The people of Telangana have fought for creation of a new state for themselves for nearly 60 years now. This legitimate fight for creation of a new state with Hyderabad as its capital, within the legal confines of Indian Constitution, has had a voice since the time of Indian Independence.
In 1948, right after Indian Independence, the Indian Army entered the region to liberate the people of Telangana as part of Hyderabad State from the Nizam Rule. The newly formed Hyderabad State was a distinct entity in Indian Union and had its elections in 1953 prior to the formation of Andhra Pradesh in 1956.
Meanwhile, another region next to Telangana, called Andhra, was keen on fighting for a separate state for its people away from Tamil people. Fearing that most of the newly created jobs and opportunities would be taken up by Tamils since Tamils were more educated and had access to opportunities, and also citing the reasons that Andhras would not be well represented in Tamil dominated Madras Presidency, Andhra people started a protest. Potti Sriramulu of Andhra region went on a hunger strike in Madras for 58 days and died fighting for creation of a separate state out of Madras Presidency called Andhra State with Madras as its capital.
After his death, the Central Government in New Delhi conceded to his first demand, that of creation of Andhra State, but it rejected his other demand. Madras became capital of new Tamil State instead of Andhra State. Contrary to the widely spread misconception, Potti Sriramulu fought for political aspirations of Andhra people of Madras Presidency, not the Telangana people of Hyderabad State.
The Andhra People having lost Madras to Tamils looked for an alternative city for its capital and eyed the glorious city of Hyderabad. Using the slogan that Telugu is the binding factor for both the regions, they renewed their fight to include Telanganainto their new dream of Vishalandhra. The People of Telangana had a different opinion - they didn't think it was a wise move. Telangana people were educated in Urdu under Nizam while the Andhra people were educated in Telugu and English under British. The new opportunities clearly gave preference to English and Telugu in the new India. During 1948-1952, though Hyderabad was a different state ruled by civil and administrators, there was heavy influx of Andhra people into Telangana to take up newly opening positions in the new India. Hyderabad city saw the first waves of protests against joining Andhra Pradesh in 1956.
But the prevailing mood in the country was already set for creation of states along linguistic lines. Potti Sri Ramulu's death and Andhra people's demand for creation of a state on linguistic basis led to creation of First State Reorganization Committee (SRC) in India. Though Nehru was averse to this idea, many new states got formed in India on the basis of language. Kerala and Karnataka got formed immediately.Telangana was clubbed with Andhra State to form new Andhra Pradesh though Fazal Ali of First SRC clearly expressed reservations against clubbing together the two regions that were unequal partners. In his recommendations he went on to say thatTelangana could stay as separate state if the union of these regions did not work out.
To protect the interest of Telangana, that was recognized by everyone as one of the most backward and illiterate regions, where bonded labor and zamindari system was rampant, many 'Gentleman's Agreement' promises were made by leaders of Andhra to ensure that the new opportunities in Telangana go to Telangana people. Actually, there was already a system in place to take care of such representations - called Mulki - which was practiced by erstwhile Nizam who had three regions under him -Telangana, Kannada and Marathi. These rules allowed certain portions of jobs to be given people of that region only. The agreements between Andhra and Telanganaleaders included following Mulki rules in the new state.
Unfortunately for Telangana people, all the clauses of these Gentleman's Agreements were immediately flouted. Illegally, thousands of Andhra people were given top jobs in Telangana region. This resulted in mass migration when these top honchos coming from Andhra started to fill other positions with their kith and kin flouting all the guidelines that were established and agreed upon. In fact, any observer will notice that millions of Andhra people have migrated to Telanganaregion, while negligible Telangana people have migrated to Andhra region.
The fact that Telangana voted a minority and opposition Communist parties during this time to the State Assembly against the majority and ruling Congress party of Andhra didn't help Telangana cause. With Indira Gandhi in power, the states became puppets and Congress became all-powerful. Dissident causes were suppressed ruthlessly.
When the SR Act of 1956 were clearly violated by Andhras, Telangana people launched an agitation in 1969 demanding a separate state. It was overwhelmingly crushed by Indira Gandhi who had no mood for creating new states. Thousands were arrested and put in jail while 350 people protestors were killed in police shootings. Indira Gandhi did not allow splitting of states during her entire regime.
When their agitation was ruthlessly suppressed, the Telangana people took the electoral route in 1971. They launched a new party called Telangana Praja Samiti (TPS) and voted 11 out of 12 Lok Sabha seats clearly indicating the mood of people to carve a separate state. Indira Gandhi, who was at the peak of her power then, called the leader of TPS Channa Reddy, and made him join his party into Congress and made him the Chief Minister of entire Andhra Pradesh. However, an All-Party Agreement of 1969 was agreed to protect the interests of Telangana as a concession.
Those agreed upon formulas were immediately flouted by Andhra people. Now, theTelangana people took the legal route. Their objections were upheld by Supreme Court which asked Andhras to vacate those positions that were illegally acquired.
That's when Andhra people, who knew that Indira Gandhi was dead against all new states, blackmailed Indira Gandhi by asking for a new state for themselves in 1973. Now, the same Andhra people deride Telangana Movement calling it divisive politics. Indira Gandhi's government, in a clear indication of partisan and discriminatory practices, overturned the Supreme Court ruling, thereby clearly establishing the practice of how a majority Andhra can always snub and suppress minority Telangana in the state Assembly. This continues till today as clearly seen from the recent episode where all Andhra and Rayalaseema MLAs resigned en masse from the Assembly on Telangana issue clearly indicating to all observers that no resolution on Telangana will pass through since they comprise the majority.
Such practices of snubbing all the promises continued. GO 36 of 1969 that promised to position Telangana people in 25,000 that were illegally occupied by Andhra people remains unfulfilled even today. During 1973 and 1985 nearly 60,000 illegal positions were awarded to Andhra people in Telangana region. To rectify this, a new GO 610 was introduced in 1985 with a promise to enforce it within a year, but continues to be unimplemented in spite of repeated demands. Telangana people are left with no option - they have tried the electoral, democratic and legal routes - all of them failed. The current democratic setup does not work for minority when the leaders are clearly aligned along partisan lines.
Nagarjuna Sagar dam lies in Telangana region. While the original plan included two canals, one to arid and dry Telangana, and the other to the fertile and inundated Andhra region, only one canal was constructed towards Andhra region, whileTelangana continued to remain arid, dry and impoverished. All the recommendations that forced the government to construct the new canal were struck down by the majority and partisan Andhra leaders. The coal mines and power plant of Singareni lie in Telangana region, but the backward districts of Telangana get no power. There are thousands of villages and towns in Telangana where they get two hours of power during entire summer, while people of Andhra experience small inconveniences. Out of 10 government medical colleges in AP, only one exists in non-capital Telanganawhile 7 of them are based in Andhra-Rayalaseema. The examples are galore. The discrimination is seen in irrigation, in industry, in roads, in canals, in dams, in energy, in education and in employment.
There was consistent and methodical discrimination against people of Telangana for all these years. Newer generation of Andhra and Rayalaseema who had no role in this discrimination find it hard to understand why Telangana people protest for a new state. They have absolutely no idea what has happened in the past and see the present situation in isolation and conclude that Telangana people are brainwashed by their wily and cunning politicians..
Many people discredit Telangana movement by sullying its leaders. They believe that this movement is a product of petty politician's agenda to usurp power. They believe that this cause was invented by politicians to serve their purpose.
They don't realize that the Telangana Movement is a mass movement and a historical movement going back sixty years and is beyond political parties and their agendas. The sentiment is deep and most administrators, bureaucrats, government employees, school teachers, professors, miners, bankers, and intellectuals, scientists support Telangana cause and seek separation. The Telangana cause is not a result of politicians brainwashing its people, but instead a cause of Telangana people being betrayed by politicians again and again. Even now, people of Telangana rally and support only those leaders who have committed to the cause of Telangana. The day these leaders stop supporting this cause, they will abandon them, like they did when they voted out TRS in 2009 because they did not uphold their promise of delivering a new state. This fight for a separate state is a legitimate one and has an expression in Indian politics which is flawed.
Detractors of Telangana movement are worried about status of Hyderabad. No logical observer would conclude that Hyderabad can be separated from Telangana. It is linked to Telangana historically, culturally and geographically. Telangana with Hyderabad as it capital joined Andhra State with Kurnool as its capital to create Andhra Pradesh in 1956. Asking for Hyderabad out of Telangana is like Gujarat asking for Mumbai in 1960 just because Gujaratis have invested a lot into Mumbai. Being cosmopolitan does not warrant a Union Territory status either. Mumbai continues to be the financial capital of India, continues to be cosmopolitan, is home to many migrants and settlers but still belongs to people of that region. In the same way, Hyderabad will continue to belong to people of Telangana and will continue to strive as a cosmopolitan city as a home to many settlers from different parts of the country including those from Andhra and Rayalaseema regions.
Conclusion
The history of Telangana after India's Independence is riddled with false promises and betrayals. Telangana remains marginalized, reduced to minority in their own state, victim of partisan politics, inept democracy and flawed legal system.Telangana remains backward, in education, in agriculture, in industry, in infrastructure, in employment, and in prosperity.. Even today, Telangana people are discriminated in their own region. They are seen as inferior, lazy and illiterate. Even the Telangana language is ridiculed and its speakers are butt of many demeaning jokes.
The people of Telangana have a distinct culture, a different history and different temperament in addition to different social and economic status. When one state has two economically and culturally different regions, one being prosperous and the other backward, if corrective measures are not taken to uplift that backward region, there is a great danger that only the prosperous region gets all the attention, funding, new industries, canals, and opportunities, while the people of backward region keep losing out, even in their own region. When such a condition prevails far too long, strong corrective measures are to be taken, and if that does not work, a new state is one of the best solutions.
A separate Telangana is an eventuality. Prolonging this outcome will only increase the animosity of Telangana people towards those who oppose it. Already we have seen many such protests in Telangana. Delaying this eventuality will only cause more pain to the region and will not be good for the future of the two states which share the same language. The people of Andhra and Rayalaseema should welcome this aspiration of Telangana people, respect it and make way for a new Telangana.
JAI TELANGANA...
