A brief insight into Andhra Pradesh history

Before independence, there used to be a 'Hyderabad samsthan' – consisting of all the Telangana districts and few other districts of current Maharashtra and Karnataka states - ruled by Nizam. Rest of the south India was under British rule as 'Madras Presidency' – consisting of the present Tamilnadu, part of AP (Seema and Andhra regions) and part of Karnataka and the ‘Mysore Presidency’ – consisting of a part of Karnataka and Kerala. (Since the current day India is formed only after 15th August 1947, digging the history any deeper than this would lead the entire subject endlessly out of context).

Post independence, Madras and Mysore presidencies were included into Indian Nation but 'Hyderabad samsthan' was still under Nizam and was an independent country. Hyderabad samsthan was forcefully annexed by Indian Government through 'Police Action' when Nizam tried to merge this area with Pakistan. Nizam gave up and accepted the Indian rule (however a petition with regard to this forceful annexure is still pending with the United Nations). Even then in south India, there were three Administrative units i.e, Madras presidency, Mysore Presidency and Hyderabad state.

Seema-Andhraites wanted a separate state for themselves as Tamilians used to dominate the Madras rule. Subsiquent to Sri Potti Sri Ramulu's 54 day fast demanding 'linguistic states', Tamilnadu and Andhra(including Rayalaseema) states were formed. Initially Telangana (Hyderabad as capital) and Andhra (Kurnool as capital) were separate states until 1956. Boorugula Rama Krishna Rao (BRK) - the then CM of Telangana (Who knows his name now?) made significant contributions in combining both the Telugu dominated states. But nowhere in AP's history it is ever mentioned that a Telangana leader was instrumental in formation of AP. It is generally propagated as 'Potti Sri Ramulu' championed the formation of AP. In fact, AP state was formed years after his death.

Why Telanagana and Andhra states were merged?

The following were considered as the major influential factors on both sides in formation of AP state.

• Andhra state had to forego the Madras city to Tamilnadu and was badly in need of a capital city. There were hardly any basic infra-structure arrangements in any of the Andhra cities, that could be made a capital. The high court was operational from Guntur where as Secretariat was operational from Kurnool, even without a proper building. There wasn’t even an Assembly building to conduct the regular sessions. The state had a severe budget deficit. So Andhra state couldn’t afford to quickly raise any of it’s cities to the level of a capital. This has become a severe headache for the central government. But because of the British rule over this area, there was proper schooling especially in Coastal Andhra, land records were maintained intact. However, the Seema area was still a backward area with prevailing feudalistic system that was established long back during Krishna Devaraya period. Over all, the immediate necessity of Andhra State was establishing a good “Capital city”.  

• Telangana state was dominantly ruled by the Nizam kings with a typical feudalistic hierarchy under ‘watandari’, patel & patwari system. Majority of lands were either with the government or held by the watandars who in turn would lease the land to farmers and collect heavy revenue taxes to pay the Nizam government. Monsoon based agriculture was the major source of income but there were great many water reservoirs and tanks to store and supply sufficient water. A few industrial corridors (Textile and paper mills at Sirpur, The Azam Jahi Mills at Warangal, Various Beedi factories, Singareni Coal mining, Nirmal handicrafts etc) also provided industry based employement opportunities. But there was a huge dearth of skilled labor and most of the cream jobs were held by non-localites. Urdu was the official language and schools were made to teach Urdu as the primary medium of instruction. As a result of Urdu medium schools, over a period of time the local Telugu language was transformed into a dialect of it’s own which is a mix of Urdu and Telugu words. In general, Telangana is habituated with more forests and tribal people. Literacy rate was very minimal and people were less politically motivated. Farmers were revolting against the feudalists and such revolts were intelligently hijacked by the communist groups leading them towards Naxalism. Overall entire Telangana was considered as a very backward region with respect to the standard parameters like literacy, infrastructure, political thoughts etc. For the central government, restoring the literacy rate of this region, pulling people out from the Muslim cultural influence were major challenges of this region.

State merger -  A 'One shot – Two birds’ solution of the central government

The only exception to the entire Telangana was Hyderabad. Being their capital city, Nizam rulers really developed it at par with the other major cities that were ruled directly by the British. The city had wide roads, underground drainage facility, and a well planned British cantonment area called Secunderabad. All the current day major constructions such as the High court, Assembly, Railway stations, a top class Osmania University, Nizam’s college, Koti women’s college, Medical college, the Falaknuma palace, Asafia Library (Later named as City central Library in 1980), huge water reservoirs like Hussainsagar, Mir alam and Gandipet lakes and Begumpet Airport were existing in the city of Hyderabad. Further Hyderabad had a good industrial corridor around Azamabad and Sanathnagar. Nizam’s Sugar factory (1937), Alwin Metal Works (1942), Praga Tools (1943), Hyderabad Asbestos (1947) were few existing prestigious government owned industries at Hyderabad. Further the city was catering to the medical needs of the people through Osmania hospital, Niloufur children hospital and a TB hospital at Vikarabad. Nizam rulers used to encourage businessmen and other educated intellectuals to settle down happily at Hyderabad to make it a true secular city that nurtured not only major communities but also a mixture of both South Indian and North Indian cultures. In 1955, Dr. B R Ambedkar was so impressed with the culture and infrastructural amenities of this city that he wanted it be made as the second capital of the country.

However, the Telugu literary experts of Telangana region were concerned with the fact of Urdu domination over Telugu. They were actively participating in the ‘Andhra Bhasha Mahodyamam” closely rubbing shoulders with the Telugu literary experts from Andhra State. Because of language commonality and many Andhra settlers flow to the Telangana state, human relations between the two states were pretty cohesive. Many leaders from both the states wanted a united Telugu speaking state.

The central government thus saw an opportunity to solve the Capital issue of Andhra state as well as addressing the backwardness of Hyderabad state and also reducing the Muslim domination over Hindus in this region. However, there were many others, especially from the Hyderabad state who also opposed the unification of the two states. Telanganites feared that the educated Andhraites would dominate them on a longer run. Many Telanganites clearly expressed this concern before the States Reorganization Commission (SRC) (This commission is also called as ‘Fasal Ali Commission’). However, the central government along with the leaders of the both Telangana and Andhra States worked out certain special provisional Constitution rights to the Telanganites. It was agreed that the proposed unified state would be called as Andhra Pradesh (AP).

Formation of AP was 'Conditional' - that it can be divided back if people of Telangana demand it in future. Even the Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru expressed his concern about this unification of two states and wittingly termed it as a marriage between ‘a smart Andhra groom and an innocent Telangana bride”. He further clearly stated that such marriage alliance can be broken any time one wishes.