Why does the Indian Union need Hyderabad?
The Telangana region was being ruled by the Nizams during the British Raj. Osman Ali Khan, was the ruler when India gained independence. Now , it was time for all 500 princely states to join the Indian union. Some states wanted to remain independent and the Hyderabad state (it had the Telangana region) was one of them. But the Hyderabad state was very important for the Indian union. Why? Here are the reasons:
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Why did the Hyderabad state want to remain independent?
If you will recall, the Hyderabad state was like a country in itself- it had considerable autonomy. It had its own railways, army, airline network, postal system, radio network and its own currency- the Osmania Sikka. This autonomy was the reason behind why Hyderabad wanted to remain independent.
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Negotiations
Hyderabad, as described earlier, had complete autonomy. It was a majority Hindu state but had Muslims making the minority- who controlled the political and administrative affairs of the state. The state had an army of 2400 (with the majority being Muslims) and a force called the 'Razkars' who were 2,00,000 in number.
Negotiations began between Osman Ali Khan and Sardar Patel. But they weren't successful. Osman Ali Khan tried to get the British to intervene- he wanted the state of Hyderabad to be a part of the British commonwealth nations but his attempt to do so failed. Osman Ali Khan went and lodged a complaint with the United Nations, which he withdrew after accession. (But the UN kept this complaint alive for 50 years!) After all attempts at negotiations failed, Nehru ( the Prime Minister) agreed to a standstill agreement. Under the agreement Status quo was maintained with Hyderabad and a few things were settled. Under the agreement Hyderabad gave the guarantee that they won't accede to Pakistan and the Indian Government gave the guarantee that they won't use military force against the state of Hyderabad for one year. In 1945 many rebellions took place in the Telangana region- known as the Telangana rebellion. Many peasants came together, along with the help of communists and targeted the jagirdari system as well as land owners. On the whole this movement shook the Hyderabad state and it eventually turned into a full-fledged revolt against the Nizam. The events which lead to military action against Hyderabad took place in the course of the next 13 months. The Razakras were committing atrocities against the innocent civilians. These incidents were happening in the state as well as in neighbouring villages. Amidst the chaos of the Telanagana uprising and the Razkars comitting atrocities against innocent villagers, Sardar Patel decided to start a military operation against Hyderabad. |
Operation Polo
Operation Polo is also referrred to as 'Police Action'. It was named Operation Polo, because at that time Hyderabad had the highest number of polo grounds in India- 17.
This operation started on 13th September 1948 and ended 5 days later- on 18th September 1948. The Nizams forces were heavily outnumbered by the Indian forces. Hyderabad was completely surrounded and the Nizam was forced to accept defeat. Later on the Nizam signed the instrument of accession and was made the the Rajpramuk- or the governor of Hyderabad. |
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The demand for a separate state- Telangana
The creation of Andhra Pradesh
So, to begin with... Andhra Pradesh was created. The Andhra Pradesh state was carved from the Madras state after the death of Poti Sri Ramulu after a 53 day fast. It was made due to the demand for a seperate state for the Telugu speaking people.
When the state was being made, there was a proposal for including Hyderabad in the new state. The CM of the Hyderabad state during that time, Burgula Ramakrishna Rao, supported this decision taken by the Congress... although there was opposition to this idea in the Telangana region. After this was carried out, a resolution was passed in Andhra Pradesh on November 20, 1955 which promised to safeguard the interests of the Telangana people. An agreement was made between the Telangana leaders and Andhra leaders on Febuary 20, 1956 to merge the Telangana regions with Andhra Pradesh. A "Gentlemen's" agreement was signed between Bezawada Gopal Reddy and Burgula Ramakrishna Rao, as a sign of protection of the Telangana people's intrests. |
The Agreement and Protests
Well, the residents of the Telangana region felt that the agreement was not being followed. In 1969, an agitation began in the Telangana region, they protested against the failure of this agreement.
Mari Channa Reddy launched the Telangana Praja samiti, as a call for the state of Telangana. As the agitation intensified violent incidents began taking place and young students were leading the struggle. In this agitation 300 of them were killed. In a bid to prevent escalation of violence, the PM- Indira Gandhi came up with an 8 point plan on April 12, 1969 which was rejected by the Telangana leaders and protests continued under the leadership of the Telangana Praja Samiti. |
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Counter Attack- From Renewal to Refusal
As a counter to the Telangana movement, the Jai Andhra movement was launched in 1972. Again to pacify the rebellions, on September 21, 1973 a political settlement was reached with the centre and a 6 point formula was put in place.
The Telanganites were once again angered by the appointments in govt. department- the Andhra people were being favoured over Telaganites. And then the Telugu Desam Party- headed by N T Rama Rao created a government order to safeguard the interests of the Telaganites in govt. employment. And this move worked wonders! Til 1999 there were no protests for Telanagana. But then the demand was brought back. |
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The ultimate purpose was to win
The Congress party, who were at an all time low in their career, decided to soar back to power by bringing back the demand for Telangana- and make the state.
And the movement entered a new phase with the entry of Kalvakuntka Chandrashekhar Rao, who was not given a seat in the Telugu Desam party. He started a new party for Telanagana- Telangana Rasthra Samiti (TRS) 27, April 2001. A second attempt was made by Congress to make Telangana- but failed miserably. The TRS was intensifying the movement for the new state. In order to win, the Congress forged an alliance with TRS by assuring them of the formation of Telangana. And the Congress succeeded! They came back to power in the state and in the central govt. in 2004. Unfortunately, Congepress was not able to fulfill their promise and TRS quit the coalition. |
Will TRS succeed?
TRS continued the fight. If you remember, the Telugu Desam Party wanted a united state (Jai Andhra), but in 2008 they were in for the bifurcation of Andhra Pradesh.
Similar to the way in which Poti Sri Ramulu fasted unto death for the creation of Andhra Pradesh, TRS also launched an indefinite hunger strike on 29 November 2009 in demand for a separate state. On 9 December 2009 the state told that they were working on the plans for the creation of Telangana. This intensified the protests and many students ended their lives for the separate sate. |
To birfucate or to not...
On 3 February 2010, the Sri Krishna committee was created which was headed by B.N. Srikrishna to look into the matter. Political turmoil continued in Hyderabad for several days. Bandhs protests were gathering monument.