Potti Sriramulu

Through the Years

Between 1923 and 1944, he tirelessly promoted the charkha in Nellore district, encouraging textile spinning as a tool for economic self-sufficiency and social unity.

Potti Sriramulu fasted three times between 1946 and 1948 to demand Dalit access to temples in Nellore, actions that were crucial in breaking caste barriers in religious practice.

His 58-day hunger strike in 1952 was the immediate cause for the Indian government to announce the formation of Andhra State, an unprecedented political outcome triggered by fasting.

Potti Sriramulu’s 1952 hunger strike and subsequent death became the catalyst for the creation of Andhra State, the first Indian state formed on a linguistic basis, influencing the 1956 States Reorganization Act. His fasts for Dalit temple entry pushed forward social reforms challenging caste discrimination in Andhra Pradesh. Today, he is honored as "Amarajeevi" and symbolized as a martyr who fused social justice with regional identity politics.