Karamchedu massacre

Karamchedu massacre refers to an incident that occurred in Karamchedu, Andhra Pradesh on 17 July 1985, where a conflict between Dalits and upper caste landlords predominantly resulted in the killing of six Dalits and grievous injuries to 20 more. After a long legal battle that went up to the Supreme Court, one person was given life imprisonment and 30 more were sentenced to a prison term of three years. The initial main accused, Daggubati Chenchu Ramaiah, father of then-MLA of Parchur, Daggubati Venkateswara Rao was brutally assassinated by Naxalites in 1989 as Retaliation.

The people of forward caste raised cotton, tobacco and other cash crops with traditional crops to become the richest community in Andhra Pradesh. They monopolized trade, moneylending business (call money), and particularly cinema industry. The village landlord, Daggubati Chenchuramaiah, was a very close relative of TDP founder N. T. Rama Rao (NTR). His son, Daggubati Venkateswara Rao, was married to NTR's beloved daughter.

Malas, Madigas, and Yerukulas were living side by side in Karamchedu. After NTR had formed the Telugu Desam Party, almost all Kammas joined it. Dalits choose to remain in the Congress Party. NTR's son-in-law and Chenchuramaiah's son Daggubati Venkateswara Rao contested as an MLA and got hold of power.

Two Kamma youth, Potina Seenu and Rayineedu Prasad, took their buffaloes to the drinking water tank in Madigapalle. They fed the buffaloes with washings of rice in buckets. While they were washing the dirty buckets in the tank, Katti Chandraiah, a Dalit boy, objected to it. His courage angered Seenu and Prasad. They were about to beat up Chandraiah when Munnangi Suvaartha, a Madiga woman, came to the tank to collect water.

She tried to protect the boy from the attack. Seenu and Prasad threw hunters at her. She lifted her vessel and warded off the hunters. Suvaartha's lifting of vessel in self-defence became a pretext for Kammas, who were itching for a fresh quarrel with Madigas after the election clash. They used the trivial occasion for a ghastly attack on Madigas. Duddu Moshe, Duddu Ramesh, Tella Yehoshua, Tella Moshe, Tella Muthaiah and Duddu Abraham were axed to death. Eight Dalits were killed in the Kammas' attack.

Subsequent to the massacre, the People's War Group killed the key accused Daggubati Chenchu Ramaiah, father of Venkateswara Rao. The Naxalites claimed that the murder of Ramaiah was a fitting reply to the upper castes of the village. The furious agitations of Dalits under the banner of Dalitha Mahasabha (DMS) led by Katti Padma Rao, now a PRP leader, made the government accept all their demands, including naming of about 150 people accused in the case.

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