History:
Known history of an integrated Telugu state rule was evident during the period of Shatavahanas, Kakatiyas and Nizam including a brief rule of post Kakatiyan Nayaka rule. Considering more recent history from Kakatiyas ever since 11th century when Telugu as a language formed its predominant identity, Andhra Pradesh was ruled by a single ruler until 18th century when Nizam who was ruling the entire region of Andhra Pradesh has given the coastal region to Colonial British as Circar region. Eventually the region emerged as Coastal Andhra region. Later Nizam ceded the five territories to British which emerged as Rayala Seema region. In almost 1000 years of history Telangana, Rayala Seema and Coastal Andhra have emerged 200 years back just due to the fact that the ruler Nizam failed to protect his territories together.
Sadly all the regions in Andhra Pradesh were equally impoverished post Mughal invasions until, Dhawaleshwaram barriage and canal system was built by Sir Arthur Cotton in 1852 which developed the Godavari region in Northern Coastal Andhra. Coastal districts of Guntur and Krishna only started flourishing after Nagarjuna Sagar dam and canal systems were built in 1967. On the other hand, majority of the budgetary allocations in last 50 years of AP history were spent to develop Hyderabad. The only industrially developed place apart from Hyderabad is Vishakhapatnam which is solely due to the vision of central governments rather than state governments. It looks like only Rayala Seema has been taken for granted though Telangana and Coastal Andhra have developed despite of having good representation of chief minsters from Rayala Seema. Perhaps they left it to Tirupati Balaji and Puttaparthi Sai Baba to give drinking water to Rayalaseema.
Caste Wars:
Caste wars have contributed significantly to the disintegration of the state at different times. As per the recorded history since 12th century, Kakatiyas seems to have been responsible for creating differences between Telaga, Balija, Yadava, Kamma, Reddy and other Nayakas with Velamas by significantly favoring Velamas during Pratapa Rudra’s rule. This led to significant differences among castes and contributed to the fall of a mighty kingdom of Kakatiyas and ultimately the integrity of Telugu land. Apparently it was an easy victory for Kakatiyas but Reddys were unhappy about the favouritism of Pratapa Rudra to velamas. There is even a recorded history that states that “Bhoji Reddy decided to show the King who exactly were the valorous fighters. He decided to wait till the Velama contingent got mauled by the Muslim army and then jump in to save the Velamas as well as the King. Unfortunately his timing was not good and both got beaten leading to the downfall of Kakatiya Empire. Ever since, the Velamas blamed the Reddys for the historical blunder and continuously waged battles against Reddy kings.” It didn’t just stop there, the subsequent alliances between Velamas with Bahamani sultans to fight with Musunuri Nayaks and Vijayanagar Empire resulted in de-fragmentation of Andhra from single Telugu region into multiple pieces. The caste wars continued till today only to be seen in terms of Congress (Reddy), TDP (Kamma and BC) and more recent TRS (Velama).
Post Colonial History and Movements:
Known history of an integrated Telugu state rule was evident during the period of Shatavahanas, Kakatiyas and Nizam including a brief rule of post Kakatiyan Nayaka rule. Considering more recent history from Kakatiyas ever since 11th century when Telugu as a language formed its predominant identity, Andhra Pradesh was ruled by a single ruler until 18th century when Nizam who was ruling the entire region of Andhra Pradesh has given the coastal region to Colonial British as Circar region. Eventually the region emerged as Coastal Andhra region. Later Nizam ceded the five territories to British which emerged as Rayala Seema region. In almost 1000 years of history Telangana, Rayala Seema and Coastal Andhra have emerged 200 years back just due to the fact that the ruler Nizam failed to protect his territories together.
Sadly all the regions in Andhra Pradesh were equally impoverished post Mughal invasions until, Dhawaleshwaram barriage and canal system was built by Sir Arthur Cotton in 1852 which developed the Godavari region in Northern Coastal Andhra. Coastal districts of Guntur and Krishna only started flourishing after Nagarjuna Sagar dam and canal systems were built in 1967. On the other hand, majority of the budgetary allocations in last 50 years of AP history were spent to develop Hyderabad. The only industrially developed place apart from Hyderabad is Vishakhapatnam which is solely due to the vision of central governments rather than state governments. It looks like only Rayala Seema has been taken for granted though Telangana and Coastal Andhra have developed despite of having good representation of chief minsters from Rayala Seema. Perhaps they left it to Tirupati Balaji and Puttaparthi Sai Baba to give drinking water to Rayalaseema.
Caste Wars:
Caste wars have contributed significantly to the disintegration of the state at different times. As per the recorded history since 12th century, Kakatiyas seems to have been responsible for creating differences between Telaga, Balija, Yadava, Kamma, Reddy and other Nayakas with Velamas by significantly favoring Velamas during Pratapa Rudra’s rule. This led to significant differences among castes and contributed to the fall of a mighty kingdom of Kakatiyas and ultimately the integrity of Telugu land. Apparently it was an easy victory for Kakatiyas but Reddys were unhappy about the favouritism of Pratapa Rudra to velamas. There is even a recorded history that states that “Bhoji Reddy decided to show the King who exactly were the valorous fighters. He decided to wait till the Velama contingent got mauled by the Muslim army and then jump in to save the Velamas as well as the King. Unfortunately his timing was not good and both got beaten leading to the downfall of Kakatiya Empire. Ever since, the Velamas blamed the Reddys for the historical blunder and continuously waged battles against Reddy kings.” It didn’t just stop there, the subsequent alliances between Velamas with Bahamani sultans to fight with Musunuri Nayaks and Vijayanagar Empire resulted in de-fragmentation of Andhra from single Telugu region into multiple pieces. The caste wars continued till today only to be seen in terms of Congress (Reddy), TDP (Kamma and BC) and more recent TRS (Velama).
Post Colonial History and Movements:
The roots of the agitation lie in a bitter power struggle in the Congress(I). After the 1967 general elections, Kasu Brahmananda Reddi became Chief Minister for a second time, while Dr. Marri Channa Reddy joined Indira Gandhi's Cabinet as Minister for Steel. Channa Reddy's election was set aside by a court on a petition filed by an Arya Samaj contestant, Vandemataram Ramachandra Rao, on the grounds that the Minister had appealed to religious sentiments at a meeting held in a mosque. Channa Reddy went in appeal to a Division Bench of the High Court and later the Supreme Court but lost the case. He was disqualified for six years from holding office. Channa Reddy returned to Hyderabad a bitter man. Those were the days when an agitation for a separate Telengana State was taking shape as government servants who hailed from Telengana felt that they were being deprived of promotions by their colleagues from the Andhra region, who were integrated into the common cadre.
In 1970, Telangana Praja Smiti led by M Chenna reddy won 10 out of 15 Lok Sabha Seats. Despite of this victory, Channa Reddy dissolved TPS soon after exit of Kasu Brhamananda Reddy as CM for acting more powerful than Indira Gandhi in state. Kasu Brahmananda Reddy seemed to have betrayed Indira Gandhi and Chenna Reddy betrayed the people of Telangana. By 1971, PV Narasimha Rao comes into picture and gets support from Telangana forces to create a land mark victory in AP Assembly without any support from the forward castes in Telangana. Indira Gandhi proposes a six point formula to make the situation worse for meritorious students in Andhra who canot aspire for any medical seats out side Andhra resulting in Separate Andhra movement by 1972. Then came the president’s rule as Indira Gandhi herself was uncomfortable about the whole situation.
It was left to Jalagam Vengala Rao, who became Chief Minister in December 1973, to restore order in the State. Vengala Rao cemented the bonds among the Telugu-speaking people by holding the World Telugu Conference in Hyderabad in 1975.
The underlying concerns behind Telangana Sentiments:
The early concerns about Telangana were many. The region had a less developed economy than Andhra, but a larger revenue base (mostly because it taxed rather than prohibited alcoholic beverages), which Telanganas feared might be diverted for use in Andhra. They also feared that planned dam projects on the Krishna and Godavari rivers would not benefit Telangana proportionately even though Telanganas controlled the headwaters of the rivers. Telanganas feared too that the people of Andhra would have the advantage in jobs, particularly in government and education.
The central government decided to ignore the recommendation to establish a separate Telangana state as per SRC and, instead, merged the two regions into a unified Andhra Pradesh. However, a "gentlemen's agreement" provided reassurances to the Telangana people. In the following years, however, the Telangana people had a number of complaints about how the agreements and guarantees were implemented. The deputy chief minister position was never filled. Education institutions in the region were greatly expanded, but Telanganas felt that their enrollment was not proportionate to their numbers. The selection of the city of Hyderabad as the state capital led to massive migration of people from Andhra into Telangana. Telanganas felt discriminated against in education, employment but were told by the state government that most non-Telanganas had been hired on the grounds that qualified local people were unavailable.
What future holds for Andhra Pradesh:
If we look at the history of chief ministers since formation of Andhra Pradesh after 1952, there were 5 CMs from Telangana, 6 CMs from Kosta and 5 CMs from Rayala Seema. AP had best CMs from Telangana (Jalagam Vengalarao, PV Narasimha Rao) region in the entire list of 16 CMs.
Channa Reddy wanted Telangana when his personal interests were lost in Congress. Despite of winning majority for Telangana movement, he ditched Talangana people for the sake of his obedience to his madam in Delhi. Chandrashekara Rao comes out of TDP and wants a separate Telangana when party didn’t fulfil his personal interests. He was polishing another madam in Delhi neglecting the ultimate goal and development in his area so long as he had his ministry in Delhi. What was he doing all the years before while he was a deputy speaker in TDP? After enjoying all personal gains from the party and when they are about to retire, Venkataswamy, M Satyanarayana, Govardhana Reddy want a separate Telangana. What have they done to Telangana through out their careers and why they didn’t raise the voice earlier? If they haven’t done any thing better when they had power in their careers, how can they promise a better Telangana state tomorrow for the people of Telangana?
People from other areas will continue to come into Telangana and Hyderabad even after a separate state is formed much like what is happening in any other developed city like Mumbai/Bangalore. Locals would naturally feel disadvantaged as the people who migrate in would be coming with certain skills what keeps them ahead, otherwise they wouldn’t have come out of their own villages. The people who are back in their villages still struggle with the same problems that the disadvanted lot are facing in the cities. Then the frustration of common man is encashed by Netas in the form of Shiv Sena, Kannada Chaluvala Samithi, TRS or some other form of party raising hatred amongst Integrated Indians. What are these separatist parties or individuals trying to achieve that the past 5 CMs from Telangana haven’t achieved for development of Telangana?
Looking back at caste politics, it is a big mistake to think that Velamas and Reddys will get their power back in Telangana if a separate state is formed. Enough number of Gouds and Yadavs with many other BCs/SCs and STs have prospered from the development of Hyderabad. They are next in line to rule as soon as a separate state is formed. Kammas canot even dream about coming into power with predominant Kapu and BC communities in coastal Andhra and Rayala Seema as they are not in villages any more. If Rayala Seema is separated, at the most Reddys will survive in power due to a significantly larger population and muscle power. But not for very long as they are migrating out of their villages as well to cities. The castes that have played with the integrity of Andhra Pradesh will soon pay the price as soon as state is divided.
As time passes by with many demographic changes, the reasons for the movements seem to have less meaning. Today the education and job opportunities in AP are predominantly private much like in rest of south India. Many more people are grabbing the opportunities in Hyderabad from out side AP than people from Andhra or Telangana. There are more Punjabis, Rajasthanis and Gujaratis in Hyderabad’s profitable business than Andhrites. When we think of injustice in water sharing for irrigation projects on Godavari and Krishna rivers, it was scientifically justified to build dams in low lying areas when they were built. Today before we built a dam or irrigation project in higher areas like Telangana, our neighbouring states have already built them and we will only have dry pieces of concrete without water even if we build projects now (ex: Babli in Maharashtra, Krishna and Tunga projects in Karnataka). We can at the most think of only drinking water. When it comes to development, there are equal number of under developed districts in Andhra and Telangana.
Today Andhra Pradesh is 5th biggest state in India and commands equal proportion in terms of power to demand and fulfil their needs from Center. Some of the best examples are the development projects that happened in the time of erstwhile NDA government where Naidu arm twisted NDA to get the projects to AP being a key member with significant number of MP seats. Though Rajashekar Reddy’s government is criticised for not utilising the power of number of MPs transformed into development work, enough has been done in the form of rural employment program and Indiramma housing programs. As soon as we break down into smaller states, we would be 20th important state in terms of representations in Indian parliament and will have only 20th priority to demand for any local development. Just see the fun in Goa, Chhattisgarh and any smaller states in North East where the state assemblies themselves are not stable for long. Except for their natural resources, they are not getting any helping hand from central government.
At the height of the Telengana agitation in 1969, poet Sri Sri and eminent freedom fighter Vavilala Gopalakrishniah addressed an "integrationist" rally at Khammam even as agitators tried to disrupt it. Today, however, there is no one tall leader to speak up for the unity of the Telugu-speaking people. Can Chiranjeevi speak for it with his stature and mass appeal?
As BJP says if small states are better for easy governance, then why don’t they divide all large states in the country to an equally small level? Until then we shouldn’t lose the advantage of being a large integrated state. Don’t lose the edge of staying united just for the benefit of some under employed selfish Netas! Question your Netas when you face them next on what have they done in the past for your area, which makes you believe that a separate state can bring better future! Of all most important thing is exercising your next vote. Despite being an IT professional travelling around places, I have exercised my vote in all the past elections. Let us make a difference and make a rational judgement of our candidate unbiased by caste, creed or region. Just look forward to a developed Andhra Pradesh and India.
Jai Hind!!
