Telangana Forrester

8/13/2019 Telangana Forrester

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Subregionalism in India: The Case of TelanganaAuthor(s): Duncan B. ForresterSource: Pacific Affairs, Vol. 43, No. 1 (Spring, 1970), pp. 5-21Published by: Pacific Affairs, University of British ColumbiaStable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/2753831.

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Subregionalismn ndia: heCaseofTelanganaDuncanB. Forrester

T HE MOVEMENT FOR linguistictatesn thenon-Hindireas f ndiahasbeenclosely tudied, nd it is now possible o speakofan acceptedn-terpretationf the forces ehind hemovement,he reasons or tsfinal uc-cessin the 95os, and at leastsome of theconsequences f theresultante-organization.' he roots f thevariousparticularmovements orredrawingof provincialboundaries ie in regional culturalrenaissanceswhich canoften be tracedback to the nineteenth entury.An enhanced sense ofregional dentitynd a new cultural wareness uicklymobilizedthesup-port frising astes nd alliances fcastes eeking nhanced tatus nd eco-nomicpower;buttheywere lso awarethat heirnfluencenmultilinguisticprovincesdominatedby an English-educated lite must necessarily erestricted.inguistic eparatismaptured he imagination f largesectionsofthestudent opulation artly, erhaps, ecauseof theproblemsnvolvedin higher ducation hrough hemedium of English,butmoremarkedlybecause of the desirefor pool of obs within hestate ffectivelyeservedfor hem.The movement as strengthenedecauseCongress ad attemptedover everal ecades o mobilize t in support fthenational truggle,nd ithad also foundsome, rathermore grudging, upportfromgovernmentprior to independence. he Congressgovernment inally, nd somewhatreluctantly,oncededmostlinguistic emands by i959. The consequencesofthisredrawing fboundaries ppearto havebeen an indigenization nddemocratizationf provincial olitics,which gave a strongmpetus o thedevelopment f diverseregionalpoliticalcultures, nhancing he politicalsignificancefcaste nd ofregional ducated lites.In thispaper usetheterm region" o refer oa cultural nd socialarea,theregional oundaries n peninsularndia now in most cases beingthoseof themajorlanguages? By region mean verymuch thesame as Lenin

II am grateful o Mr. N. Ram and the staff f the Hindu library ormakingmuchmaterial oncerningheTelanganaproblem vailable ome,and to a number fmycolleaguesand students, articularly. SivamohanReddi, N. Dilip Uthappa,C. A. Ponnappa, P. N.Vaithyanathan,nd N. AnandaKumar, orhelpfuluggestionsndcriticism.2 Cf. N. M. Srinivas' ssay, The Problem f IndianUnity,"n his Caste n Modern ndiaand OtherEssays Bombay:Asia PublishingHouse, i962), pp. 98-III; and W. H. Morriss-Jones,LanguageandRegionwithin he ndianUnion," n PhilipMason (ed.), India and Cey-lon: Unity ndDiversityLondon:OxfordUniversityress,967), pp. 5i-66.5

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Pacific tairsand talinand llthe iscussionf he nationaluestion"mong arxistswhich lows romheir ritings)eanty nation":A nations a his-toricallyvolved,table ommunityf anguage,erritory,conomicife,andpsychologicalake-up anifestedn a communityfculture."3a-tional r regionalrontiersre nowusuallylsopoliticaloundariesnIndia. y subregion"understandsmallerreawithin regionr"na-tion" hich or conomic,eographic,istorical,nd ocial easonssawareofpossessingdistinctdentity.elanganas,as we shall ee shortly,nmanyways typicalubregion.he significancef such ubregionsndtheirlaims o separateonsiderationere atherost ight f duringhemovementor inguistictates. ut subregionalismnd the ccompany-ingpoliticalubculturesrenow ncreasinglyalling or he ttentionfpoliticalcientistss phenomenaikelyoprove fmountingmportancenIndia ndprobablyot o be explainedn the ame ermss regionalism.Historicalnd economicactorsroduceubregionalroblemsnd en-couragehe rowthfcompellingoliticalubcultureshich ot nly onot orrespondut onflictith he argernitiesf anguage,ulture,ndcaste epresentedythe inguistictate.nsofars subregionalisms theresult f economicmbalancesetween istoricallyefinedubregions,tmay e onsideredby-productfmodernization.

The Andhraradeshftodays a state ftwentyistrictshichor-respondsairlyccuratelyo he rea nwhicheluguanguagend ulturearedominant.he total opulationccordingo the 96i censuswas35,983,447.he state s dividednto hreewell-definedubregions:heDelta, ometimesalled heCircars, ayalaseema,ndTelangana.ormost dministrativeurposesheDeltaandRayalaseemaretreatedsone.The Delta,well-irrigatedndfertile,s themost rosperousndwealthyf he hreeubregions;ayalaseemas a dry,nfertilerea, ubjecttofrequentroughtsndfamine.henine istrictshichompriseel-anganare elativelyackwardconomically.4Intermsf astehererenofundamentalifferencesetweenhe hreesubregions-theame astes end o have horizontalpread hroughoutthe tate. ammasndReddisre he wo ominantgriculturalastes,l-thoughheKammas reconcentratedn theDelta districts,ometimesknown s Kamma ashtra,hile heReddisreheavilyentrednRay-alaseema.n TelanganalsotheReddisrepredominant,nd theres atendencyor raditionaleddi asteies ndfactionalonflictsodisregardthe ubregionaloundaries.hetwo ignificantntouchableastesfMalasandMadigasre imilarlypread hroughouthe egion,ndmost hris-

8J. Stalin,Marxism nd the National and Colonial Question London: MartinLawrence,n.d.), p. 8.4Adilabad, Nizamabad, Medak, Mabhubnagar, yderabad,Nalgonda, Khammam,Waran-gal, Karimnagar.6



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Subregionalismn ndia: The Caseof TelanganaTABLE I: TELANGANA COMPARED WITH THE RESTOF ANDHRA PRADESH: POPULATION

PopulationLakhs) Density per q.mile)Rayalaseemand Delta 232.71 376Telangana I27, I2 286

SOURCE: HandbookfStatistics:ndhraradesh,966-7 (Hyderabad: ureauofEconomicsndStatistics,overnmentfAndhraradesh,967).tians n AndhraPradesh are drawnfromthese two castes. Muslims andNorth Indian Marwaris, he trading nd moneylendingommunities,remore numerousn thetownsofTelangana,and indeedthroughouthe oldHyderabad tate, han lsewheren AndhraPradesh.The Telanganavillagemay be morebackward nd traditionalhanthevillages n theDelta,5thecaste systemess modified ymodernizingnfluences,nd landless gricul-tural labour-veryopen to Communist nfluence-more umerous n theDelta than n Telangana.But it remains ruethat t is notpossible o dis-tinguish elangana sharply rom herestofAndhra Pradesh n terms fcaste. The principal astes n the three ubregions re the same,althoughthere re certainlynteresting inor differencesn casteconfiguratione-tweenTelangana,Rayalaseema, ndtheDelta.6If subregional istinctivenessannotoften e traced o caste, ultural, rlinguistic actors,t is clear that historyfdivisiongoesfarto create ub-regional eelingswithin broadcultural egion.Andhra has a longhistoryof unity, ut in themiddle of the eighteenthenturyt was brokenup.Mostof it cameunderBritish ule,butTelangana remainedunder ndianrule as partoftheterritoriesf the Nizam ofHyderabad.Telangana there-fore asa separate olitical istoryf ometwocenturies.The fourcoastaldistricts,nown as the NorthernCircars,developedrapidlyunder British dministrationnd benefited articularlyrom thelarge-scalerrigationworks which harnessed he Krishna and Godavaririvers oragriculture.he Circarsbecame themostprosperous art of theTelugu countrynd the rice-bowl f Andhra enjoying he benefits f astable and enlighteneddministrationnd developingnot onlyeconomi-callybut socially nd politically t a far faster ate than theNizam's Do-minions.Thus we may agree with the statementn a Communistpartypublication:It s anundeniableact fhistoryhat t was theCircar istricts,romhe nce nitedVizagdistrictoNellore,speciallyhe our elta istrictsfGuntur, rishna, est

5Good studies f ruralTelanganaare S. C. Dube, IndianVillage London: RoutledgendKeganPaul, 955); andP. Y. Luke and John . Carmen,VillageChristiansnd Hindu Culture(London:Lutterworthress,968).6 See the unsigned rticle, Telangana and Caste," n theEconomic nd PoliticalWeekly(EPW), March8, i969, pp. 455-6.7



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Pacific flairsand EastGodavaries, hichhad been thehub ofsocial nd political ctivities. hetherit was the so-callednon-brahmin ovementn the early twentiethentury,r thelanguage enaissance ovementf grandhic lashaversus ramya hasha, r themove-ment of a separateAndhra province r forVisalandhra, r the successive ationalmovementsf the 1920S, 30s, or 40s, or theprogressivetudent, outh, nd women'smovementr in thespreading f the socialist nd communist ovement-its fromthisregion hatthe major contingentsameforth....7Theceded istrictsfRayalaseemaere lso ncorporatedn theMadrasPresidency,utnature as ess menablenRayalaseemand n economictermshe rea emainedackwardscomparedo he ircaroast.Fortwohundredears elangana asseparaterom herest ftheTelugu ountry,aintainedna ratherackwardeudal onditiony heNizams f heAsaf ahi ynasty.he agirdarystemf andholdingeemsto have toodn theway fagriculturalevelopment:Thoughndowedwith airlyood ainfallveraging5.2nchesnnually,hepoor oil ndthe uggedountryeemopresenthandicapo ntensivegriculturale-velopment.esides,he grarianonditionsnder heJagirdarystemnthe lden ays idnot eem o have rovideddequatencentivesotheryotoattemptny ntensiveultivation."8n the arly ears f thepresentcenturyheNizam's overnmentonstructedmajor rrigationchemebased n theNizamsagaram, herebyaking izamabadhemost ros-perousdistrictn Telangana.But localpeasants eemed acking n initiative,and many of the profitswere reaped by immigrant armers romtheCircars.9 hus Telanganabackwardness as essentially olitical oots:withbetter dministrationhe considerablewater resources ould have beenmorefully appedfor rrigation. elangana is stillmainlya dryfarmingarea, like Rayalaseema, ut the reason forthis n Telangana is long-termfailure oharness hepotentialitiesfthe area. The ruleoftheNizams wasautocratic nd the officialanguage,both in politicsand education,wasUrdu. The peopleofTelanganawereeffectivelynsulated rom heTelugurenaissance nd boththeir anguage and their ulture ame understrongIslamicand Urdu influences.opularparticipationn politicswas activelydiscouraged,nd the ndian NationalCongresswas cautious bout extend-ingthenational truggleo theprincelytates. t was not until 938 thatHyderabadStateCongresswas formed, nlyto be banned shortly fter ytheNizam, and not until 95i was theHyderabadCongressmergedwiththe ndian NationalCongress.WithintheHyderabadCongress herewerethreeProvincialCongressCommittees,ne for each of the three inguisticareas of Karnatak, Marathwada, and Telangana. Thus, along with an

7 Whythe Ultra-'Left' eviation?An Examination f the Basic Causes of LeftDefectionsin Special Referenceo Andhra (Calcutta:Communist arty f India (Marxist), 968), pp.20-I.8 Census f ndia,1961. Vol. II. Andhra radesh. art -A(i) GeneralReport, . 20.9 "UnitedbyHistory, ividedbyPassion," nsigned rticlen Citizen, ol. I, No. 9,July2,i969.

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Subregionalismn ndia: The Case ofTelanganaawarenessfeconomicndpoliticalackwardnessis-a-visherest f theTelugucountry,elangana eveloped feelingfdistinctivenessasedondifferentoliticalnd,tosome xtent,ulturalxperiences."'

The people f Telanganawere ate n becoming olitically obilized,and neitherhemasses or he litewerenvolvedn themovementor hesetting p of AndhraPradesh. his had beeninitiallyed by TeluguBrahmins howere nnoyedythepredominancef TamilBrahminsnthe dministrationnd n the egal nd educationalystemsf the xistingMadrasPresidency.hesesameBrahmins ad controlledongressn theAndhra istricts,nd theAndhra CC fromts nceptionn I9I7. Non.Brahmineeling as never s strongn theTelugu ountrys inTamilnad,butneverthelessrahmin ominanceas graduallyhallengedythe isingnon-Brahminastes, articularlyhe Kammas and Reddis,who tendedinitiallyo supportheJusticearty nd theAndhraMovement,indingthemselvest oggerheadsith achother nly fterhe ettingpof And-hra Pradeshn 1953.11 eddi-Brahminivalry asa featuref Telanganaaswell, ut twas expressedn a social atherhan politicalrena.12oneof these ventseemed o attractr nvolve hepeople fTelangana o anygreat xtent,orwas any ttempt ade o mobilizehem olitically.heywereonlymarginallyffectedythe Telugurenaissance,resumablye-cause their ather rduized nd unliteraryeluguwas despised y thepeople ftheCircars.'3 ongress,s we have een,was very low o nvolvethepeople fthe princelytatesn the nationaltruggle; ere gainthepeople f Hyderabadctedmainlys spectators.he non-Brahminove-mentdid not spread o Telangana r politicize he peoplebecause heBrahmins adnever een s dominantnder MuslimNizam as they e-came n neighbouringarts fBritishndia.Nor didthehorizontaloliticalmobilizationfcaste,which asbeen o characteristicf inguisticolitics,cross heHyderabadrontier.elangana eddis ept p marriagendothertraditionalontacts ith heir aste ellowsn theCircars nd Rayalaseema,

10Anand Rao Thotha (ed.), The TelanganaMovement:An Investigativeocus.Based onPapersPresented t theTelanganaUniversitynd CollegeTeachers'Convention n May 20,i969, at Hyderabad. Hyderabad:publishedby the editor, 969, pp. 9-i0.)11Selig S. Harrison,ndia: The MostDangerousDecades (Madras: OxfordUniversityress,i960); pp. 2II-3; EugeneF. Irschick,olitics nd Social Conflictn South ndia (BerkeleyndLos Angeles:UniversityfCaliforniaress, 969), pp. 38-4I, I76-7, 244-51; Lloyd . Rudolphand SusanneH. Rudolph,The Modernity f TraditionChicago:Universityf ChicagoPress,i967), pp. 78-9; G. N. Sarma, "Aspectsof Andhra Politics" n Iqbal Narain (ed.), StatePolitics n India (Meerut:Meenakshi rakashan, .d.), pp. 99-i00; N. M. Srinivas, p. cit.,pp.26-8.

12 Krishna . Mukerji nd SuhariniRamaswamy, eorganizationf IndianStates Bombay:Popular ookDepot,955), p. 88.13 "There is muchanthropologicalisdom n theShavianremark bout twocountries e-ing dividedbya commonanguage." rinivas, p. cit.,p. 99. Cf.Thotha, p. cit.,p. 9; MukerjiandRamaswamy,p. cit., . 83; andSarma, p. cit.,p. 98.9



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Pacific ffairsbut heTelanganaeddis ere n a backwaters far s caste oliticalc.tionwas oncernedntilhentegrationfTelanganaith ndhraradeshinvolvedhemn thefactionaloliticsftheReddi-dominatedndhraCongress.venthen, hey id notform separateactionrpressuregroup utgravitatedor ariouseasonso one or other f the lreadyexistingroupings.evertheless,s Professor. von Fiirer-Haimendorfhaspointedut, the nclusionftheTelanganaistrictsf thedismem-bered yderabadtaten the reaterndhraradesh asdefinitelyiltedthe calesn favourftheReddis, ho n those istrictsrefar trongerthanheKammas."'14The Communistsetuptheir irstllegal nit n theTelugu-speakingpart fHyderabadnlyn 940, andfor t east he irstive earsmost ftheCommunisteadersnTelangana ere romheDeltadistricts.'5heCommunistsroclaimedhemselvesn favourf linguistictaten whichall theTelugu reaswould e unitedndsoon apturedontrolf theAndhra ahasabha,hichecame frontrganizationnd dopted oreradicalgrarianndeconomicoliciesn additiono tsoriginalbjectiveof united ndhra.apitalizingnpeasantissatisfactionithhe ppres-sive ule ftheNizam ndthe xactionsfthe andlords,ndtakingd-vantagef he acillationsf heHyderabadovernmenttthe ime f hetransferfpowern India, heCommunistspearheadednagrarianp-risingentred ainlyn theTelangana orderistrictsfNalgondandWarangalut tretchingo ome xtentntoMadras.herevoltastedromI945 untiltwasfinallyupressedn 950. A largeectionfthe eadershipwas till rawn romhe elta nd tone ime,ccordingo Communistparty ocument,a total f3,000villagesad been ovietized,nd onemillioncres f andhad been eized ythepeasants.egularuerrillasquads umbered,000 membersndvillagequads rovidedn estimatedio,ooomore."16The governmentf India's "policeaction"of I948 was re-sistedythese ommunistuerrillas,nd ndeedt took considerabletimeor he ndian orcesoquell he evolt.ngeneralnemayay hat l-thoughheCommunistsupportedunited ndhrancludingelangana,theiremarkableuccessnTelangana ust eattributedot othis ut olocal ndparticularroblemsn the rea.AlthoughheCommunistartywasformallyunitednefor hewhole elugurea, he ocial ase f he

14C. von Firer-Haimendorf,Caste and Politics n South Asia," in C. H. Philips ed.),Politics ndSocietyn India (London: GeorgeAllen and Unwin, 963), p. 62. It is notable hata few Kamma groups n the Circars t present upport separate elangana,presumablys away of reducing he political ominance f theReddis n Andhra olitics.Nor is it an accidentthat the Swatantra arty, ed in Andhra Pradeshby N. G. Range, a Kamma, also supportsseparation.15 Why heUltra-'Left'eviation? p. 25, 29; GeneD. OverstreetndMarshallWindmiller,Communismn India (Berkeley nd Los Angeles: Universityf California ress, 960), pp.266-7, 286, 292, 439.16 Overstreetnd Windmiller,p. cit.,p. 300.I0



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Pacific ffairsofHyderabad,ould nly e solvedfthese reaswere ttachedo"moreadvancednits."ut heCommissionas mpressedy wo actors:hilesentimentnTelanganappearedobe n favourf plittingptheHyder-abadState,here asasyetnoconsensusn the uestionhetherel-angana hould emaineparater be incorporatedntoAndhraradeshand, econdly,n certainuartershere eredeepfears hatmmediateintegrationould otbetothe dvantagefTelangana, akingtvir-tuallycolonyfAndhra.heCommissiononcludedhat the nificationof TelanganawithAndhra,hough esirable,hould e basedon avoluntaryndwillingssociationfthe eoplend hatt sprimarilyorthe eople fTelanganao ake decisionboutheiruture."heir ecom-mendationasthatheTelanganarea hould econstitutednto sepa-rate tatewithrovisionor tsunificationith ndhrafterhe eneralelectionsikelyobeheldnorabout96i, ifby two-thirdsajorityhelegislatureftheresiduaryyderabadtate xpressestselfnfavourfsuch nification."hisperiodffive r ixyearsould eutilizedobringthe dministrationfthe wo tatesnto une ndto allow pinionnTelanganaocrystallize.22These ecommendationsf he RCwere et side,argelysa resultfpressurerom henationalongresseadership,articularlyr.Nehru,andfromheAndhraistricts.afeguardsnwhichhemergerastobebasedwerencorporatednthe Gentlemen'sgreement"ignednDelhion February0, i956, byrepresentativesfTelangana ndAndhra.28Guaranteesere rovidedor elanganaor tilizationithinhe rea fTelanganaevenues,heprovisionfimprovedducationalacilities,e-cruitmentothe tate ublicervices,hepositionftheUrdu anguage,andthe aleofagriculturaland ooutsiders.twasalsodecidedocon-stituteregionalouncil ith watchingriefn the nterestsfTel-angana. he egal tatusfthisAgreementsnot lear-probablyt s nomore han statementfgood ntentions-buttwent ar o alleviateTelangana'sears fabsorption,ndon thisbasis heunited tate fAndhraradeshamento xistencenNovember, i956,therebynitingall he elugureasnoneinguistictate.Theall-roundackwardnessfTelanganascomparedith heDeltadistrictsadbeen major lementnthe RC's autionnrecommendinga periodnwhichelangana ould ea separatetate.he ntegrationfTelanganantoAndhrarousedomemmediateroblems,ndgraduallypublicpinionnTelanganaecameonvincedhat heirubregionaln-

22 Ibid., p. 101-9.23 B. Gopala Reddi,N. Sanjeeva Reddi, G. Lathhanna, nd Alluri Satyanarayana ajusignedforAndhra;B. Ramakrishaa ao, K. V. RangaReddi,Dr. M. ChennaReddiand J.V.NarasingRao forTelangana.The textof theAgreementmay be found n Thotha,op. cit.,Appendix.

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Subregionalismn India: The Case ofTelanganaterests erenot being dequatelyaredfor n the new state.mmediateproblemsrosenconnectionith he ntegrationfthe ervices.n general,administratorst all evelsnAndhra adbeenbetterualifiednd esswellpaidthan heir quivalentsn Hyderabad.he newarrangementseantthatTelangana dministratorsereputon lower alary cales hanpre-viously,heir rospectsfpromotion ere mpaired,nda largepropor-tion f themoremportantositionsnTelanganawere illed y outsiders.-."non-mulkis."24he governmentlaimedhat hebackwardnessfedu-cation n Telanganamadethefilling f postswithwell-qualifiedon-mulkisnevitable,nd when tepswere aken oexpand ducationtwasalso nevitablehat largenumber fnon-mulkieachersad to be im-portednthefirstnstance.utdiscontentver he ituationecameorifethat n 1959 thecentral overnmentelt t necessaryo promulgateheAndhra radesh ublic mploymentRequirements toResidence) ules,providinghatfifteenears ontinuousesidence ouldbe required orappointmentogovernmentobs.TheRules,however,rovidedoopholes,and false mulkiertificates"erenothard to obtain.Non-mulkison-tinuedofloodntogovernmentervicen Telangana,ndmulkieachersandnon-gazettedfficersn particularecame ncreasinglyestive.25hisdiscontentas major actornsparkingff he969 agitation.

In July968, theAndhra radesh overnmentad passed rders hatall non-mulkisnposts eservedorTelangana ersonnelhould evertotheCircarsndRayalaseema,fnecessarys supernumeraries,ithinhreemonths,ndthiswasreaffirmed-revealingly-sixonthsatern theAll-party ccordfJanuaryg, 969.26The mmediateesult asthathe ublicEmploymentuleswere hallengedn the ourts,nd atthe ndofMarchtheSupreme ourt eclaredhem iscriminatoryndcontraryo theCon-stitution.27his udgementpreadonsternationmong elangana overn-mentervants,nd theWanchoo ommission,etupinApril o findome24A listofgrievancesn thisconnections to be found n an anonymousamphlet,nsideTelangana(Hyderabad:TelanganaMahasabha, 958). It is importanto note thatsincetheearly1930s the Nizam's governmentad required"mulki certificates"romapplicants orgovernmentobs. This was a concession o popularfeeling gainstthe policyof importingMuslimsfromotherstates to fill governmentositions n Hyderabad.See Sreedhar, TheStory fTelangana,"Mainstream,ol.VII,No. 44 (July , 1969), pp. 8-9.25 "On the number f non-mulkismployedn Telanganathere re divergentiews.Gov-ernmentirclesstimatet tobenearly ,000. Butaccordingothefiguresollected y theTelan-gana N.G.O.'s Union thefigure s nearly o,ooo. .. . The TelanganaN.G.O.'s Unionhas al-readypublished listof I,ooo employees ho are allegedto possessbogusmulkicertificates."Thotha,Op.Cit., . 47.26 J. V. NarasingRao, SeparateTelangana:A SuicidalSlogan (Hyderabad:DepartmentfInformationndPublicity,overnmentfAndhra radesh,969), p. 2.27 In A. V. S. NarasimhaRao & Others s. The Stateof AndhraPradesh& Others. incethe udgements based on Article6(3) oftheConstitution,nd this s notopen to amendmentin view of the SupremeCourt's decision n theGolak Nath case, the onlylegal safeguardspossible formulkis n governmentmployment ould be within separate tateor unionterritory.indu,July , i969.

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Pacific fairsconstitutionalolutionothe roblem,ould nly uggesthatocal overn-ment ppointmentshould emade ythehead feach fficen thedistricts.28on-gazettedfficers,herefore,till eltnsecurend pearheadedmuchf he gitation.The nvolvementf tudentsndteachersnthe gitationust eseenagainsthe ackdropf he ducationalackwardnessfTelanganand hefeelinghat he ducationalystemf he reahasnot een dequatelyx-pandednd ncouragedince956. he egacyf heNizam's overnmentwas low evel f iteracy,omparativelyoor ducationalacilities,nd hetraditionfUrdu s themediumf nstruction.29oday 7.3per ent fthe opulationfTelanganas iterates against0.8 er entnthe est fAndhra. 0rimaryducationas xpanded,ut he nrolmentas mproved

TABLE 2: PRIMARY EDUCATIONNo. ofNo.of pupils % increaseschools% of tate% increase966-7% of tate fromI966-7 total over 956-7 lakhs) total I956-7RayalaseemandDelta 26,388 70.9 23.8 24.88 79.8 24.7

Telangana io,807 29.1 40.6 6.29 20.2 25.8SOURCE: Some Facts about Telangana and Andhra radesh Madras: AndhraPatrika ress, .d.) p.g.onlymarginallys comparedith herest f Andhra.urthermore,herapid ncreasen thenumberf nstitutionsas ed to a large umberfnon-mulkieacherseing roughtn.At the therndofthe ducationalpectrumherere lsodeeplyeltgrievances.he Osmania niversitynHyderabadas ncreasedn sizeand nthenumberf ts ffiliatedolleges,ut he tate overnmentastaken teps o controlt very loselyndhas beenvindictivelyar-simoniousn ts inancialssistanceo he niversity.namendmentotheOsmania niversityct n i965gave he olerighto nominaterre-move vice-chancelloro thegovernorwho s ex officiohancellor)ndtightenedpgovernmentontrolnvariousther ays. lmostmmediatelytheGovernoremovedr. D. S. Reddi romhevice-chancellorship.r.

28 Rao, op. cit. See also "Improvinghe Crutches," PW Nov. I, i969, pp. 1737-8; M.Pattabhiram,Recruitmento Services n Telangana,"Hindu, Sept. Io, 1969.29 The mother onguewas introduceds the mediumofeducationn primary chools nlyin 1944.80Handbook of Statistics, ndhraPradesh. 966-7. It should be noted thatTelanganaliteracyiguresnclude hehigh iteracyrea ofthe twin ities fHyderabadnd Secunderabad.The rural iteracyatemaythereforee about13 percent.14



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Subregionalismn ndia: TheCaseof TelanganaReddiwas non-mulki,ndhis riginalppointments vice-chancellornI957 hadbeen reetedith tudentgitation.ut n tenyearsehad ometo symbolizeTelangananstitutionemandingreedomrom utsideinterference.3'efore r. Reddi's ppeal gainstisremoval asupheldby he upremeourt,he taffnd tudentsf he niversityadrisennhis upport,nd heirolidarityasmerelytrengthenedhen he overn-ment'sindictivearsimonyanded heuniversityn a financialrisisnwhicheachersould ot epaid heir ull alariesnd mportantevelop-ments ere alted.32tudentsndteachersntheuniversityndcollegesofTelanganan 969 were nitedy he onvictionhat he overnmentfAndhraradesh as determinedo victimizend humiliatehem. henewVice-ChancellorimselfDr.R. Satyanarayana)avehisblessingsothe gitation.A furtheractoreadingodiscontentas hemigrationffarmersromtheDelta oTelangana,herehey oughtand heaply,evelopedt, ndprospered.he flow fpopulationromheDeltatoTelanganas quitesignificant23he mportantew ineyardsroundhe winitiesfHyder'abad ndSecunderabad,or nstance,realmostntirelywned ynon-mulkis.mmigrantarmersere ttractedoTelanganaartlyythe el-ativeheapnessf and,nd lso y he act hatgriculturalage atesremarkedlyowernTelangana.t has been uggestedhat contributorycause f he nrestnthis onnectionasthe act hatmany fthemmi-grants ereKammas, hocouldnot asily e accommodatedithinReddi-dominatedaste ierarchy.ut arge-scaleigrationndchangenland wnershipfthis ort nvolve ajor ocial ensionso matterhatthe mmigrantroup. nd he ituationascertainlyomplicatedythefacthatheTelanganaandlords,ppressedor enturiesy heNizams,andharassedroundhe ime f thePoliceAction y fanaticaluslimRazakarsndCommunistuerrillas,ad elthat t ast hey ad omentotheirwn nder Reddi-dominatedongressovernment-onlyodiscoverthat heirandswere eing oughtnd unexpectedrofitseing eapedfromhemymorenterprisingutsiders.heresentmentf he elanganalanded entrygainston-mulkiompetitionn their wnhome roundhasmadehemeryympathetico he eparatistovement.Non-mulkisromheDeltahave lso nteredrade ndmoneylendingandhave ecome erynfluentialn the usinessife fthe win ities,swellas invarious ural reas. his has posed challengeotonly oTelanganausinessmenut lso otheMarwarindGujaratiommunities

31 See RobertC. Shaw, "Student olitics nd Student eadershipn an IndianUniversity:The Case ofOsmania," n Philip G. Altbach ed.), Turmoil nd Transition: igherEducationandStudent oliticsn India (Bombay:Lalvani, 968), pp. 177-8o.32 WeekendReview,Vol. II, No. i8 (April 6, I968), pp. i8-I9.88 See Census f ndia,1961, citednote8 above,pp. 432-8.I5



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Pacificflairswhichsed o dominateommercendbusinessnHyderabadtate.t isnotablehat everalrominenteparatisteadersrenon-Telugus,nd herearemany eportshat he eparatistgitationas iberallyinanced ithMarwari oney. hile hisannotesubstantiated,t squite lear hatnagitationo ong rawn-outnd owell-organizedust ave ad onsider-ablefinancialacking.84At east sectionf he elangana uslimslso upportedhe gitation,probablyecauseheirreaterumbersndhighertatusn the ldHyder-abaddistrictsouldnsurereaterecurity,ndperhapsess ompetition,for hemna separateelangana.It istrue hat he eadershipf he gitationas ncluded numberfunsuccessfuloliticaleaders,ut t snaive osuggest,s some bservershave,hathe gitationanbe attributedolelyo the ctivitiesf smallclique fdisappointednd frustrateden. ersonalmbitionsayhaveplayedheir art,nd theres certainlyn impressionbroad hat el-anganaeadersave ot eceivedheirue hare fpoliticalowernd n-fluencen theunited ndhraradesh.utagainsthis tmust lso berememberedhatmulkieadersave aress xperiencefdemocraticol-iticshanheirolleaguesromhe estf he tate.hey eemnmanyasestohave een neffectivendefendinghenterestsfTelanganand ome-times ave ried oadvanceheirwn areersnAndhraoliticsithoutpayingufficientttentionothegrievancesf the ubregionrom hichtheyome.Theres,then,nimbalancenpoliticalevelopments betweenel-anganand he estf he tate,ut he conomicmbalancend he eelingthatoo ittle asbeen one o et tright,sthe rimaryackgroundo heagitation.rrigations,ofcourse,hekey oagriculturalrosperitynd,as wehave een, oes ar oexplainhe conomicrogressfthe oastalareas. numberfmajorchemes,otablyhe ochampadndNagarjunaSagar rojects,ave een utnhand,ut heresa feelingmongducatedpeoplehat elanganaasnotderivedfairhare f he enefitsftheseschemes.able showsowarge proportionf he enefitsfgovernmentirrigationasgoneo he therartsf he tate.IndustrializationasproceedednTelangana,uthasbeen ighlyonscentratedroundhe winitiesndhas carcelyouched uchfthe estofthe rea. elanganaascertainlydvancedconomicallyincentegra.'tion; he uestionswhetherhe reahas dvancedastnoughobringtinto competitiveositionith he est fAndhrandwhetherhede-velopmentapbetweenelanganand he est f he tatesnarrowingrgrowingider.headvocatesf separatendhrargue hathe ap s

34See Elkay,"Telangana AnotherAspect,"FrontierCalcutta)Vol. II, No. ii (June I,i969) pp. io-ii. Therehave beenrumourshattheBirlafamily, hichhas extensiveusinessinterestsnHyderabad,ontributedarge mounts o theagitation.i6



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Subregionalismn ndia: The Caseof TelanganaTABLE 3: AREA IRRIGATED BY SOURCES OF IRRIGATION (Lakh hectares)

Circarsnd % ofA.P. % ofA.P. AndhraRayalaseema total Telangana total PradeshGovernment anals IO.7 88.4 I.4 ii.6 I2. IPrivate anals 0. I 50 .0 . I 50.0 0.2Tanks 6.9 58.o 5.0 42.0 II.9Wells 3.0 66.7 I-5 33.3 4.5Othersources o.8 72.7 0.3 27.3 I.ITotal 2I.5 72. I 8.3 27.9 29.8

Source: HandbookfStatistics:ndhraradesh,966-7.widening, nd they uggest hatthedevelopmentf the other reas is di-rectlyt the expenseofTelangana because t has revenue urpluseswhich,they argue,are beingutilized outside.The Gentlemen'sAgreementhadstipulated hatgeneralgovernmentxpenditurehouldbe dividedbetweenAndhraand Telangana in a proportionf twoto one. The so-called Telbangana Surpluses"representhe surplusof revenueover expenditure e-sulting artly rom he higher and revenue nd partly rom hehigh yieldfrom xcise n an area whichhas not enforced rohibition.hese surpluseswereto be spent xclusivelyn thedevelopmentf theTelanganaarea.Thecalculation f these surpluses, he differenceetweenwhat oughtto havebeenspent nd whatactuallywas spenton Telangana, s verymuch n dis-pute. What is agreed s thattheannual Telangana Surplus s a very argesum,and thatsinceintegration considerable mount of this moneyhasbeen spentoutsideTelangana.Two commissions ere set up in i969, oneby the stategovernmentnd the other y the Centre, o determine he Tel-angana Surpluses, nd the governmentf Andhra Pradeshand the Tel-angana Regional Committee isagreeon how these should be calculated.We are not hereconcernedwiththe details f this ontroversy;t is enoughto notethat ll are agreed hatTelangana has been unfairly reated.ndeed,itwould be true o say thatTelangana has been cheated f several rores frupees achyear.35 uch a position dds force o the separatists'ontentionthatTelangana would have progressed aster n isolationfrom AndhraPradesh. mbalance n economicdevelopments surely he greatest inglecause for the i969 troubles.And the fact that development as markedlysloweddown n the ast threeyears s a result f the o-called plan holiday"adds fueltotheflames.36

The agitation roper eganas a students'trike n Hyderabad t the endof December 968 but rapidly pread to the otherTelangana towns and35 On thiscomplex uestion ee C. H. HanumanthaRao, "Budgetaryurpluses f Telan-gana," EPW, Oct. i8, i969, pp. i665-76; T. V. S. ChelapathiRao, Are TelanganaSurplusesCorrectly omputed?Vijayawada,n.d.). A crore s tenmillion upees.36"Andhra:WillIt Remain?"EPW, Feb. i5, i969, p. 345.

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Pacific flairsfinallyomost f thedistricts.87fewdistricts,otablyhammamndAdilabad,emainedelativelynaffected.he studentshared commonbeliefhat elanganaadnot een ettingfair eal, ut obegin ithheyweredivided etweenheseparatistsndmoremoderatelements.shappensooften,he gitationuicklypreado theurbanmob, ndatleast ertainncidentseem ohavebeen alculated-withome uccess-toterrifymmigrantndhrasnto eturningo theDelta.38 ore han5000 eople,ncludingome 000 students,ere rrestedndnearly0were illednpolice iringsnthe irst ave fagitation.hearmy ascalledn;the niversity,he olleges,nd choolsere losedndefinitely.Atthe nd fFebruary969, a students'onventionas nauguratednHyderabadyDr. R. Satyanarayana,oon obecomeice-chancellorfOsmanianiversity.heconventionlearlyemonstratedhat irtuallyhewhole cademicommunityas ympatheticothe gitation,nd hat hestudentsadpowerfuloliticalndfinancialacking.heinitiativeasnow learlyakeny he eparatistroup, ho etupa broaderrganiza-tion,he elanganaraja amithi,opressheiremands. ithhe ppoint-mentfChennaeddi schairmanf he amithi,he gitationook newviolent urn.39Week fter eek he gitationraggedn. Theextremistsainedheopen upportfK. V. RangaReddi, ormereputy-chiefinisterfAndhraradesh,ndothereaders.40lltheTelangana inistersn theAndhracabinetresigned, lthoughmostof themwere integrationistsndarguedthat t would be easierfor themto combatseparatist emands ftheywere freefromthe responsibilitiesf office.4' part fromeconomicmeasures nd strictdherence o theterms ftheGentlemen's greement,theTelanganamoderates emandedtheresignation f theChiefMinister,BrahmanandaReddi, and theimposition f President's ule.42Reddi sub-mittedhis resignation o the CongressHigh Commandbut immediatelysecured voteof confidence romthe legislature ongresspartyon July6, I969.43 The resignation as left n suspense,nd thePrimeMinister,Mrs.Gandhi, flewto Hyderabad to investigatehe situation. n her return o

87 "Uncertaintyn Telangana,"Citizen,May 24, i969, p. 23. The sparkthatsetofftheagitation ppeared o have been a veryminor onflictetween non-mulkiandlord nd hismulki abourers. he landlord s said to havebroughtn rowdies rom he Delta to intimidatehisworkers,nd the ncident as wellpublicized.38See D. Sanjivayya'statement:I ampainedand distressedo learnthatAndhra esidentshave startedeaving the twincities out of fearand feeling here s no security orthem."Hindu,June 5, i969.39Elkay, op cit. Dr. Clenna Reddi,formerly Unionminister, ad been disqualified ytheSupreme ourt n i968 from olding nyelective fficeor ixyears.40 "The Telangana mbroglio," itizen,April 2, i969, pp. 26-7.41Hindu, July , i969.42Hindu, June 3, i969.43Hindu, July , i969.i8



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Subregionalismn India: The Case ofTelanganaNewDelhisheproducedneight-pointrogramo dealwith heproblemsofTelangana n thecontextf a unitedAndhra. he recommendedhesettingpofa committeeo determineheTelangana urplusesnddeviseways fmaking oodtoTelanganamoneyhathad been ncorrectlypentoutsidehe ubregionndtheestablishmentfhigh-poweredevelopmentandplanimplementationommitteesorTelangana. he ChiefMinisterwould onsiderhepossibilityffurtherelegationfpower oTelanganaauthoritiesndpossibilitiesfreservingobsformulkis.he PrimeMinisterherselfould eep watchnprogress.44The Telangana gitationradually ecamenvolved ith henationalpoliticalrisis. he Centrewasunwillingoimpose resident'sulein aCongresstate, ndBrahmanandaeddi's radual mergences a leadingsupporterfthePrimeMinistergainst heparty ossesmade his con-tinuances chiefministernevitable.rompttepswere aken o mplementat least omeofthePrimeMinister'sroposals.45n August heagitationbegan oweaken, artly ecause undswererunningut,partly ecausestudentsnd NGOs were osing onfidencen theseparatisteadership,partly ecausehegatheringtormttheCentre istractedhe ttentionfmanyeadersromubregionalssues.46yOctoberthadvirtuallyeteredout, eaving heTelangana amithieadershipiscreditednd no finalresolutionf he nderlyingroblem.Withthesole,and notvery ignificant,xception f Swatantra,opoliticalartywaswilling penly o support separate elangana.MostCongresseadersn Telanganan 1956hadbeen n favour f a separatestate, utwith ntegrationheTelanganaCongress as infected ith hefactionalismftheReddi-dominatedndhra ongressnddevelopedomefurtheractionsf itsown.The TelanganaCongresseaders, herefore,couldgiveno unitedead, ndmuch ftheirnergy asdivertedoma-noeuvring ithin he arger rganization.he separate yderabad ra-deshCongressommitteeadbeen bolishedn I957, and as a resultllo-cationfpartyicketsndofficesasno onger omesticoTelangana. hepresentgitationedtoa splitwithin ongressndthe ettingpofa rebelTelangana ongress ommitteeithKondaLaxmanBapujias presidentonJune, i969. The rebelCongressnjoyedonsiderableupport,nclud-ingthat fmany elanganaMLAs.As inmany asesduringhe truggle

44ImplementationfthePrimeMinister's lan forTelangana Hyderabad:GovernmentfAndhra radesh,969).45For example, n July 969 a Telanganaman,Mr. J.V. NarasingaRao, was appointeddeputy-chief inister,nd anotherfourstateministers romTelangana joined the cabinet.Hindu,July9 and 24, i969.46 "The Tide Turns in Telangana," Citizen,Vol. i, no. io (July26, i969), p. 22,"Time forPeace in Telangana," Citizen,Vol. i, no. I2 (Aug. 23, i969), "DecliningDe-mand forReddyto Go," Citizen,Vol. i, no. 15 (Oct. ii, i969); "Separatists' ew Hope,"EPW, Nov. 22, i969, pp. i804-5, "Opening n Telangana",EPW, Sept. 23, 1969, "Is Telan-ganaOver,EPW, ct. 25, i969. p. i697.

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Pacific ffairsforinguistictates,ongressoundtcould othold ogethernface fstrongeparatistoyaltieshichonflictedithhe eclaredationalolicyof he arty.henationalongressame utfirmlygainsteparatione-fore he onflictetweenhePrimeMinisterndthe yndicateadcomeclearlynto he pen. hereafteroth herebel elanganaongressndthevariousactionsithinheAndhraongress ere aught pbythepossibilitiesf dvancingheirnterestsybackinghewinningide n thecentraltruggle.The twomainwingsftheCommunistartyrenotnowverytrongin Telangana-thePI (M) hasfournd heCPI (R) five eatsrom el-angana onstituenciesn theAndhraradeshegislativessembly.heCommunistsreclearlyamperedy a lackof theoryo explainub-regionalism,ndtheirneptnessn handlinghis ituationontrastsiththe hrewd anipulationfthemovementsor inguistictates hich adcontributedo theirtrengthnmanyfthe inguistictates-andotheirweaknessn theHindiheartland.47herewasa generaleelingnTel-angana hat heCommunistsad showncant egardothedistinctiveproblemsfthe reauntilhe gitationorcedhem odo some ethink-ing.48oth ranchesfthe artyave onsistentlypposedifurcationfthe tatend treatheproblems purelyneofsubregionalmbalance,interpretinghe gitations a reactionaryovementf andlordsndbigbusinessmen.49ndeed,tisa seriousistractionoa bifurcatedarty,othwings fwhichn Andhraradeshrefaction-ridden,t a timewhenNaxalitesre ttemptingore-establishrevolutionaryeasant ovementinsome artsfTelangana,articularlyalgonda istrict.50Byway f onclusion,nemay ote irsthathe roublesn Telanganaseemobesymptomaticf new orcef ubregionalismn manyartsfIndia.Competentbserversre warehat his gitationouldwell parkoffeparatistovementsnRayalaseema,idharba, arathwada,ndvari.ousother laces."'hegrowthfsubregionalocalismas obscuredythe truggleor inguistictatesnddidnot ecomebviousndchalleng-ing ntil he ew inguistictatesecameettlednd heiroundariesixed.Subregionalonflictfthisortancut crosshe astendfactionalon-flictshichave een oundobecharacteristicf ndiantateolitics,ndalso he lass onflictshichndianMarxistsre lwaysopefullylaimingtodiscover.ubregionalismay,herefore,e yetnotherndicationfthe

47Harrison,p. cit.,pp. I8I, 220-6, 243-4.48Thotha,op. cit.,p. 17.49Raj Bahadur Gour, Telangana Tangle: The Communist pproach New Delhi: CPI,1969), p. 7.50 "SweetSmellofRevolution,"PW,Dec. 7, 1968, pp. I866-7.51Romesh Thapar, "Lessons fromTelangana," EPW, June I, 1969, pp. 991-2; B. V.Borkar, Dangerof Telangana n ProsperousMaharashtra"nd Anon, "Averting ew Telan-gana in BackwardRayalaseema," itizen,Vol. i, No. iS (Nov. 22, 1969), pp. I6-I9, 26-17.20



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Subregionalismn India: The Case ofTelanganadecliningolitical nfluencef caste.Various cholars avedetectedhebeginningf thebreakdownf castepoliticalolidaritynd haveattribWuted t to thesuccessfuliseofa caste, reating situationn whichn-dividualmobilityecomesossiblendvotersndpoliticiansraduallyeaseto taketheir olitical uesfrom astefactors.52ubregionalonflictanbreakdowncastepoliticalolidarityn a differentayand force tatepoliticso concerntself otso muchwithbalancinghe claims f sig-nificantastegroups s withbalancingheclaims fvariousreaswithinthe tateo qualityf reatment,articularlyneconomicevelopment.It is,therefore,robablyorrectoview hiskind fsubregionalonflictas oneaspect fthegrowing ainsofmodernization.ertainlyhererereactionarynd traditionalorces t work, nd disgruntledoliticiansmay ttemptocapitalizen the ituation,utneverthelesstrepresentsdistinctivelyoderntylefpoliticsothn itsaims ndobjectivesndinthe lignmentsfgroupsndforces hich tarouses.hiskind fagitationmay esupportedr edbythosewho ong or restorationfthepast, utitsessentialrives in thedirectionfa balancedndequitablemodern-ization.The agitationan tscourse ver period fninemonthst immensecost n human ives nd damage oproperty.t canwellbe argued hattheunderlyingroblemshouldhavebeen dentifiednd dealtwithfarearlier,nd it is a realfailuren thepartofTelangana eaders nd theTelangana egional ommitteehat hey idnotdraw ttentionorcefullyenoughothegatheringtorm. he directndimmediatenvolvementfthe entralovernments the rbitratorn an essentiallyntrastateisputeisnotable,s isthedelayedolicyesponsenthe art fthe entralovern-ment. n theother and, heeventualeteringutoftheagitation aybe attributed,npart t least, othefact hat henewmeasuresroposedby heCentre adbegun o bite,"ndthateparatistsere eingsolatedstheirollowersecame raduallyeconciledothepossibilityfa futureorTelanganawithinAndhra radesh. he tragedyfTelangana s that olittlewasdone o dentifyrdealwith he egitimaterievancesfthe reafor o manyyears. he consequence,e mayhope,maybe a newsen-sitivityo imilarituationsevelopingnothertates.Madras hristianollege,ecember969

52 Rudolph nd Rudolph, p. cit.,pp. 88-103;R. L. Hardgrave, he Nadarsof Tamilnad(BerkeleyndLos Angeles:UniversityfCaliforniaress, 969).

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Telangana Forrester