PEDDAPALLI : The long-cherished dream of the residents of Gattepalli village to pay tribute to Sayaburaju Muralidhar Rao alias Gattepall Murali who fought against the Razakar armed militants during the Nizam rule, has finally come true. A statue of Sayaburaju Muralidhar Rao will be unveiled at his native, Gattepalli village in Sultanbad mandal headquarters in Peddapalli district, on September 17 as part of the Telangana National Integration Day. The statue has been readied by villagers, with the help of philanthropists.
The residents of erstwhile Karimnagar district still share tales of his valour, as to how he escaped from the Razakars and motivated people to revolt against the Nizam rule. Muralidhar Rao was born in Gattepalli village in 1915. His son and yoga master, S Sampath Kumar told TNIE that his father started his revolt against the Nizams by tearing up textbooks containing images and content related to the Nizams. He used techniques including ‘Marmakala vidya’, ‘Jalastambana vidya’, to fight against the Razakars.
After completing higher secondary education, he was attracted to the Communist ideology. Later, responding to the call of activist Swami Ramananda Tirtha, he joined the Hyderabad liberation struggle.
Murali escaped with bullet injuries when Razakars ambushed the villagers at Mandapur hillocks in Karimnagar district. Prabhakar Rao and 13 others were killed in the first encounter with the Razakars in the State. Following this, Murali formed teams across villages to fight against the Nizam rule.
The villagers reminisce Murali’s escape from Sangareddy jail and his fight against the feudal landlords. Murali contested against former Prime Minister PV Narsimha Rao from Manthani Assembly constituency on a CPI ticket. He breathed his last at the age of 73 years of age-related ailments.