Kallur Subba Rao was an Indian freedom activist and politician. He was a scholar in

Kannada Kannada (; ಕನ್ನಡ, ), originally romanised Canarese, is a Dravidian language spoken predominantly by the people of Karnataka in southwestern India, with minorities in all neighbouring states. It has around 47 million native s ...

and

Telugu Telugu may refer to: * Telugu language, a major Dravidian language of India *Telugu people, an ethno-linguistic group of India * Telugu script, used to write the Telugu language ** Telugu (Unicode block), a block of Telugu characters in Unicode S ...

and a teacher by profession. He was born in Kallur near Hindupur Taluk,

Anantapur District Anantapur district officially: Anantapuramu district is one of the eight districts in the Rayalaseema region of the Indian state of Andhra Pradesh. The district headquarters is located at Anantapur city. It is one of the driest places in So ...

. His Father’s name was Sri Surappa and his mother's name was Smt Puttamma. Kallur Subba Rao was born on 25 May 1897, and was the first person to start the Congress Movement in

Rayalaseema Rayalaseema () is a geographic region in the Indian state of Andhra Pradesh. It comprises eight south western districts of the State namely, Kurnool, Nandyal, Anantapur, Sri Sathya Sai, YSR, Annamayya, Tirupati and Chittoor districts ...

. He studied up to 12th standard. When Subba Rao was 17-year-old, he attended a meeting hosted by

Annie Besant Annie Besant ( Wood; 1 October 1847 – 20 September 1933) was a British socialist, theosophist, freemason, women's rights activist, educationist, writer, orator, political party member and philanthropist. Regarded as a champion of human f ...

. Thereafter, he started participating in other such meetings and became an active member of

Indian Freedom Struggle The Indian independence movement was a series of historic events with the ultimate aim of ending British rule in India. It lasted from 1857 to 1947. The first nationalistic revolutionary movement for Indian independence emerged from Bengal. ...

. He was imprisoned for 7 years as a freedom fighter. After Indian independence, he was elected as a Member of

Constituent Assembly of India The Constituent Assembly of India was elected to frame the Constitution of India. It was elected by the 'Provincial Assembly'. Following India's independence from the British rule in 1947, its members served as the nation's first Parliament as ...

from

Madras Chennai (, ), formerly known as Madras ( the official name until 1996), is the capital city of Tamil Nadu, the southernmost Indian state. The largest city of the state in area and population, Chennai is located on the Coromandel Coast of th ...

Presidency. Afterwards, he was awarded

Padma Shri Padma Shri (IAST: ''padma śrī''), also spelled Padma Shree, is the fourth-highest Indian honours system, civilian award of the Republic of India, after the Bharat Ratna, the Padma Vibhushan and the Padma Bhushan. Instituted on 2 January 1954, ...

in 1967. He was a great poet and a very good orator. Rutherford, the then collector of Anantapur District, used to call him the "Lion of Congress".

Dr. Rajendra Prasad Rajendra Prasad (3 December 1884 – 28 February 1963) was an Indian politician, lawyer, Indian independence activist, journalist & scholar who served as the first president of Republic of India from 1950 to 1962. He joined the Indian Nationa ...

used to call him the "Prison Graduate" because Subba Rao was a great reader of

Bhagavad Gita The Bhagavad Gita (; sa, श्रीमद्भगवद्गीता, lit=The Song by God, translit=śrīmadbhagavadgītā;), often referred to as the Gita (), is a 700- verse Hindu scripture that is part of the epic ''Mahabharata'' (c ...

Ramayana The ''Rāmāyana'' (; sa, रामायणम्, ) is a Sanskrit literature, Sanskrit Indian epic poetry, epic composed over a period of nearly a millennium, with scholars' estimates for the earliest stage of the text ranging from the 8th ...

and Bhagavatha. He was elected as a Member of Legislative Assembly three times. He was an Andhra Pradesh Congress Committee (APCC) General Secretary. He died on 20 December 1973. A Special Cover on Sri Kalluri Subba Rao was released in Hindupur Division by Andhra Pradesh Postal Circle on 18.12.2021.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Rao, Kallur Subba 1897 births 1972 deaths Members of the Constituent Assembly of India Telugu people Indian schoolteachers People from Anantapur district Deputy Speakers of the Andhra Pradesh Legislative Assembly Recipients of the Padma Shri in social work Indian independence activists from Andhra Pradesh 20th-century Indian educators Educators from Andhra Pradesh