Articles from General Knowledge Today

Telangana
2011- 11- 17 15:11:48 GKToday
Telangana Issue
Hist ory:
The word Telangana is derived from
Telugu + Gana, which literally means
Telugu Speaking People. The region
comprises 10 districts of modern Andhra
Pradesh. It was under the Kakatiyas from
1083 AD to 1323 AD. Afterwards, it came
under Delhi Sultanate, followed by
Bahamani Kingdom, Qutab Shahi and
Mughals. A separate Hyderabad state
was established by the Asaf Jahi
Dynasty. Later Hyderabad became the
first Indian Royal state to accede to British
Protection under the policy of Subsidiary
Alliances. The Coastal Andhra and
Rayalaseema were under the British
India's Madras Presidency.

Demand f or Linguist ic St at es:
The Montague- Chelmsford Reform had favored the formation of linguistic based
provinces.
The chairperson of Indian National Congress of Calcutta Session, Annie Besant
opposed the idea of formation of linguistic states; however Bal Gangadhar Tilak
and Mahatma Gandhi favored it.
Gandhi ji favored it because he believed that use of linguistic sensibilities of the
people would help in better mass organization.
The All India Congress Committee officially accepted the principle of the "Linguistic
Reorganization of States" in its Nagpur Session in 1920.
The same was reiterated by the leadership of Congress before the Indian Statutory
Commission of
1927 and had suggested the creation of Utkal, Andhra, Karnataka on this basis.
The same was supported by the Nehru Committee in 1928.
The election manifesto of the Congress promised in 1946, to create provinces on
linguistic basis.

The JVP Committee (Jawaharlal- Vallabhbhai Patel Pattabhi Sitaramaiya) committee
was formed in 1948. This committee also came out with opposition to formation of linguistic
states. Later the Linguistic Provinces Commission was appointed to study the problem by
Dr. Rajendra Prasad, on June 17, 1948 under the chairmanship of Justice S N Dhar and it
was called Dhar Commission also. Justice SN Dhar was a judge of Allahabad High Court.
Dhar Committee found it "inadvisable to reorganize the states on linguistic basis". This
recommendation was accepted by the cabinet.

In 1912, State of Bihar and Orissa was formed. The Telugu speaking people wanted to
have their own Telugu state, soon after the creation of Bihar and Orissa. The Andhra
Mahasabha was formed in 1913, but the dream of having own language state remained a
dream for the Telugu speaking people for 50 years. A veteran congressman Potti
Sriramulu, went on fast unto death on October 19, 1952, After 56 days of fast, he
succumbed to the fasting and died on December 15, 1952. His death triggered large scale
violence in the state and this led to Government of India to create India's first state on
Linguistic Basis that is Andhra Pradesh on October 1, 1953.
The official name of the state was Andhra St at e.
The demand for linguistic states rose particularly in South India. The political leadership
was not in a position to resist the demand and this culminated in "States Reorganization
Commission "on December 22, 1953 by Jawahar Lal Nehru. The States Reorganization
Commission was headed by Justice Fazal Ali. This Fazal Ali Commission submitted its
recommendations on September 30, 1955. The commission recommended the
reorganization of the country in 16 states and 3 centrally administered areas.

The Andhra State comprised 11 districts of the Telugu- speaking portion of Madras State.
Its Capital was Kurnool. Tanguturi Prakasam Pantulu became first Chief Minister of this
Andhra State. It comprised Coastal Andhra and Rayalaseema Regions.

St at es Reorganizat ion Commission's View on Telangana:
The states reorganization commission was of the view that a Hyderabad State
(Telangana) may come in existence as a separate state with its provision of unification
with Andhra after the 1961 general elections if by a two thirds majority the legislature of the
residency Hyderabad State expresses itself in favor of such unification. So the SRC was
NOT against the Telangana State and NOT ever rejected the demand for a Telangana
State.
The merger of Andhra with Telangana was termed by Nehru as " matrimonial alliance with
a provision of divorce".

Why Unif ied Andhra & wishes / views of t he people f or Vishalandhra:
A slogan of Vishalandhra was in the field for long time. It had an emotional appeal that
people speaking the same language that is Telugu should come together.
There was a larger section of the society which desired of Hyderabad state.
However, Hyderabad state was broken into its linguistic pieces - Marathi speaking
belt went to Bombay state and Kannada speaking belt went to Mysore state, it was
a possibility that the Telugu speaking belt (Telangana) should go to the larger
Andhra state.
There were supporters of cultural integration who wanted all the Telugu people
come together.
There was also a thought that in a bigger province, the expenditure of
administration becomes less, duplication and overlapping may be avoided.
There was a belief that in larger province there may be a larger scope for industrial
development.
Separat e Telangana & wishes of t he People seeking separat e st at e:
They believed that emotional urge for Vishalandhra got weak after a separate
Andhra state was formed. If Telangana state is formed which would comprise the
pure Telugu people, the emotional urge would weaken further.
They believed that forming a new Telangana state would not practically upset
anybody, however if it was merged with Andhra Pradesh there might be a bitterness
on their (Telangana) side.
Telangana was not a part of British India and was under the British suzerainty. They
believed that the way of life they have developed in 175 years would be disturbed.
A large number of Telangana were Urdu knowing and Urdu speaking / using
people who thought that if the state is merged with Andhra would take away the
importance / need/ essence of Urdu from their life.
The Telangana region was less developed particularly in education and they
feared that in the larger state , they will be at disadvantage.
The Telangana region was economically poor as compared to Andhra which had
lots of economically advanced people / businessmen etc.
There was a bitter taste / experience of the Telangana people just after the merger
of Hyderabad state, the Andhra officers were hard to them and there was a mutual
dislike among the people of both regions, despite of a single language.
Gent lemen's Agreement :
The above hesitations of the Telangana people was tried provide safeguards with the
purpose of preventing discrimination against Telangana by the government of Andhra
Pradesh. It was signed in 1956, prior to merger of Andhra and Telangana. Signees were
Andhra Side: B. Gopal Reddy (Chief Minister, Andhra State), N. Sanjeeva Reddy,
G.Lachanna & Alluri Satyanarayana Raju
Telangana Side: B. Rama Krishna Rao (Chief Minister, Hyderabad state), K.V.
Ranga Reddy, M. Channa Reddy, J.V. Narsing Rao
Provisions: This agreement provided that there shall be one legislature for the whole of
the Andhra Pradesh State, which shall be sole law making body for the entire state.
Telangana would be regarded as one region for some convenient transaction of the
business of government. This agreement also provided for a Regional Standing
Committee for Telangana region. This regional standing Committee would deal with
important matters such as Development of Economic Planning, Local self government ,
public health, Education, Prohibition and industries in the state. Urdu was ensured to keep
existing position for next five years. The agreement provided reassurances to Telangana
in terms of power sharing as well as administrative domicile rules and distribution of
expenses of various regions.

Birt h of Andhra Pradesh:
Following this agreement, central government established a unified Andhra Pradesh on
November 1, 1956

1969 Agit at ions:
The "gentlemen's agreement" proved to be a momentary solution and the people of
Telangana expressed dissatisfaction. In 1962 election Congress won and it was a feather
in cap for Sanjiva Reddy. Andhra Pradesh was now a stronghold of Congress. The
position of the communists (who led the peasants rebellion in 1946) declined.
The period of agitations began in late 60s which reached a substantial height in 1969. In
the first phase of the agitation, only the students (particularly of Osmania University) and
the personnel belonging to Telangana services participated.

Later in march 1969, the agitation took a new turn, when S Venkatram Reddy, a former
minister came openly in the support of the agitations. Meanwhile, the defectors from the
congress created the Telangana People's Association (Telangana Praja Samithi) led by
M. Chenna Reddy.

After 1971, midterm elections Indira Gandhi, the Prime Minister of India, who was aware of
the overwhelming majority registered for the TPS, invited its leaders for mutual
discussions. The Change of the leadership was the new card Indira Gandhi played. She
was well aware that Brahmananda Reddy who was for a long term in the office had
developed widespread roots in the state politics well in the same manner Mohan Lal
Sukhadia in Rajasthan had done. Probably, Mrs. Gandhi would not allow letting such
things continue. PV Narsimha Rao, a candidate from the Telangana was chosen to be a
successor of Brahmananda Reddy. P V Narsimha Rao was known to be a staunch
integrationist and he became the first Chief Minister of the Andhra Pradesh from Telangana
Region. The Telangana agitation subsidized and TPS merged with Congress.

Jai Andhra Movement , President 's Rule & 6 Point Formula:
A new regional movement broke out in Andhra in 1972 which was called Jai Andhra
Movement. This movement started in the Coastal and Rayalaseema regions and the
agitators protested against the protections mentioned in the Gentlemen's agreement. On
18 January 1973, Andhra Pradesh was put under President's rule. After 11 months of
President's rule, on 10 December 1973, Indira Gandhi chose Jalagam Vengal Rao as
Chief Minister. A Six- Point Formula was agreed upon by the leaders of the two regions to
prevent any recurrence of such agitations in future. The `Six- Point Formula' included
1. The abolition of Mulki rules and the Telangana Regional Committee (these were the
protections mentioned in the Gentleman's agreement
2. The establishment of a Central University at Hyderabad to augment educational
facilities.
3. In regards to jobs, state divided into six zones, within the framework of three
regions, namely, Coastal Andhra, Rayalaseema, and Telangana (Zone V, and
Zone VI) with Hyderabad under Zone VI. Each zone should prefer local candidates
for state government jobs.
The BJP Promise and New St at es:
In 1990s Bhartiya Janta Party promised in its election agenda that it shall create new
states as demanded (Jharkhand, Uttranchal, Chhattisgarh, Telangana) if they came into
power. The three states were crated but the fourth state was not created because, it was in
coalition with Telugu Desam Party, which opposed.

KCR
With the main aim of formation of a new Telangana State, K Chandrasekhar Rao (a
member of TDP) formed Telangana Rashtra Samithi. It allied with Congress in 2004 on the
grounds that Congress would create a new state. It withdrew the support after congress not
fulfilling the promise. In 2008, all TRS MLA's and MP's resigned. In 2009, TRS allied with
TDP (which was never pro- separation). But TRS backed out of the alliance in the last
minute, thereby creating a huge dent in the prospects of TDP reclaiming power. Though,
major parties supported the formation of Telangana, Congress won and YSR became
chief minister. BJP came with the promise of creating Telangana and Gorkhaland. In
September 2009, Chief Minister YS Reddy died in a helicopter Crash. In November 2009, K
Chandrashekar Rao started fast unto death demanding introduction of Telangana Bill in
the parliament. In December 2009, P Chidambaram announced that the central
government would start process of forming a separate Telangana State. The 11 day fast
of KCR ended with this announcement. There was a celebration among Pro Telangana
supporters but protests in Rayalaseema and Coastal Regions.

Just ice BN Srikrishna Commit t ee:
A Five member committee was formed on separate Telangana with Justice BN Srikrishna,
a retired judge of Supreme Court, as the chairman of the committee in March 2010. The
committee is expected to submit its report by 31 December 2010. Other members of the
committee are
Vinod Duggal - former Union Home Secretary
Ravindar Kaur - professor at IIT Delhi
Abusaleh Sharif - PhD is a Senior Research Fellow at the New Delhi Office of
International Food Policy Research Institute
Prof. (Dr.) Ranbir Singh, Vice- Chancellor - National Law University
It was said that the panel will examine the demand for a separate state of Telangana as
well as the demand to keep Andhra Pradesh united. It was a politically clumsy decision
which led to violent demonstrations in Hyderabad, plus resignation threats by about half
the members of the legislative assembly. This paralyzed the state government and
sparked follow- on bifurcation claims from other states all over India.
Telangana YES:
Telangana has been neglected and is backward. All its irrigation projects,
agriculture, education and employment is courtesy of Andhra.
Hyderabad did shine, but it is just a small territory in Telangana and people living in
Hyderabad are not just the people from Telangana but also from Coastal Andhra
and Rayalaseema.
The people of coastal Andhra have benefited economically since the days of
British rule when there was extensive investment in irrigation, but the Telangana
region lagged behind under the thumb of the Nizam of Hyderabad.
When Hyderabad began to flourish in the 1990s as an IT centre, wealthy
landowners from the coastal region flocked to the city to develop real estate and
infrastructure projects. The creation of the new state would hurt their business
interests.
Telangana NO:
Separation would not solve all the issues.
Andhra Pradesh is state which is divided into various constituencies and each
constituency has its own representative who sits in the assembly and the
parliament.
Every constituency gets funds equally and as per the Gentleman's agreement the
Telangana region gets more.
It is the fault of the leaders in the Telangana region that it hasn't developed. KCR
wants power than to fix the Telangana region problem.
The demand for new states would intensify.