Telangana 74: Why are Andhras frustrated?

When Kalvakuntla Chandrasekhar Rao (KCR) came onto the scene in Andhra Pradesh with a small political outfit called Telangana Rashtra Samiti (TRS) in 2000, Andhras were not extremely disturbed.  Instead they were quite amused.  That’s because KCR spoke in Telangana accent and that was always a funny spectacle for most Andhras.  You see, in 100% of the Telugu movies, the guy who speaks Telangana accent is either a buffoon or a goon.  He is never the main hero or the main villain.  Of course, he is not even the side-hero or the main comedian, because they are also important actors, though second in rank.

In Telugu movies, the Telangana-accent guy gets kicked around all the time, literally.  By the time the movie approaches its end all the Telangana-accent actors are eliminated from the plot.  Only the hero and the villain remain – neither of them will be from Telangana.  Naturally, most Andhras thought that KCR was one of those small time actors; not the main villain and definitely not the hero.  They expected him to get out by the time big boys from Seemandhra come onto the scene.

So, when Telangana agitations got into full swing in 2009-10, and kept on rising, Andhras just could not fathom how this could be happening.  Is the sidekick turning out to be a hero (for Telanganas) and villain (for Seemandhras)? Nah! Not possible.  This is not an acceptable formula for successful movies.  This movie would never work.

The frustration amongst Andhras is palpable, and it comes out in the same mindset of plot of a Telugu movie.  ‘Why do you have such bad leaders?  How come your leader KCR is not like one of our leaders?’ The innate assumption is very simple:  How come you are following small time comedian instead of big actors from Seemandhra? 

Andhras thought that once Telanganas realize that KCR is just a small time actor, they would stop listening to him and stop following him.  And Telangana Movement would just vanish into thin air.  So they just concentrated on proving to Telangana people that KCR is nothing but a sidekick.

But then Telangana Movement was not going away; it kept on rising.  Andhras just could not understand why so many people are following this sidekick, this goon, instead of the  main heroes they were showcasing like Naidu, Chiranjeevi, Jagan, Lagadapati, etc. 

At this point, we can ask an important question: Why don’t Andhras realize that there is a widespread mass movement in Telangana; that there are really dedicated and smart people who are championing Telangana cause, not blindly following any political leader? Why many Andhras still think that this movement is going to fade away just like that, with removal of KCR from the picture?

To understand why Andhras get bugged each time Telangana Movement keeps rising, we should go back to 1969.

When Telangana erupted suddenly in violent agitations of 1969, Indira Gandhi swooped down with armies and police to simply quell the agitations with brute force.  Andhras were quite happy with what Indira Gandhi did, and they thought they could just go back to doing what they were doing, which is filling up Telangana job posts with Andhra people in large numbers flouting every rule.

In the aftermath of 1969, Indira Gandhi enrolled all the Telangana leaders into Congress, threatening them, cajoling them, while throwing at them some compromises.  One such compromise was making a Telangana man the Chief Minister for the first time.  Andhras knew they could dilute this compromise as easily as they diluted Gentlemen’s Agreement and Section 371 D.  However, this Telangana man allowed Telangana people to go to Supreme Court which upheld the Mulki rules.  That means the jobs in Telangana are no longer up for grabs by Andhras.

This upset Andhras a lot.  They were celebrating after 1969 agitation was crushed.  The party just got started.  Andhras living in Telangana were calling their sons, daughters, nieces, nephews, uncles and aunts to come to Telangana to take up the jobs that were opening up in Telangana.  Many Andhras back home bought tickets to send their kith and kin to Telangana to grab the jobs and buy cheap lands.  Now, that party has to stop?  ‘What’s the use of having an internal colony if it cannot be colonized’, they asked.

They knew that Indira Gandhi was in no mood to create a new state in this region.  Instead of coming to the State Assembly building in Hyderabad, the Seemandhra MLAs created their own assembly in Tirupathi dissolving the Assembly.  As a bogey they started a fake movement called ‘Jai Andhra’ movement, which can be roughly translated as, ‘Either give us the colony so that we can colonize, otherwise take it back because it is of no use to us’. 

To please the majority Seemandhras, Indira Gandhi imposed President’s rule, reversed the Supreme Court decision, and diluted Mulki rules, so that Andhras can continue their party.  The colonization of Telangana was once again officially on.

Andhras learnt a lesson though, from these 1969 events.  They were cautioned that this party can be spoilt anytime in future.  Their colonization efforts have to be safely concealed.  Government of Andhra Pradesh stopped giving statistics on region wise revenues/expenditures. 

Also, they stopped using the word ‘Telangana’ in all references.  So, in movies, or speeches, or assembly house proceedings, the word ‘Telangana’ was banned, shunned, so that Telangana people will not even know they belong to Telangana.  Many Telangana people did not know their history – they innocently believed that Potti Sriramulu died for their cause.  They did not study anything about Gentlemen’s Agreement or about 1969 agitations.  Andhra’s history became their history.  Andhra’s identity became their identity. 

Later on, Nandamuri Taraka Ramarao (NTR) created a new myth, that we are all one happy Telugu family and tried to instill this myth into Telangana people and it was partially successful because even many Telangana people innocently believed in it for a long time till Telangana Movement got a revival in mid 1990s.

So, when KCR started turning into a main actor, naturally, the Seemandhras launched a vehement attack on KCR.  They couldn’t attack other stuff that he represented because they had references to word ‘Telangana’.  KCR’s party Telangana Rashtra Samiti and Telangana Movement have the word ‘Telangana’ in it.  Since KCR doesn’t have ‘Telangana’ in his name they could say all kinds of things about KCR without having to utter the word ‘Telangana’. 

Conveniently, Andhras think that everything that happens in Telangana, for the cause of Telangana, is only because of KCR.  They see him everywhere.  They think he funds the entire campaign.  They think he brainwashes every professor, every scientist, and every economist.  They think people show up just because KCR gives them booze and money.  They think he is capable of doing some kind of magic because he is converting everyone, every man and woman, young and old, educated and illiterate, professional and unemployed. 

It is very important for Andhras to believe that this whole problem is the creation of only one man, KCR, because if they somehow focus their energies and eliminate him from the scene before end of the movie, they don’t have to deal with the word ‘Telangana’ anymore.  Even during the height of Telangana agitations of 2010, many Seemandhra MPs in their speeches did not use the word Telangana, and instead referred to Telanganas as ‘the people of that region’. The word Telangana became Lord Voldemort.  It has to be constantly referred to as 'You-Know-Who,' or the one ‘That-Must-Not-Be-Named’.

In one of the recent Telugu movies, ‘Leader’, the hero wants to become CM of entire Andhra Pradesh, but in his speech, he refers to Rayalaseema and Andhra as if those two regions make up entire state, never uttering the word Telangana.

Andhras are now faced with this sidekick and his sidekick movement, which are looming large, ready to stop new job opportunities in Telangana, stop the supplies from their internal colony, and may even reduce the water that flowed so easily without being dammed.  

Many of them are in denial and waiting for the end of the movie, where this minor actor will disappear and with him this ‘you-know-who’ movement. They are frustrated because the movie is not coming to an end.

And those who realize that KCR is not really running the show are even more frustrated.  They cannot believe that these Telanganas, who they always thought to be lazy and subservient, the characterization which is now enshrined in SKC Report, could rise up in such great movement to topple their hegemony.  All these years, they have been telling themselves, their kids, and everyone around, that it is Andhras who have taught Telanganas to be civilized, to speak good Telugu, to farm their lands, to cook their breakfast.   So, it is extremely hard for them to accept that same lazy and subservient people are about to make a state for themselves thereby ending their colonial rule.

But then there are many Seemandhras in Seemandhra who had never benefited from this colonization of Telangana.  In fact the colonization of Telangana ensured that opportunities were accessible only by few of their people, the elite and the rich.  These Seemandhras welcome creation of Telangana.  They are happy to see this colonization end; maybe their own problems will be solved solved now.   They are quite OK to see this sidekick, this goon, this buffoon, become the hero or the villain, because in some way they associate themselves with this underdog.