Varavara Rao is an accused in the 2018 Bhima Koregaon violence and has been arrested under the non-bailable Unlawful Activities Act.
40 Facts About Varavara Rao
1.
2.
Pendyala Varavara Rao was born on 3 November 1940 in Chinna Pendyala, Warangal district into a Telugu Brahmin family.
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Varavara Rao initially taught Telugu literature at two different private colleges in Telangana, before joining the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting of the Government of India as a publication assistant.
4.
Varavara Rao moved to Warangal to join Chanda Kanthaiah Memorial College where he worked as Telugu lecturer and later became its principal.
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Varavara Rao is considered as one of the best critics in Telugu literature and taught Telugu literature to graduate and undergraduate students for about 40 years.
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Varavara Rao is known as an orator and had addressed thousands of public gatherings.
7.
In 1966, Varavara Rao founded a group called Saahithee Mithrulu, which started producing a literary journal called Srujana.
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Varavara Rao began publishing poetry in the late 1950s in journals and magazines, and his first poetry collection Chali Negallu was published in 1968.
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Varavara Rao has published fifteen poetry collections of his own besides editing a number of poetry anthologies.
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Varavara Rao's work has been translated into English by Dr D Venkat Varavara Rao.
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Varavara Rao's poetry has been translated into almost all Indian languages.
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Varavara Rao published half a dozen volumes of literary criticism and a volume of his editorials in Srujana.
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Varavara Rao translated Ngugi wa Thiong'o's prison diary, Detained, and novel, Devil on the Cross, into Telugu.
14.
In 1967, Varavara Rao formed part of a generation of writers and poets that criticized the Telugu literary community's disengagement with politics.
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Varavara Rao was instrumental in founding two writer's associations that actively engaged in politics; the Tirugubatu Kavulu in Warangal, and the Viplava Rachayitala Sangham, popularly known as Virasam, in 1970.
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Varavara Rao has been part of the executive committee of Virasam since its inception.
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Varavara Rao was initially arrested in 1973 by the Andhra Pradesh State Government, under the Maintenance of Internal Security Act, on charges of inciting violence through his writing.
18.
Varavara Rao was released after this second arrest, as well.
19.
In connection with the Conspiracy Case, Varavara Rao was arrested in May 1974.
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Varavara Rao was denied bail several times and finally released on conditional bail in April 1975.
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Varavara Rao was arrested again on 26 June 1975, on the eve of proclamation of Indian Emergency.
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Varavara Rao was one of the few prisoners whose interviews with their relatives were restricted and their mail was subjected to stringent scrutiny.
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Varavara Rao was released only when the new Janata Party government repealed the Act itself.
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Varavara Rao was at the forefront in mobilising popular and democratic support to the widespread mass movements in northern Telangana during post-emergency days.
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Varavara Rao survived several attempts on his life by mercenaries of landlords as well as anti-social elements.
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In 1985, Varavara Rao was one of 46 persons accused of attempting to overthrow the Andhra Pradesh Government in the Secunderabad Conspiracy Case.
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Varavara Rao was arrested in connection with this case, but subsequently released.
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Varavara Rao was one of those arrested in the Ramnagar conspiracy case, and accused of attending a meeting in which there was a plan made to assassinate two police officials.
29.
Varavara Rao's mail, including registered newspapers, was censored for months together.
30.
Varavara Rao was implicated in two more cases while he was in jail.
31.
In May 1990, Varavara Rao spoke at an event organised by the Andhra Pradesh Raitu Coolie Sanghama labourers' political party which holds an annual conference for laborers and peasants in Hyderabad.
32.
Varavara Rao called for a partial lifting of the ban on these organisations in order to facilitate peace talks, and advocated a peaceful resolution of the ongoing conflict.
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Varavara Rao noted that there were five police encounters during the negotiations, in which members of the banned parties were killed despite a temporary cease-fire.
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Mr Varavara Rao played a significant role in creating cordial climate in conducting these peace talks and was genuinely interested in bringing peace in the state.
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Varavara Rao was released from jail under bail on 31 March 2006 after a period of about eight months.
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Varavara Rao criticised the police for the encounter, claiming that he had seen the body and that it showed distinct signs of torture.
37.
In 2011, Varavara Rao was one of several persons accused in a case concerning a bomb placed near the car of a police superintendent in Ongole.
38.
Varavara Rao was an active participant in the Telangana movement, which aimed for the creation the separate state of Telangana, by bifurcating the existing state of Andhra Pradesh.
39.
On 28 August 2018, Varavara Rao was arrested in his home in Hyderabad for his alleged involvement in the Bhima-Koregaon violence that occurred on 1 January 2018.
40.
In June 2020, Varavara Rao applied again for bail, on the grounds that he was highly vulnerable to Covid-19, and following a government recommendation that elderly inmates and those with co-morbidities should be released from jail in light of the Covid-19 pandemic, but were unsuccessful.