The creation of Telangana state is a democratic realisation of a long-felt aspiration of people of a backward region with a remarkable history of resistance.
Unlike the new states that have been created after Independence, Telangana has inherited the culture of dissent to the point of sacrificing lives that was evident from hundreds of young people giving their lives for the cause. This is perhaps the logical limit of Gandhian peaceful resistance. The region has overtly or covertly nurtured an alternative vision and continuously engaged in politics of transformation.
In 1940s when a large part of the country was fighting against the colonial power, this region fought not only colonialism but cruel feudalism through an armed struggle.
On August 15, 1947, when Delhi was celebrating Independence Day, Telangana was involved in an intense struggle and on 17th September 1948, it was (supposedly) freed. This episode is one of the most debated issues and people of the region look at it from varied vantage points.
The region was not very enthusiastic about the idea of linguistic states, giving rise to different agreements, commitments and political pronouncements which were blatantly violated by powerful economic interests of the relatively advanced coastal elite.
In the late sixties there was a violent outburst and more than 300 youth lost their life and several disillusioned youth went to the forests and some of them rose to high positions in Maoist politics, leading tribal struggles all over India.
In 1970s when there was the Indira Gandhi wave, Telangana voted for TPS, a sub regional party. In 1977, when Indira Gandhi lost all over India, the region voted for her and she chose the Medak parliamentary constituency from Telangana.
From 1980s till present, radical politics continue to be vibrant and several selfless young people gave their lives for people’s causes. The region stood solidly with a group of citizens (Committee of Concerned Citizens) for peace talks between Naxalite parties and the Govt of AP, a historic experiment indeed.
In the recent elections when the Andhra region went with Narendra Modi, wave, Telangana voted for the Telangana Rashtra Samiti, a sub-regional party. The people carried a sustained struggle for more than a decade through peaceful methods and organised and continued the resistance even when the political parties were in a retreating mood.
June 2, 2014 marks the beginning of a new journey for Telangana people under a political leadership of their own. It is true that the Telugu-speaking people do have a common historical memory, in 1766 the coastal region became a part of colonial rule and Telangana remained a part of the feudal stranglehold. The two anicuts across Krishna and Godavari in the coastal belt of Andhra region shaped their political economy, influencing politics, culture and language, giving rise to new social classes which provided leadership to varied social and political movements including rise of the communist party which literally was on the threshold of power immediately after Indian independence.
Several legendary leaders hailing from the Andhra region, like Sundaraiah, were a part of the Telangana armed struggle. The Congress, however, appropriated the ideological fervour and saw that the communist party was reduced to a party of no consequence. Telangana, which dreamt of radical transformation and end of feudalism, had to encounter feudalism in a new incarnation. Added to it was the Green Revolution of 1960s, which accentuated the regional inequalities, giving rise to sensitive issues like distribution of opportunities, cultural sensibilities and sharing of river waters.
In retrospect, a lot of political wisdom needed be applied in making choice of technology, as in itself it is not sensitive to equity and justice, if anything, it serves the interests of the powerful. The tragic story took yet another turn with the adoption of the neo-liberal model and its ruthless pursuit of wealth that further widened the gap between rural and urban at one level, and services and agricultural sector at another level.
In the last decade, the Telangana movement has been a form of resistance against this model of growth without equity concerns.
The Telangana movement this time was full of hopes and aspirations and people from literally every walk of life joined with the hope that some of their pressing problems would be addressed.
In the very demand of a separate state there is an implicit assumption that political power is a correction for economic distortions. Since people believe now that substantive power is vested with their representatives, they may not accept any excuse from the Telangana political class if problems like clean drinking water, accessibility to health and education, support to agriculture, increased irrigation facilities and availability of inputs are not attended to.
People expect clean and corruption-free governance. All these steps will have to be initiated without losing a perspective of equity and justice.
The test of democratic governance is the space and scope for dissent articulation, people’s right to express their problems without fear.
It should not be forgotten that the creation of the state of Telangana would not have been a reality but for the struggle of the people.
Now the people of Telangana know how popular assertion can succeed. As the national politics have come to be dominated by communal forces and neo-liberal model of development, Telangana knows how to swim against the tide and present an alternative people-centric development as an example to the rest of the nation.
