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Telangana Movement

The document summarizes the Telangana movement which was an armed revolt led by peasants against oppressive landlords in Hyderabad state from 1946 to 1951. The movement started as a protest against a violent tax collector but then expanded to hundreds of villages. It faced repression from police, military and paramilitary groups. After India's independence, the movement continued facing violence until the region was integrated into India in 1948. The movement highlighted issues faced by Indian peasants and the role of communism in India.

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2K views4 pages

Telangana Movement

The document summarizes the Telangana movement which was an armed revolt led by peasants against oppressive landlords in Hyderabad state from 1946 to 1951. The movement started as a protest against a violent tax collector but then expanded to hundreds of villages. It faced repression from police, military and paramilitary groups. After India's independence, the movement continued facing violence until the region was integrated into India in 1948. The movement highlighted issues faced by Indian peasants and the role of communism in India.

Uploaded by

Tanu
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
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Download as DOCX, PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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Telangana Movement

Introduction

 The Telangana movement (1946-51) was an armed revolt of peasants, under the
leadership of the Communist Party of India against oppressive
landlordism patronized by the autocratic rule of the Nizam of Hyderabad.
 It was a pivotal moment in Indian history because of its impact on the future of
the communist movement in India, and its highlighting of the condition of
the Indian peasantry.

Background

 Social
o Before Indian independence, Hyderabad state was a princely state within
the territory of British India, comprised of three linguistic regions: the
Telugu-speaking Telangana area (including the capital city, Hyderabad), the
Marathi-speaking Marathwada area, and a small Kannada-speaking area.
 The ruling elites, including the Nizam, were Muslims, while the
majority were Hindus.
o The nature of land ownership in the region was extremely exploitative.
 40% of the land was either directly owned by the Nizam or given by
the Nizam to elites in the form of jagirs (special tenures).
 The remaining 60% was under the government’s land revenue system,
which relied on powerful landlords and gave no legal rights or
security from eviction to the people actually cultivating the land.
o Other exploitative practices were widespread.
 The vetti (forced labour) system consisted of work performed by
lower castes at the will of the landlord.
 For example, each so-called “untouchable” family was required to
send one man everyday to do household labour and other jobs for the
landlord.
o The large landowners had taken over significant tracts of land, either
through forced occupation or debt-sales.
 Political
o In the 1920s, the suppression of languages and cultures provoked
resistance, which eventually led to more wide-ranging agitations.
o In 1928, the Andhra Mahasabha (AMS) was organised, which later in 1934
conference demanded:
 reduced land revenue rates
 abolition of vetti, and
 the introduction of Telugu into the local courts
o The advent of the Second World War saw the beginning of communist
influence on the AMS, and in 1942, with the removal of the ban on the
Communist Party of India (CPI), the communists began to grow in
Hyderabad.
o Further, after 1944, the communists, along with AMS, began gaining
ground in several districts, especially among the agricultural labourers, poor
tenants and small landholders, and started forming Sanghams (village-level
committees).

The Movement

 The Spark
o Tensions mounted when a hereditary tax collector, attempted to forcibly
take land belonging to a member of a village sangham.
 He sent a group of 100 goons and 100 servants to forcibly gather the
harvest.
 They were resisted by the local village sangham leaders and
volunteers.
o On July 4, 1946, a procession was organised by the villagers protesting the
violence and terrorism of the landlord’s goons.
 As they approached the landlord’s house, some of the goons opened
fire on the procession, leading to the death of Doddi Komarayya, the
sangham leader.
o The death of Komarayya enraged the people, sparking a massive revolt
amongst the Telangana peasantry, with people from neighbouring villages
marching, holding meetings in front of the landlord’s house, and declaring:
“Sangham is organised here. No more vetti, no more illegal exactions, no
evictions”.
o By the end of July, the movement had spread to about 300-400
villages across three districts.
o In response, the police, with the help of landlords, conducted a series of
search operations, leading villagers to arm themselves.
o In October 1946, the Nizam’s government banned the AMS, and a spurt of
arrests and military raids took place. Under these conditions of martial rule,
some landlords began returning.
o Thus, during this first phase of the movement, the people were able, in
several area, to “put an end to vetti, illegal exactions, compulsory grain
levies, and reoccupy the lands seized earlier by the landlords”, while also
“resisting the landlords’ armed goondas” and facing “the armed police and
the military forces of the Nizam”
 Razzakar Terror
o In August 1947, when India became independent, Hyderabad state exercised
the option of remaining autonomous.
o The bulk of the ruling majority, including the Nizam, the nobility and
the Majlis-I-Ittehad (MII), a fundamentalist Islamic organisation within
Hyderabad, supported the call for Azad (“Free”) Hyderabad.
o At this point, the MII started growing in militancy.
 Its paramilitary force, the Razakars, were sent in hordes to suppress
the peasant insurrection.
 They raided and plundered the troubled villages, arrested or killed
suspected and potential agitators, terrorized the innocent, and also
abducted women as part of the campaign of punitive measures against
the turbulent villages all over Hyderabad, but particularly in
Telangana.
o In reaction, in February 1948, the CPI introduced a new policy aimed at
encouraging guerilla offensives, largely influenced by the success of the
Telangana insurrection.
 The village republics started redistributing land to landless
agricultural labourers and evicted tenants, increasing the popularity of
the movement.

Police Acton and the Aftermath

 On September 13, 1948, in a ‘police action’ aimed at countering the violence in


Hyderabad, the Indian Army marched into the state. Within a week’s time, the
Nizam, the razakar squads and the police surrendered.
 In an effort to co-opt peasant support, the military administration issued the Jagir
Abolition Regulation (August 1949) and set up an Agrarian Enquiry
Committee to recommend comprehensive land reform legislation.
 At this time, a debate ensued within the CPI. Certain sections felt that giving up
arms was essential. Other sections were sceptical, as they felt that giving up arms
could lead to loss of gains and appear as a betrayal of the people.
 However, by the end of 1950, only isolated guerilla groups existed, there was
little coordination among village republics, and the severe military repression had
taken its toll on the population, with a huge loss of life, and the movement
weakened.
o By early 1951, Congress government made several conciliatory
gestures towards the CPI, and, after several rounds of negotiations, the CPI
formally declared the struggle withdrawn on October 21, 1951.
Conclusion

 The Telengana movement represents the culmination of efforts by communist and


socialist parties in the first few decades of the communist movement.
 The untiring efforts organising and mobilising the peasantry against grave
injustices represented a break away from traditionally more moderate reformist
movements within the peasantry.
 Although the exact significance and value of the Telengana movement is fiercely
debated, one cannot deny the role of the movement, in bringing the question of
the peasantry to the fore of the communist movement; in actively organising
people against caste injustices; and in radically redefining the need for strong
organisational structure, which was a key factor in the growth of the movement.

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