“Antarvedi is a small coastal village in East Godavari district, where the Godavari confluences into the Bay of Bengal. I spent my childhood there and finished primary education despite several odds,” Bojja Tarakam had said about 15 years ago on the sidelines of a press conference in Hyderabad. It was a freewheeling chat and the reference was ‘Nalage Godavari,’ a compilation of poetry penned by him. “Even after bringing out those poems, I feel that I have so much to say about the river and my childhood,” he had said, recalling how cruel the practice of untouchability those days was and being a Dalit how difficult it was for him to pursue the academics.
Inspiration
“Poet and playwright Boyi Bheemanna inspired us a lot. His play ‘Paleru’ had prompted many Dalit youth of our time to compete for the Civil Services examination. He was the source of inspiration for most of the present day senior bureaucrats from the Dalit background,” Tarakam had said.
After pursuing law, he married Vijaya Bharati, daughter of Boyi Bhimanna.
Practising advocate Tarakam had turned into an activist of Dalit and human rights in 1985, following the Karamchedu massacre. Since then, he had taken up numerous cases pertaining to the atrocities on the Scheduled Castes and the Scheduled Tribes.
“Tarakam was the champion of Dalit rights and a towering personality in the human rights movement. We have never seen him tired, as he continued the same vigour till his last days,” recalled V.S. Krishna, secretary of the Human Rights Forum, on hearing the news of Tarakam’s demise.
An Ambedkarist by ideology, Tarakam had dedicated himself to strengthen the Republican Party of India (RPI) in Andhra Pradesh. “Tarakam was keen on fielding the RPI candidates in all elections.
He advised us to field candidates even to the ward member election, as he strongly believed that political parties should be in the poll fray,” recalled Penumala Sudheer, in-charge of the RPI’s East Godavari unit. The last conversation with Tarakam over telephone was about six months ago on the tonsuring of Dalits at Ramachandrapuram, in which one of the accused is a political bigwig. Despite his ill-health, Tarakam had taken up the case and used to attend the trails in Visakhapatnam court.
“The accused might have strong political and financial background. But, the court will render justice to the victims,” the voice was frail but the tone was firm.
An Ambedkarist by ideology, he had dedicated himself to strengthen Republican Party of India in A.P.
