Telangana Rebellion

For the movement for Telangana's statehood, see Telangana movement.

Telangana Rebellion
Date 1946–1951 Location Hyderabad State and India
Belligerents
Communist Party of Hyderabad	Landlords (1946-1948) Indian Army (1948-1951)
Commanders and leaders
Raavi Narayana Reddy Hassan Nasir Bhimreddy Narasimha Reddy Nandyala Srinivasa Reddy Chandra Rajeswara Rao Makhdoom Mohiuddin

The Telangana Rebellion (IAST: tělaṃgāṇā věţţi cākiri udyamaṃ, "Telangana Bonded Labour Movement"; alternatively, tělaṃgāṇā raitāṃga sāyudha pōrāţaṃ, "Telangana Peasants Armed Struggle") was a peasant rebellion against the feudal lords of the Telangana region in the princely state of Hyderabad. The rebellion was one of the first large scale struggles of Indian peasants. Chakali Ilamma's revolt against her landlord Ramachandra Reddy, ignited the start of the movement, which swiftly spread across the eastern regions of Hyderabad. Though once banned in the State, the Nizam legalized its activities during India's invasion of Hyderabad in 1948. The violent phase of the movement ended in 1951, when the last guerilla squads were subdued by the Indian army.

Events

The revolt started in 1946 against the oppressive feudal lords and quickly spread to the Warangal and Bidar districts in around 4000 villages. Peasant farmers and labourers revolted against local feudal landlords (jagirdars, doras deshmukhs). Telangana had a feudal landowning system due to the Nizam's militaristic rule, and the Nizam utilized deshmukhs and doras to extract rent and revenues from his citizenry. These deshmukhs, jagirdars, and doras were predominantly from the Deshastha, Reddy, Kamma, Muslim, and Velama social groups. But this peasant rebellion was more of a class conflict than caste conflict because people from the same communities often fought on different sides of the rebellion, such as Reddy farmers fighting Reddy landlords in Telangana. Most of the armed peasant squads in this struggle were dominated by Reddy and Kapus, which would impact land distribution.

Chakali Ilamma, who belonged to the Rajaka caste, had revolted against 'zamindar' Ramachandra Reddy, during the struggle when he tried to take her 4 acres of land. Her revolt inspired many to join the movement. The agitation led by communists was successful in taking over 3000 villages from the feudal lords and 10,00,000 acres of agriculture land was distributed to landless peasants. However, the Dalits that had fought alongside peasants in the armed squads were still practically left landless, with nothing but common and waste lands. Around 4000 peasants lost their lives in the struggle fighting feudal private armies.

It later became a fight against Nizam Osman Ali Khan, Asif Jah VII. The initial modest aims were to do away with the illegal and excessive exploitation administered by these feudal lords in the name of bonded labour. The most strident demand was for the elimination of all debts of the peasants that were manipulated by the feudal lords.

Nizam's resistance to join India/Pakistan

With Hyderabad's administration failing after 1945, the Nizam succumbed to the pressure of the Muslim elite and gave-in to the Razzakar Movement. At the same time, the Nizam resisted the Indian government's efforts to bring Hyderabad State into the Indian Union and also did not intend to join Pakistan. The Indian government sent the army in September 1948 to annex Hyderabad. The Communist party had already instigated the peasants to use guerrilla tactics against the Razzakars and around 3000 villages (about 41000 km²) had come under peasant rule. The landlords were either killed or driven out and the land was redistributed. These victorious villages established communes reminiscent of Soviet mirs to administer their region. These community governments were integrated regionally into a central organization. The rebellion was led by the Communist Party of India under the banner of Andhra Mahasabha.

Among the well-known individuals at the forefront of the movement were Ravi Narayana Reddy, Maddikayala Omkar, Maddikayala Lakshmi Omkar, Puchalapalli Sundarayya, Pillaipalli Papireddy, Makhdoom Mohiuddin, Sulaiman Areeb, Hassan Nasir, Manthrala Adi Reddy, Mallu Swarajyam, Mallu Venkata Narasimha Reddy, Bhimreddy Narasimha Reddy, Nandyala Srinivasa Reddy, Aruthula Kamaladevi and Bikumalla Sathyam.

The violent phase of the movement ended in 1951, when the last guerilla squads were subdued in the Telangana region.

Annexation of Hyderabad State

Main article: Indian annexation of Hyderabad

The rebellion and the subsequent police action led to the capture of Hyderabad state from the Nizam's rule on 17 September 1948 and after a temporary military administration, it was merged into India. In the process tens of thousands of people lost their lives, the majority that died during the army's movement being Muslims. According to the Sunderlal report, which has not been officially released, around 50,000 Muslims were massacred. Other estimates by responsible observers run as high as 200,000. The Communist Party of India, although weak today, still retains strong support in the grassroots of Telangana. Puchchalapalli Sundaraiah went on to become the first leader of opposition in independent India.

The last Nizam Asaf Jah VII was made the Rajpramukh of the Hyderabad State from 26 January 1950 to 31 October 1956. The 1952 elections led to the victory of the Congress party in Hyderabad state. Burgula Ramakrishna Rao was first Chief Minister of the Hyderabad state from 1952 to 1956. In 1956, Hyderabad State was merged with Andhra State to form Andhra Pradesh. It was again separated from Andhra Pradesh to establish the State of Telangana in 2014.{{citation needed|May 2021]]

Land reform

The revolt ensured the victory of the Communist Party in Andhra Pradesh in the 1952 elections. Land reforms were recognised as important and various acts were passed to implement them.

In popular culture

• Krishan Chander's famous Hindi/Urdu novella Jab Khet Jage was based on the Telangana Rebellion.
• Palletoori Pillagaada was a famous song during the rebellion, written by Suddala Hanmanthu.
• Rajendra Prasad (filmmaker) made his first feature film "Nirantharam"(1995), in Telugu on Telangana Rebellion, starring Raghuvir Yadav and Chinmayee Surve.

See also

• Peasant revolts
• Hyderabad State
• Operation Polo
• Comrades Association
• Tebhaga Movement

Bibliography

• Elliot, Carolyn M. (November 1974). "Decline of a Patrimonial Regime: The Telangana Rebellion in India, 1946-51". Journal of Asian Studies. 34 (1): 24–47. doi:10.2307/2052408. JSTOR 2052408. Archived from the original on 23 October 2012.

• Sanghatana, Stree Shakti (1989). We Were Making History: Life Stories of Women in the Telangana People's Struggle. St. Martin's Press. ISBN 0-86232-679-6.

• Puchalapalli, Sundarayya (February 1973). "Telangana People's Armed Struggle, 1946-1951. Part One: Historical Setting". Social Scientist. 1 (7): 3–19. doi:10.2307/3516269. JSTOR 3516269.

• Puchalapalli, Sundarayya (March 1973). "Telangana People's Armed Struggle, 1946-1951. Part Two: First Phase and Its Lessons". Social Scientist. 1 (8): 18–42. doi:10.2307/3516214. JSTOR 3516214. Archived from the original on 3 February 2014.

• Arutla, Ramachandra Reddy. Telangana Struggle Memoirs,(New Delhi: 1984). people s publishing house. OCLC 832196203.

• Thirumali, Inukonda (2003). Against Dora and Nizam: People's Movement in Telangana. Kanishka Publishers, New Delhi. ISBN 81-7391-579-2.

• P. Sundarayya, Telengana [sic] People's Struggle and Its Lessons, December 1972, Published by the Communist Party of India (Marxist), Calcutta-29.
• Telangana Movement Revisited, K. Balagopal, Economic and Political Weekly, Vol. 18, No. 18 (30 April 1983), pp. 709–712
• The Imperial Crisis in the Deccan, J. F. Richards, The Journal of Asian Studies, Vol. 35, No. 2 (February 1976), pp. 237–256
• The Telangana Armed Struggle, Barry Pavier, Economic and Political Weekly, Vol. 9, No. 32/34, Special Number (August 1974), pp. 1413+1417-1420
• Anatomy of Rebellion, Claude Emerson Welch, SUNY Press, 1980 ISBN 0-87395-441-6, ISBN 978-0-87395-441-9

External links

• Mallu Swarajyam on Feudal lords

[[Category:Conflicts in 1951]