Organisation · 1 Sep 1985
Founding of the Dalit Mahasabha
Chirala, Andhra Pradesh
The survivors of Karamchedu would not go back. They built something new.
After the Karamchedu massacre of July 1985, the survivors built their own colony at Chirala, where Katti Padma Rao settled to organise them. On 1 September 1985, about three lakh Dalits and sympathisers gathered there to found the Dalit Mahasabha. The advocate Bojja Tarakam was its president and Padma Rao its general secretary.
Its first convention met at Tenali in February 1986.
See it on the map and the timeline
What the sources record
- Formed in answer to the Karamchedu killings, the Dalit Mahasabha was inaugurated at Chirala on 1 September 1985; its first convention was at Tenali on 16 and 17 February 1986. (1)
- Katti Padma Rao and Bojja Tarakam were its general secretary and president (1987). (1)
- About three lakh Dalits and sympathisers attended its formation. (1)
- The survivors refused to go back to the village and built their own colony at Chirala, where Padma Rao settled to organise them. (1)
- On 17 July 1985, Madigapalle, a Dalit colony in Karamchedu, Prakasam district, was attacked by a large armed group of Kammas, a dominant caste. (2)
- The News Minute names Kathi Padma Rao and Bojja Tarakam, an advocate, as its founders. (2)
- Round Table India names Bojja Tharakam its founder president. (3)
- The killings caused outrage across the country and led to the Mahasabha's formation (The Polity). (4)
Linked records
- In answer to: The Karamchedu massacre (1)
People in this record
- Katti Padma Rao, co-founder; general secretary
- Bojja Tarakam (Tharakam), co-founder; president
Sources
- Study. Economic and Political Weekly; scan hosted on balagopal.org. Karamchedu: Second Anniversary (K. Balagopal), Economic and Political Weekly, 15 August 1987, pp. 1378-1381. 15 Aug 1987.
- Press. The News Minute (Charan Teja). 35 years after Karamchedu massacre in Andhra, Dalit activists speak on what has changed. 18 Jul 2020.
- Shadow. Round Table India (Prof. P. Kesava Kumar). Bojja Tharakam: The Dalit Leader. 22 Sep 2016. Not linked for now: the site has been tampered with.
- Press. The Polity. Forty years after Karamchedu, the plight of Dalits remains unchanged. 17 Jul 2025.
On the map at the centre of Andhra Pradesh.