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Not Another Partition!

Recently I asked a Hyderabadi friend how things are in Hyderabad with regard to the state-wide bandhs and what he feels about a separate statehood for Telangana   My non-Telugu speaking friend replied that things are as usual in Hyderabad and it really does not matter if the state remains united or split into two or three parts and that life would be as usual whether Hyderabad becomes a Union territory or just the capital of the proposed Telangana. Probably the opinion of the Central Government and the key political parties, who have taken a decision to bifurcate, is similar.

 

But the decision means a lot to those who want the State to remain united and those who are fighting for separate Statehood.

Separation of AP is more complicated than separation of Uttar Pradesh, Bihar and Madhya Pradesh from which Uttarakhand, Jharkhand and Chattisgarh were formed. Primarily, in all the three cases, the State Capitals remained with the parent States and new Capitals developed for the new States.  Whereas in AP, the separatists are also fighting for the Capital city. Also, the smaller states were formed for administrative purposes by the Government and not yielding to the demands of the people for a separate State.

The background

During the British rule in India, parts of the present day Andhra Pradesh was under Madras Presidency, ruled by the British and part was under the control of Nizam of Hyderabad.   Post independence, Nizam territory was annexed with Indian Union  and the first linguistic State of Andhra Pradesh was formed comprising of all Telugu speaking areas and when Madras could not be made the joint capital, the State functioned with Kurnool as its capital with a High Court in Guntur for a few years, after which to facilitate greater development for all the three regions viz., Coastal AP (Circar), Rayalaseema (Ceded) and Telangana (Nizam), the centrally located Hyderabad was made the State Capital.

During the British rule and soon after the independence and at the time of formation of the State, there were no other industries and most of the people depended on agriculture.  Most of the landless, the educated and the ambitious people migrated to Madras, Bangalore, Calcutta, Delhi and Bombay.  With the formation of a new State and a new Government, people from all regions including the coastal region and the Rayalaseema, started migrating towards Hyderabad.   The educated could get into Government service and people from coastal AP, who had better education, due to British rule had an advantage over people from other regions.  It was not just the educated that migrated to Hyderabad, but the merchants and the farmers too.  The Nizam’s rule was feudalistic resulting in a lot of inequality and underdevelopment.  Land was cheap compared to the coastal region and small time farmers from coastal AP sold off their small pieces of land in their native villages and bought larger lands in Telangana region and with their expertise and hard work, acquired more land not in their native villages, but in their new found Karmabhoomi.

The Telugu film industry, the second largest in the country too, which had its epicenter in Madras, shifted its base to Hyderabad, because of the motivation and encouragement given by successive Governments.

Why all this hue and cry now?

Birds of the same feather flock together and though the Telugus who have migrated to other States and countries have managed to integrate with other societies, those who have migrated from different districts within Andhra Pradesh have failed to integrate with each other.  The main reason being many of the castes are region specific and even today incestuous marriages are very common among the Telugus, including the educated and elite.

The people of Telangana were hostile to the annexure of their territory with Andhra Pradesh and have always been agitating. Whenever a charismatic leader ruled, their agitation vanished and every time there was change in power or a vacuum, the agitation resurfaced.  This time it resurfaced with greater zeal, with the support of many political and selfish forces.  

While I empathize with the people of Telangana region for an identity, I personally don’t support the idea of bifurcation at all for several reasons.

Though I am born and brought up in Madras, my family is basically from Coastal Andhra.  Both my grandfathers inherited farmlands from their fathers.  But they were not farmers.  Both had managed their families with the meager income they got from leasing out their land to farmers.  After them, my parents and their siblings could not manage a life with that little income and were forced to migrate, looking for greener pastures as there were absolutely no employment opportunities in their native villages/towns. The case was no different for many of my parents’ cousins and other relatives or other villagers.  While a few migrated to Madras, most of them migrated to Hyderabad, Warangal, Khammam, Karimnagar and other towns in the neighbouring districts.  Except for a few, most of us don’t own any assets in Coastal Andhra. It should be the same case with respect to the other migrants also. When the Telugus migrate, they move out lock, stock and barrel.

What are the fears?

While Hyderabad is located in the proposed Telangana region, its development and fame is not only due to the focus of the Government, but also because of the hard work and investment of many people including those from the Coastal Andhra and Rayalaseema and industrialists from other States.  Telangana leaders’ claim over Hyderabad is certainly prejudiced.  The open declaration of political leaders of Telangana to not employ/allow the existing employees of Coastal Andhra and Rayalaseema origin in Government services, if a new State is formed has sent shock waves among the Government servants.  The leaders’ assurance that they would not harm the poor migrants has certainly created insecurity among the industrialists and the rich migrants.

Also, the open declaration by the politicians of Telangana region about not letting water to the coastal districts has caused unrest among the farmers.

Several years ago, a farmer known to us, who owned a small piece of agricultural land in coastal AP, sold his land and migrated to the neighbouring district in Telangana region.  He bought a larger piece of arid land and started farming.   With hard work and dedication, he made good profits and over a period of time, acquired more land.  He educated his daughters and got them married and continued to live with his wife in the same village, farming.  Naxalities slowly settled in their village, like they had in many other villages of Telangana and started dictating the village administration.  In the name of equality, they destroyed the deeds of titles of the land, torched the house of this farmer and dragged the elderly couple out of the house.  They distributed two acres per male in the village and the farmer too was allocated just two acres, which was not even a 10^th of what he owned.  Disillusioned with the events, the farmer and his wife moved with their daughter and lived a reclusive life.  While such events are not reported in National Newspapers or channels, the people are certainly aware of the impending danger.

Assuming that all these fears are addressed and a mutually beneficial settlement is made, won’t the Government waste money and time in developing a new capital?  Will they be able to formulate welfare schemes?  Will industrialists be ready to invest in a State with political instability?  Because of the ongoing bandhs, Educational institutions are closed.  Process for admission to professional colleges is stalled.  What will happen to the future of all these students? What will happen to those employed in unorganized sector?

After the Partition of Bengal in 1905 and India-Pakistan partition, this would be the largest partition.

If the State is split, forget development, both Seemandhra and Telangana would be pushed to the back, alphabetically!

“Vachindanna, Vachedanna, Varala Telugu, Okatenanna!
Telugu Jaathi Manadhi, Ninduga Velugu Jaathi Manadhi” – C. Narayana Reddy, Poet