Tanguturi statue in Parliament House

By Our Special Correspondent

NEW DELHI, MAY 5. The life-size bronze statue of veteran freedom fighter and member of the Constituent Assembly, `Andhra Kesari' Tanguturi Prakasam, was unveiled in the Parliament House by the President, Mr. K.R. Narayanan today.

The Vice-President, Mr. Krishan Kant, the Prime Minister, Mr. Atal Behari Vajpayee, the Lok Sabha Speaker, Mr. G.M.C. Balayogi, several Union Ministers and senior Parliamentarians were present on the occasion.

On behalf of the Andhra Pradesh Government, the donor of the statue, the State Home Minister, Mr. Devender Goud, attended the unveiling ceremony. The President and other dignitaries earlier witnessed a photo exhibition on the `Life and times of Andhra Kesari Tanguturi Prakasam' in the Parliament House.

Late T. Prakasam, who was the Chief Minister of Madras Province in 1946 and later the first Chief Minister of Andhra State in 1953, shot into prominence during the anti-Simon Commission agitation when he dared the British police to shoot at him baring his chest.

As Revenue Minister in the Rajagopalachari Cabinet of Madras Province and later as Chief Minister, Prakasam took pioneering initiatives tin the field of land reforms, community development, education and uplift of weaker sections. The multi- purpose Nagarjuna Sagar Project was taken up during his stint as the Chief Minister of Andhra State.

Prakasam who was imprisoned several times during the freedom struggle then said ``Your country has a claim on you before you have a claim on your country because the country as a whole is in a rude deplorable state than you as individuals are in. This is a moment in our history when we should rise above out little selves and help to create the India of our dreams, where there is no exploitation of class by class, of group by group, of caste by caste, of man by man.''

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