Dr. PATTABHI SITARAMAYYA
K. ISWARA DUTT
Sometime
in the early stages of his leadership of the Congress, at a meeting of the
A.I.C.C., having with generous indulgence allowed a few sour critics to attack
his policy and programme, the Mahatma was reported to have gently turned to “Andhra’s learned doctor” and said: “Now Pattabhi, open
fire.” Up sprang to his feet the man from Masulipatam,
and with characteristic agility and verve, poured forth the lava of his burning
eloquence on the scoffers and the sceptics.
Opening
fire has been Dr. Pattabhi’s pastime for over thirty years,
irrespective of consequences, for, if sometimes he flayed their opponents alive
and left them with the wounds rankling in their bosoms, on at least a few
occasions he scorched his own wings in the process. He has no regrets on either
score. He is not the man to shed a tear over sundered ties or lost opportunities.
He suffers from no excessive regard for others’ susceptibilities, if only he is
convinced of any deviations from the code on their part. And herein lies his
strength or weakness, just as one likes to call it, but it is the key to his
character.
Worshipping
at no shrine, playing to no gallery, and hitching his wagon to no one’s star,
Dr. Pattabhi walks his way, not too warily but certainly with his head erect,
and takes things as they happen. At no time in his long career has he stretched
his hand for a favour or compromised his position for
preference. He is extremely self-willed, and least inclined to make things easier
for himself by exercising the gift of adaptability. What counts with him is
conviction, not convenience. He relies on himself and on no adventitious aids.
Neither does success elate him, nor does defeat depress him.
If
ever there is a self-willed man in our public life, it is indubitably Dr.
Pattabhi Sitaramayya. Here is a man who was partially,
orphaned at the age of two or three, who belonged to a family of five survivors
that had to subsist on less than ten rupees a month for a period of 13 years,
who had no means to buy his text-books, who had to get on for seven years with a
single shirt, and who had, in order to be able to finish his education, wrung a
scholarship out of every competitive examination and even got round the
Christian missionaries, in charge of schools, by mastering the Bible and the Scriptures. As if this early and prolonged
battle against poverty was not enough of an endurance test, Destiny drew him to
a place which offered no scope for salvation in life. Three feet below the sea-level
and full of barren wastes, even escape from it to the next important town at a
distance of but 50 miles, meant about a three-hour journey, suggestive of
eternity! But it immensely suited the man whose ambition was not to be too
ambitious.
It
was not Dr. Pattabhi’s fault if for long he could not
hide his light under a bushel on the south-east coast. Having, as a young man,
come under the ennobling influence of the Brahmo
reformers and the Cbristian fathers, he responded
quickly to the call of the new prophets in
By
temperament, Dr. Pattabhi is an iconoclast. He is fond of breaking the idols of
the market place and picking holes in others’ armoury.
Between the Amritsar Congress in 1919 and the
Calcutta Special Congress in 1920, he was rather critical of the Mahatma, but
three months later at the annual session in
His
critical acumen has its constructive side. Of his intellectual animation and
powerful memory there is abundant evidence in the councils of the Congress.
Fluent in speech, adroit in debate and ready in repartee, it is as a committee
man that he excels. He is a moving secretariat–and can do everything from
keeping minutes to checking accounts, or from drafting memoranda to handling
men. He is interested in ever so many subjects and knows so much about
everything that he can hold your interest for hours. From the mechanism of a
motor-car to the organism of the human body, or from the intricacies of
currency to the clauses in the Constitution, his mind can easily turn and
discerningly dwell on. Whether it is on the philosophy of spinning or on
the poetry of Swadeshi, he can speak or write with
equal facility and vigour. His most distinguishing
quality, in the physical sense or intellectual, is fastness. From walking to talking, or from plying the charkha to writing
a book, he is exasperatingly fast–and whatever be does is suggestive of volume
and momentum.
In
the inner circles of the Congress he has been for over a quarter of a century a
force to reckon with, though not always a persona grato.
Tilak and Mrs. Besant were among the earliest to recognise
his mettle and debating prowess: veteran Vijiaraghavachariar
hailed him as a dominating personality in the Subjects’ Committee; Lajpat Rai described him as one
of the ablest no-changers in the Congress; Rajaji acknowledged his astuteness;
and Gandhiji claimed him as his commentator.
Two
recent achievements of his have Won for him especial
recognition–his magnum opus, the History of the Congress (two
volumes) and his untiring work in the cause of the States’ people. And when to
these is added his unswerving allegiance to one institution, one creed, one sutrakara and one philosophy, we find Dr.
Pattabhi Sitaramayya holding his own among the
leaders of the Congress.
Speaking
of an earlier stalwart of the Congress and the President of the
Behind
his playful humour there was in him a singleness of
purpose, a devotion to duty and an independence of character which made him a
most prominent figure, not only of
Word for word, this glowing tribute may also be
paid to Anandacharlu’s only successor in Andhra to
the Congress ‘crown.’ It is a far cry from 1891 to 1948, but the tradition
persists.
–Courtesy