The movement for telang myth and reality

Abstract

The movement for a separate state of Telangana reflects a longstanding demand for autonomy in social, economic and political matters, a call that has been denied for over half a century even as the region has continued to suffer within the larger state of Andhra Pradesh. Many myths and counter-arguments are being peddled by those wanting to retain the status quo.

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COMMENTARY
january 9, 2010 vol xlv no 2 EPW Ec onomic & Pol itical Weekly
8
The Movement for Telangana:
Myth and Reality
R am a S Me lko t e, E R eva th i, K L al i ta, K S aj aya , A Su ne et h a
This is a condensed version of an appeal issued
by the Hyderabad Forum for Telangana and
whic h was sig ned b y a numbe r of teac hers,
intellectuals, political activists and artists.
Ra ma S Mel kote (ramamelkote@yahoo.com),
E Re vath i (revathie@gmail.com), K Lal ita
(lalitarajan@gmail.com), K S ajay a (sajayak@
gmail.com) and A Suneet ha (suneethaasrv@
gmail.com) are members of the Hyderabad
For um for Te lang ana.
The movement for a separate
state of Telangana reflects a long-
standing demand for autonomy
in social, economic and political
matters, a call that has been
denied for over half a century
even as the region has conti nued
to suffer within the larger state
of Andhra Pradesh. Many myths
and counter-arguments are being
peddled by those wanting to
retain the status quo.
Subsequent to the announcement by
Home Minister P Chidambaram on
9 December 2009 about initiating
th e pro cess for a separate Telanga na state,
a number of wrong notions are being
peddled about the history, politics, devel-
opment of Andhra Pradesh a nd its people.
This note is an attempt to correct these
misconceptions by bringing the actual
recorded facts to the attention of the
public so that issues can be discussed in a
rational and democratic manner.
(1) Myth about Potti Sriramulu and
Present-day Andhra Pradesh: Potti
S riramulu struggled for the separation of
Telu gu- sp eak ing a reas f rom M adras Pr esi-
dency to form an Andhra state. More spe-
cifically, he fasted in 1952 for a separate
Andhra state with Madras as its capital.
This proposal of T Prakasam was rejected
outright by C Rajagopalachari, the then
chief minister of Madras Presidency.
While the proposal for linguistic states
was accepted by the Calcutta Congress
Committee in 1934, the proposal for the
formation of a linguistic state of Telugus
was approved by the Madras assembly in
1937. It was only after the death of Potti
Sriramulu that the movement for a sepa-
rate Andhra intensified. Andhra state was
formed in 1953 with Kurnool as its capital
and T Prakasa m a s its ch ie f m ini ster.
The political evolution of Hyderabad
state under Nizam’s rule took a different
direction. Telugu, Urdu, Marathi and
Kannada-speaking areas and people were
pa rt of Hy de rab ad , a p ri ncel y s tat e. It w ent
through political turmoil when the Nizam
refused to merge w ith the Indian union at
the time of independence in 1947. The
Razakars, the armed militia of the Majlis,
v iolently opposed the merger. At this time
Tel ang ana als o wi tne sse d an arme d peas ant
struggle against feudal oppression led by
the Communist Party. In September 1948,
the Indian army undertook what is known
as “Police Action” putting an end to the
Nizam’s rule and merged the H yderabad
state with the Indian union. The “Police
Action” also suppressed the peasant struggle.
It must be noted that Muslims were a part
of the struggle against the Razakars.
Shoebullah Khan, the editor of Imroze, a
progressive journal, w as as sass inated by the
Razakars. After the merger, the Congress
won in the first elections in Hyderabad
state held in 1952 and Burgula Ramakrish-
na Rao became its first chief minister.
Rao’s government brought progressive
land legislation in the form of Hyderabad
Tenancy Act that gave protection to tenants.
By 1956, there was substantial progress in
land reforms in Telangana.
(2) Merger was against the Wishes of
the Telangana People: When Telangana
was merged with Andhra state in 1956,
there was much resentment against the
influx of people from other states, includ-
ing Andhra region. These migrants began
to occupy most civil ser vices posts. From
1948-52, many from Andhra state got jobs
in Telangana as English education and
e xperience in British administrative pro-
cedures gave them an edge over the local
people. They also obtained false mulki
(nativity) certificates to settle down and
bought vast stretches of land. In 1952, the
Hyderabad state witnessed a major student
agitation, know n as t he Mulk i agitation . It
be ga n i n Wa ra nga l b ut s oo n sp re ad t o a ll t he
other areas, forcing the Hyderabad govern-
ment to appoint a committee to look into
violations of mulki rules. The demand for
Visalandhra that gained momentum at this
time was described by N ehru as inspired
by a desire for imperialist occupation of
land (In dian E xpres s, 17 Octob er 195 3).
The first States Reorganisation Com-
mission (SRC) also did not recommend the
merger. Consisting of three members,
Justice Fazal Ali (chairman), Hridaynath
Kunzru and K M Panikkar, it recommend-
ed that Telangana could remain a separate
state for five years, i e, till 1961. At the end
of this period, if two-thirds majority of
elected representatives agree to the merger
of the two regions, the merger could take
place. There was opposition to the merger

COMM ENTARY
Economi c & Politica l W eekly EPW janua ry 9, 2010 vol xlv no 2 9
by a section of the Congress. The then
chief minister, B R K Rao too expressed
apprehensions about the merger as Telan-
gana and Andhra were two different cul-
tural formations. Telangana was cosmo-
politan with a composite culture of min-
gling different linguistic groups and had
developed a distinct identity of its own.
It was in this background of widespread
resentment and apprehensions of Telan-
gana people that the debate on Visalandhra
took place. Telangana was merged with
Andhra state to form Andhra Pradesh,
much against the wishes of the people.
T he fe ars o f Te la ng an a p eo pl e we re so ug ht
to be allayed through the “Gentlemen’s
Agreement” which stipu lated that:
(a) Opportunities for employment in the
public services, admissions to educational
instit utions for Telangana students to the
extent of 1/3 of the total admissions in the
entire state. Or admissions to Telangana
colleges should be restricted entirely to
Telangana students. This was to protect the
educational and employment opportunities
of Telangana people against the onslaught
of more educated and opportunity-seeking
Telugu s fro m the coas ta l A nd hra r egio n.
(b) After the propor tional sharing of expen-
ditures by both t he reg ions, the b alance rev-
enues would be spent on the deve lop men t of
Telangana. This was to ensure that the re-
sources of Telangana would be spent within
the region that th ey wou ld not be di verted .
(c) A Regional Council would be established
to ensure all-round development of Telangana.
It is untrue to say that Telangana people
or B Ramakrishna Rao favoured a united
Andhra; it is precisely because of their
fears that the Gentleman’s Agreement was
formulated. Development was the prom-
ise given at the time of founding Andhra
Pradesh to the people of Telangana. This has
not been translated into reality till date.
(3) Telangana was an Independent,
V iable, Revenue-Surplus State at the
Ti me of M erge r W hile A nd hra S tate was
Not: Andhra had a financially difficult
existence during 1953-56. Telangana as
Hydera bad state was popularly known,
enjoyed a comparative revenue-surplus.
Andhra state had low per capita revenue.
Comparatively, Telangana had higher
land and excise revenues keeping it in a
financi ally comfortable situation. The SRC
a rgued that Telangana would be a stable
and viable unit with an area of 45,000 sq km,
a population of 1.13 crore and an annual
revenue of Rs 17 crore. It had such a surplus on
its revenue account that it was sufficient to
finance irrigation projects. Considering
the lag in education and employment lev-
el s, the com mi ssio n fe lt t hat a merg er wit h
coastal A ndhra would result in diversion
of resources, employment and educational
opportunities for the Telangana people.
Telangana was neither poor nor back-
wa rd as i t in dee d had ric h r eso urce s. H ow-
ever, it lagged behind due to the absence
of English educational facilities and em-
ployment opportunities under the Nizam.
If the merger had not happened, under thei r
own government, the Telangana people
would have attained similar educational and
employment standards that people from
co as ta l A nd hr a h ad . C H Ha nu ma nt ha Rao
has pointed out that the recently formed
states of Chhattisgarh, Jharkhand and
Uttarakhand have achieved higher rates of
growth than the targeted growth rate –
9.2%, 11.1% and 8.8%, against the projected
rate s of 6 .1% , 6.9% a nd 6. 8%, re specti vely
(Eleventh Plan). There should be no
doubt that Telangana would prosper as a
smaller state.
(4) Telangana was Promised Oppor-
tunities and Resources, But Never
R eceived Its Due Share: Telangana has
not received its due share in investment
al lo cation s, and t he su rplu se s from t he re -
gion (the difference bet ween what ought
to have been spent and what has actually
been spent) have been diverted to other
regions. The accumulated surplus based
on the estimates of the Lalit Committee
(1969) – given the task of determining the
surplus due to Telangana for the period
is November 1956 to 31 March 1968 –
exceeded Rs 100 crore in 1969 itself and
its present value would be Rs 2,300 crore
(see Hanumantha Rao, 2005, for more
de ta il s). T he r ev enu e f rom Tel anga na reg io n
(excluding Hyderabad) has formed more
t ha n ha lf o f A nd hr a P ra de sh’ s tot al in co me
in recent times (2003-04 to 2006-07).
Seventy-five per cent of the total sales tax
revenues and 66% of total excise revenue
comes from the Telangana region. Revenue
from coal comes entirely from Telangana
and at least 44% of income from forest re-
sources comes from the region. Thus, it is
evident that Telangana contributes a higher
share of revenue to Andhra Pradesh, but
the e xpenditure on the region and it s p eo -
ple is fa r less (Rao a nd Shas try 2009).
The regional committee that was sup-
posed to ensure all-round development of
Telangana was abolished in 1973. The
r ep ort s of t he Bh argav a Com mit tee (1969)
set up by the central government under
Indira Gandhi to assess the revenue sur-
pluses of Telangana to investigate into the
actual expenditures on Telangana have
never been made public.
(5) Telangana Is Growing under Its
Own Steam, But at a Huge Cost: Growth
is taking place in Telangana. This is also
established by A P Human Development
Report, 2007. The districts of Karimnagar
and Warangal have recorded fairly good
agricultural growth. But the growth has
been achieved at a high cost. Unlike coastal
Andhra, especially Krishna and two dis-
tricts of Godavari and Guntur which have
canal irrigation, in large parts of Telangana,
70% of irrigation is through groundwater
and deep tube wells (Subramanyam 2003).
The numerous promised but incomplete
(e g, Ichchampalli, Dummugudem, Srisailam
Left Canal), under-fulfilled (e g, Sriram-
saagar) or abandoned (e g, Devanuru)
irrigation projects have meant that indi-
vidual farmers have to make a much greater
investment in agriculture. For instance, if
we look at the relative share of 806 thousand
million cubic (TMC) feet of Krishna water
among the different regions of Andhra
Pradesh, which is decided according to
the proportion of river flow area and
cultivable land in each region, Telangana
projects have been allotted 266.83 TMC
of water against a due share of 552 TMC,
but receive much less. Mahboob Nagar,
known for its very high levels of distress
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COMM ENTARY
january 9, 2010 vol xlv no 2 EPW Ec onomic & Pol itical Weekly
10
migration and perennial drought, should
have got 187 TMC of water but has received
nothing till now. Coastal Andhra receives
se ver al t ime s more tha n it s due sha re of 9 9
TMC. This is to the detriment of Rayalaseema
too! Farming has become risky in Telangana,
as indicated in the large number of suicides
by farmers. Telangana accounts for as many
as two-thirds of the total number of suicides
reported in the state between 1998 and
2006. In recent t imes, Telangana has been
allocated a higher share in expenditure on
irrigation (55%) than its share in popula-
tion (41%). However, compared to coastal
Andhra, the unit cost of irrigation is much
hi ghe r in Tela nga na (as it i s situ ate d on the
D eccan plateau) as lifting of water requires
huge investments in pumping machinery
and power.
The promise of “development ” was
a lways made to Telangana people when-
ever they rose up against the unequal
treatment that was meted out to them.
The Gentlemen’s Agreement (1956), and
the Six-point formula (1973) and the Re-
gional Development Board (2006) given
at different phases of Telangana move-
ment all promised development. (For text
of the “Gentlemen’s Agreement of 1956:
Proceedings of the Meeting Held at
H yderabad Guest House, New Delhi, 20
February 1956” see Anne xure III in B harat h
Bhu sh an and N Venugopal , e d., 2009.)
Many promises have remained unful-
filled, some of which are the following:
● Regional Councils, Mulki rules, Sub-
committees for the development of back-
ward regions.
● President’s Order on Public Employment
(or, more accurately, The Andhra Pradesh
Public Employment ( Organisation of Local
Cadres and Regulation of Direct Recruit-
ment) 1975) issued on the basis of a
six-point formula to undo the injustice
caused in the matter of T elangana recruit-
ment following the T elangana agitation
in 1969.
● GO 610 (1985) – issued to repatriate all
the non-locals appointed in Telangana to
their respective native zones and appoint
local candidates in the resulting vacancies.
● Girglani Commission’s recommendations
(2004) – set up to determine the devia-
tions from the presidential order.
● Grievances, remedial measures, and safe-
guards (Summary of Final Report of One
Man Commission, (SPF), Sr J M Girglani,
Hyderabad 2004 – h t t p : //www.telangana.
org/Papers/article16.asp).
The list of betrayals of agreements and
dilution of safeguards for the protection of
Tela ngana an d its people is pa inf ully lo ng.
Strangely, from 1973, what the Telangana
pe ople w ere argui ng a s a m atte r of rig ht to
self-respect got converted into an issue of
“developing backward areas”. Within this
paradigm, a uniform approach for promot-
ing accelerated development of backward
areas became the strategy of the state.
With this move, the state successfully nulli-
fied the special status for Telangana region
accorded earlier due to the historically
spe cific condition s of mer ger. Tela ngana got
equated with all other backward regions
of the state. It became easy to project it as
an i ssue of development and backward-
ness without any reference to questions of
justice and above all to its self-respect.
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COMM ENTARY
Economi c & Politica l W eekly EPW janua ry 9, 2010 vol xlv no 2 11
Considering the nature and history of
development that occurred in this region,
the questions that come up are – in whose
interests have this development taken
place? Who have been the beneficiaries?
What role did the people of this region
have in these decisions? These are politi-
cal questions for the settlement of which
democratic self-rule is crucial. It is this
that the advocates of the separate state of
Telangana are struggling for.
(6 ) Te l a n g an a ’ s S t r u g gl e f o r S e l f - r e s p e ct
and Self-rule Is 50 Years Old: Telangana
Rashtra Samiti’s (TRS) emergence denotes
only the latest phase in the movement for
statehood for Telangana. It started with
the mulki agitation in 1952 when students
protested against the huge influx of out-
side people into government services in
the region. Three students died in police
firing. In 1968-69, the movement for sepa-
rate Telangana lasted nearly a year in
whic h 369 people were killed in police fir-
ing. The current phase gathered momen-
tum with the decision of TRS president
K Chandrasekhar Rao (KCR) to a fa st unto
death. When signs of his withdrawal fol-
lowed soon after the commencement of his
fast, university students all over Telangana
came out to join the struggle, followed by
numerous other sections and their associ-
ations. While KC R decided to continue his
fast, it is these sections that conti nued the
movement in its various forms. The struggle
for a separate T elangana has become a
broad democratic movement, not confined
to a si ng le leader or a pa rty.
Culturally, Telangana has never been
integrated with coastal Andhra. Telangana
Telugu is absent in the school textbooks of
Andhra Pradesh because it is considered
inferior to coastal Andhra Telugu, and its
literature is constantly devalued. M argin-
alisation of Urdu, t he official language till
1948, has not only led to the n eglect of
Muslims and their habitations, but side-
lined them from the domains of h istory
and culture. Ling ui stic jingoism of coastal
Andhra is also manifest in the culture
industry which shifted its base to
H yderabad from Chennai due to the pro-
motional policies of the state government.
During the last 20 years, the Telugu film
and entertainment industry dominated by
coastal Andhra capital has consistently
portrayed Telangana people as either vil-
lains or comedians. Belittling of Telanga-
na culture, language and life has become
the norm in Telugu films and television.
Their failure to incorporate the rich cul-
ture of the region where they are located
and whose labour supports the industry is
indicative of the large-scale failure of the
project of emotional integration that was
sought to be achieved through the forma-
tion of A ndhra Pr adesh.
While the struggle for a separate Andhra
was based on the ideology of linguistic na-
tionalism, the demand for Telangana state-
hood is against internal colonisation in the
name of linguistic unity. Telangana con-
sciousness is shaped by the recognition
that in an unified state their distinct lan-
guage, culture and history have been
erased and the interests of their region se-
verely undermined. It is this consciousness
that underlies the past and current move-
ments for a separate Telangana state.
(7) Hyderabad, an Integral Part of
T elangana: At the time of merger, H yderabad
was the fifth largest city in India, with
underground drainage, two major public
hospitals, many other super speciality
hospitals, one large university, well devel-
oped road and railway network – these
were put in place by the Nizams. The city
could boast of a cosmopolitan culture with
Tamilians, Marathis, Telugus, Persians,
British, French and North Indians living
alongside Muslims of various persuasions.
Irrespective of origin, many were conver-
sant with Urdu or its local variant, Deccani.
This long history of living with many cul-
tures gave the city a culture of openness,
where even the coastal Andhra migrants
feel included. Due to these reasons,
Ambedkar recommended that it should be
made the second capital of I ndia. It is
precisely for this reason that all the major
politicians of Andhra state, i ncluding
T Prakasam coveted Hyderabad as a capital.
The policy of “development” of back-
ward areas in the districts of Telangana got
concentrated only in surrounding districts
of Hyderabad. While industrialisation in
Telangana took place due to the initiative
of the central government, deindustrialisa-
tion picked up speed during the regime of
Chandrababu Naidu. Several public sector
undertakings were closed down even
though they were not sick. There was a
boom in real estate and speculation. Land
obtained from surrounding villages for
industrial development was turned into
colonies, leased out on nominal prices or
donated to industries, especially the film
and IT industries. Recently, in the name of
Greater Hyderabad more mandals of
R angareddy, Medak, Mahboobnagar and
Nalgonda have been mer ge d wit h Hyder a-
bad. Nearly 600 villages have been merged
with Hyderabad so far. In this entire
expansion, misleadingly called “develop-
ment”, what happened was expansion of
corporate capital-driven privatisation. The
local Telangana people gained little, either
in education or employment or health.
They, in fact, have lost their land and live-
lihoods. Over the last 20 years, public
investment has fallen while profit-driven
enterpri ses have g rown .
Conclusions
When the separate Telangana state is
achieved, it will have to live up to its dem-
ocratic promise, especially towards dalits,
Muslims, women and backward castes. A
review of the dominant economic policies
of special economic zones, alongside an
increase in public expenditure on health,
education a nd housing will have to be un-
derscored. We think that it is a tremen-
dous opportunity for people and move-
ments in non-Telangana regions to initiate
su ch ch an ges in polic ie s and en vi sion th ei r
futur e a fre sh. I n v iew of th e huge i mpen d-
ing ta sks in Tela ng ana a nd A ndh ra , we ap-
peal to all democratic parties, organisa-
tions and people to desist from distorting
facts and provoking unhealthy sentiments
so that the Telugu people may live
p eacefully in two separate states in the
near future.
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