Mallu Swarajyam

Swarajyam was born in Karvirala Kothagudem into a feudal family in 1931. Her parents were Bheemireddy Ramireddy and Chokkamma.[3]

During this period, Nalgonda district was a part of the Hyderabad State under Nizam. The name Swarajyam is in deference to the wishes of several of her relatives who participated in the satyagraha in response to a call given by Mahatma Gandhi as part of the struggle to attain swaraj (self-rule, or independence) from the British.[4]

At the age of 10, Swarajyam read Maxim Gorky’s work, Mother, and it proved to be a source of inspiration for her. She morphed into a revolutionary, rallying people against Nizam’s Razakars. Her public career began at the age of 11 when, in response to the Andhra Mahasabha's call to stop bonded labour, she violated family tradition and offered rice to bonded labourers from many castes and communities.[4] Mallu Swarajyam became the commander of a dalam fighting against Zamindars and carried a prize of Rs.10,000 for her head during that time.[3]

The Communist Party of India was fighting with arms under the banner of Andhra Mahasabha against the cruel rule of the Nizam and bonded labour in the state.

Her husband, Mallu Venkata Narasimha Reddy, and her brother, Bhimreddy Narasimha Reddy, who died in 2008 (both members of the communist movement in the State), had a profound influence on her life. The Communist Party of India expanded the scope of the armed struggle from being a means to free bonded labour to one that would take land from the Zamindars and distribute it among the poor.

She later actively participated in the welfare of the local peasants and was also a major leader in the Communist party of India. She was elected from Thungathurthi Assembly constituency in 1978 and 1983 as a member of Communist Party of India (Marxist).[5]

Swarajyam had two sons, Mallu Goutham Reddy and Mallu Nagarjun Reddy. She also had a daughter, Karuna, who ran in the 2009 Elections for Nalgonda in Chiranjeevi's Praja Rajyam Party.[6] She died from multiple organ failure in Hyderabad on 19 March 2022 at the age of 91.[3]