3rd June, 1990
My dear Pranav, In 1951, a conference of Gandhian workers, who were not
involved in any politics and who belonged to the larger part of Total Revolution, called the Sarvodaya Workers was held at Shivarampalli in Andhra Pradesh. Vinoba attended that conference. He started from Sevagram in Maharashtra on March 7, 1951 on foot. In 30 days he walked 300 miles and reached Shivarampalli.
The Telanganga region of Andhra Pradesh was then in turmoil. The communists tried to have an armed resurrection like the Yenan in China. They were creating panic in the minds of people by dacoity. and murders. The Government adopted methods of tit for tat — violence was met with violence, bullet for bullet. People were terrorised by communists at night and police during day. There was a cry for help.
On April 15, 1951, on the Ramnavami day, in his evening meeting at Hyderabad, Vinoba said: “All of us, you and I and every being, are indeed the forms of Rama. If we abandon our egoism (I-ness) and reduce ourselves to zero, we shall become one with Rama and could then function as instruments of the Lord.”
On the early morning of April 18, 1951 Vinoba reached Pochampalli on foot. The village had a population of about three thousand.The Nalagonda District of Telangana was regarded as the Head Quaters of the Communists. In the previous two years, 20 to 22 murders had taken place there.
On reaching the village, Vinoba first went to the barijan (untouchables) colony. He visited each house and saw the conditions personally. The Harijans said, “We are very poor. We are jobless. If you give us some land, we could toil on it and eam our bread.” Vinoba asked, “How much land would you
33 �
