Telangana VIII: You need to make a case

Seekers of Hyderabad State, you need to make a case

Saying that you are well-off and hence you want to be separated from a region that is backward because you do not wish to share your riches with them does not make a case. That way every metropolitan city in India has a case to become a separate state.

In fact, your case is duplicitous to start with.

First, you were not willing to give us a separate state. You bludgeoned each of our requests, agitations and protests. You rubbished each of our efforts to create a state for ourselves. You became the very masters that you opposed. You created your new state away from Madras Presidency citing you will not be well-represented under Tamils. But you imposed the very ill-representation onto us.

Now, when we are on the verge of attaining our statehood, you want to weaken us taking away our main city on which the entire economy depends. Now, you ask for a separate Hyderabad state.

Your case is quite flimsy and is fraught with greed, selfishness and extreme self-centeredness. These are the very attributes you are accused of, and which you feared from Madras Presidency back in 1950s.

Case for Pakistan

When Indian sub-continent got its Independence, the Muslims of India made a case, and though many of us disagreed with it, they bargained their position to create a new country for some Muslims. Their case was simple. Muslims will not be given the same privileges and will not have the same status as Hindus in a country where Hindus are in majority. So, when this subcontinent was given independence by British, certain portions of the land were designated for them, and many Muslims living in India moved out to those lands.

When Nizam of Hyderabad and some Muslims of Hyderabad state wanted to belong to Pakistan, they had an option. They could migrate to Pakistan. But India was not going to have a Pakistan right in the middle of its country. Geographical proximity was an essential criterion.

Case for Andhra Pradesh

Andhra Pradesh was formed because people of Andhra did not feel they would be well-represented in Madras Presidency. Though there was no precedent to verify whether they would be marginalized or not, there was enough support for creation of a new Andhra Pradesh for its people. Andhra Pradesh was created out by breaking Madras Presidency.

Telangana was broken out of Hyderabad State and was added to Andhra Pradesh against its wishes. While Andhra was under British, and hence had access to better education and opportunities to start with, Telangana under Nizam was quite backward with very high illiteracy and poverty. The new state required Telugu and English, and people of Telangana were educated in neither.

People of Telangana, which includes people of Hyderabad, protested against such inclusion. In fact, the city of Hyderabad saw protests against joining the new state of Andhra Pradesh where few protestors were killed. It is ironical that the very city which saw protests against joining Andhra Pradesh is now being hijacked by the very people that these Telangana people feared.

Telangana people felt exactly the same way people of Andhra felt about Tamils. Telangana people reasoned they would not be well-represented in the new state. They felt that people of Andhra would dominate and take up most of the jobs, because they were richer, had better access to opportunity, well-educated and more prosperous.

Case for Telangana

The case for Telangana, which includes Hyderabad as its center, was always valid from the time of inception of the state. The first SRC clearly indicated that it was a marriage of unequal regions. Though many promises were made to alleviate the needs of Telangana people, none were met. Later in 1969, a massive agitation took place in Telangana asking for a separate state. Though there were many promises made for welfare of Telangana, almost all of those proposals were struck down. No promises were kept. To add to the incompetency and betrayal of its own leaders, the greed, the selfishness and self-centeredness of the rest of Andhra came out baring its ugly teeth. Time and again people of Telangana were denied their statehood.

Now, when the time has come to redeem our pledge and ensure we create a new state for our people, they talk about taking away its crown jewel.

What is the case for new state called Hyderabad carved out of the city lying in the middle of Telangana? Does it make sense?

When I started writing about Telangana, my premise was this:

When one state has two economically and culturally different regions, one being prosperous and the other backward, if corrective measures are not taken to uplift that backward region, there is a great danger that only the prosperous region gets all the attention, funding, new industries, canals, and opportunities, while the people of backward region keep losing out, even in their own region. When such a condition prevails far too long, strong corrective measures are to be taken, and if that does not work, a new state is one of the best solutions.

In what way does Hyderabad qualify for a separate statehood?

Were the people of Hyderabad oppressed, marginalized by Telangana? Is the representation of Hyderabad city people less compared to rest of Telangana, or is it more? Are the people of Hyderabad less educated compared to rest of Telangana, or more? What historical precedence shows that people of Hyderabad were marginalized, less represented, are economically backward or different or distinct in culture or heritage from Telangana? Is being too prosperous a good enough reason for exclusion, or inclusion?

There is no case of creating Hyderabad into a new state cutting it away from Telangana. If being prosperous, well-off, and being highly developed, and having many immigrants are good enough reasons to create every city into a state then each metropolitan city of India qualifies for it. Bangalore, Mumbai, Chennai, etc, can all be made new states cutting them away from their original states.

The greed of people is showing off. And we have institutionalized the greed so much, that they are not even squeamish to flaunt it.

If you think you will not be well-represented in the new state, you always have an option. If I am an immigrant and I don’t think I am well-represented in that land, I always have a choice to go back to the lands where I came from.

And in case, you believe you belong to Telangana, I suggest you wait for few years, and see how new Telangana treats you. We waited for more than 50 years to see how new Andhra Pradesh would treat us.

And if it turns out that people of Hyderabad are marginalized in the new state of Telangana just because they belong to a city called Hyderabad, I suggest you should fight for a new state called Hyderabad.

Frankly, deriding Telangana people will not help your case at all. Look at what one of detractors to a separate Telangana has to say (I take an extreme example here). I see this all the time. The detractors like to reduce Telangana Movement to a joke, deriding its leaders, its people, its culture, and of course, its language.

U r such a shameless fellow u can accept a muslims as ur brothers. U fought against razakkars, the Nizam king made ur women to
dance nude for batukamma, the hyderabdi nizam want to join in "Pakistan" and u people without any shame say brothers to those guys
because u know if u don't say brothers they won't support Hyderabad to be in Telangana. Shame on you.