VIJAYAWADA: Some things always remain unsaid when it comes to stories of the freedom struggle. The story of Rampilla Narasayamma (92), hailing from Vijayawada, is an example. Narasayamma joined the freedom movement with her husband Sardar Rampilla Suryanarayana.
Speaking to TNIE, she recalled the celebration on the night of August 14, 1947. “At that time, the streets of Vijayawada were full of young men, women and children. Everyone was happy. It seems like yesterday,” she recalled.
Born at Kothapet in Krishna district, she was married to her uncle Suryanarayana at the age of eleven. “My husband used to attend the freedom movement programmes from the age of 10. Later, he matriculated from Banaras Hindu University,” she says.
After meeting Revolutionary Socialist Party (RSP) leader Keshav Prasad Sharma at BHU, Suryanarayana believed that the country could achieve Independence only through armed struggle. He quit his studies, returned to Vijayawada and joined the freedom struggle as an RSP worker.
“All this was before 1943. Leaders such as Acharya NG Ranga, Bharati Devi and Bhaskarachari used to visit our home. He also had good relations with Subhash Chandra Bose. My husband was one of those who threw smoke bombs on the Madras Legislative Assembly,” she asserted.
“A team of about 40 people used to make bombs under the leadership of my husband on Vidyadharapuram hill in the north-eastern part of Indrakeeladri in Vijayawada. They all pretended to go there to learn horse riding. I used to go to various places in the country with him in the name of pilgrimage to hand over bombs to RSP workers,” she explained.
Sometimes, police would bang on the door of the house in the middle of the night. “The police took me to Vijayawada sub-jail and tortured me for not revealing my husband’s whereabouts. Then I had a four-year-old girl and my elder son. They kept me in jail for 42 days,” she recounted the horror.
Even after India gained Independence, Goa and Pondicherry were still under foreign rule. “Leaving two children at home, I participated in the liberation struggle of Goa. I was pregnant at that time,” she said.
She was later recognised as a freedom fighter by the Indian government. “People call my husband ‘Sardar’ and me ‘Iron Woman of Vijayawada’.She, however, is not completely happy. “Whenever I hear about atrocities on girls, it hurts me,” she said.