Opinion: Befitting tribute to Martyrs

Many new States were reorganised in the country after independence, but they did not see such a high number of deaths as Telangana

By JR Janumpalli

The unique Telangana Martyrs Memorial, inaugurated on June 22, is a culmination of the sacrifices of thousands of Telangana people in pursuit of freedom from the domination of others. The struggle occurred even before India’s independence. Thousands laid their lives in the armed struggle for the liberation of Telangana from the feudal past and have found a place in world history.

---

Even after independence, Telangana was thrown into the travails of subordinate freedom and made to struggle for 58 years and had to sacrifice hundreds of lives to gain its full political freedom inside the Republic of India. That happened on 2 June 2014, a red-letter day in the history of Telangana.

Early Agitation

In 1952, there was an agitation against the ‘non-mulkis’. Seven people died in police firing. In 1969, in the united Andhra Pradesh in the agitation for separate Telangana, 376 people were killed in police firing. In the final State struggle, about 1,200 people are reported to have committed suicide for the sake of Statehood. It was the most heart-rending part of the whole loss of human life.

Many new States were reorganised in the country after independence, but they did not see such a high number of deaths. Except in the case of the Maharashtra-Gujarat division where 170 people were killed in police firing. Unlike the reorganisation of other States, Hyderabad State was merged with Andhra against the will of its people and the recommendation of the States Reorganization Commission, 1956, in the name of one language.

All other reorganised States amalgamated easily. But in the case of Andhra Pradesh, it did not happen. There were big agitations in 1969 and 1972. There were several original and duplicate agreements and they were only implemented in the breach than in implementation. The Centre, which has to supervise the integration of the State and implementation of the agreements, always supported Andhra for political reasons.

Indifferent Centre

Despite almost continuous discord and exploitation of Telangana resources by the majority of Andhra, the Centre never considered the demerger demand of Telangana for almost six decades. Lands in Hyderabad city, Telangana’s revenues and other resources were freely used by Andhras for their betterment, leaving the local people in the lurch. It caused despair in the minds of Telangana people.

Telangana needed to mobilise its entire population in agitations like Maha Garjana, Million March and Sakalajanula Samme to force the implementation of the decision to declare Statehood in Parliament. These tenuous circumstances made the minds of Telangana people, mostly the youth, vulnerable and they resorted to suicide. This happened mostly between 2009 and 2014 when the Centre was dilly-dallying on the decision.

Here, such a large number of suicides is a peculiar phenomenon. It happened because of the callous indifference of the central government for almost six decades and the insensitive dithering of the Congress government at the behest of Andhra politicians for four-and-a-half years. The UPA government almost aborted the Telangana State declaration in the face of ‘samaikyanadhra’ agitation as the Congress was pinning hope on more number of MP seats in AP than in Telangana for its 2014 election calculations.

But providence willed otherwise. The Congress lost almost all of its 36-38 byelections during that period in both the regions to then TRS (BRS) and the YSRCP, and was staring at a blank account in 2014 in both regions. In such circumstances, Sonia Gandhi took the decision to carve Telangana to salvage its political numbers at least in Telangana.

This long history of denial by the Centre, the four-and-a-half years of heartless playing for time and the unbearable majority Andhra jingoism in it made Telangana youth lose heart and resort to such incongruous suicides.

Healing Wounds

Generations of people have borne the brunt of the wounds of the heroic struggles and the sacrifices. The most vexatious pain is from the suicides of hundreds of youth. It created an unremitting angst in the hearts and minds of people in the new State of Telangana. Though the State has come into existence after it and is progressing well, the unusual demise of their own in such a hapless way created a feeling of guilt and remorse for not being able to prevent it. It needed to have a memorial to assuage that intense sorrow. The creation of this unique Martyrs Memorial, the ‘Amara Deepam’, is such an endeavour and is very well done.

Telangana Martyrs Memorial is the world’s largest seamless stainless structure and is resistant to rusting and corrosion. It is a massive egg-shaped mirror-finished edifice. The main structure is built on an 85,000 sqft area while the total built-up area of the memorial’s complex is 2,85,000 sqft. The structure also has a ‘diya’ designed by M Ramana Reddy, the renowned artist from Telangana.

The flame is made of low-carbon structural steel and turns golden yellow when illuminated with external warm lighting. The six-floor structure houses a museum, an audio-visual hall that has 80 seats on the first floor with a 170-inch LED screen, a 650-seater convention centre-cum-museum and a photo gallery on the second floor, a restaurant at the top floor along with open terrace seating. The 161-m tall building has come up on 3.29 acres.

“The shape of an oil lamp and golden flame on top are markers of respect and tribute to the martyrs who fought over the decades for Telangana. It will also help the future generations to notice the sacrifice made by them,” Ramana Reddy said. The structure, in many ways, resembles the ‘The Bean’— formally titled ‘Cloud Gate’ — in Chicago’s Millenium Park, ‘The Bubble’ in the western Chinese city of Karamay, and somewhat the Future Museum in Dubai.

It is a matter of pride that such a unique edifice was designed by a Telangana artist-cum-architect, and was built by local builders under the guidance of state engineers.