Telangana ideologue and father of separate Telangana movement Professor Kothapalli Jayashankar died on Tuesday, after battling for life due to cancer for the last six months.
He was 77. He was a bachelor.
Prof Jayashankar had been the foremost proponents of separate Telangana state and had strongly opposed the merger of erstwhile Hyderabad state with Andhra state in 1956. Since then, he had been relentlessly fighting for separate statehood for Telangana, spearheading every movement.
His tryst with Telangana started since he was a young student of Intermediate, when he walked out of his class as a protest for state reorganization in 1952. Then, in 1962, he was part of a campaign which rocked the region. As a lecturer, in 1968, he participated in the revived agitation. He carried out his struggle for Telangana through research and academic studies, and by educating people on the cause.
Born on August 6, 1934 in Hanamkonda, Prof Jayashankar did his schooling and intermediate in Warangal. He did his graduation and post graduation in economics in Benares and Aligarh universities and Ph D in Osmania University. He also did his B Ed after graduation. He was the founder of AP Teachers Union.
He was a professor in economics and after holding several positions, he became the Vice Chancellor of Kakatiya University and before that, he was registrar of Centre for English and Foreign Languages, now called English and Foreign Languages University.
He was instrumental in forming the Telangana Development Forum (TDF) in USA in the year 1999 and played a key role in the formation of Telangana Rashtra Samithi in 2001 under the leadership of K Chandrasekhara Rao. Since then, he had been an advisor to KCR.
The last speech he delivered was at the launch of Namasthe Telangana daily, promoted by KCR, on June 7. A couple of days ago, he was shifted to his residence at Advocates Colony in Hanamkonda, where he breathed his last on Tuesday.
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