New Delhi, Jun 21: Korukonda Subba Reddy was a resident of village Koruturu, Polavaram, distt. West Godavari, Andhra Pradesh. He was a village Munsab. He carried on rebellion against the British in the Godavari Agency with the help of hill tribesmen from 1857.
The British had tried their tooth and nail to catch him for the fierce battle he had run almost for a year.
They had even announced a Rs 2500 reward on his head in 1857. He is the real icon of the freedom struggle in the tribal region of present Andhra Pradesh. He was the zamindar of many tribal villages in the West Godavari District from Buttayagudem to Yarnagudem. He belonged to the Konda Reddi tribal community. He was outraged against the British colonial government and waged a war against the British to get India emancipated from the chains of slavery.
Those were the days of revolution by Peshwa Nana Saheb, Tantiya Tope, and Jhansi Lakshmi Bai against the British in Kanpur, Meerut, and Jhansi respectively in 1857. At the same time, Korukonda Subba Reddy fought against the British in West Godavari. He initiated independent ruling in a radius of 40 villages from Yernagudem in West Godavari. He attacked and captured Nagavaram Fort and kept it under his control for 15 days. It was recaptured by the British in a battle a fortnight later and he was caught in the process. He was sentenced to death and executed along with seven of his followers in 1858.
During his trial, he declared that he had been encouraged to rebel when he heard that Nana Saheb was advancing towards the Deccan and that Nana Saheb would reward all those who rebelled against the British.
Some leaders backstabbed him by giving information to the British. He was caught by the British on 11 June 1858. The British rulers were horrified when he promulgated that he was fighting against the British as per the instructions of Nana Saheb Peshwa.
On 07 October 1858, Korukonda Subba Reddy and his ally Korla Seetha Ramaiah were executed in Buttayagudem. 35 tribals were sentenced to life imprisonment and sent to Guntur central jail, eight others were hanged in Polavaram and another eight were sent to Andaman. After executing him, his dead body was kept in an iron cage and it was hanged at Kotagummam in Rajahmundry. His skeleton has been dangling till 1920. They did this massacre to terrify Indians and prevent them from inclining into the freedom struggle.
The sacrifice of Korukonda Subba Reddy is an inspiration for several Indian generations. In the book "Uprising of 1857: a movement that defined India of August 15, 1947: Lakshmi Bhai, Tantya Tope, Kunwar Singh, Hazrat Mahal, Tura Baz Khan, Korukonda Subba Reddy" D Subramanyam Reddy, the author of the book explained the sacrifices and valor of Korukonda Subba Reddy. During East India's company rule in Andhra, several tribal chieftains were deprived of their revenue. In 1852 Sub-collector of the Polavaram region decided to stop the collection of fees on all articles that used the Godavari river transportation system which was the major source of revenue for Korukonda Subba Reddy. Further, the government policy of not allowing Subba Reddy to take procession of Nagavaram tract caused a great sense of resentment.
In 1857 when the whole of North India was in flames because of the Sepoy Mutiny, Korukonda Subba Reddy began his revolt against the British. The government dispatched Molony to control the revolt. Despite the fact that the rebellion was annexed by the British, the revolt of tribals against the British rule created ripples of anti-British rule in this belt of Andhra Pradesh.