People's Strike For Telangana In 1969:-
In
1969, Telangana NGO's ,Teachers and Amos and also people from the
various departments are involved in the Strike and they had strike
notice for the separate Telangana State and it was continued till 38 days and in 1969 telangana movement near about 369 people are died in Police firing.
In the years after the formation of Andhra Pradesh state, people of
Telangana expressed dissatisfaction over how the agreements and
guarantees were implemented. Discontent with the 1956 Gentleman's
agreement intensified in January 1969, when the guarantees that had been
agreed on were supposed to lapse. All the Andhra employees who
migrated to capital city in 1956 will become local in 1969 after
12years of residence per mulki rules. Student agitation for the
continuation of the agreement began at Khammam and spread to other
parts of the region. One section of students(which appeared dominant)
want separate state other want implementation of safeguards. On 19 January 1969, all party accord was reached to ensure the proper implementation of Telangana safeguards.
Accord's
main points are 1) All non-Telangana employees holding posts reserved
for Telangana locals will be transferred immediately. 2) Telangana
surpluses will be used for Telangana development. 3) Appleal to
Telangana students to call off agitation.Police firing and deaths of protesters further escalated situation.
Meanwhile transfers of Andhra employees, as promised in all party accord, were challenged in court. Agitation quickly turned violent and by 29 January army had to called in.
In February, Mulki rules(local jobs for local people), as promised in
Gentleman's agreement, were declared by high court as void but this
judgement was stayed by divisional bench of high court.
Chief minister ruled out Telangana state and appealed for peace. But
protests continued and movement turns violent and people continued to
get killed in police firing. Despite the intensity of movement, Prime minister rules out the division of the state.After several days of talks with leaders of both regions, on 12 April 1969, Prime minister came up with Eight point plan.
This plan includes appointment of Five committees ; 1) High powered
committee would be setup to determine financial surpluses to Telangana.
2) Telangana development committee 3) Plan implementation committee 4)
Committee of jurists to be consulted on safeguards 5) Committees to
look into grievances of public servants.
Meanwhile transfers of Andhra employees, as promised in all party accord, were challenged in court. Agitation quickly turned violent and by 29 January army had to called in.
In February, Mulki rules(local jobs for local people), as promised in
Gentleman's agreement, were declared by high court as void but this
judgement was stayed by divisional bench of high court.
Chief minister ruled out Telangana state and appealed for peace. But
protests continued and movement turns violent and people continued to
get killed in police firing. Despite the intensity of movement, Prime minister rules out the division of the state.After several days of talks with leaders of both regions, on 12 April 1969, Prime minister came up with Eight point plan.
This plan includes appointment of Five committees ; 1) High powered
committee would be setup to determine financial surpluses to Telangana.
2) Telangana development committee 3) Plan implementation committee 4)
Committee of jurists to be consulted on safeguards 5) Committees to
look into grievances of public servants.
Telangana leaders were not satisfied with the accord.
Protests continued under the leadership of newly formed political party
Telangana Praja Samithi asking for the formation of telangana and
people continued to get killed in police firing.
Justice
Bhargava committee which looked into Telangana surpluses, found that
283million rupees diverted from Telangana to Andhra region between 1956
and 1968. Economist C H Hanumanth Rao further analyzed the data from
the committee report and concluded that actual diversion of fund is
1.174 Billion rupees. This is huge amount considering revenue of Andhra
Pradesh was 209 million rupees in 1957-58.
Government employees and opposition members of the state legislative
assembly threatened "direct action" in support of the students.Purushotham
Rao was for outright separation, and he supported the student views.
He unveiled a map of Telangana in the state assembly. A memorial called
Gun Park was built near Public Gardens, Hyderabad to commemorate
students who lost their lives in the struggles of 1969.
Although the Congress faced some dissension within its ranks, its
leadership stood against additional linguistic states. As a result,
defectors from the Congress, led by M. Chenna Reddy, founded the
Telangana Praja Samithi political party in 1969. In the May 1971
parliamentary elections, Telangana Praja Samithi won 10 out the 14
Parliament seats in Telangana.
Despite these electoral successes, some of the new party leaders gave
up their agitation in September 1971 after realizing that the Prime
Minister was not inclined to towards a separate state of Telangana, and
rejoined the safer political haven of the Congress ranks.
During this period, the Government promised to correct what critics saw
as a violation of the promises of the Gentleman's agreement in the
areas of jobs, budget allocations, and educational facilities.
Prime Minister Indira Gandhi was strongly against the division of the
state, but on her recommendation, P. V. Narasimha Rao became the first
Chief minister of Andhra Pradesh from Telangana on 30 September 1971.
By
M Chandra Prakash
