Narla Venkateswara Rao

Narla Venkateshwara Rao (1 December 1908 – 13 March 1985), commonly known as V. R. Narla, was a Telugu writer, journalist, and politician from Andhra Pradesh, India.^[2] He served two terms as a member of the Rajya Sabha from 3 April 1958 to 2 April 1970. Rao also authored a satakam in Telugu along with numerous other literary works.^[3]

Rao was born in Sagar, Madhya Pradesh, on 1 December 1908.^[4]

Rao began his journalism career as the editor of Andhra Prabha, under the Indian Express Group.^[4] He wrote a series on Suryadevara Sanjiv Dev from Tummapudi village in Guntur district.^[5]

He played a leading role in opposing Chief Minister Brahmananda Reddy’s attempt in 1969 to restrict press freedom by introducing a bill aimed directly at curbing the independence of Andhra Jyothi.

Rao was profoundly disturbed when the fundamental rights guaranteed by the Indian Constitution were suspended during the Emergency of 1975-1977 imposed by Prime Minister Indira Gandhi. In protest, he proposed leaving the editorial column of Andhra Jyothy. However, the newspaper's management overruled his proposal, citing concerns about potential government retaliation and the risk of the newspaper's closure. He later relocated to the United States to spend time with his seven children and their families. After the Emergency ended, he returned to India and resigned from his position as editor of Andhra Jyothy. Earlier, in the late 1940s, he had also attempted to resign from Andhra Prabha in solidarity with journalists protesting Ramnath Goenka's decision to disperse the newspaper’s staff to evade government pay regulations. However, Goenka persuaded him to stay. Rao criticized the Indian National Congress and their approach to politics.

Narla authored a Telugu play, Seetha Josyam (the prophecy of Seetha), published by the Sahitya Akademi. The play garnered considerable attention in religious and literary circles. However, Narla strongly opposed the criticism of the play by the official journal of the Sahitya Akademi, contending that, as the mouthpiece of the publishers, the journal should not engage in criticism of literary works. This stance also underpinned his decision to decline the Sahitya Akademi Award,^[4] a move which created a significant impact within academic communities. Narla's monographs on Vemana, V. Veerasalingam, and Gurajada Apparao were translated into several Indian languages.

After resigning from his position as newspaper editor, Narla took to writing plays on serious topics, often incorporating extensive prefaces in a manner similar to George Bernard Shaw's works. One such play, Narakam lo Harischandra (Harischandra in Hell), was dedicated to his longtime friend and journalist Innaiah Narisetti. Another play, based on the mythological story of Draupadi - the shared wife of the five Pandava princes - was originally titled Panchali (wife of five persons). However, Narla was unable to complete his characteristic lengthy preface for this work.

An award, Narla Venkateshwara Puraskar, was instituted in his name by B.R. Ambedkar Joshua Phule Periyar Literature Foundation.^[3] He participated in many debates in the parliament.^[2]