrao observed that Hindus shall not allow the untouchable to enter their temples for worship, he also got constructed 18 temples in Hyderabad for the use of the untouchables. Mr. Venkatrao was nominated by the Nizam government to the Hyderabad Municipal Corporation in October 1937. The general body meeting of Youth League of Ambedkarite was convened on 29 May 193 8 in Jamshed Hall, under the Presidentship of Rao Saheb Venkatrao. In the meeting the League of Ambedkarite was renamed as the Hyderabad State Depressed Classes Association. In its meeting on 31st October 1938 Mr..Venkatrao was elected as its President and K.Jagannathan as Secretary. When Independent Labour Party of Dr. Ambedkar was made broad based and renamed as All India Depressed Classes Federation, Mr. Venkat Rao participated in its meeting held at Nagpur on 18, 19 and 20 July 1942. With this and other social activists B.S. Venkatrao got into prominence. The Nizam of Hyderabad also realized his Venkatrao’s importance and nominated him to the Defense Council of Nizam in 1943. He was nominated by the Nizam to the Secunderabad Municipal Committee in 1945. He was elected unopposed from the local body constituency to the Nizam's Legislative Assembly, in December 1946. Palayam Pillai moved a resolution in the assembly for grant of Rs 20,00,000, for the uplift of the depressed classes of the State. The recommendations were asked to be sent it to the President in-council .This bill was debated in the State Assembly On 1st April 1947. But Mr. Ventkatrao moved an amendment to the resolution raising the grant to one crore rupees. The House agreed to recommend to Mirza Muhammad Ismail the then Prime Minister for the grant of one crore to the fund. Accordingly, the Nizam Hyderabad Zinab Mir Osman Ali Khan constituted the Depressed Classes welfare fund and sanctioned one crore rupees for the same. Some waste land was also allotted by the Nizam Of Hyderabad to Dalits on the initiative of Dalit leaders. The Nizam Of Hyderabad also gave some other concessions to Dalits. In recognition of his meritorious services to the public at large in Hyderabad State, his Exalted Highness, the Nizam honored Mr. B.S. Venkatrao by awarding the title of Khusru-E-Decan. He was popularly known by the Depressed Classes people as Rao Saheb and also as Hyderabadi Ambedkar. Mr. B. S. Venkatrao was offered a seat in the Interim Ministry with the portfolio of Education, under the Prime Minister Mir Laiq Ali on 17th December 1947. Hyderabad was integrated with Indian Union in 1951. In order to protect untouchables from the inhuman treatment and exploitation by the caste Hindus as well as from the undue pressure by the Muslims Mr. Venkatrao founded the Depressed Classes Volunteer Corps in April 1948. Mr. B.S.Venkatrao also formed an alliance with the Majlis Ittehadul Musalimeen. Even the Lingayats, the upper caste Hindus also formed an alliance with the Majlis Ittehadul and joined the coalition government. Mir Laiq Ali (died 1971) .He was the last Prime Minister of Hyderabad State under the rule of the Nizams whose official title was "President of the Executive Council of the Nizam of Hyderabad". The Government of India, in its bid to integrate India, successfully launched Police Action on the Nizam's State in September 1948. The Military government formed after the police action put Mr. B.S.Venkatrao in preventive detention in September 1948. However later Mr. B.S. Venkatrao was released honorably. In Free India Mr. Bathula Venkat Rao unsuccessfully contested in 1952 as an independent candidate for the Hyderabad State Legislative Assembly from Secunderabad constituency. But, later he was elected to the Rajya Sabha by the State Legislative Assembly. It was due to the dedicated work of Dalit leaders including Mr. B.S. Venkatrao that Andhra Pradesh had the unique distinction of having first Scheduled Caste Chief Minister Shri Damodaram Sanjivayya (1921-1972) from 11 January 1960 to 12 March 1962. But despite all Reservation rules favouring Dalits in 1995 there were 26,536 unfilled reserved Govt. departments posts as backlog where -as 4.1 lakhs educated scheduled caste persons were unemployed (The Enaadu Tamil Daily dt. Dec 6 th, 1995). Mr. Bathula Venkat Rao having strong conviction, wills, courage, generosity and selflessness for the Oppressed Dalits. Rao Saheb Shri Bathula Venkat Rao expired on 4th November 1953, at the age of 57. Mr. Bathula Venkat Rao shall be long remembered with reverence by his grateful community.