Manthena Venkata Raju (1904–1968) was an Indian politician and

social worker Social work is an academic discipline and practice-based profession concerned with meeting the basic needs of individuals, families, groups, communities, and society as a whole to enhance their individual and collective well-being. Social work ...

from

Manthenavaripalem Manthenavaripalem is a village in Guntur district in the state of Andhra Pradesh in India. Famous people from this village: :* Sri Manthena Venkata Raju Manthena Venkata Raju (1904–1968) was an Indian politician and social worker from ...

Bapatla Bapatla is a city and District headquarters of Bapatla district in the States and union territories of India, Indian state of Andhra Pradesh. It is a municipality and the mandal headquarters of Bapatla mandal of Bapatla revenue division. The ne ...

Andhra Pradesh Andhra Pradesh (, abbr. AP) is a state in the south-eastern coastal region of India. It is the seventh-largest state by area covering an area of and tenth-most populous state with 49,386,799 inhabitants. It is bordered by Telangana to the ...

. He participated in the

non-violent resistance Nonviolent resistance (NVR), or nonviolent action, sometimes called civil resistance, is the practice of achieving goals such as social change through symbolic protests, civil disobedience, economic or political noncooperation, satyagraha, const ...

against the

British rule in India The British Raj (; from Hindi ''rāj'': kingdom, realm, state, or empire) was the rule of the British Crown on the Indian subcontinent; * * it is also called Crown rule in India, * * * * or Direct rule in India, * Quote: "Mill, who was himsel ...

Freedom Fighter

In 1921, at the age of 17, Sri Manthena Venkata Raju, walked out of the National College and gave up education to participate in the Freedom Struggle of India. Since that year, he participated in several Campaigns and

Satyagraha Satyagraha ( sa, सत्याग्रह; ''satya'': "truth", ''āgraha'': "insistence" or "holding firmly to"), or "holding firmly to truth",' or "truth force", is a particular form of nonviolent resistance or civil resistance. Someone w ...

movements until India achieved Independence. He was jailed on several occasions during his participation in the Freedom Struggle. He occupied several important positions in the Andhra Congress party during this period. He served as Sceretary and President of the Guntur District Congress and was the General Secretary of the Andhra Congress Party. Among the notable leaders of Andhra Pradesh, Sri

Kasu Brahmananda Reddy Kasu Brahmananda Reddy (28 July 1909 – 20 May 1994) was the Chief Minister of United Andhra Pradesh, India, from 29 February 1964 to 30 September 1971. On 3 June 1977, he was elected president of the Indian National Congress. Early life Kasu ...

, Sri Alapati Venkataramaiah and Sri

Venigalla Satyanarayana Venigalla Satyanarayana (5 October 1918 – 1980) was an Indian politician who was a Member of Parliament, representing Andhra Pradesh in the Rajya Sabha the upper house of India's Parliament as a member of the Indian National Congress T ...

were all introduced to politics by Sri Manthena Venkata Raju. In 1938, Sri Manthena Venkata Raju conducted the All India Workshop for Politics in the village of Manthenavaripalem and helped educate several leaders in the importance of politics and governance. Several leaders with Socialist-Communist lenience, within the Congress, also participated in the Workshop.

Social Worker

Sri Manthena Venkata Raju participated in several Social causes. In 1934, he participated in a campaign to allow Harijans into temples. He helped dig many wells to provide drinking water to several villages and also encouraged people from all castes to inter mix socially. He conducted widow marriages in the village of Karlapalem and also conducted several inter-caste marriages during his lifetime.

Political Leader

He entered the State Assembly in 1946, and was a member until 1962, barring a gap of two years. During his tenure in the State Assembly, he assumed a very important role in State Politics. During those times, Chief Ministers like, Sri

Neelam Sanjeeva Reddy Neelam Sanjiva Reddy (; 19 May 1913 – 1 June 1996) was an Indian politician who served as the sixth President of India, serving from 1977 to 1982. Beginning a long political career with the Indian National Congress Party in the independence ...

, Sri

Gopal Reddy S. Gopal Reddy is an Indian cinematographer, turned screenwriter, director and producer, known for his works in Telugu cinema and Bollywood. In 1990, he co-produced the blockbuster Kshana Kshanam, under his production house ''Durga Arts''. He h ...

and Sri Sanjeevayya, were among those who sought the blessings of Sri Manthena Venkata Raju. He always professed the principal of retirement from active politics after a certain age, like in any other salaried job; in accordance with this principle, he retired from Politics at the age of 58, in the year 1962. He believed in strong principles and was among those who lived by example. Even without having riches or the caste equation working to his advantage, Sri Manthena Venkata Raju, established his presence in the political arena of the State of Andhra Pradesh through his disinterest in positions and his commitment to social work. The Sri Manthena Venkata Raju Foundation was established by Champati Vijaya Ramaraju, ex-MLA of

, in his memory. The foundation does Social Services in

constituency and honors the accomplished 'sons and daughters' of the region. {{DEFAULTSORT:Raju, Manthena Venkata Indian National Congress politicians from Andhra Pradesh 1904 births 1968 deaths Indian independence activists from Andhra Pradesh People from Guntur district 20th-century Indian politicians Social workers from Andhra Pradesh