Courier Bureau

The decision to carve out a sepa-rate Telangana state and the Cab-inet note is a major victory for thestudents of Osmania University,who have spearheaded the four-year-old agitation.

The University students, whoturned the campus into a nervecentre for strategising and settingthe agenda for the political partiesand the government, had to bearthe brunt of the law and order ma-chinery. But the bitter moments,the pitched battles with police,braving the lathis and stone-pelt-ing, the harrowing times in jail,and the anxiety --- all paled intoinsignificance on July 30 whenstudents burst into song-and-dance in front of Arts College onhearing the news of Congress’ de-cision.

The burning embers of discon-tent among the Telangana youthand the demand for a separatestate has its genesis in the forma-tion of Andhra Pradesh in 1956,following the recommendationsof the first States ReorganisationCommission. Discrimination, ex-ploitation, backwardness, neglectby successive governments, in-equitable distribution of re-sources, broken promises andcorruption exploded in the face ofthe rulers at the Centre and theState for the first time in 1969,but that was astutely managed bythe power centres.

Changed equationsHowever, the year 2013 is turningout to be different with changedpolitical equations and compul-sions, and the government had to

undo a “historical wrong”.The Telangana movement saw

leaders cutting across all politicalparties Congress, the right-wingBJP, the left-wing CommunistParties all converging onto a sin-gle platform for one cause. Also,it united people from all walks oflife, be it farmers, lawyers, autodrivers, fruit vendors, or busi-nessmen, for the same cause.

Writers, poets, intellectualswere spurred into writing hun-dreds of books, thousands ofsongs, and quite a fewmovies. Young men and womenwere suddenly seen on hugemakeshift stages addressing mas-sive audiences for the first time.School-going children, ordinary

boys and girls turned singerswhile the ‘think-tank’ came upwith innovative forms of protests,and youth staged ‘Dhoom

Dhams’, the song-and-dance cel-ebration spanning months andgoing late into nights. Womenand men participated in ‘VantaVarpu,’ where a stretch of hun-dred kilometres of road was usedfor cooking and dining, andhuman chains snaked for hun-dreds of kilometres.

JACsThousands of Joint Action

Committees (JACs), all under theaegis one JAC, were formed to anextent that a JAC was present ineach district, each village in ad-dition to JACs for bankers,lawyers, miners, auto-drivers,pharmacists, doctors, engineers,lecturers, students, and soon. Also, the stir was fuelled byseveral student organisations af-filiated to different political par-

ties and social groups. Call it by any name socio-po-

litical awakening, ‘T’-agitation,protest movement, struggle forself-respect and so on, studentswere instrumental in sustainingthe movement, thereby catapult-ing it to the league of major inter-national student movements.

There are a few commonthreads that bind the recent stu-dent-led Telangana movementwith other movements in differ-ent parts of the world.

Non-violentRecent history indicates that theArab Spring, which started inTunisia and spread to Egypt,Yemen, Libya and Bahrain, wasmostly led by youth. In this case,though international develop-ments such as the US-led ‘war onterror’, the f-ailure to resolve Is-rael-Palestinian conflict are citedas outside influences, homegrown causes cannot be brushedaside.

Most of the Arab countrieshave high rates of unemploymentdespite the state model of devel-opment and crony capitalism. InEgypt, those from the loweststrata earned less than two dollarsa day while a few amassedwealth.

Telangana youth also took tothe streets due to unemploymentand alleged discrimination in re-cruitment practices. The responseof the state has been piecemealthrough some orders that wereobserved more in breach.

The T stir was by and large insync with the Gandhian path ofnon-violence, while movementsin the Arab world turned violent.

Lab newspaper published by the Department of Communication & Journalism, Osmania University, Hyderabad | October 21, 2013 | Vol. 59 No.2 | 8 Pages Rs. 5

CourierOsmaniaSPECIAL EDITION

ON TELANGANA1969 STIR

REVISITED...3CELEBRATION

OF CULTURE... 5

OSMANIA UNIVERSITY: Fountainhead of political movements

q rkq^kdibaOU students lead struggle, realise dream

Courier, through this specialedition, would like to pay trib-utes to the Telangana martyrs.

Courier salutes all the stu-dents who have been jailedand those who continue to lan-guish in jail with several casesslapped against them. Also, aspecial word of acknowledge-ment of the student leaders,student activists, joint actioncommittees, cutting across

party lines from different partsof Telangana region.

In this hour of jubilation,Courier commends the deter-mined struggle of poets, intel-lectuals, writers, farmers,doctors, lawyers, journalists,employees, gazetted and non-gazetted, the young and theold, the silent workers andthose who openly participatedin the struggle to realise the

dreams of the four crore peo-ple of Telangana.

The students of MCJ whowere fortunate to be a part ofthis historic moment, seizedthe initiative to work on thisspecial edition. They tooktheir first steps into the worldof journalism meeting scoresof people, making umpteencalls to ferret out information.They succeeded in some cases

and also met with half successin the news gathering exercise.

This special issue would nothave been possible without thecontribution of the students.Some news reports could ap-pear to have certain gaps ormay have certain omissions,which is not deliberate or in-tentional. Courier compli-ments the youngsters for theirefforts.

OsmaniaCouriersalutes

martyrs

The year 2013was different withchanged political

equations andcompulsions andthe government

had to undo a “historical

wrong”

Phot

o: V

arm

a

2

Registered with theRegistrar of Newspapersfor India (RNI) under No.8132/62.

Reported and edited by the students of the Departmentof Communication &Journalism, OsmaniaUniversity. Publishedbimonthly except during vacation.

News and views expressedin the newspaper do not necessarily represent theofficial view of theUniversity.__________Reporting TeamFatima RaheemPranita JonnalageddaVaishnavi Soumya RSyeda Zahara JabeenSrinivas Takore Naveen Kumar VaitlaMohammed AzharuddinSuman Dhayal

Copy EditorSneha VerghesePhoto ResearchSrinivas Takore

Editor

Prof. B. Balaswamy, Head,Dept. of Communication& Journalism.

Associate Editor

Prof. K. Stevenson

Assistant Editor

B. Ramakrishna

Printer

Director, University Press& Publications.

________________

FORM IV

The following is thestatement of ownershipand other particulars aboutOsmania Courier as required under theRegistration ofNewspapers (CentralRules), 1956.

Place of Publication:HyderabadPeriodicity ofPublication: Bimonthly(except during vacation)Printer: Director,University Press &Publications, O.U.Editor: Prof. B.BalaswamyNames and addresses ofindividuals, partners andshareholders holdingmore than one per cent of the total capital:Osmania University,Hyderabad 500 007.

I hereby declare that theparticulars given above aretrue to the best of myknowledge and belief. – Editor

Fatima Raheem

The education sector in the Telangana State has quite a few chal-lenges to tackle, to be on par with the educational standards inthe developed States, and the products are globally competitive.

That the Telangana region suffered from educational backwardnesswas pointed out in the Justice Sri Krishna Commission’s report makesit all the more imperative to have aroadmap with clearly set out achievableobjectives instead of indulging in rhetoricand blaming the rulers of yester years.

The report says that after the formationof Andhra Pradesh in 1956, Telangana hasbeen fast catching up certainly in otherareas but not in education. For instance,literacy rate in the state in 2001 was 60per cent. The break-up was 58 per cent forTelangana, 63 per cent in Andhra and 60per cent in Rayalaseema. But, excludingHyderabad city, the literacy of Telanganawas just 55 per cent.

“In recent years, there has been an increasing demand for highereducation in Telangana because of the fee reimbursement schemeswhich is aiding this process. Thus, despite the high drop-out levels,students are going to high schools and colleges in increasing numbers.The number of high schools there have been soaring since 1971, aheadof Andhra and Seema regions.”

The Committee also observed that Osmania and Kakatiya Univer-sities have large number of students from poor and downtrodden sec-tions, most of whom are first generation candidates. They have highaspirations but are frustrated not finding good opportunities. They areat the forefront of the movement.

This situation may not be due to any discrimination but because oflack of proper training. Providing for that will have positive impacton them, the committee said.

What’s needed urgently is to act on the already identified areas bybringing about system changes at different levels, increase the outlay

for education at various levels, integrate the fresh initiatives with theexisting programmes.

Adequate fund allocation at the primary, secondary and tertiarylevels is a must The number of schools particularly governmentschools should be increased with English as a medium of instructionto prepare for tough job market opportunities and to reap the benefitsof globalisation. There should be planned changes in the way primary

schools function. Areas of improvementshould be identified and best effectivepractices should be highlighted.

Recruitment of teachers should be doneon a large scale keeping in mind the inter-ests of students. Reservations and reim-bursement schemes should be updatedfrom time to time so that income levelsshall never be a burden on poor and back-ward students and this will automaticallylead to a decline in the percentage ofdrop-out levels in high schools and col-leges as well. Mid day meal schemeshould be revived to increase the enroll-

ment of students. More government colleges should be set up in back-ward regions.

Radical changes are needed in the higher education sector to equipstudents with technical, soft and critical thinking skills. Institutes ofhigher learning should be places for free flow of ideas, innovation andexperimentation. The sector should be free from under prepared facultywhich is an obstacle to innovation and improvement.

Efforts should be made to build good rapport between teachers andthe students to empower students and strengthen the value system.Curricular changes, fora for discussions will go a long way in plug-ging the lacunae in this sector. Private sector should be encouragedto the extent that it adheres to an inclusive policy and does not becomea commercially exploitative mechanism.

No system can be efficient if there is a faulty delivery mechanism.To ensure that a sound delivery mechanism is functional, an oversightinstitution would do a lot of good.

Agenda for T-education

Osmania Courier

Along cherished dream of thepeople of Telangana has come tobe a reality. The decision of

Centre to create Telangana state with 10districts and Hyderabad as its capital Cityis remarkable and commendable. Rightfrom the inception of the integrated stateof Andhra Pradesh, people of this regionhave not been happy as their resourcesbecame subject to rampant exploitationwithout concern for their development.The very title of the first linguistic statedid not reflect the common language, butit reflected parochially the identity of arace – the Andhra race. Politically,leaders from the Telangana regionoccupied the Chief Minister position for avery short period, compared to theduration of the position held by leadersfrom coastal Andhra and Rayalaseema.Culturally, Seemandhra people could notown the Telangana culture as theirculture, the common cultural wealth.September17th, the Telangana Emancipation day, was nevercelebrated in the entire state. Seemandhra people also did not takepart in Bathukamma and Bonalu festivals. The accent of the regionwas used hilariously in the films. Though the Telangana andSeemandhra people lived together in a single state, the hearts neverbecame one and the differences and discriminations continued. Allsections of the society believed that only a separate state ofTelangana can protect their self respect, cultural identity anddevelopment through self rule. The movement that started for thedevelopment and self respect of the people, has witnessed many upsand downs. In the long journey for a new state the people ofTelangana never gave up their hope, perseverance and

determination. Different sections of peoplefought together. One section complementedanother.

Like in India’s freedom struggle, inTelangana movement also different sections ofpeople played distinct roles. The intellectualsignited the movement through their books,research papers, articles and speeches. Thepoets and artistes inspired and motivatedpeople through their songs, poems andcultural programmes. The advocates instilledconfidence and provided fighting spirit. Thejournalists gave expression to the popularfeelings and aspirations. The employees didnot care even personal losses and remained inthe fore front. The engineers could explain thewater and technical issues. The studentcommunity has been unanimously providingenergy to the movement. The political leaderscould bridge the gap between people and thecentral government. Sakala janulu unitedlyfought to make their dream of their own state,Telangana state, a reality.

No doubt it is time for jubilation but people need to be vigilant tillthe State is created as there are “forces” trying hard to hinder theprocess. Besides, at every stage there is need to safeguard theinterests of the region and that they are not diluted in the cabinetnote or in the proposed Bill All sections of the society, whichfought for the new state need to sustain the momentum to see/ensure that there will no more farmers’ suicides in the new state andjustice and equal opportunities will prevail to all sections.

Several challenges need to be addressed. It is now left to allthose who worked for carving of the separate State to sink all thedifferences and unitedly shoulder the responsibility ofreconstructing Telangana where each one holds his head high.

Welcome historic decisionEDITOR SPEAKS

Osmania CourierOctober 21, 2013

What’s needed urgently is to acton the already identified areas bybringing about system changes at

different levels, increase the outlayfor education at various levels,

integrate the fresh initiatives withthe existing programmes

Osmania Courier revisits the 1969 agitation and brings back dark memories

The announcement tocreate the 29th statein India, made on30th July, 2013,brings with it the end

of a long battle that started in be-tween 1968 and 1969. That year,the state saw the death of 379people, most of them students.Pranita Jonnalagedda digs deepinto history to give an account ofthe political events connected tothe demand for a separate Telan-gana State and reminisces the ex-periences of people who livedthrough those momentous days.

History records that theprincely state of Hyderabad, lo-cated in the heart of Telangana re-gion was the last to merge withthe Indian Union. Even thoughpeople from the Telangana,'mulkis' as they were called, wereagainst the merger due to variousreasons, they were pacified by a'Gentlemen's Agreement' whichwas made between leaders of thethe two regions in 1956.

The agreement promised to'safeguard' the interests of the na-tive residents of Telangana aswell as to provide reservation forthe local people in governmentjobs. However, the violation ofthe agreement's terms and condi-tions by the non-mulkis led to thefirst revolt that began in 1968 -the Telangana Safeguards Move-ment. Students from various col-leges in the region fiercelyspearheaded this movement. Itwas in January 1969, after ameeting of five days, that the stu-dents decided that only a separateTelangana state could be the so-lution to the injustice meted outto them.

At this juncture, Pratap Kishore,the then editor of Deccan Chroniclesuggested that a political party beformed to voice their stance. Thus,the Telangana Praja Samithi (TPS)was founded. The party contestedin the 1971 elections and won awhopping 11 out of 13 seats in theTelangana region. The party's suc-cess fuelled a fresh furore and anuproar for a separate state resur-faced among the Telanganites.

But MarriChenna Reddy,the party's keyleader was con-vinced by thethen Prime Min-ister, IndiraGandhi, to mergeTPS with the Congress. Eventu-ally, the momentum that had gar-nered, slowly receded and thedemand for a separate state wentinto a sabbatical.

It was later, after a lapse ofnearly three decades, in 2001,after K. Chandrasekhar Rao(KCR) (who quit the Telugu

Desam Party), formed the Telan-gana Rashtra Samithi (TRS), thata new phase of the movementwas born. After a series of twistsand turns in electoral politics, an-other intense movement began in2009 after KCR announced afast-unto-death for the cause ofTelangana.

The struggle for Telangana witha six decade old history can be di-vided into two phases with starkdifferences - the 1968 agitation andthe successful 2009 agitation.

Student-led“The Telangana movement hasalways been planned, led and ex-ecuted by students. It was thesame then and it is the same now.However, the difference is thatwe always hit the roads to agitate,spoke to people and mobilisedcrowds to support us. Defying theGovernment's orders was a partof our protest,” says Dr. Chiran-jeevi, an ex-student of theKakatiya Medical College, whoplayed a key role in the 1969 'T'agitation. Dr. M. Sridhar Reddywho was active in Osmania Uni-versity, floated a rival groupwithin the TPS.

“This time, however, studentswere restricted to the campus de-

spite their attempts to reach out tothe masses,” he adds.

He says, “The first sparks ofagitation were always ignited inWarangal which then reachedHyderabad and engulfed the en-tire region. It is the same evennow. Warangal is like a hotbed forthe entire Telangana movement.”

Also, the directives of the StateHuman Rights Commission bar-ring police from entering the cam-pus had a salutory effect on thepolice. “The Supreme Court's rul-ing that police forces shouldn'tenter the campus could have beena reason why there was less vio-lence. There were no casualties thistime," says another reliable source.

“Another reason could be thepeace committees that wereformed, this time by teachers, toestablish rapport between the po-lice and students. There wereother committees, as well, thatensured less violence during themovement,” adds the source.

Media advantageMaking another distinction, Chi-ranjeevi says, “The agitationtoday has the advantage of themedia. We did not have mediasupport then. There were onlytwo newspapers - the Deccan

Chronicle and Andhra Bhoomi -which reported the events. Today,there is a whole set of mediahouses that has kept the move-ment and the agitators in the spot-light.” Dev Kumar, who was astudent of class 10 in Warangal in1969, says, “What we read in thenewspapers or heard on the radiowas completely in contrast towhat was happening in front ofour eyes. There were no reports ofthe strikes or of the curfews.Today, the media has supportedthe agitators in a major way.”

Education takes a beatingMr. Kumar adds that, “We lostone academic year. Our batch wasa unique one as we studied onlyone year of the Intermediate(which is a course of two years)".Concurring with this view, Dr.Chiranjeevi talks of the mass-copying and liberal correctionsthat were witnessed then. “An en-tire academic loss was there any-how. But the sad thing was thatthe lenient evaluation of papersaffected students who had put ingenuine efforts,” he says.

People who were witness to the1969 agitation confide that cur-fews were imposed for long peri-ods. It was scary to move out. At

times, there were shoot at sightorders and many innocent peoplelost their lives. "People faced teargas attacks, open gun fire, rubberbullets and what not", says P.Suryanarayana, Vice President ofStudents Union, OU College ofEngineering, in 1969.

Another activist, giving agraphic account of the rubber bul-lets used then, says that the bulletwhich pierced the person wouldmake a small hole while enteringthe body, but would come out ofthe body causing a gaping holeand irreparable damage to organs.

He further points out that "Onething for sure is greater democra-tization and sensitization in thesociety now. There was no firingby the police even in the mostprovocative situations. But theonly disturbing trend this time isthe suicides. We never saw any-thing like this in our time.

There were no curfews thistime but just Section 144 was im-posed on some occasions.”

Telangana Political JAC Chair-man, Kodanda Ram reflects uponthe same and recalls an incident, inMay 1969, two rallies wereplanned from Charminar and Se-

Continued on Page 8

3Osmania CourierOctober 21, 2013

CONTEMPLATINGSTRATEGY: Telangana activists stopped while taking out a rally. Inset: Bommireddy Pulla Reddy, a veteran of 1969 agitation as President of the Arts College Student Union, passed away recently.

M.ChennaReddy

Media played no role in the success of Telangana agitation lead-ing to the announcement. The stir was a success due to the people.The print and electronic media injected a neagtive image of the stir into the society. Back in the 1990s when the agitation flared up, theEenadu newspaper did not even address it because of its vested in-terest in the united state. When the union home minister Mr. Chi-dambaram made his statement on the Telangana issue in 2009, allTV channels ganged up against the Telangana issue and the agita-tion was sensationialsed and criminalized. Arts College was shownas a battleground of agitation. This happened mainly because theownership of media is in the hands of big businessmen from coastalAndhra where the TV channels have stopped reflecting the publicopinion and started projecting their own interests. Media has playeda biased role and they shouldn’t be given any credit.

Dr. R. Akhileshwari, Senior Journalist and Academician

Perhaps it’s the first time in the State that media like other sectionsis vertically split over Telangana issue. Though media gave a fillipto the T-stir initially, due to huge turnout at public meetings, ralliesand other programme and the issues involved, there was change inits attitude after the Central government took a decision in 2009 andin 2013. Media split regionwise. Media houses owned by T-manage-ments backed Telangana and those owned by Seemandhra peoplewere against the bifurcation besides doling out halfbaked, distortedand misleading stories to whip up emotions. A section of media triedto fan trouble and create anarchy. Instead of taking a balanced viewand presenting facts, a section of media went overboard and pre-sented biased reports of a particular region.

C.R. Gowri Shankar, Political Editor, Deccan Chronicle

In a way media influenced political parties and leaders to take afirm stand. In my view if credit is be given, it should go to the stu-dents, followed by media, political compulsions of political leadersand the least to political parties.

R. Ravikanth Reddy, Deputy City Editor, The Hindu

There was long gap after the 1969 movement and the agitationwas almost silent till 2004. In spite of the strong protests of 1969the state was not bifurcated, the major reason being the absence ofvisual media. Comparatively, the recent agitation was peaceful andthe coverage of issues by the media played a major role in the suc-cess of agitation. Live and 24x7 news coverage of what was hap-pening in and around the Arts College evoked emotions of thepeople and made them understand the seriousness of the agitation.Visual media played a major role by recording every statementgiven by the activists and making the public aware of what washappening.

Rajnikanth, Senior Journalist TV9

Media has played a biased role in the Telangana agitation by por-traying it in a violent way, while in reality it was peaceful in nature.The main reason behind this is the ownership of major mediahouses by individuals of Andhra region. False reports of attacks onthe Seemandhra people in Hyderabad, made public panic in theSeemandhra region. This led them to raise slogans against theTelangana movement. The agitation was healthy and peaceful butthe TV channels portrayed it otherwise. Though they covered mostaspects of the agitation, it was done only for increasing their TRPratings, but not to spur the agitation. They did not provide a pointof view for the viewers to think upon.

K. Ram Karan, Senior Journalist, I News

Vernacularisation of news and politics was responsible for thesuccess of the Telangana movement. In 1969, the media was not asactive as it is today.There were only a handful of journalists fromAndhra region who failed to understand the main motto of the ag-itation. But after globalization in 1991, the education and vernacu-larisation of politics and news made the educated individuals fromTelangana join the media. Telangana journalists from 1999 to 2013(which is considered as the second epoch of the agitation) helpedspread news on Telangana to every corner and nook of the country.They were successful in creating greater awareness and educatingpeople on the real causes of the Telangana issue. This has led to thesuccess of the Telangana movement.

Jinka Nagaraju, Senior Journalist, Times of India.

Verbatim

Opinion seems to be heavily in favour of thenotion that the media - mainstream newspapers,radio, television, social media and mobile phonesprovided the impetus to the recent T-stir eversinceK. Chandrashekar Rao, the President of the Telan-gana Rashtra Samithi, undertook his fast in De-cember 2009.

Observers feel that not a single day has passedwithout any media coverage on the Telanganaissue since late 2009. An old timer says that Os-mania University students have a long history ofarticulating their grievances. Students aired theirviews, political stance, scandals and grievancesthrough the wall posters prominently displayed infront of the colleges. Later, with the zonalisationof the Telugu newspapers and the phenomenon ofstringer network made things easier for leaders toreach a wider audience through newspapers.

The advent of several television channelschanged the entire scenario, especially when themovement was at its peak. Television crews, OBvans, photographers and a battery of newsmenwould converge in front of the Arts college fullygeared to cover events and take bytes. “Whennothing else is happening in the city and the State,how can we miss such a big story on campus saysa television journalist who has covered the agita-tion on campus.”

While there were instances of assaults on mediapersonnel and burning of vehicles, students re-acted strongly and said that it was a “ploy of thepolice in mufti” to blame the students. In fact,some students admit that the equipment was dam-aged in a few cases to prevent any video footagebeing used as evidence against them.

Social MediaTaking a cue from their counterparts during theArab spring, the social media was effectively usedto spread messages and mobilise people for the ag-itation.

Students and leaders of the joint action com-mittees used Facebook, Twitter and mobilephones to organise various activities. For instance,on 26 November 2010, over 500 people partici-pated in a 10k run was organised at Necklace roadby M. KrishankSpokesman, OUJAC who used

Facebook. Police put him in in Cherlapally jail asthe event had a major impact on the protestors.The police tracked the net activities of prominentstudent leaders before the announcement onTelangana, says Krishank who was interviewed byTehelka on Skype.

Rallies, protests and dharnas which were notdisclosed in the media were confined to blogswith huge following. "Telangana Netizens” a com-munity was floated on Facebook and Twitter forpeople across borders to express their concerns,views and suggestions. Online discussions wereon even as the national media had a slot on Telan-gana while several videos were uploaded onYoutube, says a net activist.

FilmsNot lagging behind film makers from Telanganaregion, came up with a rush of movies. First to hitthe theatres was Jai Bolo Telangana (2011) withliberal footage of the agitation from the electronicmedia captured the imagination of the masses. Themovie had that extra zing as K.ChandrashekarRao, the president of the Telangana RasthraSamithi lent his voice for a song. Also, the filmsaw a couple of student leaders making their ap-pearance.

Jai Bolo Telangana documented the history ofTelangana and its struggle for statehood. Directedby noted film maker, N. Shankar with JagapathiBabu in the lead role, the film won five AndhraPradesh state Nandi awards and a Sarojini Deviaward for a film on national integration.

N.Shankar, said “My movies were influencedby the region and my experiences. In future, thebifurcation doesn’t affect and we will come upwith a blend of human values, love, culture andfestivals -- Bonalu, Bathukamma, etc. throughnice stories and entertainment without hero dom-ination.”

(With inputs from Vaishnavi Soumya Racha-pudi, Shahnaz Begum, Sirisha Pinapati andSuman Dhayal)

Whither media?

As told to Vaishnavi Soumya Rachapudi

4

READ

Osmania Courierwww.issuu.com/osmaniacourier

Osmania CourierOctober 21, 2013

Pranita Jonnalagedda

Food is a social practice inmany cultures and eating is,preferably, a social activity.

Culinary skills and choices oftenreflect social and personal iden-tity. Similar practices and sharedvalues regarding food -- the ingre-dients considered edible, themethod of preparation, and theconditions of food consumptionand feasting -- assist in the cre-ation of a relatively homogenouscommunity, or social group.

Andhra Pradesh cuisine isknown for its gutsy food and theTelangana region's delicacies, es-pecially, stand out as being hot andoh-so-spicy. Telangana's cuisine isunique in terms of flavours - whilethe native tastes are obviouslyhere, the influence of the Nizamscannot be forgotten. Such is thelove for the food here that theTelangana Sambaralu Festival heldat Nizam College Grounds, saw20,000 visitors a day, samplinghundreds of Telangana dishes.

Osmania Courier caught upwith some enterprising individualswho have been serving up thepalate of the Telanganites despitestiff competition in the food indus-try from McDonalds, KFCs, PizzaHut and a host of others who havemade Hyderabad their home.

Sri Devi Swagruha Foods atNacharam is one of the oldest Tel-nagana food joints in Hyderabad.Starting as a modest home-runbusiness by 65-year-old SavithriDevi, the outlet has become abooming business that has upto 30employees working to completethe hordes of orders they receiveeveryday.

Distinguishing the T flavourfrom the Andhra food, Renuka,daughter-in-law of Savithri Devi says, “Sesame is a key ingredientin most of the food here. InCoastal Andhra food, they preferto use it less as they consider it

heaty." As she dishes out tastysakkinalu, ariselu, kajalu,nuvvula laddu and more lip-smacking savouries, she adds,"We receive orders from abroadas well. Our prices range any-where between Rs. 200 - 250 perkg." Savithri Devi is hesitant tospeak to but ensures that a bag ofsavouries is handed over for meto take home.

The Vijay Curry Point, the nextstop at Ramnagar, proved to be ashock of sorts. In a room ofaround 7x6, 13 people workeduninterruptedly. Ratna Kumari,the lady in-charge says,"We arevery busy most of the time. Weare continuously working as wehave a huge rush at peak hours."Chicken Fry, boti, gunde kayalu,chicken liver, goat liver, egg fryare just a small part of what theysell at their place. "The Telanganafood is very spicy and the vari-eties in non-vegetarian are many.People generally visit us for thesemeat specialities.”

Tucked away at a humblecolony behind Indira Park is Pra-mada's Sweets, Hots and Pickles,probably one of the most popularTelangana food outlet in Hyder-abad. Run by R. Pramada Reddy,a 50 year old from Khammam,the shop is located at the bottomof her house. Pramada explainshow the Andhra and Telanganafood can be differentiated, "InAndhra pickles, oil isn't boiled.But in our pickels, it is a must."She adds that Andhra food hasless masala, “The masala we useis distinct. The same taste is notpossible in Andhra.”

But what all of them say aboutthe effect of the Telangana agita-tion on their business is the same."Yes. The agitation has brought thefeeling of Telangana and so, morepeople have come to us for the au-thentic T flavour. However, we dothis out of love for cooking and notfor the business. Money comes andgoes, satisfaction is what matters."

‘T’ food gutsy and hot Syeda Zahara Jabeen and Srinivas Takore

A major hall mark of the Telan-gana agitation has been the cele-bration of culture, a culture whichpeople were no longer ashamed toshowcase or be embarrassedabout. The Telanganitess defi-nitely passed through a phase ofcultural revivalism, a renaissanceduring the protracted agitation.

Cultural vehicles of Telangana,which included songs, dances, fes-tivals occasions, were at their cre-ative best during the Telanganaagitation.Telangana has long his-tory of ballads that carried politicaland social messages to all strata ofthe society. Even today, youngboys and girls in our villages cre-ate a tune on the spur and mostsongs are about our lives, ourstruggles, our economic condi-tions.

Spearheading this cultural tradi-tion were several organisationsbut one name which comes tomind is Gaddar, the balladeer whocame out of hiding in 1990 joinedthe mainstream.

In his book, Dr. PrabhanjanKumar Yadav, currently faculty atthe Siddipet PG Centre and onewho did his M.Phil on Gaddar andhis songs says in his book: “Gad-dar's songs have a rebelliousstreak in them.” For instance, hisversion of ‘Bandenaka-BandiKatti’ (One cart after an-other) moves almost everyTelangana or Telugu person It isabout fighting for one’s placeagainst a superior force or author-ity. It is the cry of a commonTelangana person for many cen-turies now.

The themes and issues chosenare from the grass roots and thecatchy tunes strike an immediatechord among the people, Dr.Yadav adds. Gaddar is consideredto have brought about a ruralawakening through his songs

criss crossing villages and towns.Though he is a communist, andthough communists were anti-separation for a long time, Gaddarstood for separate Telangana andhis message is not easily lost onTelanganites.

He formed the Telangana PrajaFront and his comments on thecurrent movement are taken seri-ously. According to him, onlypeople of the weaker section havethe abilities and potentialities tocommunicate in the cultural ethosof the masses. He wears a dhoti, ashawl and no shirt. His dress sym-bolises the shepherd’s dressing.

Today, one can see singers inGaddar attire and stage histrionicssinging political, economic and so-cial messages, inspiring millionsaroulnd Telangana through songslike ‘amaraveerulakujohaar’, ded-icated to martyrs. Young girls singthe songs of deprivation,wretchedness, the pitiable plightof Telangana people. The songsmove anyone who understandsthem, bring tears , and makes onebreak into a song and dance. Othernames which crop up are that ofVimalakka, Rajanna, etc

Songs endorsing a separate Stateechoed in villages and towns, inbuses, in autos, at tea stalls. Teach-ers, school going children, collegeprofessors, rickshaw pullers,bankers, administrators, and peo-ple of all ages listened to thesesongs touching socio-political ,economic issues and were ladenwith meaning. Generation Yswitches to the dancing mode onhearing these catchy tunes and arenot ashamed of them.

On the other hand, Jagruti Pres-ident K.Kavitha, mobilizedwomen folk to stageBathukamma on myriad occa-sions on the Tank bund.Batukamma festival is celebratedbefore Dassera and involveswomen dancing around the “floralstack arranged in seven layers.”

Songs of life

Celebration of culture

5Osmania CourierOctober 21, 2013

Caught between the call forduty and the Supremecourt directives not to

enter the campus, the law andorder machinery on campus wasstretched to the limits during thethree year Telangana agitation.Pitched battles between studentsand the police, frequent lathicharge, imposition of section 144,bursting of tear gas shells and fir-ing in the air, saw the Court issuedirectives responding to-- an ap-peal. Policing the agitation was achallenge as it involved handlingthousands of angry and emotion-ally charged students on campus.The events closely followed bythe 4 crore people of Telanganawould reverberate in other Uni-versities, the entire state and thepolitical scenario. Naveen Vaitlaand Mohd Azharuddin spoke tocops and students and finds thatthe police gave themselves aclean chit on the ground that theyperformed their duty, studentscomplain of high handed meas-ures by the police.

Assistant Commissioner of Po-lice, East Zone, Ranjan Rathansaid we have been trained forsuch circumstances. We facedproblems as most student organi-sations would want to cross thegate at theA n d h r aM a h i l aSabha andlater the Yjunction.Therefore,w eb l o c k e dthem onthe cam-pus itself as we apprehended athreat to public properties. Thesituation would be tense when itcame to shifting dead bodies tothe hospital.

On police preparedness tomaintain law and order, RanjanRathan said we had to go withoutfood, sleep, and suffer exhaus-tion but we adapted ourselves.Expressing his happiness on theannouncement of Telangana, hesaid, that it was a nice feeling aspeople have been struggling for itsince 1956,many members sacri-ficed their lives for it.

“Even as police personnel, weare pained even when one studentcommits suicide. Students havea right to fight for their rights butnot resort to extreme measures,he said and added that we con-ducted counselling sessions tostudents,” he revealed.

Osmania University Circle in-spector, P. Ashok said that all stu-dents agitations are critical.Thirty percent of the studentgroups are moderate while someresort to violence by raking upissues. “chalo assembly”,“sagaraharam”, “million march”were hard to control.

When asked how he remainedcool even under pressure fromsuperiors and mistakes of his sub-ordinates, he said, being calm hasbeen my style of working . I hadto stay cool because any minormishandling of the student agita-tion would have led to escalationof violence. I had to execute in-structions of superiors, supervisesubordinate staff and coordinatethe work of additional forces.

Clarifying about State HumanRights Commission and theSupreme Court directives, hesaid, with regard to law andorder no body can stop local po-lice personnel from entering thecampus. But coming with regardto deployment of additionalforces, there is a Supreme courtdirective so we stationed theforces outside the campus.

Stating that he was injured sev-eral times and even undergo a legsurgery. The former, CI Anjaiahand several of his staff were hurtbut were restrained in handlingstudents though 85 vehicles weredamaged of which 35 belonged tothe Road Transport corporation.Students would resort to agitationreacting to media reports whichwould come as a surprise.

No false cases were booked, hesays and points out that onlywhen students resorted to vio-lence, cases were booked and thatthey had video footage as evi-dence. He revealed that 80 percent cases have been withdrawnafter the intervention of the politi-cians and higher officials. With-drawal of cases is a policy issue,he added and wanted the univer-sity authorities to intiate measuresto restore academic atmosphereon campus.

One constable said he was notable to sleep in December of2009 as students vandalized,pelted stones on shops in Tarnaka.

Expressing anguish, he said itwas painful to bear and to be re-straineed when protesters hurlfilthy abuse. “We have to bear ourhigher officials as well as frompublic when we block the roads .Protesters resorted to violence inDecember 2009 only , later on allprotests went peacefully,” headded.

On the contrary, student leadersare criticcal of the role of police.Some students single out a fewsenior of-f i c e r sw h opassed oninst ruc-tions tonip them o v e -ment inthe initials t a g e s .Accord-ing to Krishank Nationalspokesperson OUJAC, police per-sonnel alleged that crude bombswere found on campus and linkedsome students with Maoists to di-lute the movement. Krishank re-buts the argument of police onfalse cases. He says cases werefiled against the student leadersthough they were not present at thescene. To be precise, he says thatwhen the student leaders are inOU, cases would be booked inWarangal, Mahabubabad or Pan-jagutta. “Sixty cases were bookedagainst me,” he says.

Another student leader, Ra-makrishna, says, “I have been

booked under 307 sec in Ma-habubabad though I did not haveany role in that incident. We par-ticipated in the agitation to pro-tect our future and not with anyselfish motive.” Further, he re-calls that students were lathicharged just before they were totake an exam. Police assaultedstudents who sat for fast unto -death in front of Arts college.

On whether there was excesspresence of police on campus andthe vicinity, students fished out anRTI report which mentions thatthere were 350-500 personnel onany normal working day. This in-dicates the motives of the police,they point out

“Police threatened us that wewill not have a good future if weparticipated in Telangana agita-tion. They entered the ladies hos-tel without woman constables,”said Shilpa, while Radha, awomen’s activist added that thiswas against UGC norms whichprescribe that the local policeshould have the Vice Chancel-lor’s permission to do so. “Somemembers of the para militaryforce abused us and even pre-vented an injured person beingshifted in an ambulance citingsecurity reasons.”

“In extreme cases, police offi-cials threatened our parents thattheir children lives would be indanger. They approached housesin disguise and carried away pho-tographs of students as if we areterrorirsts or maoists, said Stalinanother leader.

Syeda Zahara Jabeen

The resumption of bus serv-ices on the University Campusafter a lapse of over three yearshas not only brought a sense ofrelief for the students but alsothe RTC staff operating on thisroute.

Md. Khaja an RTC driver,who drives from Secunderabadto Dilsukhnagar is more thanhappy to drive via campus.“Students were hit hard as thebus routes were closed on cam-pus. They were forced to walklong distances or get fleeced byauto drivers. The number ofautos on campus has thinnneddown already. Now, I am veryhappy for the students, he says.

Conductor K.Srinivas, whois generally in the morningshifts on the campus. “Whetherwe pass through the campus ornot, it doesn’t make any differ-ence to us. It is in the interestof students. They were the oneswho suffered.”

Some drivers like Ramakr-ishna Reddy earned the wrathof the agitators while on duty.Reddy recalls the day his buswas chased from the ladieshostel and attacked by a groupof students. “It was duty’s calland we were not given any in-structions on whether to passthrough the campus. It was un-expected. Students came closeto physically manhandlingme,” he says and avers that theRTC runs buses through thecampus to ease the commutingproblems of students. “Theyshould utilize the service in-stead of venting their anger onbuses which are public prop-erty and the common man ispaying for them.”

Srilatha, a resident of ECIL,strongly feels that the “Insteadof resuming buses from cam-pus, the authorities should startmini buses within the premises.This way nobody will beforced to struggle for space andthe journey will be a pleasantexperience.”

Pranita Jonnalagedda, MCJ,says, “I am so happy I will nolonger spend Rs. 2000 everymonth on my petrol bill as Ican travel by bus.”

A.K. Khan, managing direc-tor, APSRTC, in his interactionwith the students cited frequentburning of buses which wasleading to copy cat acts outsidethe campus and causing hugelosses to the Corporation.

RTC staffelated

T stir stretches OU cops

Osmania CourierOctober 21, 2013

6

Kachiguda ACPRanjan Rathan

OU Circle InspectorP. Ashok

Pitched battles between students and the police,frequent lathi charges, imposition of section 144,

firing of tear gas shells and in the air ... Policing theagitation was a challenge as it involved handling

thousands of angry and emotionally chargedstudents on campus.

Syeda Zahara Jabeen and Srinivas Takore

Araging desire and angst envelopedthem. They could not digest the in-justices meted out by several suc-

cessive governments to the backward regionof Telangana and the aspirations of thou-sands of youth Some of them perhaps lostfaith in the system and the political class.They saw that their decision to immolatethemselves would expedite the formation ofa separate state of Telangana. They bit thebullet and sacrificed themselves.

Yes, they became martyrs for their causedearer to their heart Telangana. Srikan-thchary, Venugopal, Yadaiah, Santosh andnearly 1000 others have not survived to be apart of the historic moment when T was an-nounced.

Osmania Courier, contacted severalfamilies which continue to bear the loss oftheir dear ones subsequent to the announce-ment by the Congress working committeeand the UPA partners. Some were vocal oth-ers reticent and emotional.

Srikanth Chary’s family was one of them.Chary was a Btech student. He was a tal-ented young kid from his school days. Heaspired to become a politician- a politicianwho could bring about a change in society.He was just following his parent's advicethat settling down in a job was not idealand one should do something for the society.

He joined the Telangana Rashtra SamithiVidyarthi Vibhagam (TRSV) in 2006. At atime when every dream seemed just a stepaway, something happened. He thought hecould do his bit by sacrificing his life. He

immolated himself while hugging theAmbedkar statue shouting ‘Jai Telangana’.Everything came to a halt. There was deaf-ening silence everywhere. All dreams wereshattered. His family was left devastated as

they hadnoinklingthat hewouldresort tosuch anextremestep.

“Hadthe deci-sion onTelan-

gana been taken earlier, our son wouldhave been a part of these celebrations, ”says Kaasoju Venkatchary, his father emo-tionally. “Telangana and its people was theonly thing in his mind. If Telangana isachieved my son's sacrifice will be compen-sated. Moreover my son’s sacrifice is noth-ing when it comes to the happiness of fourcrore Telanganites. I don't need any com-pensation which the politicians have prom-ised. There were students from poorfamilies who have sacrificed their lives too.Politicians should keep their promise andensure that parents of students from poorfamilies get the said compensation, " addshis father.

Recalling an incident his father says,“Once Srikanth came across a pregnant

woman from Vijayawada who developedcomplications and was referred to a hospitalin Hyderabad. Due to insufficient moneyshe was denied treatment. He spoke to thedoctors and deposited his bike keys assurety. The woman delivered a baby butafter 30 days my son ended his life.”

He gave life to one and sacrificed his ownself. This was his love for the society.

Yadaiah’s family had already lost theirparents long back. He would stay at hiscousin Surender’s place. His sudden demiseshook the happy family of three- brotherSurender, sister-in-law and Yadaiah. Asusual everybody were busy with theirchores on that day and all of a sudden I re-ceived a phone call from his friends inform-ing about his demise, ” recalls Surender.Yadaiah immolated himself near NCC gatein broad day light. “My wife was incon-solable and did not eat anything for days ashe was like a son to her. Yadaiah's soul willrest in peace only when the said T-billis passed successfully and when everyyoungster from Telangana gets a job. Wedon't need any compensation we just wantTelangana, which was my brother's lastwish".

Airing his views on suicides, M. Krishankwho authored two books on suicides, na-tional spokesperson, OUJAC says, “We aregathering data on those who sacrificed theirlives. We will demand one government jobto a family member of each martyr.”

Life goes on for several other familieswho lost their dear ones leaving permanentscars. But the names of the martyrs will bepermanently etched in the pages of historyof Telangana.

‘Sacrifices have not gone in vain’

Srikanth Chary

Prof. K. Jayashankar, is consideredthe architect of the Telanganamovement even during the 1969agitation. He kept his burning de-sire for a separate Telangana aliveover the years and gave a sense ofdirection to the movement in 2009.A scholar, teacher with a perceptivemind, he understood Telangana andits backwardness in various sectorsat the back of his hand

Osmania Courier pays tribute tothis illustrious son of Telanganathrough this profileProf.K.Jayashankar, illustrious sonof Telangana

K. Jayashankar was born inAkkampet village, Atmakur man-dal, Warangal in erstwhile Hyder-abad state to Lakshmikantha Raoand Mahalakshmi in Vishwabrah-mins community. He did hisschooling in Hanamkonda,Warangal and his M.A. in Eco-nomics at Banaras Hindu Univer-sity, M.A. in Economics at AligarhUniversity and Ph.D. in Econom-ics at Osmania University, andB.Ed. at Osmania University.

During the Nizam rule in Hy-derabad state, it was mandatoryfor all schools to sing a song prais-ing the Nizam.

When the headmaster of theMarkaji High School inHanamkonda asked his students tosing the song, K. Jayashankar,then a Class VI student, defied therule and sang Vandemataram.

As an Intermediate student, hewalked out of his class in protestagainst state reorganization in1952. He was associated with theTelangana movement efforts toobtain statehood for Telanganasince 1952, as a student leaderstating with Non-Mulki go backand Idli Sambar go back move-ment. He wanted the "Puri Mut-ton" to populate the lands ofTelangana.

In 1969 Jayashankar formed ateam with ten members to fight forTelangana. He was the only sur-vivor while the others were killedin police firing. He then startedTelangana Janasabha which wasbanned by the Indian government.He authored a large number of ar-ticles and research papers, in Eng-lish and Telugu, on various aspectsof the Telangana Problem.

Then, in 1962, he was part of acampaign which rocked the regionand led several agitations trans-forming them into a mass move-

m e n tafter the1969 agi-tation.

As alecturer,in 1968,he partic-i p a t e dand re-

vived theagitation for Telangana. He car-ried out his struggle for Telanganathrough research and academicstudies, and by educating peopleon the cause. He is known as theoriginal Telangana ideologue.

He was instrumental in formingthe Telangana DevelopmentForum (TDF, U.S.A.) in 1999 TheForum invited him to deliver a se-ries of lectures on various facets ofthe Telangana Movement in tenmajor cities of the United Statesduring July/August 2000.

Also, he was invited by theAmerican Telugu Association(ATA) U.S.A., to speak about theproblems of regional disparities inAndhra Pradesh in July 2000 andJuly 2002.

Prof. Jayashanakar always be-lieved that Telangana can only be

achieved through political process,at the same time, he supported ag-itations run by all non-political or-ganizations.

It was Jayashankar who offeredlime juice to the TRS presidentwhen the latter broke his famousfast for Telangana in December,2009.

Professor Jayashankar was Reg-istrar of the then Central Instituteof English and Foreign Languages(CIEFL) before being appointedVice-chancellor of Kakatiya Uni-versity in 1991 He taught Eco-nomics and supervised doctoralstudents. He undertook indepthstudies on the regional disparitiesin Andhra Pradesh and publishedseveral papers on Economic De-velopment and Educational Eco-nomics.

At the time of his death on 21June 2011, he was the Chairmanof Centre for Telangana Studieswhich is engaged in research andpublication relating to problems ofTelangana. He is the foundermember of Telangana AikyaVedika and was on its ExecutiveCommittee. He remained a celi-bate fighting for the cause ofTelangana

Illustrious son of Telangana

Prof. K. Jayashankar

7

Osmania CourierOctober 21, 2013

cunderabad to Raj Bhavan. Therewas an announcement of curfew.In spite of this, the rally was suc-cessful. Posing as a religious pro-cession, the groups came out ontothe roads and took out the rally.People wanted to fight for theirrights and they did everything theycould to make an impact. Arrestswere common according toDr.Chiranjeevi who says, “Therewere so many arrests and the jailswere not enough to accommodatethem. Colleges were convertedinto jails,” he says.

“The slogan 'Jai Telangana'drove most of the entire Telana-gana movement. However, Ko-danda Ram talks about a fewmore slogans that have been

used,"Andhra go back, gongurago back’ was one of them. An-other was idli, Ssmbar go back."

Activists of the 1969 agitationblame Marri Chenna Reddy, whowas the key leader of TPS, for di-luting the 1969 agitation. "Ifhe(Chenna Reddy) had stood

firm, it would have made a bigdifference," says Kodanda Ram.

On Chenna Reddy's decision tomerge into Congress, Surya-narayana says,"It is irony that theman who vigorously campaignedfor a separate Telangana becamethe Chief Minister of united

Andhra Pradesh twice." Chiranjeevi says that Chenna

Reddy had no interest in bifurca-tion of the state. He says thatChenna Reddy was an “integra-tionist who supported Visa-landhra and continued to stay sotill his participation in electionswas nullified by the SupremeCourt as he was found guilty ofusing religion as a part of hiselection campaign. He was polit-ically unemployed and was look-ing for a chance to get back intoaction and it was at this time thathe saw an opportunity in TPS.”

Now that the announcement ofa bifurcation has been made,each has a different opinion onthe future. Prof. Kodanda Ramsays, “People are wiser now tomake right choices about their

leaders.” Chiranjeevi points to the rise in

casteist politics, “We have a castebased society as opposed to theclass based society in the West.Even after the separation of theState, the domination of certaincastes is sure to make its pres-ence felt in the governance.”

P. Suryanarayana says, “Theeconomy will take a hit, but thenit is yet to be seen whether this bi-furcation will benefit the commonman.

Dr. V. Shyam Sunder, who borethe brunt of police lathis says,one should ensure that academicactivities do not suffer and shouldbe accorded top priority.”

With the Cabinet nod for thecreation of Telangana, the dreamis one big step closer to reality.

1969 STIR BLOODIERContinued from Page 3

STUDENT POWER: School girls staging a sit in in 1969 for Telangana

Osmania CourierOctober 21, 2013

8

Md. Azharuddinand Naveen Vaitla

The intelli-gentsia inTe l a n g a n a ,

academicians, profes-sors, writers, artistesand poets seizedevery opportunity tohighlight the discrimi-nation against theTelangana through seminars, writings, booksand songs, articles in newspapers pamphletsand give direction to the movement forTelangana, says a quick survey of intellectu-als across Telangana.

Professor Keshav Rao Jadhav, a veteranof the Telangana movement and a retiredProfessor in English from Osmania Univer-sity said that, the intelligentsia spotted theweaknesses of leaders like Burugula Ra-makrishna Rao, Marri Channa Reddy andother Congress leaders in this region, whosurrendered to central leaders on safeguardsto Telangana.

Delving into the early protests and the roleof intellectuals immediately after the forma-tion of Andhra Pradesh Prof. KodandaramReddy, Chairman, Political Joint ActionCommittee, points out that the intelligentsiamade representations to the Fazal Ali com-mission pleading for a separate Telanganastate. The commission recommended cre-ation of a separate state of Telangana till thesecond general elections. Also, it said that iftwo thirds of the Assembly prefers only thenit should be merged with Andhra region.

Brainstorming sessionsRecalls Prof. Ghanta Chakrapani, the firstbrainstorming session on Telangana washeld in 1968-69 organized by the then Vicechancellor of Osmania University, Prof.Ravada Satyanarayana. The outcome wasa database on the plight of Telangana. LaterAnand Rao Thota, Lakshmi Kanth RaoPenna, Jeevan Reddy and K. Jaya Shankarjoined him and started highlighting the ex-ploitation of and discrimination in Telan-gana through their books.

In the 1969 movement leaders like Prof.Keshav Rao Jadhav, Prathap Kishore,Badrivishal Pitti organized seminars. Afterthe 1969 movement was “suppressed,’ therewas unrest in the educated and unemployedyouth. The only segment of the societywhich continued to think of Telangana wasthe intelligentsia. Later, advocates, teachersalso joined them.

Prof Jadhav recalls that in 1969 many in-tellectuals took part in movement For in-stance the intellectuals were grantedpermission to take out a rally from Charmi-nar to Rajbhavan to submit a memorandumbut it turned violent after the arrival of IndiraGandhi, the then Prime Minister. The per-mission was withdrawn late in the night andpolice personnel fired with .303 mm guns onthe demonstrators.

Poets and writersKaloji Narayan Rao people’s poet, Prof.Jayashankar and Janardhan Rao, all fromWarangal were actively involved in themovement. Kaloji wrote poems and songs,Prof. Jayashankar researched discrimina-tion and wrote books. The latter becamethe think tank for many agitators in leadingthe movement. Janardhan Rao known forhis oratory skills inspired many through hisfiery speeches. Pratap Kishore, City ChiefCorrespondent of Deccan Chronicleformed the Telangana Praja Samithi (TPS)initially and he wrote extensively on Telan-gana.

Prof. Chakrapani says that the TelanganaDevelopment Forum played a major role andwas led by Prof Jayashankar and Prof Ke-shav Rao Jadhav. Prabhakar Reddy

founded the Telangana Information Trust in1986-87, and published “Maa Telangana” amagazine. All of them organized meetingsand seminars.

Ramachandra Nayak from Putlibowligave free building and halls to run the TPSnear the Putlibowli chowrasta. Konda Lak-shman Bapuji also offered his building anddonated money to help TPS. The first publicmeeting of non-political organizations washeld under the leadership of Eeshwari bai,Sada lakshmi and Sumitra Devi. As Chair-man of Telangana Intellectuals Forum Prof.P.L.Vishweshwer Rao also authored a book,“Telangana Dimensions of Under Develop-ment” which focused on neglect and dis-crimination.

During the 1980s, when GO 610 on repa-triation of employees was issued by thethen State Government and was not imple-mented, the intellectuals filed a case in theHigh Court. Sudarshan Reddy, a leadingadvocate was chosen to argue the case whoadvised the Intellectuals to take the issue tothe masses as he feared the case would bestruck down by the Andhra judges on thepanels, reveals, Prof. Lakshman, retiredProfessor in Philosophy. Subsequently, theintellectuals reached out to the masses andalas highlighted the water and irrigation is-sues, he adds.

In the 1990s, journalists like AllamNarayana, K Srinivas, Pasham Yadagiri,Mallepally Laxmaiah and Jagan Reddycontributed to the Telangana movementthrough their articles in Vaartha. Editor ofNalupu, Cyril Reddy, published these arti-cles in a book titled “Dagaa Padda Telan-gana” under the aegis of Centre for

Telangana Studies. Till 1990’s it was only a safeguards

movement, but later the desire for Telanganaseparate spurred through brainstorming ses-sions on drought in Mahabubnagar, fluoro-sis in Nalgonda district and pollution inPatancheru, according to Prof. Chakrapani

In 1998 the Telangana Jana Sabha organ-ized a huge public rally of intellectuals atBhuvanagiri of Nalgonda District which hada great impact across Telangana. Anotherleft wing group “Telangana Maha Sabha”was also formed then. Later, the TelanganaVidya Vantula Vedika, comprising intellec-tuals was formed.

2009 and afterDuring the past four years from 2009 on-wards, the university teachers and intellec-tuals played a crucial role though theirveiws did not converge.For instance, Prof.Kancha Ilaiah favoured the consolidationof the sub altern forces so as to prevent fur-ther subjugation by certain sections. As lateProf. Jayashankar said the movement con-sists of three streams conscientisation ofpeople, agitations and political process,which delivers the decision.

In the first two arenas the intellectualclass focused on educating people about theneed for Telangana state. When the agita-tion was intensified, JAC was formed andeverywhere the literate class came forwardto provide leadership. The philosophicalframework was formulated. The Vidyavan-tula Vedika is currently engaged in layingthe roadmap for Telangana which has suf-fered internal colonization process, saysProf. Kodandaram.

The brains that guided T

Kaloji Narayan Rao, Prof. Keshav Rao Jadhav, Prof. Kodanda Ram, Prof. Kancha Ilaiah, Prof. P.L.Vishweshwer Rao, Prof. G. Chakrapani, Prof. G. Lakshman