Tanguturi Prakasam

During one of his professional visits to Madras on a court case, a barrister was impressed with his legal acumen and suggested that he become a barrister. As a second-grade pleader, Prakasam could not argue cases at higher courts as only barristers were allowed to do so. Prakasam took the idea to his heart and decided to go to England to pursue legal studies. It was considered a sacrilege to cross the seas during those days. However, as Mahatma Gandhi had done before him, Prakasam made a promise to his mother that he would abstain from eating non-vegetarian food, smoking and drinking. He reached England in 1904. In England, he joined the Royal India Society and worked for the election of Dadabhai Naoroji to the House of Commons.

In the service of public

After completing the barrister course with a certificate of honour in London, Prakasam relocated to Madras high court. He was one of the only

on a Congress Party ticket.

Andhra Kesari appellation and struggle for independence

When the Simon Commission visited India, public decided to boycott it with the slogan "Simon, go back". There were a host of reasons for this boycott, the most important being that the commission did not have a single Indian in its ranks. The commission was greeted with demonstration of black flags wherever it went. When the commission visited Madras on 3 February 1928, Prakasam Pantulu gave the slogan "Go back Simon Commission".The English soldiers warned the demonstrators headed by Prakasam. They threatened to shoot if they (the demonstrators) moved an inch forward. Prakasam Pantulu baring his chest came forward. This made the British soldiers dumb struck. This exemplary courage earned him the title "Andhra Kesari". After this incident, he was known respectfully as "Andhra Kesari" (the Lion of Andhra).

In 1930, when the Congress party wanted all the legislators to resign, he did so but was not convinced about its alternative programme and hence contested and won the by-election. He joined the

Dandi March. Prakasam also resigned as a legislator and was at the forefront in breaking the tax law at Madras. In the meantime, he had to suspend the publication of Swarajya due to the high deposit demanded by the government. It was revived after the Gandhi–Irwin Pact

of 1931 but it had to be suspended again due to cash flow problems. Unsuccessful attempts were made to restart it again in 1935.

In 1937, Congress Party contested the provincial elections and achieved majority in

Zamindari Enquiry Committee which looked at the structural distortions in agriculture perpetrated due to the Zamindari system followed by the British Government. With the onset of World War II, the Congress ministries resigned from office as they were not consulted by the government about India's participation. Prakasam was the first prominent leader from Southern India to offer individual satyagraha

against the war effort in 1941.

Prakasam was arrested and jailed for more than three years for participating in the

Quit India movement

of 1942. After his release in 1945, he toured South India to get back in touch with the masses.

Premier of Madras Presidency

In 1946, after the Congress' victory in elections in

Kamaraj, a Tamil leader, were against Rajaji – the choice of leaders such as Gandhi and Nehru

 – becoming the Prime minister. However, the government lasted for only 11 months, as it was felt that Prakasam was not accommodating enough to various interests and corruption charges. As Prakasam went against his interest, Mahatma Gandhi faulted Prakasam for accepting gifts and using party funds, ordered Prakasam to resign from congress party.

During his tenure as Premier, Prakasam publicly declared his intention to scrap all existing textile industries in the province and replace them with khadi manufacturing and weaving units.^[3] In February 1947, Communists broke into a full-scale revolt.^[3] On Vallabhbhai Patel's advice, Prakasam responded with widespread arrests and tough crackdown on arsonists.^[3]

Prakasam's Cabinet
Portfolio	Minister
Prime Minister	Tanguturi Prakasam
Labour and Industry	V. V. Giri
Health	Rukmini Lakshmipathi
Food	T. S. S. Rajan

Post-independence

Prakasam visited

Qasim Rizvi, the leader of the Razakars, and warned him about "pushing his luck too far".^{[clarification needed}

].

In 1952, he formed the Hyderabad State Praja Party (Hyderabad State People's party) and ensured that all the sitting ministers of the Congress Party were defeated.^{[citation needed]} However, Praja party could not come into power by its own and the coalition that he put together collapsed even before a show of strength could be contemplated.

Meanwhile, in December 1952,

• Andhra Kesari University, Ongole
• Sri Tanguturi Prakasam Memorial Institute of Advance Studies in Education, Nellore, SPSR Nellore Dt, Andhra Pradesh. [STPM IASE]
• Sri Prakasam Government Junior College & High School (1974) – Addanki, Prakasam district
• Andhra Kesari Centenary Junior College Degree College –
  Rajamahendravaram
• Prakasam Engineering College – Kandukur, Prakasam district
• Sri Tanguturi Prakasam Pantulu Government Junior College – Yanam, Yanam district (near East Godavari district)
• Andhra Kesari Yuvajana Samiti – a socio-cultural organisation, est. 1962
• Andhra Kesari Prakasam Junior College – Chirala, Prakasam district
• Prakasam Public School – Inkollu, Prakasam district
• Andhra Kesari Vidya Kendram Junior College – Ongole, Prakasam district
• Sri Prakasam Vidya Niketan High School, Anand Nagar Colony, Hyderabad district
• Andhra Kesari Tanguturi Prakasam Pantulu Government High School (AKTP High School), Satyanarayana Puram, Vijayawada
• Prakasam centenary Memorial High school, Rajamahendravaram,

Places named after him

• Prakasam district, Andhra Pradesh
• Prakasam Nagar, Begumpet Telangana
• Prakasam Road,Tirupati
• Prakash Nagar (Prakasam Nagar previously), Rajamahendravaram
• Prakash Nagar, Visakhapatnam
• Andhra Kesari Nagar(A.K.Nagar), SPSR Nellore District,
• Nrithya Prakasha Varshini (Bangalore)-Dance school started by Prakasam Grand daughter Shyamala Muralikrishna
• Prakasam Barrage, Vijayawada.

Autobiography

Prakasam's autobiography is titled Naa Jeevitha Yatra (My Life's Journey) and published by Telugu Samithi. This book has four parts – the first two are about his early life and his involvement in freedom fighting in India, the third is about getting independence and government formation in Andhra Pradesh, and the last (written by Tenneti Viswanadham) discusses his political career and the changes he brought to Andhra. Emesco published them as a single hard cover edition in 1972.^{[citation needed]}

See also

• Yedida Kameswara Rao

References