Tuesday, December 29, 2009

Understanding Telangana … The People's perspective






Vox populi Vox dei , A Latin phrase that is pompously used to hail People in Democracies means … the voice of people is the voice of the God!
But the voice of God has remained unheard in this region…. Since last five decades.
Historically Telangana had to bear the burnt of the most exploitative kind of feudalism during the era of Nizam and Razakar rule until 1948. This was the time when people movement like the Mulki movement and the Gonds of Adilabad district had waged agitation against the oppressive rule. The state of the local populace irrespective of their religion or caste was deplorable.
Meanwhile the rest of present Andhra Pradesh was under the erstwhile Madras Presidency, they were certainly better off when compared with that to the Telangana populace as they had the opportunity of English education and access to employment under the colonial rule.
To put it in a nutshell the people of this southern region lived in two different worlds! Each having its own different political economic state… the only thing that was common between the two worlds was its language ‘Telugu’…. It was presumed to be common … but it wasn’t!
In the post independent India the states were carved on the basis of linguistic criteria and Telangana, coastal Andhra and Rayalseema fell under this category, hence forming the present Andhra Pradesh.
It is interesting to note that the leaders such as Nehru were sceptical of the merger of Telangana with the Andhra… the termed the union as the marriage of a dominant husband with a submissive wife…. Needless to say that the submissive wife was Telangana!
It was certainly a marriage of (in) convenience!! Telangana’s identity remained enmeshed in the whims of the politicians and bureaucrats who thought that they knew the best.
Since the amalgamation in 1956, the condition of the people in this region has deteriorated consistently; they have been lagging behind in all the fields of public life.
Socially the discrimination is pathetic, the reason being the lower class and the local dialect of Telugu speaking people (Telugu has a tinge of Urdu in Telangana) this is seen as mass culture and considered low. Even in the Telugu movies, the villain mouths obscenities in Telangana dialect. Hence the language and culture of the Telangana people has always been debased by the Andhraites.
The Telangana territory has two of the main rivers Krishna and Godavari flowing through its mainland land but only 12% of its land is irrigated and the maximum number of farmer suicides has occurred in this region. As the water resources of this land continues to bring bounty to the farm lands of Rayelseema and coastal Andhra, the native farm lands remains parched and thirsty. The water shortage is so acute that the farmers are forced to exploit the ground water resources through pumps and bore wells … the tragic tale is that the ground water resource is not of much help as the water level have drastically dropped in the recent times. Thu nearly 70% of the pumps and bore wells have become dysfunctional.
The telangana movement is not a new stir, nor is it being manned ONLY by the politicians of the state. It is in a true sense a people’s movement as people irrespective of the class and caste from the Telangana region have unitedly rekindled the movement!
The question is not only about separating a piece of land! The movement is about reinstating the self respect, identity and dignity of the people! It is about hope… a hope that when the natives get to participate in the democratic process and they govern their land, the resources will be harnessed for betterment the people. It is a grassroot movement by the people Telangana who want to take control over the resources and determine their fate! ( A luxury which has never been endowed upon them since centuries!)
Its high time for the saga of perennial suppression, humiliation and neglect to end… it can only end when the state recognises the voice of God…. The voice of people…the voice of Telangana!



14 comments:

  1. its the only people's perspective.. fantastic work..

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  2. Impressive
    But i wished things worked out the way u have predicted. Neither do i wish to see a Greater cooch behar, Gorkhaland, Mithilanchal, Saurastra,Coorg nor do i wish to see another Jharkhand.
    According to stats in toi the telangana region has 31.8% urban population as compared to 24.2% urban population in remaining andhra.

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  3. The telangana's urban population is concentrated in its lone city..Hyderabad and its population mainly consists of the people from the coastal andhra region and people from neighboring state. Moreover urbanisation is not the sign of development!

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  4. Hello swati
    You have projected the peoples prospective with impressive style, Phrase and try to touch the basic factors regarding why the separate state Telengana is justified. Such as History of formation of Andhra state, Cultural background difference of people residing in Telengana area ,Language, Geographical Difference etc….and why Telengana area people feeling second class citizen.
    In my view I am not against the separate state of Telengana. Really it may be separated and will be good for people residing in Telengana area .But I am worried about the present drama is done by political parties to divide the people of Andhra .As people of Andhra on the name of divide becoming anti to each other .The dirty politics by politician is in process. In the Both sides of people are in vilionce.
    In India problem is other. The whole system required over hall ..The past experience of separate state from Bihar Chattisgarh, Jharkhand .How much these state develop after separation .Its chief minister Adivasi bag round is trapped in Rs 4000 Crore
    Scandal enquiry is in progress(Although nothing will happen to him as courts,system are there it is past experience tells ) .Sibu Surian Adivsi popularly known as GURU Chief Minister already trapped in murder and corruption case. What we expect from ?
    Rakesh

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  5. good one, but didn't understand some of the points as you said "Even in the Telugu movies, the villain mouths obscenities in Telangana dialect" for your information each of the 2 districts in andhra pradesh has their own slang and culture so andhra should be divided into 11 states. Not only the culture of telangana or slang of telangana used in talugu movies there are hundereds of movies dipicting the worest scenario of rayalaseema factionism, there are so many movies in which artists using the slang of srikakulam and also east,west. Everything is problamatic if someone takes a movie on talangana you say they are making fun of talangana else you say people are not at all taking into consideration of telangana.
    next thing yes its agreed there are so many under developed areas in telangana region for your information not only in telanagan but also in rayalaseema and coastal andhra.
    its very sad to listen the people of andhra region dominating what development did your leader the hero of telangana KCR done from these 6 years. How much amount of MP funds and he used for the development and well being of telangana.
    one thing you must know is no one can stop when a person is having the will power to achieve, its shameless to say that i failed in exam because that fellow disturbed while i was preparing for the exam.
    For your information AP send 34 MP which is a larger figure how many ministerial posts does AP have in central government so then we have to get separated from INDIA for this type discrimination on AP people.
    What is the result today with all these agitations RTC charges UP,IT sector to go to Chennai and people all over india laughing on AP and US government issuing an caution not to visit AP or HYDERABAD.
    instead of going with this type stand saying telanagan is an age old movement it would be very much better if your dear leaders fight for more share in FUNDS for development in telagana.
    Finally the sad part is even the Educated students are also not looking into the posibilities and what is better and what is good. "tanu pattina kundellaki moode kaallu maa telangana movement eppati nuncho undhi kabatii maaku telangana ivvalsinde anthe " Just look what happend to the smaller states Jharkhand and uttaranchal how much development did they see. if telangana forms one more sibu soren and madhu koda (KCR)will take birth still the lives people will be like this only.
    don't forget to read this article "http://www.greatandhra.com/ganews/viewnews.php?id=18381&cat=15&scat=16"
    gud wishes hope peace previles in the STATE of AP

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  6. Thanks Naresh for reading intently and commenting on it wholeheartedly... it has certainly helped me to understand a varied perspective on telangana issue.
    the first point you mentioned on my remark "Even in the Telugu movies, the villain mouths obscenities in Telangana dialect", that there are as many dialects as there are districts in Andhra,I do agree with it. I understand , that the statement is a case of gross generalization and I will take care of not to repeat it in my next posts.
    Second point where you say that there are pockets of underdeveloped regions in other parts of Andhra, you seem to underplay the nature of underdevelopment in telangana region. When compared to other parts, this region is far more deprived and has been meted out with step motherly treatment for generations altogether. Many studies undertaken by the social scientists prove the fact.
    Third point where you comment "what development did your leader the hero of telangana KCR done from these 6 years. How much amount of MP funds and he used for the development and well being of telangana." well KCR is certainly not my leader nor the majority of the students who are agitating today for telangana consider him as their leader! they are led my the spirit of movement and not by the TRS ideology!
    fourth point... you say that instead of demanding a separate state, the MLAs must press for more funds for the overall development of the state.. it seems an idealistic proposition ! all these years funds have bee lavishly showered on andhra, but they haven't brought any bounty to the people... therefore I feel its is important to listen to people's demand once!
    Thanks again.

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  7. gud,u tried to understand what the general opinion is. i forget to mention one more point from last 15 years most of the funds were being utilized to develop the capital of our state AP. with all these investments now our city HYDERABAD is at global level to compitate with metro cities now we have a international airport,proposing for a metro a nd software hub. now yoy may say that andhra region people are getting more employement with these developments but i say when there is a talent no body can stop him, qualification for any job is not the region but the talent. i have so many friends from telangana region who equally compitate and well settled with good professional life. Yes telangana region may lag behind andhra region but by getting a separate state wont solve the problem, it cna only solved by giving ur rights into an organised leaders. now you say KCR is not your leader if a separate forms he is the only person who will try to get into main leader seat so the situation will be the same. i hope you read the link in great andhra.
    You say the movement is went into the hands of students so check one more reality about the student JAC "http://www.greatandhra.com/ganews/viewnews.php?id=18418&cat=1&scat=5" yes its hard to believe but the reality is that sentiment of people will only been used for each individual development.
    one more sad point of people movement statements saying "we wont allow the 30 lakh people entering back to telangana region after sankranthi" as an indian citizen all have the right to live any where in india but being an citizen of AP people still say they wont allow to stay in the capital city of AP is in't it SAD...
    so what i want to say is yes sentiments should be taken into consideration but the marriage is over and the wife and husband has child called HYDERABAD if they get divorced the child's upbringing will be a problem instead wife and husband should sit together and may find a solution, and note that wife is always says husband is cheating on me but did wife ever tried to love and understand husband. for the better upbringing of the child, wife and husband should be together. WIFE should convey her feelings to husband by choosing a well qualified leaders who can fought for the development of telangana. Otherwise neighborhood families (P Chidambaram and Moily) will try the CHILD(HYDERABAD) not get developed. Hope my writings didn't hurt you at anypoint. Thanks...:) wish you a happy new year...

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  8. No,I appreciate that you have a stand on the issue! and nowhere I am hurt by your writings.
    But when it comes to development being equated with urbanisation, I have problems with it!
    even in Hyderabad...the old city is a different world to watch... If you call Hitech city , jublee hills and banjara hills the epitome of development and the places where the government has poured capital...
    I beg to differ: these posh areas do not represent the entire state andhra! not all of andhra is stinky rich like these ones!
    second... development cannot be equated with the amount of inflow of FDI! what about the basic ameneties? most of the people are deprived of it..they need a voice.
    third , it is not the governmnet's money that is involved here, but the IT companies, businessmen and the finance sector.
    another thing lets not make it personal, because when you give example of your own friends having merit and competing will all , I can as well cite examples of people have known , who have been looked down upon because they are from a telangana region.
    I would also like to make a point here...I am not being emotional like other students who support telangana, As I am not from this state..I form my opinion based on readings, observational and discussions. hence donot consider my writings an emotional outpour on telangana issue.
    Do you also write ? if you are fine with sharing your blog, I am interested in reading them!
    thanks and happy new year to you .

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  9. But i feel urbanization is also part of development, when
    both providing basic facilities and at the same time urbanization being done paralally then only we say development. we have schools and colleges but we don't have sources for employement, we cannot go only with providing basic ameneties. yes the money is not of government but the government should provide the facilities needed for these IT Companies and businessmen. you are ready to offer free land for an IT company but you won't have an basic transportation facility did the company is ready to establish its organisation there. answer is definitly NO so as part of development we should do urbanization too.
    always there will be good and bad, so there will be developed and underdeveloped areas but what i want say is we were able to put ourselves hyderabad on global platform.
    everyone says the telangana region is under developed but nobody had done any extensive study on which region is under developed, this is not to downply the under development of telangana. So the leaders who are the representatives of telangana region people they should fight(as they know the status of lack of basic facilities) and get their share and fight for the united development of telangana, it will be really appraiciatable if the same JAC fight for their rights instead of saying we are in united andhra so we cannot get developed. Yes its the representatives who lag behind ,they simply try to escape from their duty by saying telangana will only get developed if it is formed as a separate State. Did any leader ever complined they are not getting their share of funds for the development of their region, from the government no one.
    i am not saying on personel basis what i want to say is anywhere talent is subject not the region. we hardly ever see any question in an interview asking for which area are you from ?
    so my opinion on this is getting a separate state is not at all a solution for this, the representatives we choose are the one who will change the fate.
    Yes i agree there is not enough fo the water utilization being alocated to telangana region, all these issues should be raised by the representatives.
    may be you are not emotional but just wanted to share and express my view that dividing on the basis of sentiment won't solve the problem. These sentiments are instigated by these dirty politicians.
    My stand is not to argue we should be united, yes but we should not become laughing stock for others to laugh at us. For me it is nothing but the MNS fighting for the pride of marathi Manoos. Because it is only way MNS can survive in MH so the same is with these separatists it is raised for their existence. So separate statehood is definitly not an better option for the development....:)

    No i don't write but yesterday i was just searching for some opinions on this issue so i saw your blog and just wanted to comment on some of the issues.
    Naresh from Mumbai..

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  10. some people never understnd watever u say. better, stop saying infront of them. OU students made 2 statements on Vidyarthi Garjana day, 1). "if formation of T-state happens with the help of talks@ Delhi, we(T people) wud invite them(andra) for our Dasara festival and they may invite us fr Sankranti(Pongal) festival.then students warned "if it delays in forming T-state, we dont allow them to entre into Telangana on their return journey frm Andhra who goes to celebrate Sankranti this time"

    some studnts of Andra are still lingering in d dreams of United Andra when employees, journalists, Lawyers, Politicians are not in a situation to sit side by side.

    Politics are always dirty no matter who holds the power, whether it is KCR or Lagadapati. Most of T students are single minded on T- issue, realised the selfish and deceptive, mischievous attitudes of politicians. now they determined to fight peacefully on their own. for example read this story published on Mailtoday very recently. http://epaper.mailtoday.in/showstory.aspx?queryed=9&querypage=11&boxid=235231703&parentid=31576&eddate=Jan 6 2010 12:00AM&issuedate=612010

    These pro-andra studnts never mind abt their politicians as if they are very genuine. recently lagadapati blammed OU faculty for giving moral support. he compared the OU stundts wit Taliban militants and terrorists.

    let our minds be broaden on this issue..

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  11. The individual case of Telangana is a very interesting though saddening one. However, it still is just a case. When Appu talks about the Gorkhalands, Mithilanchals and Saurastras, he actually raises a very good point- that this problem is not isolated.

    Vox Populi, Vox Dei. True! There is nothing wrong with people raising their voices. Neither is there anything wrong with smaller states. The problem is the modus operandi, and the principles behind it.

    Isn't there submissive suffering, hunger, poverty, underdevelopment and lack of basic social amenities elsewhere in the country too? If yes, why not have strikes and burn buses elsewhere too, so that they too can change for good. Why not make a state out of each of these suffering?

    When there's an issue, it should be raised and mitigated. But not defying roles and responsibilities. When there is a need for a separate state, it should be through careful consideration and efficient decision making process, not at gunpoint.

    Just as the the administration is blamed of playing vote bank politics, fraud and corruption, the people are to blame too. For blackmailing the government and holding it at ransom. The way to effect change should not be hunger strikes and violence, but through a good government. People should realize that violence is not their greatest power, and neither is satyagraha. It is the vote. This simple realization would curb the need of such extreme measures.

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  14. Your perspective seems perfect, but the only issue is... it is Utopian and sounds Morally right in a functional democracy like ours. It would have been an ideal situation if the state as well as the citizens understood their respective roles and responsibilities, but it never happens so.The carving of a state should IDEALLY be done by means of careful deliberations with all the possible stakeholders, but it has never happened in the history of India. Speaking of the stakeholders, whom would you consider the main stakeholder... the state governments, the central govt, the law and order machinery and the people, its the people who are always left out. so how do they participate, Most often they keep quite and accept the ruling of the state, its only when they realize that the decision has done no good to them, they resent. Certainly one shouldn't tolerate the state atrocities and keep mum because his voicing of dissent may destabilize the harmonious balance of the society. Now the question arises how must one voice the dissent? well there can be numerous ways but the manner in which the telangana people have been protesting... by mean of hunger strike is not an easy way! When you say that decisions shouldn't be taken 'at the gunpoint', you might be interested in knowing that historically the decision to form a unified Andhra was also taken ' at the gunpoint’. A man named Potti shiramulu sat on a hunger strike for 52 days! His demands were heeded after his death! It wasn't a certainly thought out decision then but it will be a wise decision now to separate the state of telangana. I call it wise because this issue has been in the backburner for past 35 odd years now, its a long time! Last 5 decades has proved that the alliance was never fruitful for the people of telangana... how long are people supposed to wait and how many more years are required for the government to experiment? Talking about appu's point about saurashta...mithilanchal, I feel we have this huge problem of genralisation. The nature of development or underdevelopment is different in different zones of the country. This is more an issue of self identity,there are numerous socio cultural dynamics to it which has its own implications... A demand for saurashtra by mayawati cannot be equated with that of the telangana! That's all that I have to say and nowhere I want to claim that I know the subject well, Infact I am also trying to understand the issue in relation to the history, culture, public administration and economic viability and your discussion has made me to ponder more over the issue. Thanks for being a part of the discussion!

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