Struggle for Andhra State Home
The Andhras were struggling for the formation
of a separate Andhra Province since the period of British, but could not
succeed. When India attained Independence on the 15th of August, 1947, Andhras
hoped that their long-cherished desire would be realised soon. Inspite of
several renewed efforts put forth by the Andhra leaders before the Prime
Minister Jawaharlal Nehru and the Deputy Prime Minister Sardar Vallabhai Patel,
the desire for a separate Andhra State remained as a dream itself.
The Dar Commission, appointed by the Government
of India under the Chairmanship of S.K.Dar did not recommend for the creation
of States on the linguistic consideration. This report of the Commission
created such an adverse reaction in Andhra that the Congress leaders felt it
prudent to assuage the ruffled feelings of the Telugus. An unofficial
Committee, consisting of Jawaharlal Nehru, Vallabhbhai Patel and Pattabhi
Sitaramaiah, popularly known as the J.V.P. Committee, was constituted by the
Congress. The Committee in its report submitted to the Working Committee of the
Indian National Congress in April, 1949 recommended that the creation of
linguistic provinces be postponed by few years. However, it suggested that
Andhra Province could be formed provided the Andhras gave up their claim to the
city of Madras (now Chennai). This report provoked violent reaction in Andhra
as the Telugus were not prepared to forego their claims to the city of Madras.
Under the prevailing situation, a Partition
Committee was formed under the Chairmanship of Kumaraswami Raja, the then Chief
Minister of Madras. Andhra was represented by Tanguturi Prakasam, B.Gopala
Reddi, Kala Venkata Rao and N.Sanjiva Reddy. The Partition Committee could not
arrive at an agreed settlement. Prakasam disagreed with the views of other
members and gave a dissenting note. The Government of India, took advantage of
the dissenting note of Prakasam and shelved the issue. To express the
resentment of the Andhras, Swami Sitaram (Gollapudi Sitarama Sastry), a
Gandhian, undertook a fast unto death, which created an explosive situation in
Andhra. However, Swami gave up his 35-day fast on the 20th of September, 1951,
on the appeal made by Vinoba Bhave. Nothing came out of this fast except the
increasing distrust of the people of Andhra towards their own leaders and the
Government of India.
In the First General Elections of 1952, Andhras
expressed their resentment towards the Congress leaders by defeating them at
the polls. Out of the 140 seats from Andhra in the Madras Legislative Assembly,
the Congress could secure only 43, while the Communist Party of India bagged as
many as 40 seats out of the 60 it contested. In the Madras Legislative Assembly
itself, the Congress could secure only 152. The non-Congress members in the
legislature, numbering 164 formed themselves into a United Democratic Front
(U.D.F.) and elected T.Prakasam as their leader. But the Governor nominated
C.Rajagopala Chari to the Legislative Council and invited him to form the
ministry.
After Rajagopala Chari became the Chief
Minister of the Madras State, he tried to divert the Krishna waters by
constructing Krishna-Pennar Project for the development of the Tamil area. The
Andhras agitated against this as they feared that the Project spelt ruin to
Andhra. The Government of India appointed an expert Committee under the
Chairmanship of A.N.Khosla, who pronounced that the project in its present form
should not be proceeded with and suggested the construction of a project at
Nandikonda (the site of the present Nagarjunasagar Project). The report of the
Khosla Committee vindicated the apprehensions of the Andhras regarding the
unfriendly attitude of Rajagopala Chari's Government towards the Andhras. The
desire of the Andhras to separate themselves from the composite Madras State
and form their own State gained further momentum.
At this juncture, Potti Sriramulu, a
self-effacing Gandhian, began his fast unto death on the 19th of October, 1952
at Madras. Though the fast created an unprecedented situation throughout
Andhra, the Congress leaders and the Government of India did not pay much
attention to it. On the 15th of December, 1952, Sriramulu attained martyrdom.
The news of Sriramulu's death rocked Andhra into a violent and devastating
agitation. The Government of India was taken aback at this popular upsurge. On
the 19th December, 1952, Jawaharlal Nehru announced in the Lok Sabha that the
Andhra State would be formed with the eleven undisputed Telugu districts, and
the three Taluks of the Bellary district, but excluding Madras City.
On the 1st of October, 1953, Andhra State came
into existence. It consisted of the districts of Srikakulam, Visakhapatnam,
East Godavari, West Godavari, Krishna, Guntur, Nellore, Chittoor, Cuddapah,
Anantapur and Kurnool, and the taluks of Rayadurg, Adoni and Alur of the
Bellary district. On the question of Bellary taluk, it was included in the
Mysore State on the recommendation of L.S.Mishra Commission.
Kurnool became the capital of the new State,
under the terms of the Sri Bagh Pact of 1937 between the leaders of the Coastal
Andhra and Rayalaseema. T.Prakasam became the first Chief Minister of the
Andhra State and C.M.Trivedi was appointed Governor of this new State. With the
inauguration of the Andhra State by Nehru, the forty year old dream of the
Telugu people to have a separate State of their own was partly fulfilled. They
looked forward to the formation of Visalandhra with Hyderabad City as the
Capital.
Police Action in Hyderabad State
Meanwhile, the Hindus of the Hyderabad State
who accounted for 93 per cent of its population, launched the `Join India'
movement with the cooperation of a few patriotic Muslims for the integration of
the State with the rest of the country. The State Congress leaders, led by
Swami Ramanand Tirtha, invoked themselves whole-heartedly in the movement. As
the State Congress was banned by the Nizam, its leaders conducted their
activities from places like Vijayawada and Bombay. The Communists on their part
organised village defence squads to protect the villagers from the attacks of
the Nizam Police and Razakars.
All negotiations between the Nizam's Dominions
and the Indian Union proved abortive. The Nizam Government did not agree to the
accession of the Dominions to the Indian Union. The activities of the Majlis
Ittehadul Muslimeen and the Razakars within the Dominions were posing a threat
to peace and harmony. The growing violence of the Razakars seriously
jeopardised law and order. The Government of India, tried to make the Nizam see
reason and sign the Instrument of Assession with India. After tortuous
negotiations, the Nizam finally entered into a `Stand Still Agreement' on
November 29, 1947, with India for one year to maintain status quo, which
existed between the British and the Nizam before August 15, 1947. This
agreement of the Nizam was only to gain time to procure military hardware from
different parts of the world and smuggle them into Hyderabad. In the meanwhile,
the Nizam sent a delegation to the U.N.O. to refer the Hyderabad case to the
Security Council.
With the growing violence by the Razakars and
the Nizam's attempts to get himself independent, the Government of India
decided to curb these tendencies by launching a `Police Action' against the
Nizam. On the 13th of September, 1948 `Police Action' on Hyderabad commenced.
The Indian Army, led by Major-General J.N.Chaudhuri entered the State from five
directions and the military action was a brilliant success. On 18th September,
1949, Nizam's forces surrendered and Mir Laik Ali, the Prime Minister of the
Nizam, and Khasim Razvi were arrested. On September, 23, the Nizam withdrew his
complaint in the Security Council. The merger of Hyderabad Dominions into the
Indian Union was announced. Major-General J.N.Chaudhuri took over as Military
Governor of Hyderabad and stayed in that position till the end of 1949. In
January 1950, M.K.Vellodi, a Senior Civil Servant, was made the Chief Minister
of the State and the Nizam was designated `Raj Pramukh'. After the 1952 General
Elections, the first popular ministry headed by B.Rama Krishna Rao took charge
of the State.
Emergence of Andhra Pradesh
The creation of Andhra State in October, 1953
strengthened the general demand for linguistic States. Andhras had also long
cherished demand for the formation of Visalandhra, since the people of
Hyderabad State were unanimous in their demand for the trifurcation of their
State. Andhras hoped that the outlying Telugu areas in Orissa, Madhya Pradesh,
Mysore and Madras be incorporated in the greater Andhra.
The States Reorganisation Commission, with Syed
Fazl Ali as the Chairman, set up by the Government of India in December 1953,
who heard the views of different organisations and individuals, was though
convinced of the advantages of Visalandhra, however, favoured the formation of
separate State for Telangana. This report of the S.R.C. led to an intensive
lobbying both by the advocates of Telangana and Visalandhra. The Communists
reacted sharply and announced that they would resign their seats in the
Hyderabad Legislative Assembly and contest elections on the issue. In the
Hyderabad Legislative Assembly, a majority of the Legislators supported
Visalandhra.
The Congress High Command favoured Visalandhra
and prevailed upon the leaders of the Andhra State and Telangana to sort out
their differences, who, thereupon, entered into a `Gentlemen's Agreement'. One
of the main provisions of the Agreement was the creation of a `Regional
Council' for Telangana for its all round development. The enlarged State by
merging nine Telugu speaking districts of Adilabad, Nizamabad, Medak,
Karimnagar, Warangal, Khammam, Nalgonda, MahabubNagar and Hyderabad, into
Andhra State with its eleven districts of Srikakulam, Visakhapatnam, East
Godavari, West Godavari, Krishna, Guntur, Nellore, Chittoor, Cuddapah,
Anantapur and Kurnool, totalling 20 districts* was named `Andhra Pradesh' with
its capital at Hyderabad. It was inaugurated on the 1st of November, 1956 by
Jawaharlal Nehru. Neelam Sanjiva Reddy became the first Chief Minister of
Andhra Pradesh, who later rose to the position of the President of India.
Burgula Ramakrishna Rao, last of the Chief Ministers of Hyderabad State was
elevated to the Office of the Governor of Kerala. C.M.Trivedi continued to be
the Governor of Andhra Pradesh.
Three more districts were added later by the
creation of Prakasam in 1970, Ranga Reddy in 1978 and Vizianagaram in 1979.
Thus, the State presently has 23 districts.
But Telangana agitation again came in to the picture and it is reaching very high by kalvakuntla Chandrashekar Rao (KCR) fight for separate state. KCR's hunger strike made the agitation reaching to common man.
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