The 68th Andhra State Formation Day was celebrated in Bapatla on Friday.
The coastal town of Bapatla is of significance as it gave birth to the Andhra movement, and the first Andhra conference was held here in the year 1913.
“It was during this conference that the demand for a separate State for all Telugu people was first raised. The Telugu people began thinking of a separate state in the early 20th century. In the First Andhra Mahasabha held at Bapatla, the then MLC Bayya Narasimheswara Sarma presided over the session. The seeds for a movement seeking a separate State were sown at a meeting held at Edward Coronation Memorial Town Hall.
Eminent personalities of the era, such as Pingali Venkayya, Bhogaraju Pattabhi Sitaramayya, Ayyadevara Kaleswara Rao, Unnava Lakshminarayana, and Nyapati Subba Rao Pantulu took part in the meeting, he said.
After four decades of struggle, a separate State for Telugu people was formed on October 1, 1953, with the supreme sacrifice of Potti Sreeramulu.
Forum secretary P.C. Sai Babu, and teachers and students of A.V.V. High School paid tributes to those who made sacrifices in their struggle for a separate Andhra State, at the Jaya Stupa which was installed near the railway station on October 1, 1954, commemorating the first anniversary of the formation of Andhra State.
