Prajakavi Kaloji Narayan Rao passed away on November 13th 2002 at NIMS, Hyderabad. He was 89 years old.

Prajakavi is the single title that captures the richness and variety of Kaloji Narayan Rao’s qualities. A man of the people, a poet of the people. His choice of language, form and subject matter, his very practice of poetry was integral to his commitment to the cause of ordinary people. His abiding sense of humour, his irony and his brutal insistence on honesty apart, He was deeply political and had been in the vanguard of many a protest and struggle.

Born on 9th September 1914, in Warangal, Kaloji as a student at the age of 16, he protested against Nizam’s rule. He had practised as a lawyer but writing was where his heart lay. The first modern Telugu poet to write free verse, Kaloji’s poetry (consisting of ten volumes) is a running commentary on the historical, socio-political and cultural aspects of his time. Kaloji was at the forefront of all significant struggles that make up the history of the erstwhile Hyderabad state. His commitment to human rights made him an active member of the Tarkunde Committee. He contested elections thrice and once got elected as a member of the Legislative Council. His most significant contest was in 1977 from Satupally  (Khammam) against Vengal Rao, then Chief Minister, who symbolized the ‘emergency’ rule in Andhra Pradesh.

Siricilla and Jagityal areas were declared as disturbed areas to suppress the Godavari valley resistance struggle. Kaloji had responded and helped to the movement. Whatever the form of state repression Kaloji fought against that to protect civil and democratic rights of the people.