1969 Telangana Agitation, a result of agreement’s violation

Hyderabad: The agitation was highly intense and the immediate trigger was the Court Judgement issued on January 3, 1969. The 1969 agitation is an outcome of the severe violation of the Gentlemen’s Agreement in all spheres – most importantly, in employment, education, irrigation and politics. The agitation was highly intense in which, as estimated, 369 […]

Hyderabad: The agitation was highly intense and the immediate trigger was the Court Judgement issued on January 3, 1969.

The 1969 agitation is an outcome of the severe violation of the Gentlemen’s Agreement in all spheres – most importantly, in employment, education, irrigation and politics. The agitation was highly intense in which, as estimated, 369 people sacrificed their lives.

The important aspects of the agitation one should understand –
– The causes for the agitation
– The important events in the agitation
– Organisations and individuals who contributed to the agitation
– The outcome of the agitation

Knowledge of the above-mentioned points will help in analysing the agitation and understanding whether the agitation was a success or a failure.

Though the agitation was a consequence of the violation of the provisions of the Gentlemen’s Agreement, the immediate trigger was the Court Judgement issued on January 3, 1969, declaring a GO issued by the AP Government on April 30, 1968, as not applicable to APSEB. Below is the timeline of the events related to the commencement of 1969 starting from the formation of TNGO.

1964-65: The Hyderabad NGO union was converted into TNGO union by KR Amos. The reason for this conversion was HNGO was headed by Govinda Raja Pillai who was from Madras and whenever issues related to the Mulkis were represented, he did not react to them. After the formation of AP, Surendra Nath Nagarshetty and KR Amos prepared and submitted detailed representation explaining the problems of employees to the Ministers and officials. But no action was taken on these representations as a consequence of which KR Amos decided to fight for the rights of Telangana employees and changed HNGO to TNGO in 1964-65. He was the founder president of the union until 1969. SLN Chary a Dy. Tahasildar, was the associate president of the union.

1968: Kolishetti Ramadasu, founder of the Telangana Regional Samiti, was a native of Illandu. He studied Gentlemen’s Agreement, the note on safeguards and the Presidential order, and found that all these were violated. He also observed that all the economic activities, including businesses and agriculture were dominated by the Andhra people. He realised that unless the Mulkis protested against this domination, the situation will only deteriorate. He established Telangana Regional Samiti to spread awareness and to bring people together. He was of the opinion that formation of Telangana State is the solution for all these and for the formation, agitation was necessary.

The functions of the Samiti were:

i) Secure the names of Non-Mulkis who obtained jobs on the basis of fake Mulki certificates and represent against them to the government.

ii) Spread awareness of the domination of Andhra people in the social, economic and political sphere. The roots for 1969 Telangana Agitation can thus be traced to Ilandu due to the efforts of K Ramadas who strongly believed that the people of Telangana would not get any justice in the ‘united State’. Only a separate State can ensure employment and irrigation facilities. The credit of initiation of 1969 agitation also goes to the leaders of Telangana employees of KTPS. Important amongst them was BL Narsimha Rao, president of Palvancha TNGO union.

April 30, 1968: The Government of AP issued a GO stating that the vacancies belonging to Telangana people should be kept vacant if there was no qualified person for that post. It also stated that the non-locals conditionally appointed in the vacancies belonging to the locals should be removed within three months and eligible locals should be appointed.

This GO resulted in the removal of many teachers and other employees, including non-locals, who were appointed in the thermal plant of Kothagudem. The employees of KTPS who were removed from service filed a case challenging their removal, in the AP High Court.

Around the same time, PY Giri, the secretary of labour union issued a statement in which he fixed January 10, 1969, as the deadline to remove the non-Mulkis from KTPS.

— To be continued
Deepika Reddy