| GREATER ANDHRA MOVEMENT - Devulapalli Ramanuja Rao |
Historic Declaration - Andhra people elated
The occasion of Sri Jawaharlal Nehru, Prime Minister of India, declaring, on 5 March 1956 in a huge public meeting at Nizamabad attended by about two lakhs people, the decision of the Government of India to form Greater Andhra is a historic and most brilliant event in the history of Andhra country. This declaration by the Indian Premier which affords an opportunity for all the Telugu people to once again, after a lapse of two hundred years, to become politically of one family has made the Andhra people quite happy. That this declaration should be made in Nizamabad also seems to be somewhat apt. Because it is in this Nizamabad several years before the ‘Police Action’ in the fourth Andhra Mahasabha that the Andhra movement (Andhrodyamam) was converted into a political movement. And then after the Police Action it was in the Hyderabad State Congress Conference held at Nizamabad that a resolution demanding the trifurcation of the Hyderabad State and the merger of the Andhra, Maharashtra, Karnataka territories of the State with the respective neighboring linguistic states was passed. Again in the same Nizamabad in the year 1956 this declaration for formation of Greater Andhra has taken place.
With the spread of English imperialism the establishment of provinces in India has occurred to cater to the needs and uses of the alien rulers without any relevance to the needs of the people here. Consequently, Andhras who were united under the Qutubshahi rule, as also for some period under the Nizamshahi rule, had become split into [parts in] Madras and Hyderabad States. About one hundred fifty years after such split, the desire to reunite has first manifested itself the year 1900 A.D. The British Andhra, late Sri Komarraju Venkata Lakshmana Rao, came to Hyderabad and founded the Srikrishnadevaraya Andhrabhasha Nilayam in the year 1900 and the Vijnanchandrika Granthamandali in the year 1904 and has brought nearer the Telugus in both the regions in scholarly [or educational] pursuits. This scholastic [or educational] movement gradually spread through exhibition of plays (dramas), Avadhanas (versatility demos), newspapers and journals, tours of scholars, etc., cultural movements, got strengthened and within a few years of the Police Action had established Greater Andhra culturally [That’s why Sri Konda Venkata Ranga Reddy, a Telangana leader, had, on the occasion of the inaugural ceremony of the Telugu Bhasha Samiti branch in July 1955, asserted that Visalandhra (Greater Andhra) had (already) been formed culturally. It is but natural, an innate phenomenon, that cultural greater Andhra should have evolved before political greater Andhra].
Two-decade old concept
It can be said that Greater Andhra is also, politically, a movement conceptualized two decades ago. About twenty years back, there was [serious] apprehension in the Hyderabad Government of those days that the Andhrodyamam (Andhra movement) in Hyderabad could develop into a greater Andhra movement. Nawab Ali Yavar Jung Bahadur, the then Home Secretary to the Hyderabad Government, had in 1936 expressed this doubt to Sri Madapati Hanumanta Rao, then President of the Andhra Mahasabha. And then Comrade Putchalapalli Sundaraih had, by writing the book “People’s State in Greater Andhra” in 1946, had confirmed the above apprehension to be well-grounded. The cultural movement in Hyderabad had laid the foundations for greater Andhra. The monthly journal ‘Shobha’ (splendour), started in 1947, edited by Devulapalli Ramanuja Rao and published from Warangal, ran with the orientation towards greater Andhra.
TWO STREAMS
In this (20th) century, Andhra movement has developed in two streams. First of these is the Andhra Statehood movement in the Madras Province. In our country the linguistic states movement has been carried out as supplemental to the Indian national movement. Even prior to independence the Indian National Congress supported the [proposal and demand for] linguistic states and organized its Provincial Congress Committees on linguistic basis. Before the advent of independence to India, the Andhra movement in the Madras Province was a statehood movement limited to the Andhra area of that province. The second stream is that of the Andhra movement (Andhrodyamam) in the Hyderabad State. The goal of this movement up to the Police Action was the establishment of a responsible government in Hyderabad. But after India got independence and the native states became integral parts of Independent India, there were some clear, natural developments in the outlooks of the Andhra movements in both these provinces. These developments had again given rise to a movement for a united province for all the Andhras. And likewise the United Maharashtra and United Karnataka movements also took shape. Consequently, after the merger of the Mysore and Hyderabad States in the Independent Indian Union, the Greater Andhra (Visalandhra) Mahasabha (Great Congress) was founded on 26 November 1949. This Mahasabha later met on 13 & 14 February 1950 and declared the formation of Greater Andhra as its ideal. On 2 October 1953 the division of Madras Province and the establishment of the Andhra State comprising of the Telugu speaking areas of that province occurred. This was the first step for the formation of a Greater Andhra State. The idea of the need for a separate Andhra State and separation from Madras Province first of all originated in the year 1912. The root cause for this idea was the absence of sufficient opportunities for the all-round development of Andhras in Madras Province due to the presence of [the author hints - domination of] Tamilians. Late Sri Konda Venkatappaiah Pantulu, late Sri [Kashinathuni] Nageswara Rao Pantulu, late Sri Nyapati Subba Rao Pantulu, late Sri Kattamanchi Ramalinga Reddy, and Sri Prakasam Pantulu, Sri Bulusu Sambamurthy, Sri Pattabhi Sitaramaiah Pantulu et al started and led the movement for a separate Andhra State. At first the argument for linguistic provinces had generated some uproar among the Congress circles. However, Sri Pattabhi Sitaramaiah wrote an enlightening book in English on the need for linguistic provinces in which he supported the doctrine of linguistic provinces with good reasons. The Andhra Congress leaders prevailed over the All India Congress to accept this linguistic states formula and achieved a separate Congress Committee for the Andhra region in the Madras Province. Later the Andhra movement gradually grew stronger and after independence the Andhra State was formed. There was no difference of opinion [worth the name] in the Andhra country regarding the movement for a separate Andhra State. All political parties had supported this movement. Professor Sri [Sarvepalli] Radhakrishnan had presided over the 20th Andhra Mahasabha conducted in Madras. Thereafter he even went to England and negotiated about the demand of establishment of an Andhra State with the Secretary-of-States there. Sri Radhakrishnan had complete sympathy toward the Andhra movement from the beginning and as and when required, he did render the requisite help to the movement.
LIBERATION MOVEMENT
After the advent of independence to India, the Hyderabad People’s liberation movement picked up fresh strength. With the refusal of the Nizam of Hyderabad to accede to Indian Union a new chapter had begun in the Hyderabad People’s Liberation Movement. Due to the inhuman atrocities perpetrated by the Razakars in 1947, people of Hyderabad State in thousands of numbers had to flee and took temporary refuge in the neighboring States. The Hyderabad Andhras went to Vijayawada and Kurnool regions. This exodus reveals the mindset of political unity between the two regions. In July 1947 a meeting of the temporarily migrated political activists was held at the residence of Sri Ayyadevara Kaleshwara Rao and the Hyderabad People’s Freedom Struggle Action Committee was formed. A branch of this committee was formed at Kurnool also. Speaking on behalf of this Action Committee Swami Ramanand Tirth exhorted that the people of Hyderabad must be liberated from the fascist rule and a responsible government should be established there. In the same month, the Andhra Congress Committee of Madras Province had established a Hyderabad People’s Aid Committee with Sri Kaleshwara Rao as the President.
POLICE ACTION
A secret meeting of the All India Congress Standing Committee was held on 26 April 1948 in Bombay chaired by Babu Rajendra Prasad. Sri Kaleshwara Rao was the chief among the persons who argued for a police action on Hyderabad State in this secret meeting. On that occasion the Andhra leaders requested Babu Rajendra Prasad for an Andhra State but then he convinced them that if a separate State for Andhras was immediately given thereafter, it will compel such arrangements for the Maharashtrians and Kannadigas also and hence it was better to wait and decide all these questions together and once for all. Anyway the Police Action on Hyderabad State did take place from 13 to 17 September 1948 and the people of the State were liberated. Later in November 1948 Sri Kaleshwara Rao came to Hyderabad and consulted with the Swamiji and other local Congress leaders. It was decided on that occasion that the Hyderabad State should be divided and efforts should be made to forge a Greater Andhra, United Karnataka and United Maharashtra States. In April 1949 when Sri Kaleshwara Rao visited Hyderabad again, the Maharashtrian leaders at Hyderabad accepted and declared that Hyderabad was a Telugu city and it is the capital of Telugu land. In a tea party given on that occasion by Sri Burgula Ramakrishna Rao also all [leaders attending] had accepted that Hyderabad was the capital city for the entire Andhra country. This idea of Hyderabad being the capital city for entire Andhra was somehow brought to the notice of Sardar Patel whereupon he wrote a letter to Sri Kaleshwara Rao cautioning him not to launch any agitation about the division of Hyderabad State at that juncture. Thereafter in May 1949, talking with the Hyderabad Congress leaders on the occasion of the All India Congress Committee meeting held at Dehra Dun, Sardar Patel had told them that the time for agitating for the dissolution of the Hyderabad State had not yet arrived but in about five years such climate could be created. In this way, appropriate atmosphere for the Hyderabad dissolution movement was created. It was also recognized that Hyderabad was the capital for the entire Andhra country. Sri Kaleshwara Rao was the first among the Madras Congress leaders who thus recognized [the importance of Hyderabad]. He was from the beginning of the opinion that Andhras will not be able to get Madras. It is notable that the Andhra Congress Members of the Assembly who met at Madras in January 1950 decided that Madras could be the temporary capital but Hyderabad would be the permanent capital of the Andhras. Just one day prior to the emergence of Andhra State i.e. on 30 September 1953 also the Andhra Congress Committee had met and decided that Kurnool will be the temporary capital but Hyderabad will be the permanent capital for Andhra. On the other hand, the Communist Party was from the beginning i.e. from 1947 onwards declaring its aim that the Hyderabad State had to be dissolved and the Andhra region in the Madras Province and the Telangana region have to be merged to form a Greater Andhra with Hyderabad as the capital city and was also trying [its best] to spread such agitation among the common people.
The Artificial State and People’s Desire
Due to the expansion of their dominions by the English, an artificial State containing Andhra, Maharashtra and Karnataka regions had emerged under the Asaf Jahi rule. The people were crushed under the medieval despotic rule. And so the people desired that in the democratic atmosphere created after the Police Action the Hyderabad State should be dissolved and the Andhra, Maharashtra and Karnataka regions of it be merged with the respective linguistic regions in the neighboring provinces to create a Greater Andhra, United Maharashtra and United Karnataka. After the Police Action, this desire had reflected itself in the resolutions of all the political parties of Hyderabad. Cultural organizations too supported such ideas. Taking place after the Police Action, the February 1949 meeting of the Andhra Saraswata Parishad had not only supported the formation of linguistic states but in reality that meeting was conducted as a Greater Andhra literary meet. Later Parishad meetings also took place in similar manner. The Andhra Saraswata Parishad meetings which took place at Alampuram with the blessings of Professor [Sarvepalli] Radhakrishnan were indeed entire Andhra literary meets. Andhra Saraswata Parishad and other literary institutions had completely supported the Greater Andhra movement. Immediately after the Police Action a [Andhra or Hyderabad?] State Congress meeting was held at Ghanapuram under the presidency of late Sardar Jamalapuram Keshava Rao wherein a resolution demanding formation of Greater Andhra was passed, and this resolution was editorially supported by the Golkonda Patrika, then the only Telugu daily in Telangana. Perhaps it was the first time that politically and in a public meeting such a resolution was declared. Afterwards, in March 1950, in the Hyderabad State Congress meeting under the presidency of Sri Digambar Rao Bindu it was resolved that Hyderabad State be trifurcated and the Andhra, Maharashtra and Karnataka regions in it be merged in the respective linguistic states neighboring it. This resolution was proposed by Sri Burgula Ramakrishna Rao and supported by Sri K.V. Ranga Reddy and M. Channa Reddy too. Later, in the Visalandhra Mahasabha Standing Committee meeting held on 12 & 13 February 1950 at Warangal under the presidency of Sri Ayyadevara Kaleshwara Rao the resolution for formation of Greater Andhra was passed. Andhra Kesari Sri Tanguturi Prakasam Pantulu too had participated in this meeting. On scrutinizing the list of this Vislandhra Mahasabha Standing Committee members one would find representatives of all political parties and of all sections and cultural institutions also in it. Not only the Congress but also other political parties, especially the Communist and Socialist parties had lent great strength to the Visalandhra movement.
A short wait
The Visalandhra movement, which began thus, took some time to enter the Hyderabad city and spread all over the Telugu land. On the occasion of the first ever Andhra Progress fests (Andhrabhyudayotsavalu) conducted in the Osmania University Sri Ayyadevara Kaleshwara Rao had come to Hyderabad and tried to begin the Visalandhra Mahasabha there with the advice of Sri Madapati Hanumantha Rao pantulu. For this purpose a meeting was conducted in the Andhra Provincial Congress Office at Sultan Bazar in this context. Sri Pallerla Hanumantha Rao, the then Vice President of Andhra provincial congress, had presided over the meeting. Sri Madapati Hanumantha Rao Pantulu, Ayyadevara Kaleshwara Rao, P. Pulla Reddy, Devulapalli Ramanuja Rao, Pulijala Hanumantha Rao, M.S. Rajalingam et al had participated in it and it was opined that a short wait was necessary before starting the movement in future.
Democratic Atmosphere - Sowing the seeds
In such circumstances, General Elections were conducted in Hyderabad State. For the first time ever a government responsible to an elected Assembly was formed. Communists had withdrawn their Telangana [armed] struggle and entered into the Assembly. So in this democratic climate the votaries of Visalandhra movement opined that the time for the spread of the Greater Andhra movement has arrived. With this opinion, under the inspiration of Sri Mir Ahmad Ali Khan, on 13 August 1953 three persons – Mir Ahmad Ali Khan, Devulapalli Ramanuja Rao and Nandagiri Venkat Rao – met in the Osmania University Graduates (Association) Office and decided to start a Greater Andhra movement in Hdyerabad City and to that end decided to consult with Sri Madapati Hanumantha Rao and Sri Suravaram Pratapa Reddy. These consultations took place on 20 August 1953 in the Osmania University Graduates (Association) Office situated at Exhibition Grounds. Sri Madapati Hanumantha Rao, Ahmad Ali Khan, Suravaram Pratap Reddy, Nandagiri Venkat Rao, Devulapalli Ramanuja Rao, Pallerla Hanumantha Rao, Sardarullah Khan, Bhoj Raj had participated in these consultations. Finally, under the signatures of the eight participants of that consultative meet, it was decided to call for a bigger meeting on 14 September 1953 at 5 p.m. in the evening in the same Graduates [Association] Office. And more than 100 delegates from the city and the districts were invited to participate in that meeting. The notice of the meeting was written in English by Sri Suravaram Pratap Reddy. This historic notice, written by Sri Pratap Reddy with his own hand, is still in the custody of this author [Devulapalli Ramanuja Rao].
In the 14 September 1953 meet, Sri Madapati Hanumantha Rao, Pallerla Hanumantha Rao, Bhoj Raj, Bojjam Narsimhulu (later turned separate Telanganite), Kommavarapu Subba Rao, Adiraju Virabhadra Rao, S. Shyam Rao, Kamatam Venkat Reddy, Mir Ahmad Ali Khan, Devulapalli Ramanuja Rao, Sardarullah Khan, Maduri Shankaralingam, Ranjit Singh, Bhadra Dev, Nukala Narotham Reddy, et al participated. Sri Madapati Hanumantha Rao presided over this meeting. In this way the Greater Andhra movement and its ideas began to gradually spread in the Hyderabad City and districts.
As things were so, the utmost self-sacrifice of Sri Potti Sriramulu in Madras for achieving the Andhra State and later the declaration by the Union Government of the formation of a separate Andhra State happened. In this context, an executive committee meeting of the Andhra State Congress Committee had taken place in April 1953 at Vijayawada. This meeting is quite important. At that time Sri Neelam Sanjeeva Reddy was the President of the Andhra State Congress Committee. Sri Kaleshwara Rao had written to Sri Madapati Hanumantha Rao pantulu that it would be good if some representatives from Telangana could come to Vijayawada on this occasion. Consulting with his confidants Sri Madapati Hanumantha Rao asked Devulapalli Ramanuja Rao and Ahmad Ali Khan to go to Vijayawada for the purpose. Before going to Vijayawada, these three met Sri Konda Venkata Ranga Reddy. Sri Konda Venkata Ranga Reddy had expressed his opinion that sooner or later Greater Andhra would inevitably emerge and encouraged saying he was amenable to the three who met him – Madapati Hanumantha Rao, Devulapalli Ramanuja Rao and Ahmad Ali Khan – working for that cause. These two [DR and AA Khan] were given a grand welcome in Vijayawada. These two had consulted with Andhra Congress leaders like Sri Sanjeeva Reddy, Kaleshwara Rao, et al. The Andhra leaders had expressed their complete agreement with the Greater Andhra movement and also opined that the said Greater Andhra movement should be carried out from Telangana region only. A public meeting was held at Vijayawada that day in which these two had spoken on this issue.
Thereafter the Municipal Corporations of Hyderabad and Secunderabad passed resolutions for the dissolution of the Hyderabad State and the formation of Greater Andhra with Hyderabad as the capital city. On 2 June 1959 a General Body meeting of the Hyderabad Pradesh Congress was conducted under the chair of Sri Ramananda Tirth. In that general body meeting, a resolution desiring the establishment of Greater Andhra, United Karnataka and United Maharashtra States was passed. These events had lent powerful support to the spread of the Greater Andhra movement in the cities of Hyderabad and Secunderabad and in other Telangana districts. The Communist Party had given out a declaration supporting Greater Andhra. In the Andhra Mahasabha Executive Committee meeting held under the chair of Sri Baddam Yella Reddy on 14, 15 August 1953 at Himayatnagar in the office of the Telangana Ryots (Peasant) Association, a resolution demanding formation of Greater Andhra was passed. A few months afterwards this Andhra Mahasabha (general) meeting was conducted at Pratap Girji Kothi wherein it was resolved that Greater Andhra should be formed expeditiously. On 24 August 1953 at the Reddy Students Hostel, Hyderabad, a meeting under the chair of Sri Madapati Hanumantha Rao was conducted to support the Greater Andhra movement. Devulapalli Ramanuja Rao, V.B. Raju, Gurumurthy, Venkatesham, Vasudeva Naik, Ahmad Ali Khan, Dr. Rangachari participating in it spoke for the expeditious establishment of Greater Andhra. On 2 October 1953 the Andhra State was established. In this context a meeting of the Andhra Pradesh Congress was conducted at Kurnool wherein a resolution demanding establishment of Greater Andhra with Hyderabad as the capital was passed. This is quite notable. From Hyderabad, about 200 activists of the Greater Andhra movement had gone to Kurnool on that occasion to participate in the Andhra State emergence celebrations. In the evening of 1 October 1953 a meeting of the Telangana representatives was held at Kurnool. Andhra leaders like Sri Anantasayanam Ayyangar, Sri Bezwada Gopala Reddy, Sri Ayyadevara Kaleshwara Rao, et al also participated in it and after comprehensive discussions the Telangana representatives decided to work for the formation of Greater Andhra.
INCOMPLETE ANDHRA STATE
The Andhra State formed on 2 October 1953 was incomplete. The efforts to make Madras city as the common capital [for Andhras and Tamilians] failed. Kurnool was chosen to be the capital city. Well, if Madras City could have been accepted as the capital at that time, perhaps serious obstructions would have come in the way of Hyderabad becoming the capital city of Greater Andhra and perhaps hearty sympathy [and support] for a Greater Andhra bereft of Hyderabad City as its capital could not have been found from Telangana! So, it seems there is Nature’s work in not allowing Madras as the capital city. Sri Prakasham Pantulu, the Chief Minister of Andhra State, had repeatedly declared that the Andhra State so formed was incomplete and Kurnool was but a temporary capital. But however incomplete it might have been, the formation of the first Andhra State was a cause for rejoicing for all the Hyderabad Andhras. With this Andhra State as the first step, they (Hyderabad Telugus) began their efforts for the achievement of Greater Andhra. On 2 October 1953 a felicitation meeting to greet the formation of Andhra State took place in the Sri Krishnadevaraya Andhrabhasha Nilayam at Hyderabad. Sri Madapati Hanumantha Rao and Sri Konda Venkata Ranga Reddy, speaking at the meet, desired the formation of Greater Andhra. Shortly afterwards, inaugurating the Andhra Natyakala Parishad meetings at Bandar (Machilipatnam), Sri Channa Reddy had also supported Greater Andhra. On 2 October 1953 the Communist Party had also held a public meeting at Hyderabad to felicitate Andhra State emergence and demanded the establishment of Greater Andhra. In this way, the Greater Andhra movement had gained strength in the Telugu country as a people’s movement. (to be continued)
* * * * *
Born Desaipet, Warangal, 25 August 1917, and Died: 8 June 1993. An eminent Telugu writer, votary of Telugu unity, a founder member and for long time President, Andhra Saraswata Parishad; was also MP (RS) once. Translation, with some editing, of the section by the same title in his written “National Movements in Telangana” (తెలంగాణలో జాతీయోద్యమాలు); Courtesy: Andhra Saraswata Parishad, Hyderabad. Contrary to the false, Goebbelsian propaganda by the separatists that Visalandhra or emergence of Andhra Pradesh is due to the schemes and machinations of Andhra ‘colonialists’ and 1 November is a ‘Betrayal Day’, the Greater Andhra (Visalandhra literally means ‘large’ or ‘larger’ Andhra but I prefer to use ‘Greater’) movement was basically a Telangana people’s movement and the Telangana people overwhelmingly supported and rejoiced in the formation of united Andhra Pradesh, which fiery fact this article confirms. Shortcomings in translation regretted; emphases in bold ours. - IMS.
nice info thank you The great leader Gummadi Narsaiah
ReplyDelete