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Remembering Prof Jayashankar
If the incident in which Prof Kothapalli Jayashankar sir dared sing Vande Mataram, defying the rule of singing a song praising Nizam, the then ruler of Hyderabad State, while studying in Markaji High School was any indication, his resolve to attain Telangana was no surprise.
​Warangal: If the incident in which Prof Kothapalli Jayashankar sir dared sing Vande Mataram, defying the rule of singing a song praising Nizam, the then ruler of Hyderabad State, while studying in Markaji High School was any indication, his resolve to attain Telangana was no surprise.
Born to Lakshmikantha Rao and Mahalakshmi hailing from Akkampet village under Atmakur mandal, Jayashankar walked out of the classroom demanding Non-Mulki Go Back in 1952. A decade later, he was part of a campaign that rocked the region. And as a lecturer in 1968, he participated in the agitation actively.
Later, he continued his struggle for Telangana through research, academic studies and by educating people on the cause, besides authoring several articles reflecting the issues faced by the people in the region. The professor, who was instrumental in forming the Telangana Development Forum in 1999, continued his campaign with a series of lectures about the regional disparities in the united Andhra Pradesh.
Not many people knew that Jayashankar sir never accepted the tag of ‘Telangana ideologue’ attached to him. Such was his greatness. Though tempers flared up in the region whenever Telangana movement suffered setbacks in his six decade struggle, he never lost his composure.
Moreover, his resolve to achieve Telangana grew strength to strength.” The Economics professor, who spent better part of his life at his residence opposite to Hanamkonda police station, was a most affable man and worked as the Registrar of the then Central Institute of English and Foreign Languages (CIEFL), EFLU now, before being appointed Vice-Chancellor of Kakatiya University in 1991.
Said to be the political mentor of TRS chief K Chandrashekar Rao, Jayashankar has been a guiding force for the party since its inception. Who will check the belligerence of KCR, who used to go hammer and tongs against the Seemandhra leaders? A question that had gone through the minds of many Telangana protagonists when Jayashankar died battling cancer in 2011. Such was his influence on the movement.
By: Adepu Mahender
