India's post-independence has been marked by the nonviolent actions of the followers of Gandhi. The most famous are certainly Vinoba Bhave and Jai Prakash Narayan. Less known than these illustrious predecessors, Subba Rao deserves his place in the pantheon of great nonviolent personalities.
S.N. Subba Rao was born in Bangalore in 1929 of a lawyer father.
His story begins on August 8, 1942. That day, Mahatma Gandhi launches the call "Quit India", urging the British to quit India. The very next day, learning the arrest of nationalist figures (Nehru, Patel...), Subba Rao and his classmates leave their class and go out onto the streets in protest. As a leader of the event, he is remanded in custody for one day before being released, because of his age (13 years old). He then takes an active part in the mobilization of youth. India becomes independent on August 15, 1947.
In 1951, at the end of his law studies, he goes to Delhi and joins the Indian National Congress (in power in India). He becomes the Prime Minister Jawarlal Nerhu 's translator while traveling in the southern states of India. He leaves the party after a few years, regretting its growing bureaucratization.
In 1969, he is in charge of the "Gandhi Darshan Train", an exhibition on the life and work of Gandhi crossing India by train to commemorate the centenary of the birth of Mahatma. The following year, he founds an ashram in Joura in the Chambal Valley (Madhya Pradesh). He entrusts its running to the young PV Rajagopal who was one of the leaders of "Gandhi Darshan Train". The Chambal Valley then lived at the pace of the war between the "dacoits" (bandits) and the police. After two years of intense non-violent work more than 500 dacoits lay down their arms on April 14, 1972 at Joura at the foot of the statue of Gandhi.
Subba Rao in 1972 founds the National Youth Project with the aim "to educate young people in human values, communal harmony and the promotion of national integration". After 35 years of existence, more than 200 000 young people have been trained in non-violence in the many camps led by Subba Rao in India, but also in the United States, Canada, Germany. His work is rewarded by the Rajiv Gandhi National Nepal Sadbhavana Award - one of the most important distinction in India - in 2003.
Still very active, Subba Rao has taken an important part in the Janadesh in October 2007, participating in several days of walking, and using all his experience and charisma to make "the verdict of the people" heard by the government.
