The Telangana movement refers to the movement for the separation of Telangana, from the pre-existing state of Andhra Pradesh in India. The new state corresponds to the Telugu-speaking portions of the former princely state of Hyderabad, which were merged with Andhra Pradesh in 1956, leading to the Mulki Agitations.
After decades of protests and agitation, the central government, under the United Progressive Alliance, decided to bifurcate the Andhra Pradesh state and on 2 June 2014, the Union Cabinet unilaterally cleared the bill for the creation of Telangana. Lasting for almost 5 decades, it was one of the longest lasting movements for statehood in South India. On 18 February 2014, the Lok Sabha passed the bill with a voice vote. The bill was passed by the Rajya Sabha two days later, on 20 February. As per the bill, Hyderabad would be the capital of Telangana, while the city would also remain the capital of the residual state of Andhra Pradesh for no more than ten years. Hyderabad was the de jure joint capital. On 2 June 2014, Telangana was created with K. Chandrashekar Rao as its first chief minister.
History
In December 1953, the States Reorganisation Commission was appointed to prepare for the creations of states on linguistic lines. The commission, due to public demand, recommended disintegration of Hyderabad State and a merger of the Marathi-speaking region with Bombay state and of the Kannada-speaking region with Mysore state. The States Reorganisation Commission (SRC) discussed pros and cons of the merger of Telugu speaking Telangana region of Hyderabad state with Andhra state. Paragraph 374 of the SRC report said "The creation of Vishalandhra is an ideal to which numerous individuals and public bodies, both in Andhra and Telangana, have been passionately attached over a long period of time, and unless there are strong reasons to the contrary, this sentiment is entitled to consideration". Discussing the case of Telangana, paragraph 378 of the SRC report said "One of the principal causes of opposition of Vishalandhra also seems to be the apprehension felt by the educationally backward people of Telangana that they may be swamped and exploited by the more advanced people of the coastal areas who were swamped by people of Tamil Nadu already". In its final analysis SRC recommended against the immediate merger. In paragraph 386 it said "After taking all these factors into consideration we have come to the conclusions that it will be in the interests of Andhra as well as Telangana, if for the present, the Telangana area is to constitute into a separate State, which may be known as the Hyderabad State with provision for its unification with Andhra after the general elections likely to be held in or about 1961 if by a two-thirds majority the legislature of the residuary Hyderabad State expresses itself in favor of such unification." The first movement was in Illandu, Khammam district Starting with Polikeka, 1965, 1966 from there Starting from and reaching 1967 Reaching out to universities and students.
Telangana state arguments
Telangana was the largest of the three regions of Andhra Pradesh state, covering 41.47% of its total area. It is inhabited by 40.54% of the state's population. The following is the breakup of Andhra Pradesh's revenue by region:
Source Percentage of total revenue Telangana (including Hyderabad) 45.47% Telangana (excluding Hyderabad District, but including parts of GHMC in suburbs) 8.30% Hyderabad District 37.17% Coastal Andhra 24.71% Rayalaseema 8.90% Central Government 19.86% Note: The income generated by the capital city of the erstwhile Andhra Pradesh is a complex issue with income being generated from all regions. This has caused a lot of confusion in region-wise income distribution. Also, after the bifurcation, companies will pay their portion of taxes to Telangana or present day Andhra Pradesh depending on where they operate. Before the bifurcation, many companies paid taxes to capital city Hyderabad for their operations in Seemandhra.
Proponents of a separate Telangana state cite perceived injustices in the distribution of water, budget allocations, and jobs. Within the state of Andhra Pradesh, 68.5% of the catchment area of the Krishna River and 69% of the catchment area of the Godavari River are in the plateau region of Telangana and flowing through the other parts of the state into the Bay of Bengal. Telangana and non-coastal parts of Karnataka and Maharashtra states form Deccan Plateau. Telangana supporters state that 74.25% of irrigation water through the canal system under major irrigation projects goes to the Coastal Andhra region, while Telangana gets 18.20%. The remaining 7.55% goes to the Rayalaseema region.
As per Volume-II of Krishna Water Dispute Tribunal Award, "The area which we are considering for irrigation formed part of Hyderabad State and had there been no division of that State, there were better chances for the residents of this area to get irrigation facilities in Mahboobnagar District. We are of the opinion that this area should not be deprived of the benefit of irrigation on account of the reorganisation of States."
The share of education funding for Telangana ranges from 9.86% in government-aided primary schools to 37.85% in government degree colleges. The above numbers include the expenditure in Hyderabad. Budget allocations to Telangana are generally less than 1/3 of the total Andhra Pradesh budget. There are allegations that in most years, funds allocated to Telangana were never spent. Since 1956, Andhra Pradesh government established 11 new medical colleges in the state. 8 were in Seemandhra and only 3 were in Telangana. Telangana was not compensated for lost opportunities because of inward migration of lot of students into Hyderabad from Seemandhra.
According to Professor Jayashankar only 20% of the total Government employees, less than 10% of employees in the secretariat, and less than 5% of department heads in the Andhra Pradesh government are from Telangana; those from other regions make up the bulk of employment. He also alleged that the state was represented by Telangana chief ministers for only years out of over five decades of its existence, with no chief minister from the region being in power continuously for more than years. As per Srikrishna committee on Telangana, Telangana held the position of CM for 10.5 years while Seema-Andhra region held it for 42 years.
According to the Backward Regions Grant Fund 2009–10, 13 backward districts are located in Andhra Pradesh: nine (all except Hyderabad) are from Telangana and the rest are from other regions.
Proponents of a separate Telangana state feel that the agreements, plans, and assurances from the legislature and Lok Sabha over the last fifty years have not been honoured, and as a consequence Telangana has remained neglected, exploited, and backward. They allege that the experiment to remain as one state has proven to be a futile exercise and that separation is the best solution.
Views of political parties between 2009 and 2013 Most of the parties in the state changed their stance on Telangana statehood several times. Here are the stances taken by various parties in the state when the movement was at its peak between 2009 and 2013. The Congress Party, the ruling party at the centre, took its final decision to go ahead with creating the Telangana state in July 2013.
In parentheses (MP seats/MLA seats from Andhra Pradesh) In Favor Against Neutral Indian National Congress (31/155) acg All India Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeenf(1/7) YSR Congressb (2/17) Bharat Rashtra Samithi (2/17) Communist Party of India (Marxist) (0/1) Independents (0/2) Bharatiya Janata Party (0/3)Telugu Desam Partyae (6/86) Communist Party of India (1/4) Lok Sattaad (0/1) Independent (0/1)
(a) Parties which were in favor of Telangana state before 9 December 2009, but changed the stand to neutral on 10 December 2009, the day the process for formation of Telangana state was announced by central government and later retracted on 23 December.
(b) On 9 December 2009, Jagan Mohan Reddy as a Congress MP opposed the Telangana state formation. After he formed the YSR Congress party, it adopted a neutral stand.
(c) The Praja Rajyam Party of actor-politician Chiranjeevi was against the division of the state, but merged into the Congress in 2011.
(d) The Lok Satta adds that it will welcome the formation of a separate state as part of a comprehensive and amicable solution. It, however, states that the real issue is to improve the lives of people irrespective of the formation of a separate state.
(e) During the all party meeting on 28 December 2012, TDP representatives gave a letter signed by its president to Home minister of India which said that the party had never withdrawn its letter to Pranab Mukherjee in 2008 which supported Telangana state formation.
(f) MIM wants the state to remain united. If division is unavoidable, the party wants a separate state of Rayala-Telangana with Telangana and Rayalseema regions along with Hyderabad as capital. They oppose Hyderabad being declared as a union territory.
(g) The Congress Working Committee (CWC) unanimously passed a resolution on 30 July to create the State of Telangana.
Early incidents (1969 to 1985)
1969 to 1973: This period was marked by two political namely 'Jai Telangana' and 'Jai Andhra' movements. Social tensions arose due to influx of people from the Coastal Andhra region. Protests started with the hunger strike of a student from Khammam district for the implementation of safe-guards promised during the creation of Andhra Pradesh. The movement slowly manifested into a demand for a separate Telangana.
Some students protested for "implementation of the safe guards from Andhra Pradesh" while some protested for a "Separate Telangana". The local newspaper Indian Express reported that the latter group were dominant. According to the 19 January 1969 edition of The Indian Express, the agitation turned violent when a crowd attempted to set fire to a sub-inspector's residence. 17 were injured in police firing. Discussions about the promised safe-guards were held. The Telangana Regional Committee was, however, not fully convinced of the outcome. This agitation was met by a counter agitation by the Andhra students accusing the transfer of Andhra employees as a discrimination between one region and the other. The transfers were eventually challenged in the high-court.
The army had to be called in. After several days of talks with leaders of both regions, on 12 April 1969, Prime minister put forth, an eight-point plan. Telangana leaders rejected the plan and protests continued under the leadership of newly formed political party Telangana Praja Samithi in 1969 asking for the formation of Telangana. Under the Mulki rules in force at the time, anyone who had lived in Hyderabad for 12 years was considered a local, and was thus eligible for certain government posts.
Telangana Praja Samithi was formed under the leadership of Ananthula Madan Mohan with the intention of leading the movement. The party however, split in November 1969 with the exit of dissident Congress leaders.
1971: In the May 1971 parliamentary elections, Telangana Praja Samithi won 10 out of the 14 Parliament seats in Telangana. Despite these electoral successes, some of the new party leaders gave up their agitation in September 1971 after realising that the Prime Minister was not inclined to towards a separate state of Telangana, and rejoined the safer political haven of the Congress ranks. Chief Minister Brahmananda Reddy resigns to make room for a Telangana Chief Minister. On 30-September-1971, P.V.Narasimha Rao – who would later become the Prime Minister of India – was appointed the Chief Minister of Andhra Pradesh. "The Telangana Praja Samithi was dissolved and its members rejoined the Congress."