Orator, Humanist Narahari Guttikonda

Guttikonda Narahari

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1918-1985

Guttikonda Narahari was born (August 10,1918) in Yelavarru, Tenali tq, Guntur district, Andhra Pradesh, India. His parents were Mr Anjaneyulu and Mrs Raghavamma. His sister Velaga Satyavathi raised him,as she had special affection towards him.. He received his early education at Thurumella George coronation board school. His training under the head master, Dakshinamurthy, gave him good grounding in language skills. Yelavarthi Rosaiah, Mallampati Madhusudhana Prasad were his contemporaries. After his secondary school education he went to Rangoon, Burma (now Yangoon Myanmar) at the age of 17, and worked for two years as a journalist.

      After he returned from Rangoon he joined Andhra Christian college, Guntur, and graduated with a degree in xxxxx(subject) in 1940/2?.

He married in April,1944 Sarojini, his maternal uncle`s daughter, a native of Gudavalli, Repalle tq.  The wedding was performed in a secular function which was in vogue during the pre independence period. Marriage was registered in Government registrar office and the weding vows were taken in Telugu instead of the religious ritual Sanskrit.
 

While in college Narahari was exposed to the the political philosophy of the Radical Democratic Party founded by M.N. Roy.  While still a student  he started working as a volunteer for the Radical Democratic party propagating the humanist ideals of M.N.Roy.  Narahari was sought as teacher in the study camps and training classes of Radical Democratic party. He   exposed the incongruities and weaknesses in the Congress and Communist party ideologies  during the political study camps organized in the1940s. At All India level also he participated in study camps conducted by M N Roy, Ellen Roy in Dehradun, Kolkata, Mussorie, and Delhi. He continued to attend until 1976the study camps even after the death of Roy. As a loyal propagandist of the party program and principles his contribution to the party was recognizes and he was selected in  (year) to the position of Andhra state secretary.

He was a popular and effective pamphleteer and also contributed many incisive articles to several journals. Mr Narahari contributed articles in Telugu to Mulukola, weekly Telugu magazine from Bezwada edited by Bandi Butchaiah during 1940-50. Again he wrote articles in Prajamitra, Telugu magazine edited by Gudavalli Rama Brahmam, published from Bezwada and Madras.  During second world war period none of the journals were publishing the articles of Radical Democrats. Hence Mr Narahari made arrangements with Mr Bandi Butchaiah, editor of Mulukola, to allot two pages in each issue for Radical party issues and views. Accordingly Radicals contributed articles in that journal. In addition he was powerful  speaker in English and Telugu.

(He urged youth to resign their British government office positions and jump into freedom fight.

During the1946 general elections for the Madras assembly he was election campaigner for RDP for the Andhra region. He toured, along with Mr Tripuraneni Gopichand, Mr P.V.Subbarao, two other members of the party, the entire Andhra region and addressed meetings.  Mr Sriramulu was candidate in Gudivada, Krishna district. When Mr Narahari and Mr M V Ramamurthy attempted to organize a public meeting in Veerulapadu, Krishna district, communists hindered and Mr Bhaskararao, a communist objected. But Mr Vattikonda Rangaiah, hosted Radicals and the meeting took place. All the same Mr Sriramulu , Radical Democratic candidate got only 500 votes suggesting that the general public did not understand the Radical Humanist ideology. Most of the public were in sympathy with the ideologies of the communist party or of the Congres party.

Again in Bapatla constituency Mr Ravipudi Venkatadri contested as Radical candidate. Mr Narahari canvassed for him and held public meetings. During that campaign they faced the wrath of communists in Iduppulapadu village, near Parchur. Pullela Rattaiah, a friend of Narahari cooperated. But communists threw stones in the public meeting while Narahari was addressing. Venkatadri got1600 votes, where as Kolla Venkaiah  communist candidate received 10 thousand votes. But Mr Manthena Venkataraju, congress candidate won with 35 thousand votes. In these elections franchise was limited to tax payers, whose number was very limited.

Narahari grew tobacco in Gudavalli and Pesarlanka villages and then started Narahari, Choudary & co in Guntur in 1947.

To get contracts for his  tobacco business he  toured between 1954 to 1964 African countries, Australia, Japan, far east, England, Soviet Union,  China, and Czechoslovakia. He organized conferences to air the problems of tobacco merchants, gave speeches and contributed articles to the tobacco industry publications.

During 1972  general elections,  he,started political party called Kshatra Dharma Parishad. He contested from Guntur to Lok Sabha but lost the elections and his party folded.

He joined law course in Madras but could not complete.  But much later completed law course and took degree from Nagarjuna University. For brief period he practiced law in Andhra Pradesh High Court, at Hyderabad, in association with Mr N K Acharya, another rationalist advocate in Hyderabad.

He was a close friend of Kotha Raghuramaiah a congress member of the parliament from Tenali.  Among his other close friends  were Mr Avula Gopalakrishna Murty, Mr Alapati Ravindranath, Mr Koganti Radhakrishna Murty, Mr M V Ramamurthy, Bachina Subbarao , Mr N. V Brahmam, Mr Ravipudi Venkatadri, Mr Koganti Radhakrishna Murty, Mr Subrahmanyam Koganti .

At the request of late Narla Venkateswararao, editor Andhra Prabha, he sent the literature of M N Roy to him in 1955.M N Roy died in 1955 but Narla Venkateswararao ignored that news while the whole national press covered the news. Then Mr Avula Gopalakrishna Murthy chastised Mr Narla Venkateswararao , ridiculed his journalism. Then Mr V R Narla requested Mr Narahari to supply all the literature of M N Roy. That is how Mr Narahari supplied the whole literature of Roy which converted Mr Narla Venkateswararao into Radical Humanism.
A Close friend of Mr T. S .Paulus, Principal of Andhra Christian college, Guntur, Narahari, campaigned for him during which elections in favor of Paulus.

Narahari died on 27 march, 1985   in Hyderabad.
Narahari used to argue that Man is not only essentially rational but also have other essential qualities.He was influenced by Roy`s Philosophy and Science .When he lost heavily in tobacco business he had undergone depression and wrote poetry, and many essays   which are lost.

Mr V .K.Krishna Menon, defence minister in the government of India was his close friend.

Kondaveeti Venkata kavi dedicated the second volume of his poem Jawaharlal Nehru to Narahari.

by Innaiah Narisetti

Mr Narahari ,fourth from left, Mr Vunnava Chimpaiah ,second

from left with Mr V K Krishna Memon, External affairs minister of India

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