Lakshmi Kantamma
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New article name is Lakshmi Kantamma
Born on August 1st, 1924 in Alampur village in Mehaboobnagar District of Andhra Pradesh, Tella Lakshmi Kantamma hailed from a large family of landlords. Families that took up hereditary local leadership (Patangiri) are called Reddy families in Telangana Region. Since her family settled in that region several hundred years ago, they were called Reddys.
Her great grandmother was called Khamma Reddy Vengamma. In the days of Nawabs she took up Patangiri after the death of her husband. She used to ride a horse and run the estate. She set up giant kitchens and made sure that none of her subjects were hungry during the greatest famine of her time. She was so pious that she would fast on the days she could not give alms to the poor Brahmins. She used to donate land to poor people and some of the lands in that area still bear her name. Locals applaud her generosity even today. Nawabs bestowed her with the title “Bhairi” and presented her with a sword with golden handle. She invited scholars from Kashi and commissioned works spiritual works (Talapatralu).
Lakshmi Kantamma’s grandfather Vajji Reddy owned a famed stable of horses with wide variety of priced breeds. He visited Tenali on horseback and came across Sithamma at Mudupur and took her as his wife. Lakshmi Kanthamma’s father Venkat Reddy was born to Vajji Reddy and Sithamma. They had one son and three daughters from his first wife. Though Vajji Reddy didn’t convert into Islam, he offered namaz five times a day and read the Koran. Along with locals they had great faith in Shah Ali Baksha Dargah located in Alampur. Venkat Reddy married Mangamma and had 4 daughters and two sons. Lakshmi Kantamma was the youngest child to them.
Lakshmi Kantamma’s eldest sister died prematurely and her second sister Anasuyamma married Dharma Rao of Gudivada. It was second marriage for bride groom. She accepted the proposal keeping in view the situation of the family as their father lost heavily in business. Anasuyamma took Lakshmi Kantamma and her brother with her as she was keen on educating them. Lakshmi Kantamma studied upto 5th class in Kurnool staying with family friends. Her sister helped her in completing SSLC in Gudivada. Then she moved to Madras Christian College to pursue intermediate. During this time she had appendicitis surgery and there was a break in studies. She vowed not to discontinue her studies and appeared for examination in Banaras and completed her second year. She completed B.A. in Machilipatnam. She was drawn to communist ideology when she was a student and actively participated in student’s movements.
She got married on November 1st, 1944. She did not accept to wear a ‘Tali’ as she thought that it amounts to slavery. Her husband Tella Venkata Subba Rao didn’t object to this as he was a man of progressive ideology. When Subba Rao was District Forest Officer in Anantapur, Lakshmi Kantamma was elected as secretary of Ladies Club. To mobilise funds for the club a drama was performed in which Lakshmi played the role of Buddha that won accolades. Neelam Sanjiva Reddy who witnessed this drama not only donate some money but praised the talent of Lakshmi Kantamma. After that she completed her MA in Pachiappa College in Madras, when her husband went to England to undergo training as Assistant Conservator of Forests.
On June, 5th 1960 Lakshmi Kantamma and Subba Rao had a daughter – Jogulamba who was their only child. She is popularly known as Jogu. After her marriage to Vallurupalli Prabhu Prasad, a business man, she moved to Vijayawada and won accolades as one of the pioneering women entrepreneurs there. Their only daughter Smita is a popular Pop Artist and son Ratna Prabhu is into business too. On August 14th, 1996 T.V.Subba Rao passed away.
Tella Lakshmi Kantamma’s three years of political life is replete with fights against injustice. She was never after wealth or securing high positions. When she first staked her claim for an MLA ticket in 1957, she was denied the seat on the grounds that she was the wife of a Government official. She took this issue to the notice of Lal Bahadur Shastri and questioned whether they were looking at her as citizen of India or wife of an officer. Shastry had no answer but to provide her with the ticket. She was provided an MLA seat in Khammam which was a strong hold of Communists. Congress had never won an election in that seat in the past. Lakshmi Kantamma won the election defeating a great communist leader. Then onwards there was no looking back. She became a Member of Parliament in the year 1962. She served as Executive Member of Parliament Committee when Jawahar Lal Nehru was the Prime Minister. She was elected to Parliament continuously from 1962 to 1977. During the China War in 1962, she not only learnt Rifle shooting but also won 2nd prize. She was a member of Indian delegation from Parliament to visit Australia. In those days women were not allowed to become IAS officers. Lakshmi Kantamma took the initiative and convinced Mrs. Indira Gandhi and got the barrier lifted. She raised the issue of enacting a law for 50% property right for women several times in Parliament. As member of the state election committee in 1972, she was instrumental in allotting tickets to 70 women and youth. Chekuri Kasaiah who faced defeat at her hands, recalls even now that there used to be huge crowds during her electioneering at Khammam in 1957. Khammam is a seat where Congress had lost its deposit in the previous election but Lakshmi Kantamma won the seat hands down. She was in the forefront of leaders who fought to secure Police Academy, BHEL, Visakhapatnam Steel Plant and Kothagudem Thermal Power Project. Lakshmi Kantamma’s role in the election of V.V.Giri as President of India can never be undermined. V.V.Giri himself mentioned this fact in his autobiography. Though she was very close to Indira Gandhi, she opposed her when she imposed emergency. She declined ministerial births offered by Indira Gandhi as she felt people are of utmost importance than positions. When Jayaprakash Narayan was ailing from Kidney failure, she nursed him and enabled him to participate in electioneering after the lifting of emergency. She influenced the politics of those days with Vajpayee, Chandra Shekar, Morarji Desai, P.V.Narasimha Rao and Charan Singh. She was an important leader in Janata party and served as All India General Secretary of the party. She got elected as an MLA from Himayat Nagar constituency in Hyderabad. She declined the opportunity to become the Chief Minister of the State and saw to it that talent got its due. She was instrumental for making P.V.Narasimha Rao as Chief Minister of A.P.
She turned to spiritualism is the later part of her life and did a lot of sadhana. She served as member of TTD board too. She accepted Shri Shiva Balayogi Maharaj as her guru and donated valuable properties to his trust. She also headed the trust for several years. She believed that there is no greater caste of religion than humanism. She actively fought for the poor and oppressed. She believed that women were embodiments of power while she nursed no hatred towards men folk. She was well versed in Bhagavath Gita, Koran, Bible and Vedas and other mythologies.
To quote Rama Chandra Murthy, former editor, Andhra Jyothi, her role in politics is worth recording in the political history. Perhaps she is the only woman who led a versatile, unique and multi-faceted personality after Durga Bhai Deshmukh who led a conscientious political and social life. Starting from the communist student’s movements to rubbing shoulders with Indira Gandhi, she played different roles very efficiently. She was committed to the principles she believed in, could speak out boldly what she believed in and never bowed her head and displayed self confidence all through. She loved driving her jeep and was physically active till the tail end of her life. Even at the ripe age of 80, she took up issues that were of public interest and followed them up with concerned authorities. Lakshmi Kantamma is one amongst the few leaders that were not swayed by the existing currents and had a streak of independent thinking while remaining a gentle hearted soul at the core.
She contributed articles for news papers on current political and social developments till she was 82. Lakshmi Kantamma was a unique personality and led a conscientious life till her last day. She has seen closely all the stages of death in her life as she was on the verge of death several times and used to say that “near death” is a fantastic experience. While she boldly fought illness, she warmly welcomed death by looking it in the eye. By refusing food and medicines in the last few weeks, she embraced the end and voluntarily crossed the final frontier on 13th December, 2007. Such fortitude, courage and wisdom are rarely heard of in this day and age. Even in her death Lakshmi Kantamma proved herself to be unique.