Telangana - History - Post-Independence
When India became independent from the British Empire in 1947, Hyderabad remained an independent princely state for a period of 13 months. The peasants of Telangana waged an armed struggle to liberate the region. Scores of people lost their lives in the armed struggle. The private militia named Razakars, under the leadership of Qasim Razwi unleashed terror in the state by resorting to looting and murder.
On 17 September 1948, the Indian government conducted a military operation called Operation Polo to bring Hyderabad state into the Indian Union. It appointed a civil servant, M. K. Vellodi, as first chief minister of Hyderabad State on 26 January 1950. In 1952, Dr. Burgula Ramakrishna Rao was elected chief minister of the Hyderabad State in its first democratic election. During this time, there was an agitation by locals in the state to ensure proper representation was given to locals ( mulkis ) of Hyderabad.
In early 1950s, people of Telangana region in Hyderabad state, started organizing themselves with a demand for separate state. In 1953 the Indian government appointed the States Reorganization Commission (SRC) to look into various statehood demands in the country. The Commission was headed by Fazal Ali, Kavalam Madhava Panikkar and H.N. Kunzru.
The SRC toured the whole country to seek representations from various sections of the society. People of Telangana region submitted several memorandums to the SRC and expressed their wish to constitute Telangana as a separate state. Telangana intellectuals such as late Prof Jayashankar and political leaders such as Sri HC Heda, Sri Konda Venkat Ranga Reddy gave memorandums containing historic, political, economic, social and cultural justifications for creating the Telangana state. The Commission submitted its report on 30 September 1955, and recommended formation of Telangana state.
During the period between 1955 September and 1956 November, the people of Telangana launched a series of protests demanding statehood by implementing the SRC recommendations. But intense lobbying by leaders from Andhra state in New Delhi resulted in the merger of Telangana region in Andhra state to form the Andhra Pradesh state.
Telangana leaders insisted on a Gentlemen’s Agreement before the merger could take place. The agreement was signed by Andhra and Telangana leaders and provided safeguards with the purpose of preventing discrimination against Telangana by the Andhra leaders. However, the agreement was violated from day one by the Andhra leaders.
Non-implementation of Gentlemen’s Agreement and continued discrimination to Telangana region in government jobs, education and public spending resulted in the 1969 statehood agitation. In January 1969, students intensified the protests for a separate state. On 19 January, all party accord was reached to ensure the proper implementation of Telangana safeguards. Accord's main points were 1) All non-Telangana employees holding posts reserved for Telangana locals will be transferred immediately. 2) Telangana surpluses will be used for Telangana development. 3) Appeal to Telangana students to call off agitation.
But the protests further intensified, as more and more students and employees joined the statehood movement. Police firing on protesters led to the death of about 369 youngsters during this phase of the agitation. Then Prime Minister Indira Gandhi called for a high-level meeting to discuss the statehood issue. After several days of talks with leaders of both regions, on 12 April 1969, the Prime Minister developed an Eight Point Plan. Sri M. Chenna Reddy, founded the Telangana Praja Samithi (TPS) political party in 1969 to spearhead the statehood movement.
Indira Gandhi had called snap parliamentary elections in March 1971. In these parliamentary elections, Telangana Praja Samithi won 10 out the 14 Parliament seats in Telangana. However, Indira Gandhi’s Congress (R) Party scored a landslide victory on a platform of progressive policies such as poverty elimination (Garibi Hatao). She was reluctant to accept the Telangana statehood demand at that juncture. Sri M Chenna Reddy then merged TPS in Congress (R) party, after formulating a Six-Point Formula to safeguard Telangana’s interests. The statehood movement continued until 1973, but subsided later.
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