Puchalapalli Sundarayya

Puchalapalli Sundarayya (born Sundararami Reddy; 1 May 1913 – 19 May 1985), popularly known as Comrade PS, was an Indian Communist leader including of the peasant revolt in the former Hyderabad State of India, called the Telangana Rebellion and he was also one of the founding members of Communist Party of India (Marxist). He was so dedicated to the upliftment of the poor that he and his spouse chose not to have children, for the purpose of social service. He directly participated in the Telangana Rebellion against the Nizam of Hyderabad. Sundarayya remained General Secretary of Communist Party of India (Marxist) until 1976.

Puchalapalli Sundarayya
1st Leader of the Opposition Andhra Pradesh Legislative Assembly
In office 1957–1962
Chief Minister	Neelam Sanjiva Reddy Damodaram Sanjivayya
Preceded by	Position established
Succeeded by	Tarimela Nagi Reddy
Constituency	Gannavaram
1st Leader of the Opposition Andhra State Legislative Assembly
In office 1955–1956
Chief Minister	Tanguturi Prakasam Panthulu Bezawada Gopala Reddy
Preceded by	Position established
Succeeded by	Position abolished
Constituency	Gannavaram
Member of the Politburo of the Communist Party of India (Marxist)
In office 1964–1982
General Secretary	Himself E. M. S. Namboodiripad
General Secretary of the Communist Party of India (Marxist)
In office 9 November 1964 – 6 April 1978
Preceded by	Position established
Succeeded by	E.M.S. Namboodiripad
Member of the Andhra Pradesh Legislative Assembly
In office 1978–1983
Preceded by	T. S. Anand Babu
Succeeded by	M. Rathna Bose
Constituency	Gannavaram
In office 1956–1967
Preceded by	Position established
Succeeded by	V.Seetha Ramayya
Constituency	Gannavaram
Member of the Andhra State Legislative Assembly
In office 1955–1956
Preceded by	Constituency established
Succeeded by	Position abolished (Himself as a member of the Andhra Pradesh Legislative Assembly)
Constituency	Gannavaram
Member of Parliament, Rajya Sabha
In office 3 April 1952 – 21 March 1955
Preceded by	Position established
Succeeded by	TJM Wilson
Constituency	Madras State Andhra State
Personal details
Born	Puchalapalli Sundararami Reddy (1913-05-01)1 May 1913 Nellore, Madras Presidency, British India (now Andhra Pradesh, India)
Died	19 May 1985(1985-05-19) (aged 72)
Political party	Communist Party of India (Marxist) (1964-1978)
Other political affiliations	Communist Party of India (before 1964)
Spouse	Lela
Known for	Co-founder of Communist Party of India (Marxist)

Early life

Sundarayya was born on 1 May 1913 in Alaganipadu (in the present Vidavalur Mandal of Kovur Constituency) in Nellore district of Andhra Pradesh, India. He was the child of a feudal family and, when Sundarayya was six, his father died. He completed primary education and entered a college where he studied at entry level until he left in 1930, at the age of 17, to join Mahatma Gandhi's non-cooperation movement. He was arrested and spent time in a Borstal school in Rajahmundry where he became acquainted with various communists and local dalit leaders. When released, he organized agricultural workers in his village to protest against bonded labour.

He was mentored by Amir Hyder Khan, who prompted him to become a member of the Communist Party of India, which was condemned and banned by the British government during the Second World War. During this period many prominent communist leaders, like Dinkar Mehta, Sajjad Zaheer, E.M.S. Namboodiripad and Soli Batliwala, became members of the national executive of the Congress Socialist Party. While a member, Sundarayya rose to the position of the Secretary of the Congress Socialist Party. After the arrest of Amir Hyder Khan, following the directions of the Central Committee, the task of building the Party in South India fell on his shoulders. During this period, he motivated transition of prominent communist leaders of Kerala like E. M. S. Namboodiripad and P. Krishna Pillai to join the Communist Party of India from the Congress Socialist Party]

In 1934, Sundarayya became a member of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of India. During the same year, he became one of the founders of the All India Kisan Sabha and was elected as its joint secretary. When the Party was banned, he went underground between 1939 and 1942.

Telangana Rebellion

When the ban on the Party was lifted in 1943, the first Party Congress was held at Bombay and he was again elected to the Central Committee in the second party Congress held at Calcutta (now Kolkata). In that Congress, the Communist Party of India adopted a line advocating armed struggle, that came to be known as 'Calcutta thesis'. It was closely identified with its main proponent, the then General Secretary B.T. Ranadive. As a result, insurgencies took place in Tripura, Telangana, West Bengal and Travancore. The most important rebellion took place in Telangana, against the Nizam of Hyderabad. Sundarayya, was one of its leaders. He went underground between 1948 and 1952. He was re-elected to the Central Committee in 1952 when a special party conference was held. He was also elected to the Politburo, the highest forum within the Party. He was then re-elected to Central Committee and the Politburo in the third party congress in Vijayawada and again in the fourth congress held at Palakkad.

In Communist Party of India (Marxist)

He was elected to the Central Executive and the Central Secretariat of the Party at the fifth Party Congress at Amritsar. At this time, the internal conflict within the Communist Party of India had heightened. The Party leadership under Shripad Amrit Dange were in favor of supporting the Indian Government headed by the Indian National Congress at the time of the Sino-Indian War. Also, following the Sino-Soviet difference in the international communist movement, the Party leadership under Dange was pursuing the Soviet line, which the pro-Chinese leadership within the Party called revisionist. The group under Dange was referred to as the "Rightists", and the other group, "Leftists".

Sundarayya was a prominent leader of the leftist group and he resigned the positions conferred upon him during the Amritsar congress of the Party, protesting against the policies of the dominant leadership of the Party. He was arrested and imprisoned during November 1962, at the time of the Sino-Indian border war. The split came out in open and the leftists organized the Seventh Party Congress in October–November 1964 and forming a new Party called the Communist Party of India (Marxist). Sundarayya was elected as its General Secretary.

However, immediately after this conference, Sundarayya and several Party leaders were arrested because of a ruling produced by the Congress government, and they were detained until May 1966. Again, he went underground to evade arrest during the period of the then Indian Prime Minister, Indira Gandhi, who evoked Emergency provisions of the Indian Constitution, between 1975–1977, to suspend Constitutionally guaranteed 'fundamental rights'. Sundarayya remained the Party's General Secretary until 1976. In that year, he decided to resign from his post as the Party's General Secretary and gave up his Politburo membership, for what he called the "revisionist habits" acquired by the Party.

Legislative career

In 1952, he was elected to the Upper House of the Indian Parliament, the Rajya Sabha from the Madras Assembly constituency and became the leader of the Communist group in Parliament. He went to Parliament on a bicycle at a time when most of the MPs were either zamindars or hailed from aristocratic families who arrived in luxury cars. He was elected to the State Assembly of Andhra Pradesh and remained a member of that House until 1967. After a long gap he contested again and got elected to the State Assembly of Andhra Pradesh in 1978, he continued this up to 1983. Sundarayya held the party's state secretary post in Andhra Pradesh and was a member of the Central Committee of the Party from this period to his death on 19 May 1985.

External links

• [1] History on the verge of collapse in Hindu on 03-May-2006.
• [2] Remembrance, P. Sundarayya in Marxist daily Ganashakthi website.
• [3] P. Sundarayya, Telengana People's Struggle and Its Lessons, December 1972, Published by the Communist Party of India (Marxist), Calcutta-29.
• Puchalapalli, Sundarayya (February 1973). "Telangana People's Armed Struggle, 1946–1951. Part One: Historical Setting". Social Scientist. 1 (7): 3–19. doi:10.2307/3516269. JSTOR 3516269.

• Puchalapalli, Sundarayya (March 1973). "Telangana People's Armed Struggle, 1946-1951. Part Two: First Phase and Its Lessons". Social Scientist. 1 (8): 18–42. doi:10.2307/3516214. JSTOR 3516214. Archived from the original on 3 February 2014.

• Puchalapalli, Sundarayya (April 1973). "Telangana People's Armed Struggle, 1946–51. Part Three: Pitted against the Indian Army". Social Scientist. 1 (9): 23–46. doi:10.2307/3516496. JSTOR 3516496.