All about the peasant movement of Telangana

This new series of articles will focus on Telangana armed struggle, which is one of the important topics in preparation for the State government recruitment examinations.

Introduction
The contradictions existing within the socio-economic structures of India had contributed to the birth of several peasant movements in different parts of the country. The Telangana Peasants Armed Struggle which was led by the communists was the first independent trend in the history of Indian Communist movement.
The peasant armed movement took place between 1946 and 1951 in the Telangana region of the former princely State of Hyderabad. It was a multilingual State of three linguistic areas namely Telangana (eight districts), Marathwada (five districts) and Karnataka (three districts). The Telangana region comprised almost half the area of the State.
The seeds of formation of Hyderabad communist party in 1940 lay in the propagation of peasant and other problems in an organised manner led by, first, the Nizam Andhra Jana Sangham and later by Nizam Andhra Maha Sabha through their publications such as Vettichakiri, Nazarana, Varthakasangham, etc., and their Ryot Sanghams. But as the responsibility for these problems lies with the ruling elite the Mahasabha had focused its attention on political affairs too from its 1937 session. Immediately the Mahasabha was not permitted to hold sessions by the Nizam’s government. During the next year i.e. in 1938, the Hyderabad State Congress was formed and observed Satyagraha against the Nizam’s government ban on it before its inception for obtaining responsible government.
Together with Arya Samaj and Hindu Civil Liberties Union, the workers of Andhra Mahasabha like Ravi Narayana Reddy participated in the Satyagraha in October, 1938. But the real impetus for the Hyderabad communist party came from the Vande Mataram movement of the Hindu students of Osmania University in November, 1938.
A historic armed struggle was waged during 1946-51 by the people of Telangana, in the erstwhile part of the biggest princely State of India i.e. Hyderabad State. Initially, the struggle started as sporadic skirmishes by artisans and lower classes against a form of forced labour locally called vetti. At a later stage it was joined by peasant masses who greatly suffered due to the arbitrary and oppressive practices of feudal elements and the landed gentry. Finally, the movement was transformed into a Peoples’ Armed Insurrection against the autocratic regime of the Nizam. The armed struggle, at its climax, turned into a ‘Liberation Struggle’ against the union government and petered off with the ushering of a new constitution and democratic elections.
the Nizam Andhra Jana Sangham and Nizam Andhra Maha Sabha sowed the seeds
of communism in the state

 

Prof. Adapa Satyanarayana
Retired Professor
Department of History,
Osmania University
Ph. 9573405551