In 1971, the Telangana Movement was called off and the people returned to their lives.
Pratap Kishore, founder of the Telangana Praja Samithi, could not reconcile
himself to the memory of the 370 people, mostly students who were killed in
police firing. He thought over the issue and finally broached the subject of
building a memorial for the Martry’s to Raghuveer Rao and Keshav Rao Jadav the
other founders of the Telangana Praja Samithi. The three deliberated on the
issue, and decided that the sacrifice of the martyrs should not go unrecognized,
they decided to get the Government to build a memorial for the Telangana
Martyr’s. Keshav Rao Jadav, was given the task of broaching the subject of
building the memorial, with Lakshminarayana, the Mayor of Hyderabad.
When the memorial was suggested to Lakshminarayana, he
agreed to take it up with the Chief Minister, Brahmanand Reddy, who shot it
down. But both Pratap Kishore and Keshav Rao Jadhav, continued to put pressure
on Lakshminarayana to pursue the subject of the Memorial. After much
persuasion, Lakshminarayana, went against the wishes of Brahmanand Reddy, and
had the resolution for building the Telangana Martyrs Memorial, approved by the
Municipal body. The Municipal body agreed to building the memorial, but at the
Victoria Play Ground in Chaderghat. Pratap Kishore, Keshav Rao Jadhav, EV
Padnabhan and several other participants of the 1969 rejected the venue, saying
the only fitting place for the memorial was in the park opposite the Assembly,
where the MP’s who were elected in 1971, had taken an oath to continue their
fight for Telangana state and also it was the place where several students were
killed in firing. Finally the Corporation relented and gave its nod to building
the memorial in front of the Assembly.
The Municipal Corporation called for sculptors to submit
their designs for the Memorial. And of all the aspirants, Aekka Yadagiri Rao, a
promising sculptor was selected and commissioned with the building of the
memorial. Once the clearances for building the memorial were obtained, it was felt
that just building a monument was not enough it had to be symbolic. Pratap
Kishore then called Anthi Williams, an active Telangana fighter, and asked him
to speak to the family of the slain students, it they would be willing to dig
up the mortal remains of the martrys, and hand them over to be reburied under
the memorial. About three or four
families consented to Pratap Kishore’s request and handed over the mortal remains
of their sons to Anthi Williams, who then placed these in a black painted iron
box and sealed and buried it, in the
site earmarked for the Memorial, a day beefore the memorial was to be
inaugurated. The next day, Lakshminarayana, Mayor of Hyderabad, laid the
foundation stone of the martyrs memorial. And the park where it is built was
christened the Gun Park, to symbolize the guns that were used to massacre
unarmed youth demanding their right to their home.
The memorial is
25 feet high, and incorporates five separate sections. The base is of black
polished granite, which has nine bullet impressions on four sides to represent
the 360 students, who scarified their life's for the cause in 1969. Each of the
nine bullet impressions on each side, stands for the nine districts of
Telangana, at that time Ranga Reddy was not a district. The black granite is
symbolic of the mourning for the heroes. At the base of the memorial, the names
of the martyrs are engraved in the black granite. The Government raised the
height of the lawns by six inches, thereby hiding the names of the martyrs. The
mythological sun-arch above the base was inspired from Sanchi Stupas. The
plaques embossed in it on four sides represent the greatness of the cause.
Above the sun-arch, nine strips or columns were carved denoting nine districts
of Telangana. The specialty of this art piece is one can spot these nine strips
from any side view. The meaning conveyed through it was nine districts of
Telangana were united and nobody can disintegrate them. Next is the trapezium
structure that has a dharma chakra, representing tolerance and truth, on four
sides. The red granite represents sacrifice and the chakra for peace and love.
The meaning conveyed through this was that Telangana youths sacrificed their
lives while fighting for dharma, rights and justice. At the top there is a white
lily flower to symbolize the freshness of youth and immortality of the soul.
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