| GREATER ANDHRA
MOVEMENT (3) - Devulapalli Ramanuja Rao |
Two groups clearly emerge
[Thenceforth] two groups – one supporting Greater Andhra and the other [separate] Telangana – had clearly emerged in the Hyderabad political field and began to work [in their respective spheres]. Only in the Congress and Praja Socialist Parties such opposing groups emerged but there were no differences in the Communist Party. All of them [communists] spoke in one voice. The final decision in this respect was to be made by the Government of India. As such both the Greater Andhra and [separate] Telangana groups have started activities like submitting memoranda, appeals etc. to the Government of India to take a decision favourable to their respective stands. The Greater Andhra movement was becoming more organized. In the month of October [1955] the Greater Andhra activists in Telangana had met under the chair of Sri Bommakanti Satyanarayana Rao in the Greater Andhra Mahasabha office and took a decision to work [more actively] for the achievement of Greater Andhra. On 3 November 1955 the Greater Andhra activists met under the presidency of Sri Mir Ahmad Ali Khan and passed a resolution that Greater Andhra was immediately required. For this a delegation to go to Delhi, meet the leaders there and apprise them of the immediate need to form Greater Andhra was appointed. Sri Mir Ahmad Ali Khan, Bommakanti Satyanarayana Rao, Paga Pulla Reddy, Kotturi Sitaiah, B.V. Gurumurthy, V.B. Raju, et al were in this delegation. They went to Delhi in the first week of November [1955], stayed there for a few days, met Sri Jawaharlal Nehru, Prime Minister of India, Dr. Radhakrishnan, Vice-President, Sri Govinda Vallabh Pant, Home Minister, Sri Thebar, Congress President, et al and apprised them of the need to immediately form Greater Andhra. On behalf of the Telangana communists, a deputation under the leadership of Sri Ravi Narayana Reddy also went to Delhi, met the veteran leaders there and explained to them the need to immediately form Greater Andhra. Andhra communist leaders Sri Pucchalapalli Sundaraiah and Sri Chandra Rajeshwara Rao also went to Delhi and worked in favour of achieving Greater Andhra immediately.
Two prominent incidents
In the month of November [1955] the All India Congress Working Committee meeting was held. But two important developments which occurred prior to this meeting are to be explained here. The first was the meeting of the Chief Ministers of States held in New Delhi on 22 October 1955. Before Sri Burgula Ramakrishna Rao, the Chief Minister of Hyderabad, started for attending this meeting, the leaders of both the [Greater Andhra and separate Telangana] groups met him and requested him to apprise the central leadership about their respective opinions. On the day of Dusserah festival (Vijaya Dasami) on 17 October 1955 the activists of the Greater Andhra Mahasabha on behalf of that Mahasabha met Sri Burgula Ramakrishna Rao and urged him to place their opinions before the central leadership. Sri Ramakrishna Rao had informed that he would apprise the Central Government of the opinions of all parties and about the local conditions. Within a few days after his return to Hyderabad after participating in the Chief Ministers meeting, Sri Burgula Ramakrishna Rao made a detailed statement on 28 October [1955] declaring the need for the immediate formation of Greater Andhra. Therein he explained that if Telangana were to be kept separate for five years several troubles would arise and in these five years the dispute of separate Telangana and Greater Andhra will be daily erupting and it may even become an issue in the elections and hence it was better that Greater Andhra should be formed immediately. He had nicely explained the need for the immediate formation of Greater Andhra in this statement. The Greater Andhra Mahasabha had translated this statement [of Sri Burgula Ramakrishna Rao] into Telugu and published it, which became a strong support for the Greater Andhra movement. After participating in the same Chief Ministers meeting Sri Bezwada Gopala Reddy, the Andhra Chief Minister, had stopped over for a few hours in Hyderabad on his return journey when the Greater Andhra Mahasabha activists met him on behalf of the Greater Andhra Mahasabha. Speaking to them, Sri Bezawada Gopala Reddy revealed that in the Chief Ministers meeting, the Chief Ministers of both Andhra and Hyderabad States had pleaded for the immediate formation of Greater Andhra and especially Sri Burgula Ramakrishna Rao, Chief Minister of Hyderabad, had very efficiently placed the arguments for Greater Andhra in his speech. The second event was the meeting of the State Congress Presidents that was held in Delhi in the second week of November 1955. Prior to this meeting, on 31 October 1955 the Telangana Congress delegates meeting was held [at Hyderabad]. In this meeting, a majority of the delegates (50 delegates on 1-11-55) had supported the recommendation of the [Fazal Ali] Commission i.e. keeping Telangana separate for five years whereas [only] a minority (17 delegates), among whom Sri Burgula Ramakrishna Rao was also there, supported the immediate formation of Greater Andhra. [However,] the Hyderabad Pradesh Congress President Sri J.V. Narsinga Rao, who participated in the State Congress Presidents meeting, demanded separate Telangana for all times to come. Later on his return from Delhi, Sri Narsinga Rao explained that separate Telangana forever was his personal opinion. Sri Channa Reddy also made a similar statement. And Sri K.V. Ranga Reddy led the movement for separate Telangana. Thus the [separate] Telangana movement gained momentum. In this background, the All India Congress Working Committee meeting was held in New Delhi, and on 9 November 1955 the Congress Working Committee (CWC) advised the Telangana people that formation of Greater Andhra would be appropriate. It needs to be also noted that around the same time the All India Communist Party as well as the All India Praja Socialist Party had passed resolutions demanding immediate formation of Greater Andhra.
Negotiations
In the first week of November 1955 the Chief Minister, Sri Bezawada Gopala Reddy, Deputy Chief Minister, Sri Neelam Sanjeeva Reddy, Planning Minister Sri Kala Venkata Rao of Andhra state and Sri Alluri Satyanarayana Raju, President of Andhra State Congress, had come to Hyderabad and conducted negotiations with both the groups. The day they came here at about 3 P.M. in the afternoon the Hyderabad Congress leaders Sri Burgula Ramakrishna Rao, Sri Konda Venkata Ranga Reddy, Sri Channa Reddy, Sri J.V. Narasinga Rao met them and after prolonged discussions it was decided that they should again meet, this time in Kurnool, on 23 November 1955 to continue the discussions. In this meeting Sri Burgula Ramakrishna Rao strongly supported [the formation of] Greater Andhra. However, since thereafter the separate Telangana leaders did not like to go to Kurnool, that next meeting was not held.
Greater Andhra movement gets intensified
When the situation was so, the Greater Andhra movement began to gradually gain strength. The Greater Andhra Mahasabha published several books and pamphlets in Telugu and Urdu, conducted meetings and conferences and also through other programmes of propaganda began to strengthen the Greater Andhra movement in conformity with the advice of the All India Congress Working Committee. Among those who conducted such meetings in the districts to support the Greater Andhra movement a special mention needs to be made of Sri Bommakanti Satyanarayana Rao, P. Pulla Reddy, Kotturi Sitaiah, Mir Ahmad Ali Khan, V.B. Raju, Pandit Narendraji, KONDA LAKSHMAN, Erram Satyanarayana et al. Sri Janardhan Rao Desai also helped the Greater Andhra movement. The communist leaders too had conducted several meetings and conferences in the districts and lent strength to the Greater Andhra movement. In some places all-party meetings were held to support Greater Andhra. In these all-party meetings, Sri Chundi Jagannadham, KODATI, KOMARAGIRI and KALOJI [Narayanatrayam - the Narayana trinity] had enthusiastically participated and worked. Sri Vavilala Gopalakrishnaiah too had participated in some meetings. Women also came in great numbers to participate in the Greater Andhra movement. Among such women, a mention needs to be made of Ms. Ellapragada Sita Kumari, Suryadevara Rajyalakshmi Devi, Vijayalakshmi and Rajamani Devi. More than 200 Greater Andhra conferences were held in Telangana. [Several] village panchayats, municipalities, Congress associations, trade unions had expressed their support for Greater Andhra to the Central Government. Among the students both groups had intensified. Due to temporary passions in some places even violence occurred. People from various walks of life passed resolutions for Greater Andhra and sent them to the Central Government. On 12 November 1955 two important meetings were held. One was at Pratapgirji Kothi and the other at Charminar. These two meetings were held by the minority sections of the Maharashtrian, Karnataka, Gujarati, Marwari and Muslim delegates and eminent persons and resolutions in support of Greater Andhra were passed in these two meetings and sent to the Central Government. On 22 November 1955 the Hyderabad Advocates meeting under the presidency of Sri G. Venkatachalam declared that the formation of Greater Andhra alone was their will and wish. On 24 November 1955 a Telangana delegates meeting, in which about 500 delegates from the districts participated, was held at Charminar under the presidency of Sri Ravi Narayana Reddy and it was inaugurated by Sri KALOJI NARAYANA RAO. The meeting declared for the immediate formation of Greater Andhra. Apart from this, several professional and business associations sent hundreds of telegrams to the Central Government in support of Greater Andhra. The Greater Andhra Mahasabha had worked very actively and very carefully in organizing this movement.
In such a background, the Hyderabad Assembly met on 22 November 1955. In this meeting the Chief Minister Sri Burgula Ramakrishna Rao had moved a resolution for the merger of Andhra and Telangana. Proposing this resolution, Sri Ramakrishna Rao made a comprehensive speech explaining as to why Greater Andhra was necessary. There were in all 175 members in the Hyderabad Legislative Assembly among whom 147 participated in the debate. Among them 103 members wanted immediate formation of Greater Andhra whereas only 28 favoured separate Telangana. While the debate was going on in this manner in the Assembly Sri Konda Venkata Ranga Reddy went [hurried] to Delhi and got some direction [from the Congress central leadership, presumably] due to which voting was not held in the Assembly [on this resolution] but the Assembly was adjourned to meet again on 4 December 1955. But the details regarding the opinions expressed by the members were submitted to the Central Government. Also the gist of the Chief Minister’s speech [on the floor of the Assembly] on 23 November 1955 was published in Telugu by the Greater Andhra Mahasabha. Apart from that some more pamphlets were also published. The President of India, Babu Rajendra Prasad, while inaugurating the Tirupati University Senate, had blessed the formation of Greater Andhra. The blessings of great personalities – highly learned persons, great philosophers and persons capable of showing the path of nobility to the entire world, had been conferred on this [Greater Andhra] movement. Sri Vinoba Bhave also approved of Greater Andhra. [Several] economists declared that Telangana could not be self-sufficient and the welfare of the people lay in the formation of Greater Andhra. Sri Thebar [Congress President] advised in favour of Greater Andhra. Incorporating all these blessings and advices of such elderly personalities a pamphlet was published on behalf of the Greater Andhra Mahasabha. The books and pamphlets published by the Greater Andhra Mahasabha were distributed to the people in thousands of numbers. Newspapers like ‘Andhra Janata’, ‘Telugu Desam’, ‘Daily News’ (English), ‘Siasat’ and ‘Payam’ (Urdu), ‘Visalandhra’, ‘Andhra Prabha’, ‘Andhra Patrika’ had supported Greater Andhra.
Grave conditions
These four to five months the situation in Telangana was quite serious. The gravity of the conditions was more intense in the months of November, December [1955] and January [1956]. In the second week of December, Prime Minister Nehru had come to Hyderabad on his way to lay the foundation stone for the Nagarjuna Sagar and stayed here for one day. On 9 December 1955 inaugurating the Urdu Hall, Hyderabad, Sri Jawaharlal Nehru informed the audience that he personally was against the division of Hyderabad State from the beginning but all the same since all political parties demanded and the Fazal Ali Commission also recommended it, the division of Hyderabad had become inevitable. Hence, Prime Minister Nehru informed the people that, whatever be his own personal opinion, he was committed to the division of Hyderabad State. The same day evening talking in the meeting of the Congress workers held at Shah Manzil, he apprised them that the Congress Working Committee had advised him that it was not proper to keep Telangana separate for six years and so some final decision has to be taken without getting entangled in the six years quarrel. The next day while laying the foundation stone for the Nagarjuna Sagar Project, Nehru had commented that the Krishna River waters were like an indivisible love knot between the Telugu peoples of both the regions. The next morning speaking in a political conference at Guntur and addressing the Andhra people there, Nehru said: “I know all of you desire Greater Andhra, which is quite appropriate [and feasible].” All these speeches make it clear that Prime Minister Nehru [certainly] was not opposed to Greater Andhra. This Guntur Political Conference was presided over by Sri Neelam Sanjeeva Reddy, the Deputy Chief Minister of Andhra state and an unanimous resolution demanding immediate formation of Greater Andhra was passed in this conference. Sri Paga Pulla Reddy, Secretary of Greater Andhra Mahasabha, was one of the persons from Hyderabad who went [all the way] to Guntur and supported this resolution. Well known Andhra leader, an intellectual who had been the President of the All India Congress, and the then Madhya Pradesh State Governor, Dr. Bhogaraju Pattabhi Sitaramaiah had arrived at Hyderabad in December 1955 to deliver the convocation address at the Osmania University. On that occasion a grand meeting was conducted under the auspices of the Andhra Saraswatha Parishad in the premises of the Andhra Saraswatha Parishad office at Hyderabad. Speaking in that meeting, Dr. Bhogaraju Pattabhi Sitaramaiah had so remarked: “Very soon the difference of ‘we’ and ‘you’ would vanish and by the second week of January we can become ‘we all’.” This was taken to have been the first ever unequivocal declaration about the certainty of Greater Andhra formation. (to be continued) [Published in LAW ANIMATED WORLD, 30 November 2010 issue]
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Continued from Law animated World, 15 November 2010 issue; emphases in bold ours. - IMS.
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