Chennupati Vidya

Chennupati Vidya Biography

Chennupati Vidya was a social worker, politician Gandhian and atheist from Andhra Pradesh. She has been elected to the Lok Sabha twice in the 1980s. She is the daughter of noted social reformers and activists - Goparaju Ramachandra Rao and Saraswathi Gora, who founded and ran the Atheist Centre for many years. It was world’s first Atheist centre, which ran till the death of her mother in 2006. Her elder brother Lavanam was a social worker and activist who campaigned against untouchability and the caste system, and other social issues. His wife Hemalatha Lavanam also worked for the same goal. The couple founded the social organization Samskar. Vidya’s sister-in-law Hemalatha Lavanam was the daughter of Telugu poet Gurram Joshua and Mirayamma, who also worked against social evils.

Chennupati Vidya was born in 1934 into an atheist family. Vidya was born in Vizianagram. Both her parents - Saraswathi Gora and Goparaju Ramachandra Rao were social workers and atheists. She had 8 younger siblings. As her eldest brother was born at the time of Salt Satyagraha of Mahatma Gandhi, his father Gora named him Lavanam, which literally means salt. Her sister Chennupati Vidya is a former MP from the Vijayawada Lok Sabha constituency. Her brother Samaram is a physician, who authored several books on health awareness and sex education. She married Chennupati Seshagiri Rao in 1950 and had 4 children.

Since young she got exposed to the life style and speeches of some of the great leaders and she too decided to serve the society as a social worker. Yet unlike others she entered the world of politics, and succeeded in this field as well. Yet she served as the president of the Vasavya Mahila Mandali, an NGO dedicated to the empowerment of women and children. She got elected to Lok Sabha for the first time in 1980 and for the second time in 1989, and thus served as parliamentarian twice. She died in Vijayawada on 18 August 2018 aged 84. She was a recipient of Jamnalal Bajaj Award for her services towards women and children.

Published: October 08, 2018

Updated: October 08, 2018