When few statues of Seemandhra icons were felled by Telangana agitators during the Million March on March 10th 2011, many people were shocked. Vernacular media, which is dominated by Seemandhra businessmen went into an overdrive and blew up this incident to depict the Telangana movement in poor light. The Seemandhra media termed this as an assault on Telugu culture. Seemandhra leadership used this incident to sling more mud on the Telangana movement. Some Seemandhra leaders went to the extent of calling Telanganites as Talibans.
But a majority of Telangana people supported the removal of these Seemandhra icons’ statues. Many Telangana intellectuals, writers, poets, and leaders supported this act.
A noted blogger termed this as a “creative form of protest”.
Why did things come till here?
They say a picture is worth a thousand words. And that is why we at Mission Telangana try to answer this question with the help of images of 3 statues. These 3 images are a visual representation of the Seemandhra hegemony over Telangana.
They show how Telangana icons were systematically erased from the minds of the people of this state. They show how Telangana culture and history suffered in the united state. They show how history was twisted blatantly to show only the Seemandhra version.
Statue Number 1 : Tanguturi Prakasham Statue At Andhra Pradesh Bhavan
School students in Telangana are taught about the life history of Tanguturi Prakasham Panthulu – the first Chief Minister of Andhra state, in great detail. So much propaganda has happened around Prakasham Panthulu, that many people think he is the first Chief Minister of Andhra Pradesh state.
Academic history books of Andhra Pradesh tell you very little about the chief ministers of Telangana region (Hyderabad state) before the merger.
Hyderabad state had two chief ministers, before the Telangana region was merged with Andhra state.
1) MK Vellodi, an ICS officer nominated as Chief Minister by the Government of India!
2) Burgula Ramakrishna Rao
While very few people of this state have heard about Burgula Ramakrishna Rao, almost no one knows about MK Vellodi.
And to further its propaganda, look at what the Seemandra leadership has done.
All state governments in our country have official buildings in New Delhi. These buildings are named after their respective states. These buildings house some bureaucrats and have accommodation facilities for officers and leaders hailing from their state. The Andhra Pradesh state government’s office is known as Andhra Pradesh Bhavan. It is a prominent landmark in New Delhi. Many VIPs from other states visit Andhra Pradesh Bhavan regularly to savor the food at the canteen located here.
The hegemony of Seemandhra leadership can be understood by this statue erected in front of Andhra Pradesh Bhavan. It is the statue of Tanguturi Prakasham Panthulu – the first chief minister of Andhra!
What is the logic behind installing the statue of First chief minister of Andhra here, instead of first chief minister of Andhra Pradesh. And why isn’t there a statue of first CM of Hyderabad state if there is a statue of first CM of Andhra state?
For Seemandhra leadership, Andhra Pradesh’s history means Andhra’s history. Telangana is always omitted out of the Andhra Pradesh story.
(click on the image to see full size)
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The story of how scores of Potti Sriramulu’s statues were installed all over Telangana, even though his fast unto death had nothing to do with Telangana, was discussed in the “Andhra Leaks” article series.