PEOPLE’S TENAGANA FOUNDATION
Draft Statement of Agenda and Manifesto
Telangana: A Regional Personality
Telangana has been primarily a territory of adivasis and nomads, pastoral and service castes, artisans and leather workers. It was because of their composition Telangana has become, in popular perception, a symbol of people’s rebellion. (But instead it was libeled to have been a region of fakirs, and uncultured ‘lower castes’, and attributed therefore to have been infested with rebels, insurgents and communities of criminal inclinations and aptitudes). It was however true that the insurgences used to take place in history for protecting their perceived communitarian interests and eco-lives. Not a panegyric account but a historical reality. This region and the people identified with specific regional character and a nature of rebellion but not of criminal intents. It was identified with lower classes and communitarian cultures. As an ecological region, it produced a specific socio-political structure and structured life, a life of hard labour, to bring rocky terrain, thick forests and sloppy soils, under inhabitation and settlement. The regional life evolved attuned with its forests, meadows, streams and undulating slopes. The regional crops – cereals and pulses, fruits and nuts, leaves and climbers – those were grown in its red soils of sand and gravel nature, provided food stuffs to the people. Their food items too were distinctive not only from the other regions but also from the ruling elite and the landed gentry. The region had a life of plenty given the standard of the communitarian simplicity of the populace.
Immigrant Doralu
The region has become cynosure of its neighbours due its geographical location and ecological assets. From amongst the immigrant ruling elite Velama chiefs came from the north of the Vindhyas in search of settlement worked as army men and regional chiefs and finally transformed as landed gentry. Next in line the Reddy naiks came from the coastal country witnessed by the river Godavari. They come over here due intra-community conflicts in the Andhra region among diverse agrarian communities. They widely spread in entire region and maintained distinction of aristocratic character, without mixing with the local kapus. The immigrants subsequently subjected the autochthonous and the settled communities of the region for establishing the clusters of power, and hierarchy of ranks and titles. They formed into a ruling aristocracy of ‘powerful chiefs and magnates, who had controlled the locality’ for generations. This influx was instrumental in the formation of state and the constitution of hierarchy of power clusters. The Golkonda regime of the time pursued the policy of centralizing power and formed a state recruiting these magnates, creating a ruling elite sanctioning various grants installing them as chiefs in the pockets of their influence. They, thus, materialized as proto-type and even ambassadors of ruling class culture blending the required Hindu, Muslim ways of life. New ruling elite was appointed and new reforms were introduced to settle the area to have regular revenues. Thenceforth regional politics of social engineering, supremacy and classification of professional and artisanal communities into castes of high and low with rigid conventions enforced from above.
The Telingas
Lands were colonized from above and nomads and tribes were forced to take up ploughing and organized production. The twelve service castes barabaluta or saptangamulu (service and artisan castes) were inducted to form the village life. Attempts were made to build organized life, lands were brought under cultivation the bunds and culverts were made. The forests were burnt, lands were leveled, fertilized to start or renew organized production. Kuramas, Lambadas and many other non-agricultural castes took to agriculture. That transformed the cultivating communities of the region – Telagas, Munnurus, Muthrasi - into kampulu, regional cultivating castes. Forests were brought under cultivation and the whole ecology was affected a change for the beginning of a new organized and structured life. The process of peasantization has started amongst the Gonds, Pradhans, Koyas and the nomads in the plains too settled in the villages taking agriculture as a profession. What is noteworthy is regionalization of these communities has taken place. They acquired a regional character with common dress, food and speech. That has given them the required homogeneity to appear similar, and gained strength to oppose the ruling aristocracy.
The artisan production and handicrafts constituted the pivotal to the exchange economy. Markets developed in simple exchange of surplus on the basis of the artisan economy. Producers of cloth, silk and kambalis contributed to the Telangana economy. Graziers and dairymen, hunters and fowlers, toddy drawers, basket/rope/mat makers, boats-men and palki-bearers too become part of the economy and cultural make up of the region. Fishermen, barbers, potters, masons, tailors, dancers, mimics, jugglers, musicians and genealogists were part of the services so integral to the regional life. The importance of Madigas and menial/leather work grew along with the growth of upland agriculture.
The historical sources and folklore from the region tell many stories of unending battles and insurgencies. Telinga, the region came to be known, has become a cause of anxiety to the political powers at Delhi, many a time in history. For example, an insurgent of the region, Sarvaipapadu disturbed the sleep of the Emperor, Aurangazeb. Papadu was Gouda by caste staged a revolt: but not for piecemeal rights so called conventional materialist history usually fix the cause on poverty or for certain professional/caste rights. The rebels like Sarvaipapadu, Simru Gardi and many others did not simply fight for their professional rights, but for communitarian rights. The rights we mean, here to keep their habitat, space for themselves. They were living in a specific socio-ecological space that they never wanted to lose. The Musi, Munair, and the village streams that intertwined with their pastoral and agrarian life, and toddy trees, forest wealth, animal affluence, meadows, pastures and fields and thus formed communitarian structured life. The life was not only pre-set and but also continuously setting evolving castes and professions, specific to the region. Otherwise why did Sarvaipapadu raise an army of his own with young toddlers, and stage a banner of revolt against ruling local aristocracy? He built a fort. Further interesting is that the itinerant merchant-travelers Lambadas who pass through the region were asked to settle down in the region as agriculturists. He had a notion of regional economy. He wanted irrigation to develop. He was a rebel, soldier, economic planner and defender of the settled communitarian life. He stood for certain communitarian values and regional autonomy. The conventional living patterns, the working professions cherished, established by the local communities were disturbed due to above changes. It was apprehended a threat to their structured life.
The people with their militant upheavals and insurgency in such a situation of in-setting oppressive hierarchy came to be known as Telingas, thus came appellation Telingana à Telangana. The Telinga refers to the invincibility and toughness of the Telugized regional castes and communities.
All those folk heroes -- Yadannas, Kuramannas, Katamraju and Sarvaipapdu -- were fighters for the region. To defend their rights strong, well grounded caste panchayats and village panchayts were formed. They deeply rooted in traditions of bargain, resistance and fight to defend their perceived interests. They developed a mechanism of defensive system. It was necessary because of geographic location of Telinga country where intrusions and consequent structural alterations and swapping of positions were common.
Colonization and Aggrandizement
At this juncture the Coastal peasant communities, primarily the Kamma kapus swamped the region converting the hamlets – gudems, tandas and pentas – in to the villages of caste hierarchy and social domination. The nature of cultivation changed, land and labour became objects of exploitation. The tribes and castes became labourers and tenants working for others; lands, streams, trees and cattle passed into their hands. New culture of unending greed, aggrandizement and acquisitiveness became an unwritten rule. Podu fields were occupied spread agrarian culture of plunder of lands, resources and labourised castes. They slowly acquired lands with water resources under tanks, dams and canals. New business ethics of production to make money introduced thus, markets in land, labour and credit emerged, and traditions of bargain, justice and notions of fairness vanished. Whole project was accompanied by the development thesis that was imposed up on the region and people; and all professions and services became unviable and the process of contract and daylabouring became a new norm that began causing anguish to the people.
The change however did not fully transform, as often the development ideologues argued, these communities in to pure classes with expected class characteristics; and kept their primordial cultural, social and political characteristics and homogeneity intact. Protection of caste distinctions overriding the class interests not only rationalized the low and high castes divide but also established the cultural right of the superior castes over the labour of lower castes. Agrarian changes and development was possible because of this cultural and modernizing aspect of high castes in the twentieth century, and at the same time the lower status of the some of the castes was preserved to extract labour was yet for medieval remunerations.
Politics of Andhraisation
Real strength of this change however lay not in just in the sphere of production alone but in intellectual and ideological wisdom, and matured bourgeois mindset and politics of the Andhra political intelligentsia. These new ideas of development vs backwardness were spread by this generation of political class. To know more about the nature of political class, the initial rise of individuals as leaders depended on the castes consciousness, numerical strength of the caste and the degree of social hegemony exercised. Thus the modernizing castes produced the individuals of their castes as leaders and they in turn hegemonized the political parties. Political parties, in such scenario, came under the control of the castes. The Kammas, Reddys and Brahmins as communities organized in Telangana and Andhra regions and promoted their leadership. The Reddy hostel in Hyderabad and homogenized Kamma peasant community in Andhra regions pushed many of their caste men ahead of others as leaders. The castes, in fact, transformed as close knit communities with harmonized characteristics identified themselves with regions of their influence. The historical tragedy was the castes as organs of social/political entities were strengthened, and further the regions came to be known in the name of castes – Andhra as Kamma region and Telangana as Reddy region; and that was a final demise of all ideologies they professed. Brahmins as protagonists of literary culture occupied intellectual and cultural forums for Andhrisation of Telugus remained as men of letters however their overriding intellectual positions were severely challenged by the Kammas and Reddys. These modern ideologues while andhraising the entire region constructed Telgus as a Jati and propagated the needs of a homeland for Telugus to join Telangana and Andhra together. Their dress, food, appearance, and idiolect were standardized as cultural features of Telugus. All brands of politicians argued that such regional amalgamation would finally facilitate the Telangana to civilize and develop itself. The whole process was however weighed within the precincts of caste interests and finally caught up within the caste rivalries transforming the parties in to the caste confines.
Telangana Movements
At the same time the Telangana people – service caste, artisans, nomads, and pastoral communities - expressed different concerns through their struggles. Their movements were not without the struggle elements of the age of Sarviapapadu. To refer to the Telangana struggles of 1940s as anti-thesis to the above politics, it was initiated with the people’s innate community consciousness and discernment. They radically challenged the whole unjust practices that were set in undermining their conventional rights. The mass of people, castes and communities, moved en masse with the historical experiences they acquired over a long period as discussed above. Their demands, objectives were absolutely different as they were influenced by the life threatening experiences not abstract theories. They combined their inherited militancy with the political (leftist) spirit and exhibited extraordinary political determination. Their movement was not for land nor for food as often said but for abolishing the exploitative ethics of doras. It was a social and political movement not confined to economic interests. During the course of the movement they produced brilliant organizers, strategists, poets and singers. In the process they also produced some individuals amongst them (Nalla Narsimhulu, Jalotu Huma, Kurmi Ilaiah, Kummari Lachayya and Tadepalli Ramulu) as ‘leaders’ but could not become generally acceptable public leaders on par with the communist leadership despite great sacrifice and dedication. It was not because of lack of intuitions and perceptions among them but could not rally their caste groups as communities. They remained second rank/inferior leaders. But they were produced by the conventional wisdom of their communities’ needs and later some of them were absorbed in to the fold of the communists. Caste/community awareness and realization finally subordinated to highflying ideologies and the leaders we talked about. Their spirited battles were finally appropriated by the Andhra peasant politicians as if it were planned and developed by them and finally they hijacked to andhraise the people’s agenda for achieving Vishalandhra. After the movement came under the Andhra leaders, the plebeians were side lined their history was rewritten as subordinate dissenters when they demanded progressive land distribution.
Visalandhra: A Caste Conspiracy
The Brahmin intelligentsialof Coastal Andhra were the first to initiate Andhra linguistic consciousness in Madras presidency in confrontation with Tamils. That resulted in the debate and a movement for the Andhra state and finally for the formation or linguistic state during the early 20th century. In fact thenceforth the castes started directly influencing the politics, reducing the nationalist modernism to a myth. ‘The Non Brahmin in 1916 condemned the Andhra Province agitation as a movement of the Brahmins to obtain all the loaves and fishes of office’. The Reddys of Rayalaseema nursed apprehensions that they would be marginalized by Brahmins in the proposed Andhra state and their identity would be in jeopardy in the domineering Coastal politics. The decision to make Kurnool as the capital of the Andhra State was seen by the Kammas as a triumph of Reddys. Kammas, in fact, were keen in making Vijayawada as capital as it was emerging as a town in the heartland of their dominion and they perceived that it would serve their commercial, mercantile and landed interests. However the intelligentsia of these communities, at last, worked out a deal in view of their isolation in the Presidency politics, to share the power through the instrument of the Sri Bagh Agreement.
After the formation of the Andhra state in 1953 campaign for disintegration of Hyderabad and formation of Visalandhra was intensified to merge the Telangana region in the new state of Andhra. The Andhra movement has finally pushed all of them in competition with each other to achieve the Visalandhra agenda though it was primarily initiated by the Brahmin intelligentsia of the Andhra. It has its supporters in the Telangana intelligentsia too like Mandumula NarsingaRao, Suravaram Pratapa Reddy and Devulapalli Ramanujam. The leaders of Hyderabad State, led by the Brahmin-Reddy-Velama men in Congress party almost unanimously demanded the disintegration of Hyderabad. K.V. Ranga Reddy and Marri Chenna Reddy heading the Reddy political center in association with Velama leadership supported the disintegration of Hyderabad and subsequent emergence of Visalandhra. Reddys of both the regions felt that Visalandhra would lead to their caste consolidation and hence to the consolidation of political power notwithstanding the apprehensions expressed by some Telangana Reddys that they would be dominated by the Reddys of Rayalaseema.
Central Government under Nehru, though publicly characterized the urge for Vishalandhra as ‘expansionist imperialism’ nevertheless succumbed to the pressures of the Andhra Congress leadership. Communists led by P. Sundarayya pushed the Vishalandra in Delhi while negotiating withdrawal of Telangana armed struggle. They prevailed over the Brahmin-Reddy leadership of Telangana to accept the formation of Andhra Pradesh, in spite of State Reorganisation Commission emphasized and recommended the constitution of Telangana as Hyderabad State. Although Reddy leadership differed for some time on the issue of Visalandhra, they and the Brahmin leadership finally agreed to the formation of Andhra Pradesh by signing an agreement containing safeguards. Thus, the formation of the new state was almost entirely the handiwork of the Brahmin-Reddy-Velama combine in Telangana and the Brahmin-Reddy-Kamma combine in Andhra. The ordinary mass of people of the both regions remained mute spectators to the state formation. It was construed to be purely a political merger to suit the interests of the superior caste intelligentsia and politicians that lacks people’s mandate.
Separate Telangana Movements
The state of Andhra Pradesh nevertheless did not satisfy the individual and community interests of the superior castes though Brahmins were marginalized in the political governance. Kamma yet did not show enough of political maturity, industrialist Kammas remained with the Congress and peasant Kammas still chosen to be with the Communists. They gained a lot from the merger because fertile lands of Telangana came under their control. Coffee hotels, cinemas, publishing business and money-lending and small business came under the peasant Kammas, and they did show much interest in politics. The Reddys of Telangana by and large felt that they too were ignored by the Rayalseema Reddys. In this backdrop the separate Telangana movement of 1969-71 became a landmark in the history of social movements in India. Though the movement was initially led by students and lawyers with feeling that they were discriminated against and dominated by the Andhravalas but it was finally taken over by a politically marginalized and seasoned politician Marri Channa Reddy. In that movement about 400 students lost their lives in police firings.
The violation of “safeguards” of Telangana in government services, and consequent recruitment of non-locals into services, caused enormous discontent among the Telangana youth. The expiry of Mulki rules that safeguarded the rights of Telangana people, and the striking down of Mulki Rules by a court of law, gave a stimulus to the separate Telangana movement. Channa Reddy, to attract such youth, asserted the need of a separate state that would possibly be achieved through the ballot box. The people of Telangana responded to his call and gave an overwhelming support to the Telangana Praja Samiti in the 1971 Lok Sabha elections. In the election 10 MPs out of 14 seats in Telangana were elected on the banner of Telangana marginalizing the Vishaladhra ideologues to naught.
In spite of the overwhelming mandate for the separate Telangana, Channa Reddy betrayed the people and merged the party in the Congress, after among other deals, the Congress agreed to remove his rival, Kasu Brahmananda Reddy from the post of Chief Minister. It appears that Telangana Reddy leadership got impatient for not getting chance to govern the state of Andhra Pradesh, when they got chance through Chenna Reddy, they abandoned the aspired aim of separation.
Meanwhile the Supreme Court upheld the Mulki Rules and the judgment sparked off resentment among the educated Andhras. Besides, the land ceiling legislation brought out by chief minister P. V. Narsimha Rao angered the landlord politicians of the Andhra region. Andhra politicians used these two developments to launch a movement for a separate Andhra State. The people have been taken to a ride to protect the landed and caste interests in the two regions. The Congress leadership at the Centre nullified the Mulki Rules to appease the Andhras and replaced them with the Six Point Formula. On the whole these movements were made due to the inter-caste clashes and rivalries to come to power one after another.
The dissatisfied and disgruntled of politicians of the Reddy-Velama caste combines had made a few attempts to revive the struggle for a separate Telangana state during the 1980s and early 1990s. For example K Jana Reddy who was removed from the N T Rama Rao Ministry along with Jagpati Rao, a Velama, floated the Telangana Development Forum. Jana Reddy abandoned the issue once he was accommodated in the Congress led ministry. Subsequently P Indra Reddy, a former minister in Telugu Desam Party government, tried to initiate the movement but failed to garner the support of people. The Andhra Kamma leadership marginalized Telangana doralu and they used Telangana issue as opportunity time and again to get reinstated in power cheating the aspired people.
The hopes of Telangana people for a separate state and identity were rekindled when in 1996 the government of H D Deve Gowda consented to the creation of small state of Uttarakhand. Since November 1st, 1996 a series of meetings were held and several organizations came up to awaken the people for revival of their demand for a separate Telangana state. Irrigation occupied the central position during the current phase of Telangana movement.
The Telangana movement took a new turn with K. Chandrasekhar Rao (KCR), a Velama politician, former minister in Telugu Desam Party government, launching a political party the Telangana Rashtra Samiti. The Reddys rallied behind him as they lost respect for cheating the Telangana people earlier occasions and did not dare to launch a movement. TRS got fairly substantial support in panchayat elections held in 2001. In 2004 Parliament elections TRS got further strengthened by getting much wider support and his party joined the United Progressive Alliance at the Centre. KCR joined the Union Cabinet and left the issue of Telangana to the mercies of the Congress at the Centre. But when people especially students vociferously voiced their anger against his sullen attitude to the issue after he became a minister, KCR resigned from the government. He was however re-elected in 2006 as the people openly said and voted to the issue but not to him. Though the ground was pregnant with heightened people’s consciousness, he once again moved away from the goal. Instead of converting people’s aspirations into a movement, he moved away the goalpost. He presently makes his intentions clear for the next election pronouncing that the Telangana issue is dependent on how people vote in the 2009 elections.
Current Articulations
Political Parties
For the last one decade, the agenda of retrieving Telangana state for its people has come to the centre stage. Though the debate was sparked off by a shift in the policy at the Centre, nevertheless the revival of the Telangana issue should be primarily attributed to the university professors/teachers, journalists, lawyers, cultural ambassadors, students, and other leaders of civil society. The frontal organizations of the left parties, other than CPI and CPI (M), supported and speeded up the campaign for Telangana state. The campaign snowballed into a major debate and forced the parties to respond to the agenda set by the intelligentsia (civil societal leadership). Initially, political parties remained silent over the statehood question but when the people’s emotions became a tidal wave the political parties were forced to respond.
The then ruling party, TDP, as is known showed total disregard for people’s wishes and would not allow anybody in the party to even utter the word Telangana. TDP that fought the elections in 2004, on the integration plank, was shown the door by people who had lost faith in a unified state. Yet TDP continued to hang on to the same agenda. Congress remained evasive evidently so as not to disturb the hegemony of the Reddys in the name of an integrated state. It is common man’s knowledge that TDP, CPI and CPI (M) essentially belong to the Kamma caste. (However, a section of the Kammas under the leadership of N.G.Ranga supported the separate Telangana movement during the 1969 agitation). However, CPI and CPI (M) remained stuck to their delusion and refused to acknowledge the groundswell of support for Telangana state. However, of late CPI is changing its stance in favour of Telangana. BJP was opportunistic, changing its stance from time to time. It too finally yielded to the Telangana people’s aspiration for a separate state.
The policies of all political parties appear to be disempowering people as they consciously cultivate the politics of inequality rooted in the arrangement of integrated state. Any mobilization of people around Telangana based on equal access to power will be resisted. The articulation for smaller state, headed by lower castes, will expose the hidden agenda of Reddy-Kamma-Velama hegemony. All political parties, headed by dominant castes, pursue the politics of self-aggrandizement at the cost of people. The two-faced politics of all the political parties have been exposed for what they are.
At this juncture, a new political trend is evident in the political parties with the deprived members of BC, SC, ST and minority communities starting to question and even defy the state leadership on articulating their support for Telangana state. Political parties like BSP, RJD, NCP and various other smaller parties and organizations extended their support for Telangana state.
Civil Society
Articulate civil society consisted of professional associations belonging to teachers, lawyers, employees, journalists, youth and students etc., that were largely headed by dominant castes are engaged in setting agendas against the rising consciousness of the people. These organizations act as proxy to the dominant caste’s arrangement of power. They usually wage limited struggles over financial, service and professional matters and manage to protect and serve the interests of their caste and class. They appear to be, at the moment, friends of the struggling masses though adopt covert methods to negate and thwart the people’s upward mobility, intellectually, economically and even professionally.
As against such a process, the civil society has given birth to anti-caste organizations, such as Ambedkarite, SC, ST, OBC and minority organisations. The (anti) caste associations are fighting oppressive structures and ideologies across political parties, institutions and Governments formulated by the dominant caste and reflected in their agendas in vast areas such as religion, secularism, class, region, environment and so on. The anti-caste groups are determined to democratize institutions and movements and are questioning the intentions and legitimacy of the casteist ruling classes in leading democratic institutions and people’s movement.
Since 1996, Telangana-centric organizations led by writers, teachers, students, lawyers, journalists and singers have been at the forefront of the movement for statehood. The approach of all the organizations was centered round water resources, cultural invasion and the plight of the unemployed. In essence, the civil societal organizations headed by dominant castes have articulated more or less the same concerns as voiced by Telangana based parties. What is missing in the whole exercise is the appropriate understanding of the hidden agenda of the dominant caste that have been articulating the Telangana issue. Exposure of the dominant caste’s urge for power and needs of democratizing the power spaces is as much important as that of democratizing physical space and cultural resources of Telangana.
Top-Down Approach: Understanding Social Forces
The movement for revival of Telangana state has drawn the battle lines between the agendas of people’s liberation and status-quo-ism. The lower castes excluded in sharing the political power who were dominated for ages are making efforts to form a social bloc centered on agenda of common interests. The other led by the dominant castes of Reddys and Kammas largely dominate the politics of ruling and opposition interchangeably and in the process, they have emerged as hegemonic caste blocs. In the event of one caste heading government, the other caste, including Velamas participate as lesser partners in power sharing. The unwritten agreement among these castes is not to allow the Other Social Blocs (SC, ST, OBC & Minority) to come up politically and lay a claim for power. There have been innumerable instances where dominant castes have come together in dismembering the initiatives of the excluded castes either through cooption or elimination. In spite of that multiple articulations that are arising from the grassroots across the social spectrum much progress has not been made since overarching/ grand strategy is missing in their efforts. Knitting multiple initiatives together and infusing confidence among the masses have become the need of hour. The ground is pregnant with ideas, assertions and articulations and it is a major challenge to the forces of transformation how to use this combined energy to achieve the determined goals.
The leadership of Reddy, Kamma and Velama is opposed to the idea of two states for people of Andhra Pradesh as they think that Integrated state of Andhra Pradesh alone retains their power. The twin processes, associated with larger spatial unit and political channels that have been developed historically, cannot allow the dispossessed to challenge the dominant. On the contrary the space being small will give rise to the release of social forces and consequent political power. Therefore, it is an obvious fact that the Dora-Patel castes cannot achieve a Telangana state, even if they achieve it is for them and to revive oppression of the Nizam’s period. That is possible only through the mobilization of social forces belonging to SC, ST, OBC and Minority as they are in need of the revival of Telangana state. Let us not nurture any more illusions to the contrary as the well laid strategy of the dominant in articulating Telangana is all too clear.
What is the agenda of these forces of negation? It is amply evident from the articulations of parties and governments (headed by Choudhry-Reddy/Dora-Patel) using the language of development (of underdevelopment) of Telangana against the revival of Telangana state. The language may vary and slogans may be different but they all have common strategy of negating the assertions from below. The developmental and separate state language of leadership of dominant castes is suspect ?. In essence, whether a unified Andhra Pradesh continues to exist or a Telangana state emerges, the power would continue to be exercised by Dora-Patels as it has been since the transition from Hyderabad State to the independent Hyderabad/Andhra Pradesh state. It is time for the excluded castes to take over the Telangana Movement.
Contradictions
The forces campaigning for revival of Telangana state differ on the identification of contradictions. The Dora-Patel combine see the contradiction between Telangana and Andhra regions and attribute it to Andhra for all the problems that Telangana suffers from. While it is partially true that the leadership of the combine of Choudhry-Reddy is responsible as they shaped the policy of the state right from its inception. The physical resource centric agenda that is put forth by them suffers from inbuilt limitations. The absence of people’s relationship with resources is hardly discussed in this entire articulation. This is designed in a way that it serves the needs of the oppressors while simultaneously prevents the common people from participation. At the same time, this design should also serve to monopolize Telangana in the event of a separate state becoming a reality. The other possibility is that it will look for enlarging space for bargain in the event of continuation of Andhra Pradesh as it had happened during 1969 agitation.
People’s Telangana recognizes two contradictions, domestic and external, and seeks resolution of these contradictions. The external contradiction lies between hegemonic caste leadership of Andhra and People’s Telangana. There also appears to be a tacit understanding between the dominant castes of both regions. Both the forces are responsible for the backwardisation of Telangana. And therefore, Dora-Patel combine does not command credibility in leading Telangana movement.
The other contradiction that needs to be resolved is that between Dora-Patels and people of Telangana. The backwardisation of Telangana is because of the existence and continuation of culture of dominant castes. During the time of Nizam’s rule, the Dora (transformed from Jagirdars and Deshmukhs) was a combination of the landlord, the moneylender, the village official, the government representative and the politician. He acquired authority by birth over resources. He was also the lord of the village and exercised power over people. He was a link between officials and villagers. On the other hand, the Patel was a village functionary resorting to exploitation in the name of Nizam’s rule. The Doras and Patels got transformed in to public representatives, politicians and officials after the liberation of Nizam’s state. They invariably come from Reddy, Kamma and Velama castes and their consciousness is shaped by the thought that lower sections of society are sub-humans.
The emergence of caste associations during the early part of 20th century was the other process that had a bearing on casteisation of public space. Most of the leadership that emerged during the last century had a taint of caste consciousness as they got trained in associations and got diversified in to modern institutions while retaining the oppressive caste consciousness. As a result the whole public space got casteised and therefore the state witnessed the process of Reddyisation-Kammaisation-Velamaisation of political parties, structures of power and public institutions. Regional/sectors of economy and industry of culture too is bi-sectionalized into caste syndicates.
People’s Telangana concerns about democratizing society by bringing in the marginalized and excluded communities. It strives to get, in practical sense, equal opportunity to every one, particularly the dominant forces and resolution of contradictions of external and internal. In this direction there is a need for a vision rooted in the bottom up strategy.
Bottom up Approach: An Understanding towards People’s Telangana
Ambedkar’s thesis for People’s State
While jotting down Thoughts on Linguistic states in 1955, Ambedkar said
Politics is nothing if not realistic. There is very little in it that is academic. It therefore follows that before passing any judgment on my scheme of politics it is essential that one must consider the ground plan…. to me, ground plan means the social structure of a community to which the political plan is sought to be applied. It needs no argument to show that the political structure rests on the social structure. Indeed the social structure has a profound effect on the political structure…. in the case of India,
the social structure is built up on the caste system.... The caste system is so well known that one need not wait to explain its nature. One can straight proceed to show what effect it is likely to have on Linguistic States...
There are some peculiar features of the caste system which must however be noted.
(1) Castes are so distributed that in any given area there is one caste which is major and there are others which are small and are subservient to the major caste owing to their comparative smallness and economic dependence upon the major caste which owns most of the land in the village.
(2) The caste system is marked not merely by inequality but is affected by the system of graded inequality. All castes are not on a par. They are one above the other. There is a kind of ascending scale of hatred and a descending scale of contempt.
(3) A caste has all the exclusiveness and pride which a nation has. It is therefore not improper to speak of collection of castes as a collection of major and minor nations.
Further , Ambedkar argued,
Voting is always communal. The voter votes for the candidate of his community and not for the best candidate... The minority community is forced to vote for the candidate of the majority community...
As consequence of social system of graded inequality the voter of the higher (major) communities can never condescend to give his vote to a candidate of a minority community. On the other hand the voter of the minority community who is socially on a lower level takes pride in giving his vote to the candidate of the majority community...
These evil consequences of the caste system are sure to be sharpened by creation of Linguistic States. Minority communities may be crushed. If not crushed, they may be tyrannized and oppressed. They are sure to be discriminated against and denied equality before law and equal opportunity in public life….
People who rely upon majority rule forget the fact that majorities are of two sorts. (1) Communal majority and (2) Political majority.
A political majority is changeable in its class composition. A political majority grows. A communal majority is born. The admission to a political majority is open. The door to a communal majority is closed. The politics of a political majority are free to all to make and unmake. The politics of a communal majority are made by its own members born in it.
How can a Communal majority run away with the title deeds given to a political majority to rule?....
What is the remedy? No doubt some safeguards against this communal tyranny are essential. The question is: what can they be? The first safeguard is not to have too large a State. The consequences of too large a State on the minority living within it are not understood by many. The larger the State the smaller the proportion of the minority to the majority...
The second safeguard is some provision for representation in the Legislature. The old type of remedy provided in the Constitution were (1) certain number of reserved seats and (2) separate electorates.
Separate electorates or reservation of seats must not be restored to. It would be enough to have plural member constituencies (of two or three) with cumulative voting in place of the system of single member constituency embodied in the present Constitution. This will allay the fears which the minorities have about Linguistic States.
Cultural Landscape of Telangana
We argue that the socio-cultural space of Telangana is different from that of Andhra. The presence of caste structures differs from Andhra as the geography varies largely from one another. Hilly, forest and pastoral and feudal life shaped professional castes and consequent consciousness of the Telangana as against that of Andhra whose peasant/caste ethic of exploitation was determined by the coastal plains and colonial rule.
Telangana has the large presence of Lambadas, Koyas, Gonds, Madiga, Mudiraj, Munnurkapu, Yadava, Goud, Muslim, Kapu (Reddy) etc. Andhra is constituted largely by the presence of Mala, Pallekar, Boya, Yanadi Kamma, Kapu, Balija, Reddy, Raju, Kalinga, etc. Service and artisanal castes like Chakali, Mangali, Padmasali etc are found all over the regions. Further, it is said that the castes peculiar to regions also found relatively small in other regions. This amply testifies to the fact that the revival of Telangana is going to provide ample scope for assertion of the region-specific social and cultural spaces and get liberated from the combined burden of the dominant castes. The absence of the Kammas in Telangana and also Reddys of Rayalaseema will intensify the people to gain their spaces. The liberation and consolidation of forces will result in the pluralisation of the political process, regimes of power. That would promote the cultural fusion of Telangana people.
Strategy towards People’s Telangana Movement
Telangana movement means the movement of service caste, artisans, nomads, and pastoral communities. Telangana was made up of their history their life and their culture. Just like Jharkhand that acquired a specific character with Munda and Santhals, Telangana acquired a specific character of the unorganized and trivialized castes and communities. Telangana subsequently lost its identity and had to satisfy with history of their struggles, sacrifices and even loss of lives and its past was maligned and attributed to suit political interests of those who established their power over Vishalandhra. Their valor, sacrifices were appropriated by the leaders of Andhra type.
When new power structure was constituted during 1947 to 1956 for formation of Hyderabad/Vishalandhra state the landed gentry of Telangana and peasant entrepreneurs of Andhra vied each other with contempt but joined together against the lower castes. They could turn the fighting communities into followers and carriers of their agendas. Modern ideologies of linguistic state, land reforms and abolition of feudalism were products of the modern educated intelligentsia that virtually brought the militant communities under their control. Political parties that worked with such fashionable programmes and agendas were resulted in organizations of the educated intelligentsia who recruited people into it to obey their leadership. The leaders, as every ones knows today enjoyed power, prestige and positions. The delusions of such agendas had hidden the real intentions of aggrandizement. Further the parties developed on the caste lines passed into hands of castes and gradually transformed as caste organizations. Such ‘leaders’ appropriated, owned the parties as private limited companies and inherited the ideologies with copy rights; and bequeathed them to their progenies. The concept of party and notions of politics and jugglery of ideologies have prevented the large mass of people from imagining those notions, concepts to master them; and permanent copy rights over them were retained by the leaders.
What is interesting is that the modern ideologies and parties converted all the working professional castes as thoughtless lower castes while talking about equity. These ‘intellectually inferior’ castes and communities have to follow the ideologies and ideologues that would provide them land to live on and flag to carry with them. This agenda changed their fate overnight to the rank of permanent followers and supporters. They did not understand the grand theories, designed politics and framed strategies. The ‘leaders’ thus acquired superior status subordinating the toilers in terms of understanding the reality, planning a political strategy and in terms of social standing too.
Marxism told us that one’s being decides one’s consciousness and that is historically proved that the leaders of parties converted the parties into caste organs instead of standing for the propagated goals. The party means in real terms not only a complex mechanism of hierarchy, staffing and clout but also mechanism of exclusion, elimination and segregation of the ‘disloyal’ i.e. the lower classes. The two dominant caste groups co-existed and worked together to protect their common interests covering their face behind ideologies advancement the down trodden and the agrarian development of the state. Their strategies saturated, their ideologies exposed, their intentions and corrupt practices came to be known by the public. The communists no more talk of socialism, Marx and Lenin that became irrelevant, they formed league with ideologues of tourism and globalization who have become role models.
The politics of subordinate multitudes, in such political regimes, resulted only to obey the masters thus there was no representation of their own. They lost their innate, self-generated reasons and perceptions they established as parallel traditions and beliefs with which they defended their perceived interests in history. The loss of such folk idioms, speeches was resulted in loss of knowledge and consequent dependence. Now, we must suppose, politics are to be built on our own language and knowledge. Marxism told us that your life form decides your world view it is time to form a federation of the excluded castes and communities to achieve their communitarian/political goals in a principle of let hundred flowers blossom. Every community – regional, caste, gender and class - should represent themselves to form stanch democratic governance. Our panchayats, our eco-friendly life, our sense of fairness, our wisdom of justice, our experience of co-existence should be the basis to form a federation of communities to conduct movements. In Movements are conducted should strengthen the communities of participants not the so called leaders. We shouldn’t assign the responsibility of our representation to others, and promote party politics that subordinated us, that sold our lives, that demolished our culture, that destroyed our language and knowledge. We must protect our lands, streams, crops and culture. We must assert and prove that we lived centuries with values, ethics and culture; that was not the culture of selling buying - humans, water, hills and everything that has use value. We plan development and advancement with broader human and social interests.
