Oso 9780199488414

The University as a Site
of Resistance
The University as a Site
of Resistance
Identity and Student Politics
Gaurav J. Pathania
1
1
Oxford University Press is a department of the University of Oxford.
It furthers the University’s objective of excellence in research, scholarship,
and education by publishing worldwide. Oxford is a registered trademark of
Oxford University Press in the UK and in certain other countries.
Published in India by
Oxford University Press
2/11 Ground Floor, Ansari Road, Daryaganj, New Delhi 110 002, India
© Oxford University Press 2018
The moral rights of the author has been asserted.
First Edition published in 2018
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in

a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, without the
prior permission in writing of Oxford University Press, or as expressly permitted
by law, by licence, or under terms agreed with the appropriate reprographics
rights organization. Enquiries concerning reproduction outside the scope of the
above should be sent to the Rights Department, Oxford University Press, at the
address above.
You must not circulate this work in any other form

and you must impose this same condition on any acquirer.
ISBN-13 (print edition): 978-0-19-948841-4

ISBN-10 (print edition): 0-19-948841-X
ISBN-13 (eBook): 978-0-19-909369-4

ISBN-10 (eBook): 0-19-909369-5
Typeset in Bembo Std 10.5/13

by Tranistics Data Technologies, Kolkata 700 091
Printed in India by Rakmo Press, New Delhi 110 020
To Michelle
Tables and Maps
TABLES
1.1 Political and Cultural Version of New Social
Movement Theories 37
1.2 Migration from Coastal Andhra to Hyderabad
District (1961, 1971) 43
1.3 Understanding the Telangana Movement as
a New Social Movement 50
3.1 Andhra Upper-Caste Dominance in Media 126
MAPS
1.1 Hyderabad State before Its Merger with
Indian State in 1948 41
1.2 United Andhra Pradesh 45
2.1 Osmania University Route Map 73

Preface
While I was on my morning walk, a small crowd gathered around a

tree near the library caught my attention. It was the fifth day of my
pilot field study at Osmania University in Hyderabad in December
2012 and I enjoyed walking around campus, observing student life.
Inquisitively, I approached the crowd. I thought that some students
may be protesting or preparing for an agitation that day, which is rou-
tine at Osmania’s College of Arts and Social Sciences (known as Arts
College). Making my way through the crowd, I found that they had
taken down the body of a young student who had hanged himself.
One student had tears in his eyes as he read the suicide note found on
the body. The letter stated the financial crisis his family faced and how
his education did not lead to a job.The letter concluded with an appeal
to the government to grant separate statehood to the Telangana region
in the state of Andhra Pradesh.
Two students made calls to the family of the deceased young man.
I heard spectators commenting that this area had become a ‘suicide
point’. Listening to the discussion, I discovered that the victim was not
a student of Arts College but of another college of Osmania, and that
this was part of a growing trend, whereby outsiders committed suicide
at this ‘suicide point’. Later, I returned to Narmada Research Scholars’
(NRS) hostel where I was staying.
After about an hour, I noticed a larger crowd of students carrying
the corpse, holding banners and shouting the slogan ‘Jai Telangana, Jai
Jai Telangana’. I stopped at the nearby tea stall to see if I could under-
stand what the commotion was about. Media and police personnel
xii Preface
were sipping tea and discussing the incident as if it was routine for
them. As I approached Arts College where students were protesting,
I saw that they had blocked the main road and burned an effigy of the
chief minister. Approximately 25 student leaders took turns addressing
the gathering and each renewed their demand for a separate Telangana
state, chanting, ‘abhi nahi to kabhi nahi!’ [(Telangana,) now or never!].
After a few hours of protest, police warned the crowd to disperse
but the students were determined to stay. In the meantime, a govern-
ment minister arrived and met student leaders. I noticed that from all
the student leaders speaking to the crowd, only one of them could
speak fluent English. As a result, he had been nominated to serve as
the national spokesperson of Osmania University-Student Joint Action
Committee (OU-JAC). He told the media that it was an unfortunate
fact that thousands of students had lost their lives in the 50-year long
struggle for separate statehood, while the government continues to
‘play its dirty politics’. Amidst this rally, I was curious to understand
how an ‘outsider’ could leave his college to commit suicide near the
Arts College building. ‘This is a sacred place for Telangana activists’,
one leader told me. While chatting with him, I came to know that he
faced more than 100 criminal charges since he led the biggest student
agitation in 2009 for the same cause. It shocked me even more when
he told me,‘There are 50 other student activists who are facing a similar
number of charges and need to appear in court almost every week’. He
expressed himself in broken English with the help of his friend. Once
he left, I enquired about his age and was told that he was the senior
most student leader of Arts College, more than 40 years old, and had
gained tremendous respect among students since he took an oath to
remain unmarried to serve the people of Telangana. There were other
activists who had made the same promise. During the protest rally,
I met a much older man, an alumnus of the campus who had written
80 novels and stories, and had publicly vowed to produce a book on
Telangana every month until it became a state. Such was their passion
that some students even used ‘Telangana’ as their surname. This piqued
my interest in such an intense movement for statehood that I felt the
need to explore this university as a site of resistance.
This book is the outcome of nearly a year of fieldwork in Hyderabad
and presents an ethnography of activists’ everyday life on campus. How
did their activism deal with the issues and problems of the Telangana
Preface xiii
region? How did their demand for Telangana statehood succeed? The
volume also provides a theoretical debate on old and new social move-
ments and argues that the Telangana movement should be viewed as
new social movement. This book attempts to establish the Telangana
movement as a cultural movement, rather than merely a political one,
as many scholars argue.
Social movement is a process of consciousness and representation
that requires material and cultural resources for its existence. But con-
sciousness of cultural resources has largely been given an industrial
answer. Culture1 cannot be reduced to mere economic or political
factors, it cannot be understood, either, without understanding the
economic context that surrounds and shapes it. What Telangana stu-
dent activists gained after joining an institution of higher education is
access to cultural capital and consciousness of cultural resources unique
to their identity. That is why cultural identities, whether custom or
costume, food or festivals, language or life-world, caste or region, are
instrumental to the functioning of Indian politics.
Without the help of my activist-friends from Arts College, Osmania
University, Hyderabad, and the English Foreign Language University,
this research would not possible. I would like to thank Dr Kolluri
Chiranjeevi, Dr Sujatha Surepally, Kota Rajesh, Mohan Dharawath,
Mothe Sammiaha, P. Mukhesh, Panthukala Srinivas, Shankar Sampangi,
Stalin, Sunil Shetty, and Srinivas Gellu for their unwavering support.
Similarly, several discussions with the late Professor G. Krishna Reddy
of Arts College compelled me to reflect on the importance of the
concept of Joint Action Committee ( JACs) in the Telangana move-
ment. His sudden demise in 2016 was a huge loss for scholars working
on Telangana issues. Several interactions with Professor Keshav Rao
Jadhav, one of the key figures of Telangana movement, shaped my
understanding of a mass movement.
During my fieldwork at Osmania, I also spent some time in the
library of Hyderabad Central University. I also benefitted from the
discussions with Dr Nagaraju Gundimeda, Dr Silveru Harinath, and
my friends Anthony Raj, Dickens, Kishor Aleti, and Prem.
At my alma mater, Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU), I am grateful
to my supervisor Dr S. Srinivasa Rao for his guidance and insightful
comments. I also valued inputs from Professor Debal Singharoy (Indira
Gandhi National Open University, New Delhi), Professor N. Sukumar
xiv Preface
(University of Delhi), Professor G.G. Wankhede (Tata Institute of

Social Science, Mumbai), Dr Shivali Tukdeo (National Institute of
Advanced Studies, Bangalore), and Professor Nina Asher’s (University
of Minnesota-Twin Cities) suggestions on the concepts of identity
and movements. JNU Ambedkar Chair Professor Vivek Kumar and
Dr G. Srinivas offered not only moral support but also gave me full
access to their personal libraries. I thank the staff of Dr B.R. Ambedkar
Library and Zakir Husain Centre for Educational Studies Library
at JNU, New Delhi, Anveshi Research Centre for Women’s Studies,
Hyderabad, Ramesh Mohan Library of English Foreign Language
University, Hyderabad.
During the process of writing this book, I shifted to the United
States of America for my postdoctoral studies and had to leave several
books behind, but my JNU friends have helped me by providing missing
references from those books. I am indebted to my JNU friends, espe-
cially Amit Kushwaha, Anil Yadav, Ankur, Atu Ozukum, Gaurav Vijay
Pratap, Imsutoshi Naga, Monika Batham, Narender Yadav, Poonam
Shah, Pragyanshu Amaoni, Rakesh, Rashim Pal, Saheed Meo, Shashi
Deo, Shahid Reza Khan, Shekhar Tokas, Vaishali Sahoo, and Vinay
Bhushan for listening long stories of my field work. Shashi Bhushan
and Prabhakar’s weekend cooking at our place added the missing fla-
vour to our intellectual fervor.
I’m deeply grateful for the encouragement I received from my
professor-friend Bill Tierney from University of Southern California,
who sowed the seeds of publication in my mind. I am indebted to
Dr Nina Dey-Gupta (University of Delhi) who always made time to edit
my writings. I’ll never forget the time when she was admitted to the
hospital but happily rose from bed to help edit my latest commentary.
I am thankful to Professor Werner Menski from the School of Oriental
and African Studies (SOAS London)—I published my first research
article in his esteemed journal South Asia Research. Intellectual com-
panionship of my mentor Dr Sushrut Jadhav was unparalleled. I thank
Professor Sangeeta Kamat from University of Massachusetts, Amherst,
Balmurli Natrajan from William Patterson University, Amit Thorat
from Jawaharlal Nehru University, Narender Thakur from Ambedkar
College of the University of Delhi, and Rajbir Parashar from RKSD
College, Kaithal, Haryana. Sanjay Kumar (assistant commissioner,
Ministry of Labour and Empowerment) has always been kind to make
Preface xv
regular phone calls to listen to my questions, discuss in detail and suggest

new readings.
People who have helped me with every possible way during the
process of writing are Alex and Lenore Bolourchi, Blake Pederson,
Kirti Kyab (Brandies University, Boston), Derek Mitchell and Kathy
Sreedhar,Yizreel Urquijo,Viviana Alejandra, and Ashok Panikkar from
Washington, DC.
Words fail to express my gratitude to the untiring contribution of
my mother, who never had any formal education but keeps my thesis
in her safe like a sacred book, and the pillar of courage and motivation,
my father, who left this world suddenly as I embarked on writing this
book. He was the only educated person in my family with whom
I could share my thoughts. His unwavering support and our long discus-
sions kept me motivated to achieve my dreams of higher education.
My brother, Naveen, and sister, Bharti, took all familial responsibilities
while I was busy writing. My niece, Faven Sharleen, has been a source
of joy whenever I see her on WhatsApp video calls from my home-
town. The unwavering trust of my childhood friends from my village,
Paramjeet Pathania and Pravesh Virmani, and my college friend, Sunil
Kumar, kept my writing spirit alive.
Many thanks to the OUP team for their professionalism in bringing
this book out. Working with them was a valuable learning experience.
Gaurav J. Pathania
May 2018
NOTE
1. Culture is ontologically super-organic only in the sense that it is not
transmitted genetically and in the Boasian sense that cultural variation among
population is not a function of their biological variation (Schwartz 1992: 327).
Abbreviations
AASU All Assam Student Union

ABVP Akhil Bhartiya Vidyarthi Parishad
AGP Assam Gana Parishad
AIBSF All India Backward Students Forum
AIMIM All-India Majlis-e-Ittehaud-ul-Muslimeen
AISF All India Student Federation
AMS Andhra Maha Sabha
APCC Andhra Pradesh Congress Committee
APRSU Andhra Pradesh Radical Student Union
ASA Ambedkar Student Association
BAPSA Birsa Ambedkar Phule Student Association
BASO Bhagat Singh Ambedkar Student Organisation
BC Backward Caste
BDO Block Development Officer
BHU Banaras Hindu University
BJP Bharatiya Janata Party
BSF Bahujan Student Front
BSP Bahujan Samaj Party
BSU Black Student Union
CM Chief Minister
CMS Chaithanya Mahila Sangam
CPI Communist Party of India
CPI-M Communist Party of India-Marxist
CPI-ML Communist Party of India-Marxist-Leninist
DARAKAME Dalit Rachayitala Kalakarulu Medavula Aikya Vedika
xviii Abbreviations
DFDM Democratic Forum for Dalits and Minorities (Dalit

Writers, Artists and Intellectual Forum)
DMS Dalit Maha Sabha
DSU Dalit Students Union
DYFI Democratic Youth Federation of India
EFLU English and Foreign Language University
FIR First Investigation Report
GKSF Golla-Kuruma Student Federation
GVS Girijana Vidyarthi Sangam
IIT Indian Institute of Technology
INC Indian National Congress
JAC Joint Action Committee
JNM Jana Natya Mandali
JNU Jawaharlal Nehru University
JNUSU Jawaharlal Nehru University Student Union
JNUTA Jawaharlal Nehru University Teachers Association
KCR Kalvakuntala Chandrashekhar Rao
KU Kakatiya University
MCC Maoist Communist Centre
MCR Marri Chenna Reddy
MHRD Ministry of Human Resource and Development
MIM Majlis-e-Ittehad-ul-Muslimeen
MLA Member of Legislative Assembly
MP Member of Parliament
MRPS Madiga Reservation Porata Samithi
MSF Madiga Student Federation
MSO Muslim Student Organization
MSP Mahajana Socialist Party
NDSF National Dalit Students Federation
NRS Narmada Research Scholars
NSUI National Student Union of India
NTP Nava Telangana Praja Party
NTR Nandamuri Taraka Rama Rao
OBC Other Backward Classes
OU Osmania University
OU-JAC Osmania University-Joint Action Committee
OUSU Osmania University Student Union
PDSU Progressive Democratic Student Union
Abbreviations xix
PRP Praja Rajyam Party

PSP Praja Socialist Party
PWG People’s War Group
RCS Rytu Coolie Sang-Hams
RDF Revolutionary Democratic Front
RJD Rashtriya Janata Dal
RRS Rayalaseema Rashtra Samiti
RSS Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh
RSU Radical Student Union
RTI Right to Information Act
RYL Radical Youth League
SC Scheduled Caste
SCR Srikrishna Commission Report
SEZ Special Economic Zone
SFI Student Federation of India
SIMI Students Islamic Movement of India
SRC State Reorganisation Commission
ST Scheduled Tribe
SUCI Socialist Unity Centre of India (Communist)
TBVV Telangana Bahujan Vidyarthi Vedika
TCF Telangana Cultural Forum
TDF Telangana Development Forum
TDP Telugu Desam Party
TEJAC Telangana Employees Joint Action Committee
TeNA Telangana NRI Association
TGVP Telangana Girijan Vidyarathi Parishad
TISS Tata Institute of Social Sciences
TKS Telangana Kala Samiti
TLSO Telangana Liberation Student Organisation
TMP Telangana Madiga Yuvasena
TNM The New Materialist
TNSF Telugu Nadu Student Forum
TPF Telangana Praja Front
TPS Telangana Praja Samiti
TRC Telangana Regional Council
TRS Telangana Rashtra Samithi
TRSV Telangana Rashtra Samithi Vidyarthi Vibhagam
TS-JAC Telangana Students-Joint Action Committee
xx Abbreviations
TSA Telangana Student Association

TSF Telangana Student Front
TSU Telangana Student Union
TTF Telangana Teachers’ Federation
TVS Telangana Vidyarthi Sangam
TVUV Telangana Vidyarthi Udyama Vedika
TVV Telangana Vidyarthi Vedika
UAJAC United Andhra Joint Action Committee
UGC University Grants Commission
UoH University of Hyderabad
UNDP United Nation Development Project
UP Uttar Pradesh
UPA United Progressive Alliance
VC Vice Chancellor
VHP Vishwa Hindu Parishad
YAF Young American for Freedom
YFE Youth for Equality
Introduction
Over the past few years, Indian universities have made headlines that
have sparked widespread debate among intellectuals about the uni-
versity autonomy, academic freedom, and freedom of expression. At
the start of 2016, the administration of the University of Hyderabad
(UoH) rusticated five members of the Ambedkar Student Association
(ASA). Two weeks later, on 17 January 2016, one of those students,
a lower-caste PhD student named Rohith Vemula, ended his life by
hanging himself in a hostel room. His death led to intense protests
at UoH which gradually turned into a massive student movement
in India known as the post-Rohith Vemula agitations. Uproar from
Rohith’s suicide burst out through protests, marches, and hunger
strikes. From Hyderabad to New Delhi, the incident spawned numer-
ous media analyses and parliamentary debates. Rohith’s suicide note
was a searing attack on the casteist and hierarchical society where, in
his words, ‘the value of a man was reduced to his immediate identity
and nearest possibility, to a vote, to a number, to a thing’, and where he
described his birth as a ‘fatal accident’.1
Meanwhile, another incident occurred suddenly after Rohith’s
suicide, and being in the nation’s capital at one of the country’s most
liberal institutions, it attracted rampant media attention. On 9 February
2016, Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU) gained notoriety for allega-
tions of being an ‘anti-national’ campus. A group of JNU students were
allegedly opposing the death penalty while commemorating the death
anniversary of Muhammad Afzal Guru (a Kashmiri who was executed
in 2013 for involvement in a terrorist attack on Parliament). Some
students in the group were filmed sloganeering for a free Kashmir and
The University as a Site of Resistance: Identity and Student Politics. Gaurav J. Pathania,
Oxford University Press (2018). © Oxford University Press.
DOI: 10.1093/oso/9780199488414.003.0001
2 The University as a Site of Resistance
criticizing the Indian state. The media was called in and filmed the
event which became national news overnight. After right-wing stu-
dent body, Akhil Bhartiya Vidyarthi Parishad (ABVP), complained to
the police, the JNU Student Union ( JNUSU) president, Mr Kanhaiya
Kumar, and two others were arrested on 12 February on charges of
sedition and criminal conspiracy for organizing a programme wherein
anti-India slogans were raised. The media seized upon the nationalist
vs. anti-nationalist binary, and soon, public actions and behaviours were
interpreted in these inverse categories. Kanhaiya’s time in jail triggered
a wave of student activism in India.
Across universities, thousands of students and teachers participated
in protests. They argued against the government, voicing that dissent is
a vital right, not a crime.2 For weeks, media vans camped outside the
campus gates. After 20 days of imprisonment, Kanhaiya was released
on 2 March on interim bail. The entire movement became known
as the Azadi Campaign or Campaign for Freedom. Kanhaiya Kumar
then spoke to a huge crowd gathered in front of JNU’s administrative
building and raised the slogans: ‘We want freedom not from India, but
within India. We want freedom from hunger, freedom from poverty,
and freedom from caste system’.
Numerous video messages were posted on social media by army
personnel, discrediting the university and advising for its closure. JNU3
was tagged as ‘anti-national’, ‘a den of drugs, terrorism, and Naxalism’;
its students were labelled as ‘traitors’ and ‘sex-workers’ by the mass
media. These narratives by army and media created an image of JNU
students as social misfits in a ‘moral’ society, and overshadowed past
contributions JNU4 has made to the county through its scientific
research and democracy building by questioning the university’s very
existence. In its defence, the JNU community decided to engage
civil society and educate the country about nationalism, which they
felt was grossly misrepresented by corporate media and the ruling
government. The faculty of JNU, in association with several public
intellectuals, delivered a series of lectures on nationalism and created
a public debate. The lectures were filmed and made available online.
People immediately started commenting on these videos on social
media. JNU professor, Gopal Guru (2017), whose lecture initiated the
series, questioned if government’s ‘nationalism’ was territorial national-
ism. The space where these protests and speeches were held—in front
Introduction 3
of the administration building—quickly became known as ‘Freedom

Square’. Thus, to counter the existing narratives, students chose protest
and debate as a form of resistance. Until Kanhaiya’s release from jail,
students held massive protests and rallies in New Delhi during the
day, and every evening, they convened with professors for debates on
nationalism to counter what they saw as the media’s propaganda to
defame JNU. These month-long protests were, as Professor Nivedita
Menon (2016) of JNU writes, ‘militant but utterly non-violent’, true
to the ethos of the university.
The anti-national debate opened up many avenues to understand
the evils of Indian society. Scholars and students questioned and
debated who and what is nationalist and anti-national. Being liberal,
gay, feminist, and secular are all anti-national, they concluded. Indian
public intellectual and Nobel laureate Amartya Sen commented that
caste itself is anti-national, as ‘it divides the nation’.5 A version of
nationalism that places cultural commitments at its core is usually
perceived as the most conservative and illiberal form of national-
ism. Historically, nationalism has been a major force behind political
generational movements from nineteenth century onwards. The rise
of intellectual ideas, cultural forms, and political ideologies has also
stimulated the formation of political generations (Braungart 1984).
It promotes ‘intolerance and arrogant patriotism’ (Tamir 1993: 95).
Indian scholar Mehta (2017) concludes that ‘most nationalism is
poisonous for intellectualism’.
Scholars and activists expressed their concern over the government’s
silencing of opposition at universities, condemning it as an attempt to
‘depoliticize the campus’. Students burned an effigy of the then min-
ister of human resource and development (MHRD), Smriti Irani, who
had been a popuar actress in the well-known television series, Kyunki
Saas Bhi Kabhi Bahu Thi (Because mother-in-law was a daughter-
in-law once). A writer at The Telegraph penned his reaction to the
JNU incident in an article, ‘Kyunki Mantriji Kabhi Student Nahi Thi’6
(Because the [education] minister has never been a student), criticiz-
ing actions taken by Irani, who allegedly does not have any higher
education qualifications. Interestingly, the article was blocked online
immediately after gaining popularity on social media, as it evoked
common sense knowledge as a tool of resistance. The article also car-
ried a statement by Amartya Sen about intolerance. The identity of
the university student became central to the intellectual’s argument

of student agency and one’s ‘lived experience’ as a part of an institu-
tion. JNU students’ cause resonated across the globe, gaining support
from international academia, from Berkeley to Yale, from Columbia
to Cambridge. More than 100 scholars, including Noam Chomsky,
Orhan Pamuk, Judith Butler, Arjun Appadurai, Partha Chatterjee, and
Homi Bhabha released a public statement in solidarity with JNU
and freedom of expression in India.7 Student unions and university
intellectuals questioned why student politics is seen negatively by the
government and the masses. Several government ministers remarked
against JNU. Messages like ‘JNU produces anti-nationals and terrorists.
You should get out of the country. Long Live India, shut down JNU’
and ‘Shoot Anti-National JNU Students & Profs’ went viral on social
media (Huffington Post 9 March 2016; Telegraph 15 February 2016).
It was rumoured that a proposal surfaced to change the name of the
university to disassociate it with its legacy of student activism.
After the anti-national incident, JNU as a public institution was
compelled to prove its ‘nationalist’ credentials, and hoisted, for the
first time, the national flag at the administrative building. To further
instil the feeling of nationalism among students, JNU vice-chancellor
(VC) Jagadish Kumar requested the Indian Army to install an artil-
lery tank as a memorial for the country’s martyrs. At the same time,
the University Grants Commission (UGC) ordered a new admission
policy for research universities to limit student intake. Several activists
were given rustication notices by the administration. Students showed
their resentment by rallying together against the policy, saying that
this policy would kill the spirit of an ‘inclusive university’.8 Later, the
administration implemented a new policy of marking students’ com-
pulsory attendance—an unprecedented move for JNU. In Foucauldian
terms, it is ‘disciplining the bodies’, which is a strong practice in
schools, but university ethos stands against such rules. Predictably, the
announcement met with strong protests by teachers and students alike.
Compulsory attendance in universities in general, and in research uni-
versities in particular, does not appear to be rooted in academic well-
being of the students, says Swain (2017), an alumnus.With ‘no problem
of mass absenteeism’, JNU professor, Pathak (2017b), questions the
new rule: ‘Not everything, the administration should know, can be
accomplished through surveillance, CCTV cameras and the registers
Introduction 5
of documentation, classification and hierarchization’. What makes a

university is not how it behaves but what it produces. Ultimately, JNU
is experiencing a battle of two cultures: the long-standing liberal cam-
pus culture is at odds with the conservative culture of the mainstream
education system represented by a VC who is neither a product of
JNU nor in sync with the campus culture.
The common sentiment among JNU faculty and student activ-
ists was that a university’s role is to research and explore the meaning
attached to the symbolic aspect of nationalism, not to accept any given
meaning. Many argued that the university as a space of engaged learn-
ing was increasingly being pushed towards policing and disciplining
the mind. JNU professor, Avijit Pathak, stated, ‘In the present emotion-
ally charged environment we are confusing political sensibility with
political indoctrination’ (Pathak 2017a). Professor Janaki Nair (2017:
39) alluded to ‘a toxic mix of state, military, and neo-nationalist cultural
power that wishes to confine, if not eradicate, freer forms of thought
and expression’. Student activists from the Left questioned the right
wing: ‘Does your idea of nationalism also include those millions of
mothers who work tirelessly under the worst conditions with hungry
stomachs only to feed their families? … Does it also include those Dalits,
tribals and Muslim women who suffer due to patriarchy?’ In short,
many students took a critical stand against the abstract idea of ‘Mother
India’, and continued their struggle to save the free space their univer-
sity was known for.
In the following months, the effect of Rohith’s death and the
Azadi campaign dominated public consciousness and led to a wave
of caste and communal upheavals across the country. Obscene mes-
sages were directed at female JNU student leaders. Umar Khalid and
Shehla Rashid9 were to be panellists at an academic conference at
Ramjas College of University of Delhi, but the venue was attacked
by ABVP, abruptly ending the event.10 One after the other, inci-
dences of bans and violence occurred. The staging of Mahashweta
Devi’s Draupadi at the Central University of Haryana was opposed by
right-wing organizations, who deemed the play to be anti-national.11
Among other incidents were the Dadri lynching,12 the ban on Wendy
Doniger’s book on Hinduism,13 cancelling the screening of Sanjay
Kak’s documentary, Jashn-e-Azadi, at Symbiosis University and Anand
Patwardhan’s Ram ke Naam at Indian Law Society College, and the
murder of Kannada literary scholar M.M. Kulbargi, who posed criti-

cal questions to his community about idol worship. Similar acts of
‘intolerance’ towards others’ identity (that is, religious, caste, gender,
ethnic, and national) became commonplace in villages and cities alike.
As a form of protest to the right-wing government’s inaction, more
than 30 prominent artists, writers, and scholars, including university
professors, returned awards bestowed to them by the government.14
Intellectuals initiated an ‘intolerance debate’ to engage and educate
the masses. The ruling powers rejuvenated and strengthened right-
wing student politics, resulting in proscription of certain groups and
events across university campuses. For example, the administration at
the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Chennai banned the Periyar
Study Circle established by scheduled caste (SC), scheduled tribe (ST),
and other backward class (OBC) students, resulting in student protests
in Chennai and New Delhi. The administration at the University of
Hyderabad laid down new rules regarding protests.15 With these major
recent incidents, university campuses found themselves at odds with
the public, media, and politicians. In Hyderabad, activists questioned
the university’s higher authorities, referring to Rohith Vemula’s death
as an institutional murder16 and demanded the VC resign.17 At the
annual UoH convocation, one student refused to take his doctorate
degree from the VC. The impact of Rohith’s suicide was much deeper
than what the administration had anticipated. Similarly, the Azadi cam-
paign united the Left and liberal students at JNU against fundamental
forces.
UNIVERSITY AS A SITE OF RESISTANCE

The incidents at Hyderabad and New Delhi reflect how public univer-
sity education is not only about personal gain or career development
in a competitive age, but also about social justice and creating an intel-
lectually vibrant space. Students’ activism compels us to contemplate
how and why universities and institutions of higher learning become
sites of resistance. The past century shows ample evidence of student
resistance across the globe. Radical change emerged from university
campuses and challenged authoritative rules to ensure a society of
liberal and free ideas. A wave of social movements arose in Europe
and the United States of America in the 1960s and 1970s. Thousands
Introduction 7
of students catalysed the anti-war movement, particularly, against the

Vietnam War. In the 1960s,18 campuses such as Berkeley, Columbia,
Princeton, and many others greatly influenced historic European stu-
dent resistance at universities in France, Germany, Italy, Poland, and
the former Czechoslovakia.19 Commenting on that period, Chomsky
(2013: 29) notes that ‘students [were] suddenly asking questions and
not just copying things down’. Issues relating to the environment, race,
gender, and sexuality were raised in an unprecedented fashion. Martin
Luther King Jr.’s fight for civil rights and Malcolm X’s ‘Black Power’
movement marked the arrival of an era for alter-native voices to be
heard. Decades earlier, students in nineteenth- and early twentieth-
century France, Germany, and Russia adopted ‘renunciatory personal
styles, including long hair among men and short hair among women,
colored spectacles, dirty clothes and life style, and a stress on obscene
language’ (Lipset 1971).
Since the advent of the twenty-first century, the world has been
witnessing a significant increase in the number of student protests,20
despite the sentiment that the youth is disengaged and politically apa-
thetic. The most intense have occurred in the UK, Germany, United
States of America, Canada, Chile, and more recently, South Africa,
and are united by similar causes against education budget cuts and
university fee increases. Recent student activism has not been lim-
ited to higher education issues, as demonstrated by the Occupy Wall
Street movement in United States of America, the Arab Uprisings,
the 2013 protests in Turkey against tightening government policies,
and the Umbrella Revolution21 in Hong Kong. In 2015, thousands
of university students from South Africa protested fee hikes and their
anti-establishment slogans became viral on social media.22 Black stu-
dents, in their agitation against apartheid’s legacy, removed the statue
of British imperialist Cecil John Rhodes from the University of Cape
Town.23 In United States of America, the ‘Black Lives Matter’ move-
ment against violence towards Blacks has spread across the country and
become a global network. An important addition to the contemporary
student protests is the tremendous growth of social media, as Brooks
(2016) highlights. Enabled by online resources, contemporary student
politics is symptomatic of the era of resistance. Students are not content
with accepting the status quo, and engage in several ways to counter
what they perceive as injustices on any scale.
INDIAN UNIVERSITY ACTIVISM: CHANGING

CONTOURS
Western student politics has had a profound influence on the student
politics of the global south as well. In his study of the period from
1960s to 1980s, Altbach (1984: 646) draws comparisons between
the West and the rest of the world. He found that social science stu-
dents in nearly all countries have the most liberal and radical views
on social issues. He observed that student leadership was comprised
of cosmopolitan, affluent, and exceptional academic backgrounds.
Altbach’s (1966, 1968, 1969) pioneering work also highlighted the
contribution of the left movement. Interestingly, after his study, there
is neither any global discussion nor any analysis available on Indian
student activism after 1980 (Ciotti 2006; Jeffrey 2008, 2010; Jeffrey
and Young 2012; Jeffrey, Jeffrey, and Jeffrey 2004, 2005; Kumar 2012).
Nevertheless, scholars of social movements have highlighted the con-
tribution of the university campus behind such resistances. A space for
ideological activism exists, which students use to enlarge their space
for freedom and autonomy leading to critical thinking, radical ideas,
and activism. Since the past two decades, there has been a major shift
in the way student unionism has taken shape on university campuses.
Though many student organizations played a significant role in the
independence movement, including the first (Leftist) ideological stu-
dent group, the All India Student Federation (AISF), political parties
showed little interest in student politics post-independence.The popu-
lar words of the first prime minister, Jawaharlal Nehru, ‘Go back to
studies’, prove the fact that political parties had no desire to cater to
students’ demands. In fact, post-independence phase, studies24 describe
issues as campus or student ‘unrest’.25 The nature of this activism was
different than that of pre-independence India. Under colonial rule, the
suppression by the British government was violent in nature. In 1904,
Lord Curzon had announced a New University Act by which all initia-
tives and liberty26 were withdrawn from the university ( Joshi 1972:
16). Boycotting ‘foreign’ education was one of the defining features
of the student movement. With his return to India, Mahatma Gandhi
influenced university students on non-violent civil disobedience. Joshi
(1972: 17) states, ‘The students who were first perturbed and mystified
by his strange and irrational ideas were thrilled by the Champaran
struggle’. As a result, students campaigned en masse in Gandhi’s
Introduction 9
Non-Cooperation Movement in the 1920s. Almost all provincial and

district congress workers were student workers in their early 20s, who
had left college. By the 1930s, students were leading at every front. In
1936, the first AISF was born, which inculcated the feeling of national-
ism among youth in the quest for independence.
Post-independence India has a few noted universities, such as Banaras,
Allahabad, Lucknow, and Patna, which are historically well known, not
only for the quality of education but also for their activism. However,
Desai (2008: 80) alleges that some of these university campuses have
become ‘nurseries for breeding mafia-politicians in their student and
teachers’ union’, and that ‘lumpen behaviour is sanctioned by senior
party leaders since they took upon university and teachers’ unions as
effective weapons to be used in the vote bank war’ (Desai 2008). One
of the reasons behind this, he cites, is that the student composition in
the majority of Indian universities is local or regional (Desai 2008).
On the other hand, the best western universities seek to draw students
and faculty from all over the world. Guha (2008) gives the example of
‘viswabharti’, the idea initiated by Nobel laureate Rabindranath Tagore,
to set an example of a global university. Universities in Gujarat started
the Nav Nirman agitations under the JP ( Jaiprakash Narayan) move-
ment. A minor agitation concerning the increased fees at the hostel’s
canteen turned into a nationwide movement against price hikes and
corruption.
Though Indian higher education is seen to be primarily publicly
funded (Agarwal 2009: 46), now under the neo-liberal rubric, ‘educa-
tion has been moving out of hands of educationists and into those of
politicians, bureaucrats and cultural and religious organisations with
strong political agendas’ (2009). The arrival of economic liberalization
in 1991 has led to a mushrooming of national and international NGOs.
These NGOs redefined the state and civil society, and ‘crowd[ed] out
some of the more protest-oriented forms of organizing’ (Ray and
Katzenstein 2005: 9). They argue that the fragmented political field
of the 1970s and 1980s, marked by deinstitutionalization, has been
replaced by a new institutionalization, coupled with twin ideologies
of the market and Hindu nationalism (Ray and Katzenstein 2005: 9).
Currently, there are more than 800 universities in India. These include
47 central universities, 366 state universities, 122 deemed-to-be uni-
versities, and 279 private universities. The present challenge facing
institutes of higher education is to strike a balance between state con-

trol and the market driven economy.27 The dominant notion nowadays
is that ‘universities are supposed to be market friendly’ (DeSouza 2015:
94) and serve as a skill factory rather than a space for critical ideas.
This new pragmatism, according to Pathak (2017b) destroys the ideal-
ism of a university. Two key words, ranking and quality, have become
performance indicators for higher education. Each institution markets
itself to compete with others on similar standards. This race, on the
one hand, leads to ‘institutional homogeneity’ (Nair 2017), and on
the other, undermines the power of academic disciplines which are
not market-oriented. The emphasis on the ‘production’ driven success
remains the prime agenda of ‘innovation universities’ (Nair 2017). This
is a serious challenge, not only to the autonomy of the university but
also to the goal of university. If autonomy is challenged, then it restricts
freedom and expression, the arenas where students’ resistance is pos-
sible. Theoretically speaking, the university has the ‘onus or obligation
in the training of critically minded students, who can synthesize, see
connections, evaluate argumentations and determine the root cause of
things’ (McLaren 2005: 273). In other words, the pedagogy in the uni-
versities should have emancipatory goals with a freedom to be critical.
THE UNIVERSITY AS A DEMOCRATIC INSTITUTION

The history of global student activism shows that the university has
been fighting for its existence and autonomy while challenging exist-
ing traditions in the form of knowledge production. Despite the inter-
vention of the state, the community of scholars constitutes one of the
longest surviving democracies in the world (Visvanathan 1999: 51).
A range of scholars (Apple 1996, 2011; Bernstein 2000; Giroux 1983;
Habermas 1967) understand the university as a democratic institution
that instils liberal values of justice, enables ethical/moral and political
agency. To make such an institution possible, we must problematize
the traditional notion of ‘democracy’ and its long-standing educational
cognate, ‘equality’, as Giroux et al. (1988) suggests. Among the masses,
there is a tendency to look at university life as detached or aloof from
reality—a bubble that is often referred to as ‘utopia’, where one is lucky
to spend a few years before venturing out into the ‘real world’ for a
career. In contrast, Indiresan (1999: 152) argues that ‘campuses cannot
Introduction 11
remain insensitive to the happenings in society around them’. Campus

politics is the space to understand how mainstream politics works and
the internal mechanisms and processes involved. Movements and activ-
ism are about challenging existing politics. Therefore, it is rare for a
student movement to be fully campus-based and concerned mainly
with university issues (Altbach 1984: 637). As Touraine (1971: 332)
states, ‘the university is not a reflection of society; it is society, because
it is from now on at the centre of society’s change’.
Universities have been, as Visvanathan (2016a) defines, ‘the litmus
of crisis and democracy’. No democracy can survive without the roots
of ethical and philosophical imagination (Visvanathan 2016b: 10). This
is the democratic aspect of a knowledge society where ‘discipline and
dissent have strange a relationship’. Visvanathan (1999) emphasizes
exploring the relationship between the university and liberal democ-
racy. He believes that the ‘creative power’ will emerge from these
two. Student politics, their activism, and resistance keep this spirit of
democracy alive. In Giroux’s (1991: 502) words, the university is ‘a
site of political and cultural contestation’. Thus, ideally, the university
imparts to students’ humanistic values from a humanistic approach to
form a global community.
As an institution or organization, the university works as the ‘form
of mediation between theory and practice’ (Lukács 1968: 299). There
is a ‘symbiotic’ (Pant 2008: 171) and ‘reciprocal relationship’ (Heredia
1996: 66) between university and society.28 The university stands in a
close relationship to practical life and to the needs of the state, since
it is always concerned with the practical affair of training the younger
generation (Humboldt 1970: 248; Giroux 1977: 263).Thus, universities
do not exist in a vacuum; they are very much part of society. All in all,
the university serves as a site of freedom of thought, social resistance,
and through its activism, textures the traditional fabric of society and
brings about social change.
Newman, Blehl, Bombogan, and many others have discussed the
liberal role of the university. Newman (1982: 15), in his popular book,
The Idea of a University, writes that ‘the very name of the university is
inconsistent with restrictions of any kind’. Therefore, ‘it is a mistake to
make virtue or religious training the immediate aims of the university’
(Blehl 1963). There is a real necessity for this ‘universal teaching in
the highest schools of intellect’ (Newman 1982: 15; Culler 1965: 261).
Habermas presents a critique of the fundamental idea of the German

university and breaks away from the tradition of Kant-Humboldt-
Jaspers’ faith in the ‘idea’ of university, and offers a critical renewal of
this very idea. He puts forward the renewal of the idea of the university
in terms of ‘shared self-understanding’ (Habermas and Blazek 1987: 5).
The university, states Bhushan (2016: 39), is a place where the force
of rationality will spread among the narrow- and broad-minded; self-
reflection or philosophizing, if not philosophy, becomes the unifying
forces of all sciences.
India, the world’s largest democracy, has more than 37,000 institu-
tions of higher education, with 32.3 million students and 1,367,535
faculty members.29 The country produces roughly three million
graduates every year and places third in the largest higher education
system in the world, behind United States of America and China
(Pant 2008: 170). With the arrival of neo-liberal policies in the 1990s,
Indian education has been experiencing new socio-political churn-
ing. Scholars have debated whether, under the neo-liberal model, the
challenges in the fields of finance and public–private partnerships
(Bhushan 2013; Chattopadhyay 2012; D’Souza 2004; Kumar 2002;
Patnaik 2007; Prakash 2007; Tilak 2013a) and autonomy, access, equity,
and quality and excellence (Chattopadhyay 2009; Khora 2015; Kumar
2016; Lall and Rao 2011: 26; Prakash 2011; Tilak 2013b) and exclusion
(Guru 1995; Neelakandan and Patil 2012; Attewell and Thorat 2007)
explain how education is becoming a commodity in the present age of
market liberalization and teachers are becoming ‘Traders of Knowledge’
(Pathak 2017b). By ‘giving away’ their responsibilities to the private
sector, governments directly problematize the notion of democracy,
a process which Jessop (2002: 199) refers to as ‘de-statisation’. On the
other hand, burning issues such as academic corruption, the unregu-
lated mushrooming of universities, and the growing role of middlemen
in ‘arranging’ degrees and diplomas have devalued higher education,
and made it a commodity which can be purchased by those who can
afford it. Moreover, nepotism, bribing, academic corruption, and hiring
alumni or one’s personal connections all create a kind of parochial-
ism, explains Guha (2008: 9). Whether based on identity, ideology, or
institution, these varieties of parochialism have had a corrosive effect
on university life, and such parochialism has ‘undermined the qual-
ity of teaching, narrowed the range of subjects taught, and polluted
Introduction 13
the general intellectual ambience’ (Guha 2008: 9).30 Thus, with such
problems and changes in policies, higher education has become an
inaccessible and expensive ‘commodity’. This shift from being a public
good to private good has deeply impacted the society.
UNIVERSITY AS A SITE OF IMAGINATION

The university is a ‘community of teachers and scholars’ (derived
from the Latin universitas magistrorum et scholarium) that serves as a link
between other social institutions and helps find a solution to the social,
economic, and political problems through its research.The Latin words
alma mater used for one’s university or college literally mean ‘nourishing
mother’ or ‘fostering mother’, suggest an educational institution that
provides intellectual nourishment to its students. Bombongan (2008:
483) states that the ‘university is the womb’ where ‘human beings are
well nourished’. Similar phases are found in other cultures as well. In
India, the goddess of education, Saraswati, is affectionately known as
‘Maa Saraswati’ (Mother Saraswati). Many universities in India have
temples on campus dedicated to Saraswati, and many university logos
include her image.31 The history of Indian education and the nature
of the educational institution is rather sacrosanct with its origin from
the Guru–Shishya tradition of the past (Government of India 2016: 1).
Lynch, Crean, and Moran (2010: 297) state:
[T]he university is one of the few institutions in society where there is
an opportunity for people to think critically and to document that cri-
tique in writing and teaching. Thapar (2015: 35) defines the university
as a place ‘where existing knowledge is assessed and, if need be, revised,
and certainly brought up-to-date and where new knowledge should be
created’. It is a space where one can exercise intellectual autonomy ...
Addressing the International University Congress in 2016 in
Havana, Argentinean sociologist Altilio Borón stated that ‘the univer-
sity must be the centre of critical thought. It’s not easy.We must ensure
it is the centre for tolerance of the ideas being discussed, of dialogue, of
debate’.32 Tierney and Sabharwal (2016: 9) suggest that the ‘university
should be a noisy conversation where individuals are encouraged to
argue with one another’.
Recent literature on student politics at Indian university campuses
highlights various incidents from the past decade where Dalit, Tribal,
and OBC students adopted a new kind of activism by using their

identity and caste culture as a medium of assertion (Pathania 2016). In
2006, the Dalit student union at the University of Hyderabad planned
to serve beef in the annual university food festival, Sukoon (Gundimeda
2009). In reaction to the ban by the university administration, Dalit
students organized several protests and challenged how consuming
chicken was considered ‘secular’ while beef consumption was portrayed
as ‘religious and anti-Hindu’. Gundimeda (2009: 131) presents this
move by Dalit students as ‘a step towards equality in representation’.
Students argued that beef is consumed publicly outside the university
campus, where it does not appear to create tension between consumers
and non-consumers. According to Dalit students, the intention was
not to create a divide between vegetarians and non-vegetarians, but to
make the campus more inclusive, wherein everyone’s cultural dimen-
sions, including their food habits, would be respected and understood
in the larger context of the country’s diversity. Such resistance may
work against the existing cultural hegemony and signal the emergence
of a new kind of politics on campus, as Pathania (2016) argues. Dalit
students did not naively take the question of beef as a purely cultural
sentiment but used it for political provocation to gain control over
public space.
Years later, on 16 April 2012, national newspapers covered the
story of how Dalit students at nearby Osmania University (OU) in
Hyderabad had organized a ‘Beef Festival’, which led to physical vio-
lence when opposed and attacked by right-wing students. At the same
time, in JNU, a student group called The New Materialists (TNM)33
also fought against the ‘Brahminical’ mould. They organized various
talks and debates on food culture in India. A joint ‘Committee for the
Democratic Right to Choice of Food’ and TNM issued a pamphlet
on organizing a beef festival on 17 September 2012 on campus to
commemorate Shaheed Bhagat Singh’s birth anniversary. The univer-
sity administration, along with the New Delhi Police, prohibited the
event from taking place, but the issue did bring a taboo subject into
daily conversation. Similar debates on beef were also initiated in the
Tata Institute of Social Sciences (TISS), Mumbai.34 To oppose students’
activism, some prestigious IITs and IIMs were directed by the govern-
ment to open separate canteens for vegetarian students.35 However,
merely 5 per cent of students are vegetarian (400 out of 8,000 students).
Introduction 15
Thus, according to Dalit activists at IIT Mumbai, this ‘food diktat is try-
ing to dictate the agenda for the remaining 95 per cent’.36 Pant (2008)
writes that ‘Indian higher education has ended up becoming another
instrument for serving myriad socio-political goals and has lost sight
of its true purpose, relinquishing any vision of the role of education
in a liberal democracy’ (2008: 173). Professor Sukumar of University
of Delhi writes about the discrimination and animosity he and other
Dalits faced, while he was as a student at University of Hyderabad:
Comments like ‘Bakasura and Kumbhakarna tables’ are commonly

made by the non-dalit students and mess workers…. Dirty comments
are scribbled on such posters in hostels to insult them. Abusive com-
ments like ‘pigs’, ‘government’s son-in-laws’, ‘bastards’, ‘son of god’,
‘beggars’, etc., and comments which question paternity are quite com-
mon. In 2002, a miscreant (a PhD student) scribbled ‘bastard’ on B R
Ambedkar’s poster in the social science building. (Sukumar 2008: 17)
The university hostel, therefore, serves as a site for both the putative
national culture and unrepresented food cultures. Persistently ignoring
such food diversity symbolizes hegemony of a specific culture over
others (Pathania 2016: 265).
Another example of student resistance against the establishment
occurred at the English and Foreign Language University (EFLU) in
Hyderabad. For the first time in the history of Indian student activism,
the harvest festival of Onam was boycotted in 2012 by marginalized
students. A pamphlet37 issued by a number of student organizations
argued: ‘Dalits and Adivasis work from dawn till dusk to fill your gra-
nary. Why should we celebrate your harvest festivals when it always
left us landless, poor and deprived?’ Such examples point to a palpable
change in the nature of student activism in India.Whereas earlier it had
ideological roots, identity-based activism is the new norm (Pathania
2012). Rather than idolizing Gandhi, marginalized students hailed
Jyotiba Phule as the ‘Father of Nation’. B.R. Ambedkar, Periyar, and
Birsa Munda became the most powerful icon of campus politics.
Leftist parties in Kerala, who rejected the role of caste organizations
in the process of social formation, are now using caste icons such as
Sree Narayana Guru, Ayyankaali, and Chattambi Swamy in their party
conventions.38 Both OU and EFLU celebrated Savtiri Bai Phule’s
birthday on 3 January as National Teachers’ Day. Professor-activist
Kancha Ilaiah started celebrating his own birthday as Dalit-Bahujan

English Education Day on OU campus. In Hyderabad, for the past
few years, students at OU have paid homage to a Dravidian warrior,
Naraka Shoora, traditionally projected as an evil character who was
killed by Aryan invaders. A new narrative of Moolnivasi39 dominates
the Dalit-Bahujan discourse, which argues that Dalits were the original
inhabitants of this country. Such are the new voices and themes char-
acterizing student activism in India.
On many campuses across the country, Dalit student assertion has
been a reality for the past decade. At the JNUSU presidential debate
of 2007, a Bahujan Student Front (BSF) candidate compared the
Hindu god Rama to Satan.40 His speech provoked the right wing
and violence ensued. Furthermore, since 2010, the All-India Backward
Students’ Forum (AIBSF) has been organizing a Mahisasur Martyrdom
Day (Mahisasur Shahadat Diwas) at JNU to counter the highly
popular Hindu festival, Durga Puja. Burning the popular Hindu text
Manusmriti41 also symbolizes rejection of upper caste Hindu cultural
hegemony and catalyses the debate on democratic and liberal space
of the campus. These are but a few examples of university students
challenging the norms and paving the way for inclusion and freedom
of expression. New narratives countering the status quo have evolved
and buoyed marginalized students’ causes. From university campuses
in Kerala to Hyderabad to Delhi, Leftist and Dalit student organiza-
tions are countering the communist lal salaam (red salute) with neel
salaam (blue salute) or Jai Bhim-Lal salaam42 (salute to Ambedkar
and Marx). Such narratives have questioned the sacrosanct image of
educational spaces as vidya ke mandir (temples of learning). Through
education, Dalit and other marginalized students not only understood
the cultural agenda of the state but also devised their own agenda
to counter the existing one. Dalit students now occupy spaces which
they were denied access to for centuries. In addition to caste, there has
been a reflection on the legacy of untouchability in public institutions
( Jaoul 2006; Shah et al. 2006; Sooryamoorthy 2008), including educa-
tion. Education in general, and higher education in particular, is the
arena in which Dalits were denied access. Before education, Dalits led
movements to gain access to other public spaces. For example, in 1927
in Maharashtra, ‘untouchables’, under the leadership of Dr Ambedkar,
embarked on Mahad Satyagraha to access water from a public tank
Introduction 17
(see Kumar 2007). That day is now observed as Social Empowerment

Day in India. In 1930, Ambedkar led a temple entry movement known
as Nashik Kalaram Temple Satyagraha43 to claim the right to enter
the temple. A similar movement for temple entry, known as Viakom
Satyagraha, occurred in Kerala in 1924–5.These are just some examples
emblematic of the daily struggle many lower-caste Indians face that
have inspired Dalit activists today.
University space is rife with narratives and counter-narratives cre-
ated by student activists to counter existing narratives. There are many
such narratives of cultural assertion which have produced new symbols
and icons to challenge the traditional caste hegemony in education.
This is a new narrative of identity resistance politics. In a few campuses,
the strong emergence of Dalit-Bahujan groups (such as Birsa Ambedkar
Phule Student Association (BAPSA) in JNU) presents new a Bahujan
narrative, and calls on Dalits, OBCs, and religious and sexual minori-
ties to create a collective political voice. During the elections, such
narratives (anti-national, anti-reservation, and caste-based), evoke an
individual’s identity and the history attached to it. They play a decisive
role in defining their agenda, politics, and ideology to counter their
political opponents, especially during elections. These narratives serve
as instruments of dissent and create a counter-discourse.They challenge
the roots of existing history, construct and deconstruct our identities,
and define us based on our histories and ideologies. They are cultural
resources of political parties and gradually transform themselves as part
of their ideologies. University campuses are the breeding grounds of
such ideologies; therefore, it is the responsibility of the university and
its intellectuals to provide its students new epistemic tools to debate
these narratives as well as imagine new ones. With this in mind, one
should consider the questions: what is universal about university
education? What is universal about ideology?
The ‘contemporary social conflicts are not just political, since
they affect the system’s cultural production’ (Beckford 1989; Melucci
1985; Offe 1985; Touraine 1985). Melucci suggests the NSM areas are
‘increasingly autonomous’ from political systems. Their form is quite
distinct from that of older political organizations, and Melucci argues,
the form is the message. Beyond modernization and beyond innovation,
movements question society on something else:‘who decides on codes,
who establishes rules of normality, what is the space for difference, how
can one be recognized not for being included but for being accepted as
different, not for increasing the amount of exchanges, but the affirming
another kind of exchange?’ (Melucci 1985: 810).
IDENTITY RESISTANCE POLITICS

Student politics in India today reveals that class politics has been on the
decline while identity politics or identity resistance politics has been on
the rise (Pathania 2017). Leftist parties have long simplified the com-
plexities of caste by projecting them as class politics (Pathania 2017).
They have not yet honed a clear-cut strategy to understand these social
complexities unique to India. Moreover, projecting the class notion
undermines the anti-caste agenda that democracy demands to create
an egalitarian society. On the other hand, Centrist forces and the right
wing use cultural politics as a tool to address these issues, which appeal
to the masses. However, ideologies must break the habit of thinking
that ‘culture is encyclopaedic knowledge whereby an individual has
become a mere container of data … this form of culture is truly harm-
ful, especially to the proletariat’ (Giroux 1999).
The ongoing resistance in education should be analysed through
an angle where students from marginalized communities are produc-
ing a counter culture to the existing dominant culture. For Gramsci,
any analysis of education could only be understood in relation to
existing social and cultural formations and the power relations they
imply. Gramsci emphasized that schooling constitutes only one form
of political education within a broader network of experience, history,
and collective struggle. Given Gramsci’s view of political education, it
is difficult to reduce his view of teaching and learning to a form of
positivist reductionism, in which a particular methodology, such as rote
learning, is endorsed without questioning whether such pedagogical
practices are either implicated in or offer resistance to the mechanisms
of consent, common sense, and dominant social relations (Giroux 1999).
Such moments carry with them the potential to incorporate a caring and
critical pedagogy that meaningfully engages both teacher and student in
cultivating an understanding of our own places in systems of oppression.
The university, and the residential university in particular, is a site of
transformative encounters, with radically different forms of living, food
cultures, and religious practices. In post-independence India, the hostel
Introduction 19
has shed some of its sectarian characteristics, particularly in the public

university, and enabled all manner of new opportunities (Nair 2017: 38).
According to Sukumar (2016), ‘education is supposed to be the
instrument with which to usher in radical social transformation and
liberation, enabling oppressed communities to overthrow centuries old
social-cultural burdens’. In this regard, present-day student activism (of
students from marginalized communities) on university campuses in
India offers a ‘new epistemic understanding of the existing hegemony
of a particular belief system’, and demonstrates that ‘the realm of aca-
demia is no longer restricted to space of learning “traditions”, but has
itself become a site for counter-hegemonic assertion’ (Pathania 2016:
271–2). More than the classroom, perhaps, it is the hostel that amplifies
these possibilities and predicaments. The everyday cultural politics of
caste, religion, and community within a putatively secular space illumi-
nates the contradictory dynamics of producing modern secular citizens
in India (Lukose 2006: 44).
Since independence, there have been several regional identity move-
ments taking shape across the country. Andhra Pradesh, Tamil Nadu,
Assam, Punjab, Haryana, Uttar Pradesh, and many other subregions in
India have a history of struggles for separate statehood based on lan-
guage, ethnicity, and economic and social marginalization. Many north
eastern Indian tribes have been leading ethnic wars to claim their region
based on their tribal identities. Similarly, university students from Bihar
played a vital role in the popular anti-corruption movement led by JP
in the 1970s. The All Assam Students Union (AASU) emerged in local
universities in Assam in the 1980s and produced an intense student
movement, which later brought political power to its student leader.
Nagaland44 and Manipur have also faced similar agitations.
The decade of 1980s has opened global avenue and opportunities
for Indian economy. Agriculture-based economy was gradually shift-
ing towards industrial economy. LPG (liberalization, privatization, and
globalization) became the buzzword. Socio-cultural tension has slowly
been mounting since early 1990s. In 1992, the demolition of Babri
Mosque by Hindu fundamental forces revived Muslim student organi-
zation like SIMI (Students Islamic Movement of India) and thereafter
a new identity politics took shape in Indian politics. Thus, the decade
of the 1990s paved the way for Hindutva—the ‘political imagina-
tion’ of the BJP, as Nandy (1997) calls it. With the additional effect of
neo-liberal policies in the early 1990s, the sphere of education became

a contested political site in the knowledge economy. Globalization has
led to greater economic, social, and educational inequalities (Apple
2001; Carnoy 2000; Rikowski 2002; UNDP 1999) and this is true for
India. Ball (2004), Apple (2001), and other scholars have highlighted
the increasing ‘commodification’ of education under the market
economy. Access, democratization, and the politicization of education,
has become the core issue of contemporary higher education (Heredia
1996: 57). Marxist scholar Peter McLaren (2005: 24) expresses his con-
cern over the neo-liberal economy that ‘education has been reduced
to a subsector of the economy, designed to create cybercitizens within
a tele-democracy of fast-moving images, representations, and lifestyle
choices powered by the seemingly frictionlessness of finance capital’.
He calls the relation between the economy and the states as an internal
one and defines it as a ‘neo-liberal dictatorship’ (McLaren 2005: 29).
In 1990, to include a section of historically marginalized people
in the job market, the Indian government introduced a 27 per cent
reservation for OBCs. The policy became known as the Mandal
Commission. The new policy stirred up student unrest and political
expression (Chaitanya 1994; Kumar 2005; Mishra 1993; Thorat 2004).
For months, students protested the government’s decision of ‘imposing’
a reservation policy only to ‘play [caste] vote bank politics’. Another
policy of guaranteeing 27 per cent reservation for OBCs in higher
education admissions was implemented in 2006. This decision met
with anger and resentment among upper-caste students, especially
those in the technical and medical disciplines45 (Lukose 2010: 208).
A group of students from IITs and IIMs formed Youth for Equality
(YFE), and boycotted the decision. Yet, the quota was implemented
and gradually, a large contingent of OBC students gained access to
higher education. By 2010, the formation of the AIBSF added a new
dimension to campus politics. A large section of OBC Muslim students
formed unions such as Pasmanda Students’ Forum. Amidst this back-
drop, contemporary student movements or campus activism in India
largely took shape. Therefore, the issues of neo-liberalism, Mandal,
and Mandir–Masjid (popularly known as ‘Kamandal’) are crucial in
understanding Indian student activism. The political confluence of
caste, ethnic, and regional identities structurally influenced university
campus activism and gave birth to identity politics.
Introduction 21
Gradually, these caste-based student organizations developed into

more nuanced and culturally based identity politics movements. This,
in turn, prompted academic interest in Dalit studies (Rege 2006,
2010; Satyanarayana and Tharu 2011). Extended reservations exposed
the problem of the ‘contemporaneity of caste’ as ‘a live force in mod-
ern Indian culture and politics’ and revealed many contradictions
in Indian society, especially regarding ways of thinking about castes
(Satyanarayana and Tharu 2011: 9–10). However, Indian society and
politics have largely rejected reservation and the existence of caste.
Supporters of Mandal reservation policies, usually lower-caste citizens,
are regarded as casteists (supporters of caste discrimination), whereas
anti-reservationists tend to project themselves as defending national
interest and regard themselves as meritorious citizens. As a result, caste
per se tends to be associated with lower-caste groups. The general cat-
egory world of upper castes, on the other hand, is essentially seen as
casteless (Deshpande 2013; Satyanarayana and Tharu 2011: 11). Thus,
there is a tendency among scholars to look at universities, intellectual
circles, and urban areas as places where caste has almost lost its
relevance.
At universities, where studies have been conducted, caste discrimi-
nation is not explicit, in contrast with other social environments, such
as rural areas, where social hierarchies and modes of interaction are
based on caste identities. Prestigious Indian universities (such as EFLU
and JNU) attract students from culturally diverse regions and states.
In such multicultural environments, the expression of caste differ-
entiation becomes more complex because regional caste interaction
models lose their significance. At universities, students enter, at least
formally, a secular environment where they must overcome caste
barriers by sharing hostels, canteens, and classrooms. Inevitably stu-
dents broaden their social networks. On the other hand, an argument
can be made that ‘the university environment hardly allows one to be
caste-anonymous’ (Garalyte 2015: 59–60). Lower-caste students in
the universities are labelled as ‘quota-wala’ throughout their student
lives. The shared experiences by Dalits ‘aptly describes how caste
discrimination is manifested within the university setting’ (2015: 60).
Gopal Guru, a leading Dalit political science scholar, described a
Dalit experience at university as follows: ‘The strict observance of a
language code, protocols, body language and ground rules effectively
converts seminar halls into a hostile structure that very often inflicts
humiliation on the Dalits, who then feel too nervous or intimidated to
enter such structure ...’ (Guru 2012: 20).
Language appears to be one of the most significant factors through
which Dalit identity represents itself. Most Dalit students come from
illiterate families and attend state schools where the language of instruc-
tion is a local regional language. Once at university, where English is
the dominant language, and by extension, a symbol of higher-caste/
upper-class status, Dalits face severe difficulties in dealing with language
barriers. Even after Dalits master some English, not infrequently their
pronunciation and way of expression exacerbates their difference to
students from English-medium private school backgrounds. Due to their
limited exposure to English, Dalits and other subaltern students do not
feel confident enough to express themselves publicly in English. As a result,
public speaking becomes dominated by students from upper-caste/class
backgrounds who are at ease in English. In the classroom, the English
language along with sophisticated intellectual jargon becomes a major
obstacle for Dalits to articulate themselves (Harinath 2013; Kumar
2005; Paik 2016; Pathania and Tierney 2018; Sukumar 2008: 15).
UNIVERSITY AS A SITE OF CULTURAL POLITICS

‘The educational system is intended to level people, make them passive,
disciplined and obedient.’
Chomsky in an interview with Meyer and Alvarado (2010: 12)
Chomsky defines education as enlightenment, which is to foster the
impulse to challenge authority, think, and enquire critically. He define
opposing concept of education as indoctrination.46 Giroux (1981: 109)
calls it reproductive process that not only serves the interest of dominant
but also contains the seeds of conflict and transformation. A university’s
role is to promote critical thinking, to analyse society’s ‘common con-
science’, and to question given truths (Abraham 2016). Thapar (2016),
like other scholars, emphasizes the need for critical pedagogy47 to
make the university a site of social change, an agency of modernization,
as well as radical change. We derive from Giroux’s ‘radical pedagogy’
expressions of hope, critical reflection, and collective struggle (1989:
113) that is not divorced from politics. For him, being critical entails
political engagement of teacher constraints and possibilities. Rather
Introduction 23
than rejecting the language of politics, critical pedagogy must link pub-
lic education to the imperatives of a critical democracy (Dewey 1961;
Giroux 1989). Giroux (1989: 32) refers to teachers as ‘transformative’
and schools as public places ‘to reproduce the idea of critical democ-
racy as a social movement that supports individual freedom and social
justice’. By viewing schooling as a form of cultural politics, educators
can bring the concepts of culture and differences together to create a
borderland where multiple subjectivities and identities exist as part of a
pedagogical practice that provides the potential to expand the politics
of democratic community and solidarity (Giroux 1991: 516).
The past decade of student activism shows a cultural deconstruction
of power. Dalit students demanded space and equality for self-
representation and the right to the availability of beef in the university
mess or at least the right to eat beef in public during the ‘Beef Festival’.
The beef debate reached a broader public when Dalit groups started
writing about it (Chandran 2012; Gundimeda 2009; Shyamala 2013) and
launching cultural programmes, including singing and poetry readings
to express the significance of beef in the lives of the untouchables.
As Dalit student activists acquire cultural capital through university
education, they revive their historical identity that emerged from the
tradition of struggle and sacrifice to devise a new language of resistance
against the dominant tradition.
Urban India is experiencing new forms of identity assertion, and
the geographical location of universities plays a crucial role in changing
the social landscape of the city. In December 2012, a brutal gang rape
in Delhi led to country-wide protests, largely led by female univer-
sity students. These protests made the public aware of power structure
of the traditional ‘malestream’ mind rooted in culture and tradition.
Activists raged against patriarchy: ‘Respect the sex which gives you
birth’; ‘I live in a country where a girl is neither safe inside the womb
nor outside it’; and ‘Don’t harass women, they are your lovely mothers,
sisters and daughters’.There was distress and pity for women, and anger
and shame for the state. Some other posters read: ‘Black Day—I am
ashamed to call myself Indian’; and ‘You can get raped but not protest
against rape: #WorldsLargestDemocracy’. Protesters carried candles
and wore black, their mouths bound with black cloth. This display
was a challenge to the traditional and patriarchal argument that girls’
short and tight attire provokes sexual urges among boys. Slogans such
as ‘Kapde chhote nahi, tumhari soch chhoti hai (our clothes are not short,
your thinking is)’ asserted women’s rights to live freely. One very
contentious slogan, ‘Better to chop “it” off than to rape’, shows the
intensity of public anger. Referring to the victim of the 16 December
rape, one poster read, ‘She is not dead, she has gone to the place
where there is no rape’.48 What is new in these slogans is the radical
tone. Unlike previous protests against rape, these slogans challenged
male and masculine notions of a patriarchal society (Pathania 2015:
286). In the preceding year in Delhi, hundreds of female university
students started a campaign called ‘Pinjra Tod’ to fight against gen-
dered hostel rules.49 For the past few years, activists are also organiz-
ing Gay Pride parades in Delhi. There are many women’s groups in
many cities across the country, which closely work with university
students and are trying to create a counter-discourse to patriarchy.
In September 2017, women led protests against an incident of sexual
assault at Banaras Hindu University (BHU), a central university in
Uttar Pradesh.50 The uniqueness of these protests was their diversity,
as they, in Butalia’s (2012) view, were not merely ‘women’s issues’, but
a symbol of the deep-seated violence that women and other mar-
ginalized people experience every day in society. With the continu-
ous expansion of higher education and access through reservation
policies, the class, caste, and gender profiles of universities has been
changing significantly but not without tension. For example, Richa
Singh, the first female president of the Allahabad University Student
Union ‘battled the entrenched patriarchy of the Hindi-belt campuses’
(Menon 2016), to become an inspiration for students who come from
socially and economically marginalized families.
These events question the ‘hegemonic oppressive Brahmanical
nationalist Hindu culture’ and seek publicity for the ‘counter culture
of ex-untouchables usually through the means of oppositional symbol-
ism’ (Hardtmann 2009: 236–7). In their social movement, Dalits have
created a broad counter-public sphere ‘where the politics of difference
can articulate itself, and caste can emerge as a legitimate category of
democratic politics’ (Pandian 2002: 25). Similarly, when Dalit literature
became a legitimate and popular category in the recent past, it started
with a never-ending debate that ‘literature cannot be Dalit’. Yet, as
literature is the mirror of society, if society is characterized by caste
inequality, then it is obvious that corresponding literature would
Introduction 25
evolve. But the emergence of Dalit literature was not limited to criti-
cizing caste but its origin as well, and it found Hinduism to be a system
based on structural hierarchy. It not only challenged the religion but
questioned the existence of caste. It has been argued that that since
Hindu culture is dominated by religion, the intellectual entrapment of
the Dalit cannot be eased unless a large-scale rewriting of the Hindu
holy texts takes place (Ilaiah 2001: 57).
India’s university-educated class51 lives in a paradox. While it proj-
ects itself as anti-caste, anti-patriarchy, progressive, and so on, it still
takes pride in using caste surnames for introductions and marrying
along caste lines. One can experience this paradox while reading the
morning newspaper from any corner of India. Matrimonial advertise-
ments highlight caste, sub-caste, region, and religion. This hints that
we need to look at higher education critically. How does the univer-
sity inculcate this parochial thinking among its students? According
to Beteille (2007: 447), ‘If caste has dug its roots deeper into the
university today, the main responsibility for that lies in the way in
which politics has come to be organized’. Therefore, the challenge
of the twenty-first century is to realize the cultural potential of those
who have remained at the margins of society for ages. It is possible by
diversifying our classrooms through inclusion of every caste, tribe, and
language in the classroom. Democracy ‘has to be judged not just by
the institutions that formally exist but by the extent to which differ-
ent voices from diverse sections of the people can actually be heard’
(Touraine 1997: 190). Its raison d’être is the recognition of the other.
It has been observed, with much justice, that ‘the relationship between
identity and inequality lies at the heart of secularism and democracy
in India’ (Tejani 2007: 265).
As more of India’s university student population has grown to
reflect the diversity in society, so have the issues of debate and conten-
tion. The university is a ‘futuristic institution that makes innovative use
of the past’ (Visvanathan 1999: 50). If the past is characterized by social
contradiction and animosity, one should expect from these institutions
to correct the historical wrongs. Various reports and committees have
suggested several measures to handle discriminations in universities
but there is no measurement of indirect discrimination. David Mosse
(2012) concludes that caste has turned inward and now resides as a
‘feeling inside the mind/heart’. Thus, the existence and persistence of
caste is deepening in the minds. There is no mechanism to capture

this. Khora (2016), responding to Rohith Vemula’s suicide, suggests
‘periodic discrimination audit’ in educational institutions.
FOCUS OF THE BOOK

With a focus on the aspect of regional identity, this book provides an
ethnographic account of the movement for Telangana’s statehood—
one of the longest student movements in India—which developed as a
protest movement at OU in 1969.This movement is a distinct example
of the cultural assertion between two regions that speak the same lan-
guage, Telugu, but with different accents. After Indian independence,
the Telangana region was merged with the Andhra region.This merger
incited the demand for a politically separate Telangana. The idea of a
separate state was first initiated by Telangana government employees
but OU students took up the issue and spearheaded a movement in
1969. Their year-long protests created bedlam in the state. During
this agitation, hundreds of students lost their lives in police firings.
Students who sacrificed their careers turned radical, left the univer-
sity to join extremist groups, and took up arms and continued their
struggle against state authorities. After two decades of ‘anti-state’ activi-
ties, many students realized that to achieve Telangana, they had to find
a democratic alternative. They put their trust back into the electoral
process and formed a new party, the Telangana Rashtra Samiti (TRS)
in 2001. This gave rise to a renewed aspiration for power among new
activists. The period from 2009 to 2014 served as the second phase of
the protest movement.
After almost a half-century-long struggle and countless sacrifices
made by students and peasants, Telangana was formed on 2 June 2014
as the 29th state of India. As the government announced Telangana’s
formation, demands for separate states across India were reignited (that
is, Gorkhaland from West Bengal, Bodoland from Assam, and Vidharbh
from Maharashtra). Many of these demands were raised on university
campuses. What is interesting is to understand the origin of these
demands among youth. What are the backgrounds or circumstances
under which such demands turned into agitations and movements on
campus? In the case of the Telangana movement, how did regional iden-
tity traverse through campuses to the masses and vice-versa? How does
Introduction 27
regional identity shape the political understanding of university students?

Such conceptual questions are important to understand the outcomes
we experience in the form of protests, agitations, and movements. Rao
(1972),Weiner (1978), and Suri (2002) highlight the role of the students,
non-gazetted officers, and politicians in Telangana movement.
The purpose of this book is to examine how university space fosters
student activism and raises identity consciousness for a specific goal, in
this case the formation of the most recent Indian state. It seeks to illus-
trate how students mobilized, networked, and strategized on and off
campus to produce one of the protracted social movements in India.
How do a public university and its members navigate and negotiate
with the state in a time of extreme privatization of higher education?
In this context, the volume argues that it is imperative to study the
changing nature of student activism to understand the impact of larger
social movements. It argues that university space continues to be a
resource for resistance and collective action.
STRUCTURE OF THE BOOK

With a conceptual debate between old and new social movements,
the first chapter titled ‘Telangana Movement: A Cultural–Political
Discourse’ offers theoretical insights on culture as a site of politics,
social domination, marginalization, and resistance. It understands the
‘problem of Telangana’ within the framework of ‘internal colonialism’,
the term used by the first State Reorganisation Commission (1955:
105). It tries to understand the activists’ experience and the larger
forces that shape their motives, ideas, and identities. It establishes that
the movement evoked various local cultural symbols such as language/
accent, food, dress, festivals, arts, theatre, and music as forms of resistance
to spur a popular movement against the ‘dominant’ culture of Andhras,
whom Telangana people referred to as ‘outsiders’, ‘non-mulki’ or
‘settlers’. Chapter two, titled ‘Osmania University: Academics, Culture, and
Politics’, provides activists’ narratives of the past five decades of activism
at OU. It illustrates how a ‘culture of resistance’ and ‘culture of activism’
were created by ‘organic intellectuals’ (students and teachers) and pro-
duced generations of campus activists. Chapters three and four, titled
‘Campus Networks and Agitations: The Making of a Student Activist’
and ‘Learning from the Past, Imagining the Future’ respectively, draw
upon ethnographic observations, insights from informal and formal

discussions, and interviews with student leaders.They also explain how
the existing culture of campus activism helped produce and maintain
various networks and how these networks were instrumental in the
movement’s success and in the making of OU as the movement’s epi-
centre. Additionally, chapter four provides a comparison of the 1969
agitation to that of 2009. The concluding chapter, ‘New State, Old
Narratives’, sheds light on the current state of affairs in Telangana. It
briefly covers the nature of the ongoing struggle led largely by OU
students and alumni due to the continued lack of political representa-
tion and high youth unemployment. It argues that the movement for
separate statehood became a mass movement due to students’ inclusive
approach to mobilizing at the grassroot level.
NOTES
1. Available at http://indianexpress.com/article/india/india-news-india/dalit-
student-suicide-full-text-of-suicide-letter-hyderabad/, accessed 24 November
2016.
2. The Home Minister of India stated in the media: ‘If anyone raises anti-
India slogans and tries to raise question on the nation’s unity and integrity,
they will not be spared’.
3. As a liberal campus, JNU has been popular for its joint struggle (teacher–
student–employees). In 2017, for the first time in the history of any Indian
university, the teachers’ union of JNUTA called for a public enquiry against
its own VC, Professor M. Jagadeesh Kumar, for allegedly violating various
conventions of the university.
4. In their study of 39 central universities in India, Marisha, Banshal, and
Singh (2017: 2205) found that DU and JNU as the best performers in social
sciences research.
5. Available at http://www.hindustantimes.com/india-news/caste-is-anti-
national-as-it-divides-india-says-amartya-sen/story-Hbk4R-PLejo0XEgpM-
bEO4rN.html, accessed 5 January 2017.
6. Available at https://www.telegraphindia.com/1160213/jsp/frontpage/
story_69079.jsp#.WIMWWFN97IU, accessed 5 August 2016.
7. Available at https://scroll.in/latest/803722/top-academics-including-noam-
chomsky-judith-butler-condemn-centres-action-at-jnu, accessed 5 August 2017.
8. UGC Gazette Notification: Death of the Idea of an Inclusive University,
organized by the Committee of Suspended Students for Social Justice.
15 February 2017 at the Freedom Square, JNU. 4:30–6:30 pm.
Introduction 29
9. JNU students who were associated with the controversial Afzal Guru
march that landed Kanhaiya Kumar and Umar Khalid in jail.
10. Available at https://thewire.in/111181/delhi-university-ramjas-abvp/,
accessed 5 April 2017.
11. Available at https://thewire.in/68869/abvp-central-university-haryana-
draupadi/, accessed 27 November 2016.
12. The mob killing of a Muslim man who was suspected of consuming beef
on 28 September 2015 in Dadri, Uttar Pradesh.
13. See https://www.theguardian.com/world/2014/feb/13/indian-
conservatives-penguin-hindus-book.
14. See https://www.theguardian.com/books/2015/nov/05/arundhati-
roy-returns-award-protest-religious-intolerance-india-bollywood-modi-
government-violence.
15. Available at http://www.sify.com/news/hyderabad-varsity-students-
not-satisfied-with-new-protest-rules-news-national-rhpdJohig-baec.html.
16. Available at http://sanhati.com/articles/15951/.
17. Dilip Menon questions the ‘structure of administration, pedagogy and
structure of scholarship’ that are highly dis-criminatory in Indian higher
education. Available at https://theacademiccitizen.org/2016/07/06/12-the-
state-of-higher-education-in-india/, accessed 9 October 2017.
18. Explaining his experiences of the 1960s, American educationist Peter
McLaren comments that the ‘youth counter-culture of the sixties served as the
ideological loam that fertilized my pedagogy. I had learned the rudiments of
a middle-class radicalism that was preoccupied with the politics of expressive
life and avoided examining in a minded and a critical manner the structural
inequalities within the social order’ (McLaren 2015: 11).
19. Self-immolation by a university student in Czechoslovakia in 1968 led
to a massive agitation known as the Prague Spring. Neighbouring Poland
experienced revolt where students challenged Communist party control
over universities and cultural production (Bischof, Karner, and Ruggenthaler
2010). See Zubok,V. 2010. ‘Soviet Society in 1960s’, in The Prague Spring and
the Warsaw Pact Invasion of Czechoslovakia in 1968, ed. G. Bischof, S. Karner, and
P. Ruggenthaler, pp. 76–101. Lanham, MD: Lexington Books.
20. See http://www.universityworldnews.com/article.php?story=
20160510173152311 and https://www.theatlantic.com/education/archive/
2015/05/the-renaissance-of-student-activism/393749/.
21. Available at https://www.theguardian.com/world/2014/sep/30/-sp-
hong-kong-umbrella-revolution-pro-democracy-protests.
22. ‘I am no longer accepting the things I cannot change, I am changing
the things I cannot accept’ was the slogan students adopted against university
authority and government’s unfulfilled promises.
23. Available at http://www.bbc.com/news/blogs-trending-34125297.

24. Indian scholarship is vast in the area of student politics up to the 1970s:
Altbach (1966, 1967, 1968, 1968a, 1968b, 1969, 1970a, 1970b, 1972, 1982, 1984,
1987), Damle (1966), Dasgupta, Bhattacharjee, and Singh (1974), Deshmukh
1968), DiBona (1966), Dhangare (1983), Jafar (1977), Jayaram (1979), Kakkar
and Chowdhury (1969), Gupta (1968), Metta (1967, 1970), Mishra (1967),
Reddy (1969), Ross (1969), Oommen (1974, 1985), Shils (1959, 1961),
Srinivas (1966), Singhal (1977),Vidyarthi (1976), and Vinayak (1972).
25. Studies on the pre-independence history of student movements high-
light the debate between nationalist and liberal ideologies: Chandra (1938),
Curran (1951), McCully (1940), Nurullah and Naik (1962), Reddy (1949),
Sakrikar (1946), Singh (1942), and Spencer (1967) have contributed to the
understanding of student movements in India.
26. For example, at Rangpur in Bengal, the entire student body was fined
four aanas each for singing Vande Mataram.
27. Growth of financially independent private institutions has been the
most significant development over the past few decades. Such institutions
have proliferated all over the country over the years, but faced with financial
constraints, the government has had little option but to reluctantly allow their
entry (Agarwal 2009: 22).
28. University education expands one’s way of thinking by sensitizing one
about others in our social environment. If any education system in the world
is not doing that, then it is a matter of concern. Indeed, scholars of peda-
gogy (Apple 2010; Bernstein 2000; Giroux 1983; Habermas 1967) have also
defined the role of university education beyond merely imparting knowledge.
Indiresan (1999) asks a critical question: ‘we must ask whether there is some-
thing wrong with our education system, that it trains only the head without
touching the heart’ (1999: 148).
29. Statistics are from Government of India. 2015. ‘All India Survey of
Higher Education 2013–14’. New Delhi: Department of Higher Education,
Ministry of Human Resource Development.
30. Explaining the history of Indian universities, Guha defines three forms of
parochialism: (a) identity; (b) ideological; and (c) institutional.
31. Available at https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_university_mottos.
32. Available at http://en.granma.cu/cuba/2016-02-25/the-university-
must-be-a-center-for-critical-thought, accessed 4 July 2016.
33. The group is made up of Dalits, tribal, backward, and Leftist students and
bases its ideologies on Marx, Periyar, and Ambedkar.
34. ‘Beef and Pork Politics Divides TISS Students’, Mumbai Mirror, 9 August
2014.
35. On 28 November 2014, a national newspaper covered a story titled
‘Shuddh Vegetarian in IIT Delhi: RSS Activists Spur Smriti Irani to Dictate
Introduction 31
Hostel Food’. After this, IIT Delhi decided to play safe by only serving vegetar-
ian food in campus.
36. Available at http://www.firstpost.com/living/shuddh-vegetarian-in-
iit-delhi-rss-activists-spur-smriti-irani-to-dictate-hostel-food-1825509.html,
accessed 4 December 2014.
37. Cited from a pamphlet jointly published by the Dalit Adivasi Bahujan
Minority Student Association (DABMSA), the Telangana Student Association
(TSA), the Progressive Democratic Student Union (PDSU), Bahujan Student
Forum (BSF), and Telangana Vidyarthi Vedika (TVV) at EFLU on 15 August
2012.
38. Available at http://www.countercurrents.org/2016/09/16/confrontations-
and-scope-of-identity-politics-observations-on-left-politics-of-jnu-and-
kerala/, accessed 26 September 2016.
39. ‘The original inhabitant’ refers to a group of students who consider
themselves as part of Dravidian civilization, not the ‘outsiders’ Aryans.
40. Available at http://www.hindustantimes.com/delhi-news/5-hurt-in-
jnu-clash-over-ram-s-existence/story-wDxFUeqNuL5suteYo-PDMpM.
html, accessed 30 March 2016.
41. Available at http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/news/politics-and-
nation/what-is-wrong-in-manusmriti-burning-jnu-students-to-varsity/
articleshow/51499704.cms, accessed 30 March 2016.
42. Popularized by Dalit students in agitations after Rohith Vemula’s suicide
and also from speeches by Kanhaiya Kumar. Available at https://thewire.in/
25435/from-lal-salaam-to-jai-bhim-lal-salaam/, accessed on 27 December 2017.
43. Available at https://drambedkarbooks.com/2016/03/02/2nd-march-
1930-in-dalit-history-nashik-kalaram-temple-satyagraha-started/, accessed 20
October 2016.
44. The Naga Hoho, the apex civil society body of the Nagas, strives for a
unified Naga identity. Several factions of Naga militias divided along tribal
lines or factional loyalties that override ethnicity.
45. Available at https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/india/United-against-
quota-Students-hold-countrywide-protests/articleshow/1512585.cms?
referral=PM, accessed 30 October 2016.
46. Interview, Jones, L. 2012. ‘Noam Chomsky Spells out the Purpose of
Education’. Open Culture. Accessed 4 June 2017. http://www.openculture.
com/2012/11/noam_chomsky_spells_out_the_purpose_of_education.html.
47. The notion of critical pedagogy as a recognized concept is a relatively
new phenomenon that emerged particularly from the thought of Paulo Freire
and others (Kincheloe 2008; McLaren 2000). Critical pedagogy is an empow-
ering way of thinking and acting fostering decisive agency that does not take
a position of neutrality in its contextual examination of the various forces that
impact the human condition (Kirylo 2013: xxi).
48. Available at http://www.thehindu.com/opinion/op-ed/life-rape-and-

death-in-an-indian-city/article5125290.ece, accessed 30 October 2016.
49. Campaign by female students for freedom of hostel curfew and other
‘sexist’ restrictions. Available at http://indianexpress.com/article/cities/delhi/
pinjra-tod-student-campaign-exhorts-women-to-oppose-sexist-hostel-
rules/, accessed 29 October 2016.
50. Available at http://www.firstpost.com/india/watch-bhu-fears-more-
protests-varsity-shut-till-3-oct-no-girl-here-who-hasnt-been-molested-say-
students-4078173.html, accessed 28 October 2017.
51. Desai (2008: 68) calls it ‘New social class’.
1 Telangana Movement
A Cultural–Political Discourse
The available literature on the Telangana movement offers historical,

political, and economic perspectives that define Telangana as a ‘back-
ward’ region and the movement as an offshoot to this backwardness.
The backwardness generally discussed pertains to the economic
standing of the people of Telangana. From the vantage point of a
fresh perspective, this chapter uses regional culture to understand the
emergence of the mass movement. It explores the context in which
the idea of statehood for Telangana took shape and discusses how the
movement can be understood as a new social movement. The chapter
also attempts to understand the contours of the movement’s history
in terms of how the culture of Telangana was marginalized, and how
Telangana activists, especially employees and students, mobilized
against the dominant Andhra culture, leading ultimately to widespread,
robust cultural assertion.
DEBATING THE TELANGANA MOVEMENT

AS NEW SOCIAL MOVEMENT
Social movements lead to social transformation (Frank and Fuentes
1987: 1507). After the proliferation of the Civil Rights Movement in
the United States of America in the 1950s and 1960s, university students
around the world launched various counter-cultural movements and
became agents of social change. In the spring of 1966, a group of Black
students at San Francisco State College (now University) organized
DOI: 10.1093/oso/9780199488414.003.0002
the nation’s first Black Student Union (BSU), demanding a more

inclusive higher education system. The ‘Black Power’ movement
spawned the term ‘student power’ (Ross 1969: 245). Topics such as
the psychology of love and the social significance of drugs were the
major attraction among university students who formed a group
called Young Americans for Freedom (YAF). As literature highlights,
similar agitations were led in Italy, Germany, and France (Brand 1983,
1985; Friberg and Galtung 1984; Paris 1981; Roth 1984; Rucht
1982; Touraine 1981, 1985). Scholars such as Alain Touraine (France),
Alberto Melucci (Italy), Jurgen Habermas (Germany), and Manuel
Castells (Spain) realized that the existing ‘ideological’ Marxist1 class
paradigm was unable to provide a convincing explanation as to why
students had become the vanguard of protest (see Lee 2007: 52).
One of the central figures of the ‘New Left’ was the Columbia
University sociologist, C.W. Mills. His ‘Letter to the New Left’ (Mills
1960) became the manifesto for student organizations who criticized
the Left and classical Marxism. The ‘New Left’ questioned the notion
of universal Marxism and tried to compose a ‘surrogate universal’
(Gitlin 1995: 313). The idea of universal mass movements was rejected
as students claimed that ‘mass movements were nothing more than sec-
toral movements for themselves’ (Gitlin 1993, 1995). The scholarship
of Touraine, Melucci, Habermas, and Castells explains the emergence
and character of these new movements and locates contemporary
student movements as New Social Movements (NSMs) in a global
context. Contrary to the (working) class base and ideology of old social
movements, NSMs of the 1970s drew their support from a different
social class base, such as gender, age, race, sexuality, ethnicity, and region
(see Melucci 1980, 1985, 1989) made up of new social actors.2 The
women’s movement, anti-nuclear protests, environmental movement,
gay rights, animal rights, minority nationalism, and ethnic movements
were all considered NSMs. In short, according to Crossley (2002: 10),
NSMs arose from a contradiction between Marxist and Hegelian tradi-
tion of the philosophy of history. This, according to scholars, marked
the beginning of a distinction between old and new forms of move-
ments, and became a fresh addition to social movement literature.
Thus, scholars have sought to break down the conventional theoretical
distinction in the field between political process, resource mobilization,
and NSM theories (Ferree 1992; Johnston and Klandermans 1995;
Telangana Movement 35
Meyer 1999; Morris and Mueller 1992; Polletta 1999). NSMs arise
within the sphere of ‘cultural reproduction of social relations, symbols
and identities’ (Melucci 1980) and are ‘specific to history and social
structure’ (2001: 40). According to NSM theorists, identity movements
seek to transform dominant cultural patterns or gain recognition for
new social identities by employing ‘expressive’ strategies (Cohen 1985;
Melucci 1985, 1989; Touraine 1981). According to Kriesi and Giugni
(1995: xxi) the development of NSMs is ‘ultimately rooted in structural
and cultural transformation that characterize all Western and European
countries’.
Identity has an ontological and epistemological status (Somers
1994: 606). Cultural identities—religious, national, regional, and ethnic
identities—are more fluid and may be either public or private depending
upon historical context. Duncombe3 (2002: 5) explains, ‘culture is
used, consciously or unconsciously, effectively or not, to resist and/or
change the dominant political, economic, and/or social structure.’
He points out that some forms of cultural resistance can be dismissed
as an ‘escape from politics and a way to release discontent that might
otherwise be expressed through political activity’ (2002: 6). However,
there is an emphasis on both macro and micro historical elements.
Resistance based on culture explains the use of such categories.4
Political process theorists are increasingly coming to realize that
cultural dynamics are central to the origin and development of social
movements.5 Culture, ideas, belief systems, rituals, oratory, emotions,
and grievance interpretation are central to social movements. Social
movement scholars analysed cultural processes as elements of politi-
cal opportunity (Ferree et al. 2002; Meyer et al. 2002; Gamson and
Meyer 1996; Steinberg 1999). Polletta (2004) also theorizes the role
of culture in mobilization. Like Goodwin and Jasper (2003), Polletta
(2004: 97) believes that we can usually adopt a ‘less anaemic concep-
tion of culture than some political process analysis has done without
making actors, interests, strategies, and resources simply figments of a
culturalist imagination’. For example, scholars raised questions about
who we are, how we live, and who is accountable, rather than demand-
ing fair remuneration and improved working conditions (Habermas
1981; Klandermans, Kriese, and Tarrow 1988; Melucci 1985). In short,
the core characteristics of NSMs are derived out of lived experiences,
which are very much rooted in the culture of everyday life. In their
work on contentious politics, McAdam, Tarrow, and Tilly (2001) argue

that, at most, there is a fine line between social movements and the
politics of everyday life.6 Laraña, Johnston, and Gusfield (1994: 7) call
it the ‘democratization dynamics of everyday life’. Habermas uses ‘life-
world’ to describe this everyday phenomenon.7
According to Buechler (1995: 458), there are two versions of NSM
theory: political and cultural. He states, ‘The cultural version emphasizes
the symbolic explorations and expressions of identity that precisely
challenge the instrumental logic of systemic domination’.The political
version of NSM is pro-Marxist and draws upon the most promising
work in neo-Marxist scholarship, seeking to build upon the strength
of this tradition.
Buechler (1995: 457) argues that the political version of NSM is more
concerned with strategic questions and instrumental action as the
ultimate goal of social movements while recognizing the importance
of identity formation, grievance definition, and interest articulation
as intermediate steps in the process of movement activism. Table 1.1
outlines political and cultural versions of NSMs.
Since the social construction of identity always takes place in a context
marked by power relationship, Castells (1997/2001: 7–8) proposes
a distinction between three8 forms and origins of identity building:
legitimizing identity, resistance identity, and project identity. Social
movement theories tend to view power as state centred and rooted
in the political and economic structure of societies. Polletta (2004: 98)
argues that when political opportunities are seen as structural and not
cultural, activists’ capacity to take advantage of those opportunities
is cultural. Culture provides a structure and context which helps in
expressing our behaviour, our identity, status, and emotions. Therefore,
understanding a movement from the cultural angle unfolds deeper realities
of lived experiences. Scholars (Bernstein 1997, 2005; Polletta and Jasper
2001) establish a link between identity and social movements through
cultural identities. Identity exists in the social structure which might be
dignified, stigmatized, or derogatory according to contexts. Identities
are integrally related to structure and interest (Bernstein 2008: 287).
NSMs do not arise from relations of production and distribution
of resources but from within the sphere of cultural production and
the life world, and from the need to ‘create cultural alternatives in
everyday life that seek to escape from the state, not influence or seize it’
TABLE 1.1 Political and Cultural Version of New Social Movement Theories
Issue Political Version Cultural Version
General orientation Pro-Marxist Post-Marxist
Representative Manuel Castells Alberto Melucci
Theorist
Societal Totality Advanced capitalism Information society
Image of Power Systemic centralized Diffuse, decentralized
Level of Analysis Macro, Meso-level, Meso-, micro level, civil
State-oriented society, everyday life
Movement Activity Retains role for Eschews strategic
instrumental action concerns in favours of
symbolic expressions
First Debate: Recognizing their role Regards new
View of New without rejecting the movements as having
Movements role of working class displaced working-class
movements movements
Second Debate: Potential for Sees NSMs as defensive
Movement progressive orientations or rejects category of
Orientation if allied with working ‘progressive’
class movements
Third Debate: Sees political Sees cultural movements
Evaluation of movements as most as most radical,
Movements radical, cultural political movements as
movements as political co-optable
Fourth Debate: Analyses in class term Analyses in terms of
Social Base of via contradictory non-class constituencies
Movements locations, new class or or issues and ideologies
middle class
Source: Buechler (1995).
(Melucci 1996: 27). They are linked to the survival and reproduction
of culture, social relations, symbols, and identities. Scholars (Calhoun
1993; Castells 1978; Edward 2009; Habermas 1984, 1987; Melucci
1980; Scott 1990; Singh 2001; Tarrow 1991; Touraine 1985) claim that
NSMs’ engagements are less about material reproduction and more
about cultural reproduction, social integration, and socialization.
Following Western scholarship, the Indian debate on NSMs began
almost three decades later. Omvedt (1993, 1994), Oommen (2010),
Shah (2004), and Singh (2001) have debated a conceptual shift in social
movement literature. They all agree that NSMs question the relevance
of both the functionalist as well as the dialectical Marxist models and
‘reflect the cultural and democratic representational crisis of society’
(Singh 2001). Oommen (2010) takes a clue from movement scholars
(Cohen 1985; Klandermans, Kriesi, and Tarrow 1988; McAdam 1988;
Melucci 1989; Offe 1985), and highlights some major points to explain
NSMs—that (a) they cannot be characterized in terms of ideology
as they represent a variety of ideas and value; (b) their participants
have structurally diverse backgrounds; (c) they breed new identities or
reinvent old ones; (d ) they often represent counter cultures; (e) they
struggle to reclaim their past through the intimate aspects of human
life such as dietary practices, dress patterns, sexuality, and the like; and
(f ) they interrogate the legitimacy and style of the functioning of tradi-
tional political parties and may give birth to new types of political par-
ties. In a comparative study of Egypt and Tunisia, Beissinger, Jamal, and
Mazur (2012) found that corruption and unemployment motivated
protests that kicked off uprisings across the region known as the ‘Arab
Spring’. Pathania (2015), Sitapati (2011), and Thakur and Rai (2013)
see a similar case in India in 2010 when the ‘India Against Corruption’
movement led to countrywide agitations.
The NSM framework offers a fresh way to analyse the Telangana
movement. Functionalist and dialectical Marxist frameworks assume
the identity of individuals and their action and subjectivities in favour
of a formalized non-human structural image of society (Singh 2001:
157). The subnational movement in Assam and the demand for
Jharkhand are examples of NSMs, according to Singh (2001: 206).
Three major themes emerge which help us understand the regional
movement for a separate Telangana state. One theme is identity, sec-
ond is culture, and third is the decentralized nature of the movement
with the emergence of civil society. These themes are appropriate to
understand the Telangana movement as a cultural movement. Scholars
(Pingle 2014; Rao 1997; Reddy and Sharma 1979; Simhadri and Rao
1997;Thirumali 2013), who studied Andhra–Telangana problems, cen-
tre their arguments primarily on ‘social and economic backwardness’
of Telangana. According to them, this is an important reason behind
the emergence of the movement. These scholars have adopted the
term ‘internal colonialism’,9 which was first used by the first State
Reorganisation Commission (SRC) in 1955 (1955: 105). There has

been a tendency to view the internal colonialism and son of the soil theses
only in the context of economic deprivation. But in the process of
colonialism, there is also ‘a loss of identity and the formation of a new,
forced identity. The marginalization and, in some cases, even irretriev-
able loss of indigenous knowledge systems is also a part of this process’
(Panikkar 2007: 21).
Applying the NSM framework, the next section highlights how
different phases of the movement were essentially a struggle between
two cultural identities. As Lisa Mitchell (2010: 96) argues, ‘cultural
identities—whether defined by language or any other foundation—
are central to the functioning of politics in India today’. This book
takes this view further and divides the Separate Telangana agitations
into three phases. The first phase (1953–72) lies in the cultural depri-
vation and humiliation of the Telangana people in the wake of the
merger with Andhra. The movement’s second phase, from 1973 to
2000, was a lengthier phase marked by intense cultural mobilization
in the region. The third phase, from 2001 to 2014, is one of cultural
and political assertion. The movement evoked various local cultural
symbols such as dialect, food, dress, festivals, and the arts, as forms of
resistance against the so-called dominant culture of Andhras, a political
identity. The Telangana movement defines this culture as the culture
of the ‘outsider’, ‘non-Mulki’, or ‘settler’. Thus, the feeling of a unique
Telangana identity emerged against the other identity of the Andhra.10
The ‘son of the soil’ argument can also be better understood through
the cultural thesis. Thus, the movement reinterpreted, or in Bernstein’s
(2008) language, deconstructed, cultural representations such as language,
dress, food, and literature.
A BRIEF BACKGROUND ON INTER-REGIONAL

DIFFERENCES
The Telangana region was part of the Hyderabad state, ruled by Nizam
Osman Ali Khan. It constituted a large part of present-day Maharashtra
and Karnataka. That it was never ruled by the British makes Telangana
historically distinct and unique. During the Nizam’s rule, Urdu was
the official language of Hyderabad state (Zahir 2008: 2), despite the
widespread presence of Marathi, Kannada, and Telugu. As a result,
these languages became heavily influenced by Urdu. Telangana Telugu

became a mixture of Urdu and Telugu, and Hindi (dakhini Hindi or
Hyderabadi Hindi) became a mixture of Urdu and Hindi. Various
versions of Telugu were spoken across the region. With the establish-
ment of the largest educational institution in the city of Hyderabad in
1918, Osmania University (OU), the Nizam aimed to provide higher
education in Urdu.11 In his quest to promote language and Islamic
tradition, he encouraged the establishment of more than a dozen Urdu
dailies.12 Thus,Telugu remained underutilized during the Nizam’s rule,
and later became a point of contention after the merger with Andhra.
Hence, the Nizam’s patronage established a distinct political culture
in Hyderabad.
As much of the Andhra region had been part of the Madras
Presidency under British rule, a large portion of Andhras were exposed
to and educated in English. In contrast with the Telugu of Telangana,
Andhra Telugu maintained its Sanskrit base. Such variations in Telugu
further amplified the difference in the two main accents spoken within
the region.The Telangana accent came to be considered inferior in the
eyes of the growing Andhra population in Hyderabad, who dominated
the city culturally and politically after 1953.
The roots of Telugu unity can be traced to the beginning of the
twentieth century. On 20 May 1913, the first Andhra Mahajana Sabha
was created, which coined the idea of Telugu Talli (Mother Telugu).
B.N. Sharma, who later became member of the Viceroy’s Executive
Council, was instrumental in the formation. Another organization
called Andhra Jana Sangam was formed which was the public forum for
Telugu separateness from Madras Presidency. The Andhra Maha Sabha
was formed in 1930 and dominated by the communists (CPI) in the
mid-1940s (Mantena 2014: 351). Later, the formation of Visalandhra
Maha Sabha in 1949 by P. Sundarayya promoted the idea of a ‘greater
Andhra’. Andhra activists began to promote language as the neutral
bond that would be cultivated to create a political community in the
region. Mantena (2014: 356) argues that ‘regionalism was endorsed by
both the CPI and Congress leaders in Hyderabad and his ultimately
led to calls for severance of the state along linguistic lines as the best
political situation to a monarchical modernity that reached its limits
and ultimately demise’. Thus, to many, Telangana’s merger with Andhra
began on unsecured footing (Mantena 2014).
As India gained independence, 500 small kingdoms and princely

states were merged to create Union of India with the efforts of the
then home minister, Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel (see Map 1.1 depicting
Hyderabad state before its merger with Indian union). However, his
negotiations did not yield anything in the case of Hyderabad and
Kashmir. Kashmir was ruled by a Hindu, Raja Hari Singh, and was not
given much attention. The government focussed more on Hyderabad
because of its Muslim ruler. Patel ordered the Indian Army to impose
military action in the city on 17 September 1948.This forceful attempt
to merge Hyderabad state with the Indian government was known as
‘Operation Polo’.Thousands of Muslims were killed, looted, and raped
HYDERABAD STATE
Soegaon M A TELANGANA REGION
D H Y A P R A
an
Sillod
MARATHWARA REGION
ard
Kannad Jafrabad D E
bad
ok
lda S KARNATAK REGION

Bh
u H
Kh
ur
AURANGABAD
p
Gan
ija
Aurangabad Jalna Kinwat

Va
Hingoli
r
Kalam
Adilabad Rajpura
Jintu
gap
r
Partu
ur
Paithan
nuri
Ambad ADILABAD
PARBHANI Sirpur
ath
Hadgaon Utnur
Both
Asifabad
Basm
Pathri Par
bh Khanapur L
Georai M an Nanded Bhoker ak
i
B
an Nirmal sh
li
ett
ho
jle Chinnur
ga ipe
ud
on Gangakned t
NANDED
Metp
Bhir
M
Patoda Armoor Jagtiyal

O
BHIR Biloli Nizamabad

Mom
Ashti Kandhar Sultana

alle
Bodhan bad Manthani

dpur
Kaij
d
NIZAMABAD KARIMNAGAR
inab
khe
e
M
Ahm
ad
Mu
Karimna
glu
Bhoom kal
Bansw
Yella Reddy
Kallam Ka Sirsilla
Par
ad
De
m
Paren
Latur Udgir as
rab
ev Mulug
Sa
B
ada
a
zu
ga
OSMANABAD
nt
da
Hu
Naraya
pu
Medak Siddipet
r
Osmanabad
ga
Owsa nkhed
Bu
r
BIDAR
A
l an
MEDAK Warangal Pakhal

rga
Andol
E
Bhalki ar
Ni
WARANGAL u
mp
Bid Jan nd
Tuljapur
Na
Umarga Gajwel ga lla

abad
ah
Y
on
Munir Ye
rsa
abad San
ad
Zahir
p
ga Bhongir Mahebu
ur
re a
Vik
Medchal babad
Aland Chincholi
dd
t Sur KHAMMAM wanch
har
y
ape l
a
West ya Pa
arg
ann
aba
pe
t
r
Shahabad East Ram Khammam

lb
ou
d
r
Madhira
pu
Gu
A
S
HYDERABAD NALGONDA
ita
Afzalpur Se
Ja
ram
Ch
ar
Nalgonda
al
Ibrahimpatnam
rnag
Pargi
ang
GULBARGA
T
da
Shadnagar
u
Kod
Huzu
Andola
yalg
ti
De
uh
va
Yadgir S
ak
Mir
A
Mahbubnagar
rak
lw
Shahpur Makthal
on
Ka
da
Shorapur MAHBUBNAGAR
T
Wanparti
Atmakur Nagarkurnool
A
Deodurg Achampet
hur
Raic
E
Gadwal R
ur
Kollapur
sug
RAICHUR H
g
Alampur
Len
Manvi
D
Kus anur
hta Sindh N
gi A
a
arg Gangawati
Yelb E
AT
pp
al ST
Ko G
OR
MAP 1.1 Hyderabad State before Its Merger with Indian State in 1948
Source: Chaturvedi, 1956, A Descriptive Atlas of Hyderabad State, p. 6.
Note: This map is not to scale and does not represent authentic national and
international boundaries. It is provided for illustrative purposes only.
by Hindus and the Indian Army13 (Noorani 2001; Thomson 2013).

After the merger, the Telangana region remained under Indian military
rule from 1948 to 1952 after the annexure of Hyderabad state to the
Indian union.14 Before any general elections took place, the central
government appointed M.K.Vellodi as chief minister15 of Hyderabad.
Telangana activists claim that during his rule, there was rampant migra-
tion to Hyderabad, as Andhras quickly filled the need for English-
speaking employees. Thirumali (2013: 79) states: ‘There was a huge
migration from Andhra region after 1950s which strengthened the
Andhra form of politics in Hyderabad. Their sectarianism reinforced
the regionalism to keep them apart’.
According to Simhadri and Rao (1997),‘Approximately 70,000 people
were registered in the employment office in 1952 in Hyderabad state’.
The Andhra peasant castes acquired lands in and around Hyderabad and
other parts of Telangana. The Andhras ‘occupied crucial positions in the
administration, particularly in the secretariat, judiciary and education’
(Thirumali 2013: 80), which left locals at a competitive disadvantage
for employment. Thus, a ‘native vs. outsider’ agitation began known as
‘mulki vs. non-mulki’.16 A mulki was defined as one who was born in
Hyderabad or whose father had completed fifteen years of government
service ‘in the Hyderabad State at the time of his birth’ (Reddy and
Sharma 1979: 318). To be considered for government service in the
city, one had to prove ‘mulki’ status. Thus, there were rampant cases of
producing fake mulki certificates. According to Alam and Khan (1972: 61),
more than 25,000 ‘bogus’ mulki certificates were produced, as the
administration was run largely by Andhras. The number of migrants
rapidly increased after 1961, contributing to the unemployment of
locals.17 The city of Hyderabad became an industrial hub as it had the
necessary infrastructure. Andhra settlers successfully competed with
other business communities from other parts of the country, such as
Gujaratis, Marwaris, and Punjabis. Gradually, the traditional economy
transformed into a capitalist economy. Table 1.2 shows the migration
pattern from Andhra and Coastal Andhra to Hyderabad.
In the span of a decade, there was an 80 per cent increase in migration
of Andhra population to Hyderabad. ‘It was a case of the periphery
taking control of the centre’, state Alam and Khan (1972: 228). Telangana
employees faced humiliation as their culture was considered ‘inferior’
and their Telugu accent ridiculed. Telangana ideologue and professor,
TABLE 1.2 Migration from Coastal Andhra to Hyderabad District

(1961, 1971)
Districts 1961 1971 % increase
Srikakulam 1,500 1,800 20
Vishakhapatnam 3,200 4,600 44
East Godavari 8,400 16,000 90
West Godavari 7,700 12,500 62
Krishna 12,500 23,000 84
Guntur 10,700 19,000 78
Nellore 4,600 6,000 30
Ongole – 4,000 –
Total 48,600 86,900 79
Source: Chandra Sekhar, A., 1961, Census of India:Volume 2—Andhra Pradesh,

Part I-A 9 (i); Census of India 1971.
Harinath,18 explains, ‘Mulki [certificates] gave them [Andhras] ethnic

character. This ethnic character helped them in securing political
positions as well’. Incidents of insult and humiliation of Telangana
employees by Andhra employees (who considered themselves the best
Telugu speakers) became commonplace (also see Srinivasulu 2002: 10).
The continuous discrimination in government jobs led to several protests
in the state in 1952.
Students of OU in Warangal carried out a five-day agitation on
26 June 1952, chanting ‘Non-mulki go back!’.19 Telangana mainstream
political leaders, Marri Chenna Reddy (henceforth MCR) and Konda
Venkata Reddy supported the movement. Professor Jayashankar, former
Vice-chancellor of Kakatiya University, who is considered one of the
founding fathers of Telangana movement, recalls: ‘Khammam district
experienced protests for two days against giving preferences to other
states in employment and admissions into schools and colleges. From
then onwards there were several spontaneous movements’.20 On
8 August 1952, nearly a thousand students marched down the streets
of Warangal again, demanding the non-mulkis leave. On 26 August,
the students in Hyderabad and Secunderabad went on strike by not
attending their classes, and the same scene was repeated over the next
few days with a growing number of protesters. On 30 August 1952,
the police carried out a lathi charge (cane beating) on the group of
students who were conducting a peace gathering in Hanamkonda.

During these agitations, Reddy, Velamma, and Vyshya hostels were
used as a place for Telangana activists’ meetings.
After experiencing continuous opposition by the masses, the
Indian government appointed a SRC in December 1953, consist-
ing of Justice Fazal Ali as chairman, and H.N. Kunjroo and K.M.
Pannikar as members to investigate the problems of the Telangana
region. The Commission worked for 22 months and presented its
report in October 1955. The SRC expressed the fear that ‘Telangana
itself may be converted into a colony by the enterprising coastal
Andhras’ (SRC Report 1955: 105). Interestingly, Nehru expressed
the same fear, and suspected that the Andhras would occupy the
land, jobs, and educational institutions. In a press meeting in October
1953, he stated, ‘Visalandhra is an idea bearing a taint of expansionist
imperialism’.21 Nevertheless, on 1 November 1956, the Government
of India formed the new state of Andhra Pradesh by merging the 11
districts of Andhra and nine Telugu speaking Telangana districts of
the princely state of Hyderabad. It became the first state formed on
a linguistic basis (Map 1.2 illustrates the united Andhra Pradesh by
merging three Telugu-speaking regions: coastal Andhra, Rayalaseema,
and Telangana). The merger was supported by many promises and
constitutional safeguards, such as the Gentlemen’s Agreement, signed
on 1 February 1956. The agreement was a promise to make equal
development and socio-political representation between Telangana–
Coastal Andhra and Rayalaseema. According to the agreement,22 the
five-year term of chief minister should be shared by both Andhra
and Telangana equally. However, in the entire state ruling of 56
years and six months (from 1 November 1956 till 2 June 2014),
only four Telangana chief ministers served the state. To quantify
this, out of 20,212 days of rule, a total of 2,298 days were given to
Telangana. While chief ministers from the Andhra region (Coastal
and Rayalaseema) ruled for 17,914 days, for the remaining 433 days,
the state remained under President’s rule. The chief minister and the
most powerful portfolios in the cabinet were given to Andhra People.
Chief Minister N. Sanjeeva Reddy (from Andhra) formed his cabinet
without a deputy chief minister from Telangana, as promised in the
Gentlemen’s Agreement, to which he was a signatory.23 Thus, the
Gentlemen’s Agreement was ignored (Jadhav 1997: 8; Pingle 2014;
MAHARASHTRA CHHATTISGARH
ODISHA
TELANGANA
HYDERABAD
KARNATAKA
ANDHRA
RAYALASEEMA
TAMIL NADU
MAP 1.2 United Andhra Pradesh

Source: Map by Monika Batham.
Rao 2009; Thirumali 2013). Subhash24 explains the Andhra ‘preju-

dice about Telangana people’:
History repeats itself. Andhra people had English education and exposed
to all kinds of shrewdness. They knew the historical Gentlemen’s
agreement between the United States and Japan in 1907–08. That is
why they chose this term but our innocent people from Telangana had
no idea that this agreement was a trap. This was an agreement of slavery
to Andhra people … (laughs) you know, our poor Telangana people
haven’t even seen the 1947 hit Hollywood drama called ‘Gentleman’s
Agreement’. Andhra will never be gentle to us.
Andhra colonies’ in Hyderabad, according to Weiner (1978: 228),
soon became the ‘symbol of government’s discriminatory policies
towards the local population’. Alam and Khan (1972: 142) describe
a similar state of affairs: ‘After 1956, with the formation of the state
of Andhra Pradesh, thousands of jobs explicitly meant for Telangana
youth were given to Andhras. Among the 8,000 Reserve Police of
Hyderabad, ‘the majority were non-locals’.25
Many ‘safeguards’ to ensure equal development to Telangana region
were never implemented (Rao 1969). Thus, the Gentlemen’s Agreement
remained ‘a rhetoric flourish’ (Welch 1980: 319), leaving Telangana
economically backward. Gradually, Andhra politicians and their culture
started dominating the social, political, and economic life of the state.
According to Telangana activists and scholars, ‘non-implementation of
these “safeguards” resulted in the dominance of Andhra people in jobs,
industry, and politics, which set the basis for the demand of separate
statehood.’ Mr K.R. Amos, who was one of the first Telanganaites to
get a job in Hyderabad in 1952, explains:26 ‘Andhra employees occupied
crucial positions in the administration, particularly in the secretariat,
judiciary and education. This widened the gulf further, given what the
“Andhra administration” was doing for Telangana. Equally competent
candidates from Telangana were given low ranks’.
Studies highlight how different pay scales for Andhra and Telangana
employees set by the Pay Commission under the leadership of
K. Brahmananda Reddy created permanent grievances (Bhushan
and N. Venugopal 2009; Hyderabad Forum for Telangana 2009, 2010;
Ramulu 2007; Simhadri and Rao 1997; Thirumali 2013). Gradually,
through government policies, Telangana’s culture and people became
systematically disenfranchised. Government offices became sites of cultural
contentions as public sector Telangana employees were disregarded or
ridiculed by their Andhra counterparts. Mr Amos shares his experiences
of exclusion and humiliation:
I was the only one in my office who was from Telangana in

Hyderabad. Imagine, surrounded by Andhra people. Although, I was
working as an officer but in daily office routine, to get signature from
my boss, I had to request a peon or a clerk to get any work done.
If I dare to meet him directly, he would shout at me and throw the
file out of his office. We could never sit together as colleagues. They
used to laugh at Telangana Telugu. A similar situation was happening
to many other employees. All the Telangana employees used to meet
and discuss these issues—that they have no say in their offices.
Our presence had no meaning in our own offices. High positions were
given to Andhra people. The behaviour of the Andhra employees
working in the secretariat and the daily humiliation forced us to
come together in one platform and form an association called
Telangana Non-Gazetted Officers’ Association.
Culture acts as an ‘authoritative zone that sets goals and standards

for individuals’ (Taylor 1978: 157–9). If one culture does not fit in such
standards, it is looked or judged with some prejudices or stereotypes.
Dr G. Ram Reddy (1967: 2213), in his study of Block Administration
in Telangana, explains the role of the Block Development Officer (BDO):
‘[The] BDO held a strong prejudice against the Telangana employee
and commented that they were lazy, backward and intellectually infe-
rior to the people of Andhra Region’. Explaining the Andhra attitude,
Jadhav (1997: 8) writes, ‘Telangana language is no Telugu, Telangana
people are lazy, they are also fools and criminals at the same time: such
was the officially sanctioned Andhra attitude. While the entire country
lauds Hyderabad and its way of life the Andhra rules are never tired of
saying that Telangana people are uncultured. Thus the suicidal attempt
to subjugate Telangana permanently continues’.
In The Myth of Lazy Native, Syed Hussain Alatas (1977) demonstrates
how, under colonial influence, from the sixteenth to twentieth century,
workers in the rubber plantations in Southeast Asia came to believe in
their own laziness. That colonial subjects developed ‘a sense of infe-
riority and dependency’ complex is generally recognized. How they
came to acquire them falls within the domain of culture as much as
psychology (Panikkar 2007: 22). That is how the construction of social
identity occurs which is ‘strongly influenced by the past’ (Sen 2009: 97).
They are constructed through attaching labels that put themselves or
others into categories (Williams 2011: 130), as in the eyes of Andhras,
Telangana people are ‘lazy’. In common parlance, words like ‘Nawab’
and ‘Nizam’ are used to make fun of Telangana people which is also
reflected in modern films (Nag 2011: 101).
The idea of the native unleashed a new spirit to the movement and
the ideology of son of the soil started taking hold (Oommen 2005: 70;
Weiner 1978). Political circumstances engendered by a constricting
employment situation for the Telangana middle class and the psycho-
logical need to find a difference between Telangana and the rest of
the state necessitated the search for a distinctive cultural identity
(Weiner 1978: 247). Thus, gradually, the movement for implementing

special safeguards for Telangana turned into a ‘native vs. settler’ issue.
This started formation of a separate identity. Weiner also observed
that the ‘search for a distinctive cultural identity formed a significant
feature of the Telangana movement’ (Weiner 1978: 237). Thus, there is
a complex relationship between regional autonomy, political viability,
and the cultural and political consolidation within a more democratic,
plural, secular, and developmental politics in contemporary India.
In many ways, the regions of Telangana and Andhra represent
two different life-worlds. Yet, one of their main commonalities is the
Telugu language. Thota (1969: 4) claims that language acted not only
as a binding force but also a separating one. According to Thirumali
(2013), a kind of ‘ethnocentrism exists between these two regions
in the name of language and culture’.27 Scholars also highlight how
Andhra’s dialect, culture, and festivals dominated mainstream media
and became part of popular culture. Thus, the Telangana–Andhra
association represents a hierarchy and exploitation in the name of
language which manifested itself politically. Maringanti (2010: 35)
provides historical detail:
Notwithstanding formal protections for mulkis, these migrant commu-
nities insinuated themselves into structures of governmental power and
yet maintained cultural boundaries with the local people. In agriculture,
for example, in many of the irrigated areas in Telangana one sees villages
known as ‘settler camps’ or ‘Guntur palle’ [villages]. By the early 1960s,
much of the grape cultivation around Hyderabad was in the hands of such
migrant farmer-investors. Similarly, particular segments of government
jobs both departmentally and hierarchically came to be occupied by
migrants. For example, teaching jobs especially at the college level, were
occupied by Andhra migrants.
The socio-economic conditions and historical context behind the
emergence of the mass movement for Telangana statehood cannot be
ignored. The cultural struggle occurred on two different grounds: (a)
among Andhras to strengthen their Telugu identity; and (b) an internal
state struggle of Telangana28 prajanikam (people) against Andhra to
protect their regional dialect and culture. Lisa Mitchell (2010: 130)
explores the new role of culture within education that emerged in the
twentieth century, and concludes by arguing that language not only
provided a medium for the acquisition of that which was accepted in
the twentieth century as knowledge, but also began to act as a marker

for cultural identification. She further argues that making language
the most important object of education has transformed language into
‘foundation stone for language-cultures’ (Mitchell 2010: 155). From
1998 onwards, every edition of Pedda Bala Siksha (primary school text-
books) contained a statement on the back of the book (and the only
English used in the entire book) proclaiming, ‘This book is designed
based on the concept of Cultural Literacy’ (Mitchell 2010: 155).
THE TELANGANA MOVEMENT AS A CULTURAL

MOVEMENT
The student movement for Telangana became a mass movement where
students, with their diverse forms of activism, engaged civil society to
make it a cultural movement. In this sense, we may safely argue that
the Telangana movement is not just political (as it is projected), but also
civil and intellectual in orientation, which manifested itself onto the
political platform. The movement’s group of intellectuals have been
trying to rewrite the history of Telangana to emphasize its culture in
contrast to Andhra culture. Analysis of the movement’s debate in light
of the discussion on NSMs establishes that cultural politics is at the
heart of identity building for Telangana activists. Cultural mobilization
that occurred through micro-level social and political events turned
into cultural radicalization within existing institutions like universities,
schools, art, and folk traditions. With various ideological contours, the
Telangana movement gained political maturity. Table 1.3 offers an analysis
of the Telangana movement through old and new social movement’s
frameworks.
As per the framework outlined in Table 1.3, the Telangana movement
shares more characteristics with NSMs than traditional social move-
ments. In this case, university teachers seem to be the critical group of
intellectuals supporting and participating in the Telangana movement
right from the beginning of the movement in 1953. For instance, the
Telangana movement has come to be identified for several decades
primarily as a student movement sustained as well by teachers and
intellectuals of OU, most of them OU alumni. Thus, OU has become
synonymous with the Telangana movement and has often been hailed
as ‘Telangana University’ or the ‘nerve centre’ of the movement.29
TABLE 1.3 Understanding the Telangana Movement as a New Social Movement
Old Social Movement New Social Movement Telangana Movement
Aim Social/political/cultural Socio-cultural Socio-cultural-political
Base Class specific/Proletariat Class/ Civil Society—educated All social groups across class;
Worker Class elite-led organization and middle not state-sponsored
class and new middle class
Mode of Resistance Traditional Anti-traditional Revival of neglected
language, music, folklore, and
literature
Organization Formal Formal and bureaucratic Both formal and informal
Orientation Against political structure or class Non-political/less political Trust in democracy
Perspective Class and political ideology Identity based Identity based
Membership Face-to-face intimacies among Local global/borderless Local–global and social
activists media support
Location Region or institution specific, Civil society/beyond boundaries Civil society and common
for example, industrial workers masses
Interests Fixed interests and relations New social interests—new social End numbers of stakeholders
relations
Vision Socialism Historic-specific new forms of To empower the masses of
identity Telangana
Source: Author.
Telangana Activists’ Assertion against the Andhra Culture

The cultural aspects of the Andhra–Telangana problem overshadow
political and economic ones. However, there has been a general tendency
to focus more on the political aspect of the movement. According to
Reed and Alexander (2007), usually politically engaged sociologists limit
their activism to defending people who are unequivocally oppressed.
No doubt, this is a final goal but cultural sociology can offer another
one. They suggest ‘we need to ask how people talk and act in everyday
situations, in which they balance their own judgements regarding what
should be denounced against what should be maintained, what should
be ignored against what should be said’ (Reed and Alexander 2007: 94).
Thus, cultural sociology has both the potential and responsibility to
contribute to democratic theory.
Cultural Symbols and Festivals

Culture maintains and sustains itself through history. It is kept alive
through building monuments, making art, writing books, and produc-
ing and maintaining other artefacts. The pride of a community, region,
or culture is preserved through celebrations and eulogizing history. In
the case of Telangana–Andhra, there was much strife on these issues—
who and what to celebrate and commemorate. Explaining culture as
‘honour’ and ‘self-respect’, senior activist V.K. Rao (2010: 183) states
that ‘the artistic and poetic talent of Telangana youth was so much
neglected as to be not on par with the youth in the other region, where
many such events (such as Andhrabhuydaya Utsavalu) are encouraged in
many ways’. Yet, culture can be used as a source of domination. The
merger of a distinct cultural region triggered a series of discontented
voices among the educated in Telangana. ‘To understand the cultural
politics, one needs to be not only educated enough but also conscious
enough’, declares Professor Rao.30 To make people conscious about
their humiliation and discrimination, Telangana employees and stu-
dents formed new associations and reached out to villages.Towards the
middle of 1968 the NGO Association demanded implementation of
safeguards. The founder of Telangana Jagruthi states, ‘After all, the whole
movement has been about the reassertion of the cultural identity of the
people of this region. I hope the government will realise this, and I will
do whatever it takes to ensure that the culture of Telangana is not only

restored, but also researched’ (Kavitha 2014).
V.K. Rao (2010: 185), in his submission to the Sri Krishna
Commission wrote, ‘The People of Telangana region ask for separation
as strongly on cultural grounds as they demand on political and eco-
nomic grounds’. Krishna Sagar Rao, another activist, cited ‘emotional
oppression’ (K.S. Rao 2010: 89).
The national award-winning filmmaker B. Narsing Rao notes how
theatre also changed over time, becoming more involved in the move-
ment: ‘As a child, I grew up watching and listening to folk music such
as Gollu Sudhi, Oggu Kathalu, and Gotralu’. In the 1970s, Gollu Sudhi
and Oggu Katha merged together and new forms emerged. The tradi-
tional drum (called dappu) became the symbol of resistance and the beat
of the movement. In every movement, agitation, or strike, the dappu
played a central role.There are students at OU who are researching the
role of dappu in the movement and the community who plays dappu.
The word dappu symbolizes the ‘life-world’ of a lower caste which
has been on the margins for ages. The guiding force behind the 2009
movement has been the enormous amount of literature published by
OU students and alumni.
There are popular incidents of state repression, which became part
of everyday life of the Telangana activist. Learning about fellow artists
is important to understand the emotional attachments among activists.
The story of the murders of activists Belli Lalita and Ravinder Reddy31
are narrated in common parlance. Such brutal incidents aggravated
Telangana activists against the state, which they referred to as ‘Andhra
government’. After their murders, their art and music gained even
more popularity and they were revered as martyrs. Books and literature
banned by the state government nevertheless spread to rural Telangana
by youth activists. Balkishan’s Dhoom Dhaam performances portrayed
the struggle and exploitation in the region.
Gaddar’s revolutionary genre breathed new life in music. Popularly
known as Gadaranna among common masses, his live performances
attracted masses from every walk of life. He brings various elements of
Telangana culture to the forefront, which served as symbols of iden-
tity assertion. He was instrumental in establishing an organic linkage
between oral and written tradition. P.K. Kumar (2010: 66) highlights
his contribution: ‘Gaddar stands as a culmination point of culture,
literature, politics, life and struggle of oppressed people’. It is not an

exaggeration that literary artists call the pre-set age in Telugu poetry as
‘age of Gaddar’.32 His revolutionary songs inspire Dalits and women’s
movements in Telangana. He has been critical of Dalit movements
and its strategies. He served as an intellectual communicator between
Naxalite and Dalit movement in Andhra Pradesh. His songs ‘Dalit
Pululamma’ (Dalit Tigers) and ‘Chunduru Dalitanna’ (Dalit Brothers
of Chunduru) became symbols of assertion during Karamchedu and
Chunduru massacres in 1985 and 1991 respectively. Dressing like a
poor shepherd of Telangana, he remains half naked, wearing a ghochi
(loincloth) and a blanket on his shoulder; he holds a red kerchief in one
hand and ties gajelu (ankle bells) to his legs. His theatrical performances
are a mix of his songs, poetry, dialogues, and satire of landlords and
political class. The Andhra Pradesh government took up various initia-
tives in an effort to keep the state united. The celebration of Telugu
festivals like ugadi, sankranti, and yeruvaka became ritualistic to bring
about homogeneity among Telugu-speaking people (Thirumali 2013: 30).
However, Telangana activists were not convinced of the value of such
initiatives. To oppose this ‘unity’, they criticized the idea of ‘Telugu
Talli’.33 Activist Sudarshan34 claims: ‘It [Telugu Talli] does not represent
Telangana. As we are losing our resources, jobs, especially our pride
in the joint state, we can’t linger any longer in such sentiments. We are
being treated as second class citizens in our own region, so we don’t
accept “Maa Telugu”.’
Telugu Talli was soon replaced with the concept of ‘Telangana
Talli’. During the 2009 movement, Osmania student activists used
the Telangana flag in every function they organized. Many of them
changed their vehicle number plates from AP (Andhra Pradesh) to
TG (Telangana). Citing further cultural differences, Dr Chiranjeevi
explains: ‘We are closer to the north on matters of religion. Our main
religious festivals are holi and dassara [festivals of northern India] while
the Andhras celebrate pongal [a Tamil festival]. Similarly, we have lots
of Urdu words in our Telugu. On the other hand, Andhra Telugu has
more words of Sanskrit, thus closer to Madras.’35
Festivals36 also became a site of debate and resistance. For example,
Batukamma, which is primarily celebrated in the Telangana region, was
never recognized as a state festival (Nag 2011: 99). According to Shyam
Mohan, ‘Textbooks for school perpetuate the Andhra culture as if there
was never any Telangana culture’. As a result, ‘generations of youth of

Telangana were sought to be kept in the dark about their culture, says
the representation submitted by the newly spawned Telangana Jagruthi’
(Nag 2011: 98–9).
In academic discourses, Telangana intellectuals referred to the ‘infe-
rior status’ that the Telugu literary establishment gave to Telangana
poets such as Pothana, Kaloji, and Dasharathi and absence of their
status at the Tank Bund monument in Hyderabad. As with Bharat Mata
(Mother India) in the British era, Telugu Talli is presented as a victim
of colonial domination (Srikanth 2013: 42). A senior OU doctoral stu-
dent’s paper, entitled ‘Telangana Women Designed the Indian National
Flag?’, was rejected by the conference, Interpreting Deccan History,37
organized by OU’s history department. Activists of the 1969 Telangana
Movement Founders’ Forum (TMFF) reacted with a press statement38
offering an explanation: ‘The convenor of the conference is an Andhra
settler, she could not digest the reality and recognition of Telangana
people especially of Muslims’. It also stated that the Jai Hind slogan
was coined by Abdul Hasan Safrani and the Indian national flag was
designed by Mrs Surya Tayyabji. The press release concluded with an
appeal to the Telangana people ‘to fight nail and tooth to expose the
malafide intensions of these Andhra settlers’.
Language and Dialect

As stated earlier, Andhra Pradesh was the first Indian state formed on
the basis of language by merging the Telangana and Andhra regions.
Thirumali (2013: 27) believes that the real strength of Andhra has come
from standardizing the Telugu language. Thirumali observes that the
emergence of print culture established its superiority over the spoken,
and thus a standard Andhrabhasha (Andhra language) was established
through the spread of education and formation of the middle class in
the Andhra region. This changed the vocabulary and created a wide
gulf between the educated and illiterate. The trend brought in use of
the typical middle class respectable terms like andi and garu (to give
regard). These terms spread among various subregions, dividing the
people vertically along class or cultural lines.
Andhra intelligentsia spoke and recited Telugu culture in the
native language to present how they were culturally different from
the other linguistic groups (Thirumali 2013: 30). Thirumali highlights

the ethnocentrism existing between these two regions in the name of
language and culture.39 Telangana activist Kaloji Narayan Rao (1914–
2002) underscored how children were also discriminated against in
terms of language and the way they spoke (cited in Mitchell 2010:
215). In a popular children’s radio programme, ‘one would never hear
the voices of children from the Telangana region of Andhra Pradesh
because their dialect was considered non-standard’ (Mitchell 2010).
Language became a basis, not simply for new cultural identities, but
also for the articulation of unique political identities and forces us to
consider changes in what it means to be ‘political’. Due to the heavy
influence of Urdu, ‘Telangana Telugu speakers describe themselves as
more gentle in their speech and manners, more cordial to guests, more
leisurely and less aggressive than the people of Andhra’ (Weiner 1978:
240). Explaining it further, Dr Sanjeev,40 the co-convener of the 1969
TMFF, states, ‘Telangana Telugu is a mixture of Telangana Urdu and
other languages. In Andhra Telugu language we find lots of Sanskrit
terminology. We can find Telangana Telugu has many words from
Pali-Pakrit language. Then the problem comes how to identify a word
whether it comes from Sanskrit or Pali language. They both look alike
but they have much difference’.
Thus, the Telangana dialect is not merely the question of language but
became an issue of identity and representation. As the movement for
a separate state gained momentum, Telangana activists projected their
dialect as a ‘defiant statement of identity in the face of standardiza-
tion and false homogeneity of the universal Telugu identity promoted
by all media industries, including cinema’ (Prakash and Vemmireddy
2015: 7). The dialect which was denigrated in various ways in Andhra-
dominated media was consciously chosen as the language of resistance
by Telangana activists. A hallmark of the movement, the Telangana
dialect was aestheticized positively to a great extent. Student groups
and cultural troupes constantly produced new arguments and rhetoric
against the alleged cultural aggrandizement of the Andhra–Telugu cul-
ture. The ‘Dhoom Dhaam’ and other cultural festivals provided ample
space for creative usage and development of new aesthetics based on
the Telangana dialect (Prakash and Vemmireddy 2015). This way, the
language became the medium of assertion. Local language, according
to Habashi (2014: 326), is a direct result of the ‘dialectic relationship
between global and local political discourse’. However, in the case of

the Telangana movement, these dialectics worked in such a manner that
the local discourse has contributed in creating inferiority of Telangana
accent, and global discourses have helped the people of Telangana to
overcome such feelings. According to Reddy and Sharma (1979), this
also became the ‘basis of their cultural differences’. When a ‘hostile
attitude towards a region’ develops among masses, it is more because of
cultural reasons, and language is an essential element of the reflection
of this attitude (Reddy and Sharma 1979).
Food
Similarly, food habits are also an important element of a culture and
an individual’s identity. Generally, when two cultures confront each
other, food (after language) becomes a major issue. Migration to a
new place or culture often forces an individual to adopt alterna-
tive food practices, which, in many ways, challenges one’s individual
identity. Yet, studies have shown that food habits are one of the last
cultural traits to change in the context of migration and ethnic
minority cultures (Charon 2004; Spiro 1955). Bhushan (2009: 58)
adds that ‘there has been little acknowledgement of the fact that the
Telangana movement advanced not only by means of cultural asser-
tion but also through cultural rejection of the other as evidenced in
slogan such as ‘idli sambhar ve-nakki po’ (idli sambhar go back), refer-
ring to Tamil and Coastal Andhra people, and ‘Gongura pachadi41 go
back’. During student protests of city colleges and Nizam College
at Hyderabad, ‘Jobs to Telangana people only’ and ‘Hyderabad for
Hyderabadis’ were popular slogans focussing on the rejection of the
culture of Andhras. Feelings of humiliation and discrimination were
channelled through opposing the cultural symbols of ‘idli-sambhar’,
‘gongura pachadi’, and others.
During the 2011 agitations, Kalvakuntala Chandrashekhar Rao
(henceforth KCR) used the cosmopolitan culture of Hyderabad to
criticize Andhra culture and to gain support of the Muslim popula-
tion concentrated in Hyderabad. On 31 January 2011, KCR remarked
that ‘the biryani prepared by people in Andhra Pradesh tasted like
cow dung’.42 He further mentioned that ‘[p]eople from Andhra who
came here without even footwear are claiming that they have taught
us how to make biryani’. He claimed, ‘Hyderabadi Biryani is the

best’. KCR used food as a strategy to gain political mileage, which
is the part of cultural politics or resistance. Scholars like Duncombe
(2012: 6) would argue that politics is essentially a cultural discourse,
a shared set of symbols and meanings that we all abide by. When
one culture makes fun of another, it can expect to receive coun-
ter criticism. KCR’s statement had charged up Andhra leaders and
activists. To counter KCR’s statement, Vijayawada (Andhra) women
stated: ‘Sherwani, qubani [a sweet made of dates] and biryani are what
we in Hyderabad have known for ages’. Some women from Guntur
and Vijayawada reportedly sent a parcel of Andhra-style biryani to
KCR’s home in Hyderabad, asking him to ‘taste it and then talk’.
Dr Chiranjeevi shares his opinion on the rival food cultures: ‘The
worst food in the world is Andhra food. Because they eat polished
rice in which vitamins totally washed out. In their rasam, there is
only vitamin C and nothing else. They eat lot of curd, which creates
heaviness. On the other hand, Telangana food such as sajjalu, ragulu,
jonnalu, sankati, ghatkas and ambali is very nutritious.’43
However, it is not about the nutritious value of the food but the
ethnic element of culture that makes food a political subject.44 Andhra
food culture dominated Hyderabad cuisine. According to Thirumali
(2013: 29), ‘With a changing scenario, new generation of Andhra
people has developed a taste for brinjal and lentils called pappucharu.
They eulogized eating various pickles’. In every corner of Hyderabad,
Andhras established their hotels popularly called ‘Andhra Tiffins’ and
‘Andhra Meals’. Popular media presents Andhra culture and food as
ideal. Gramsci (1971) offers us an image of society in which the cul-
tural realm is a central location for the exercise of social power and
hegemony. On the other hand, as an important part of culture, food
can be a binding force. On a lighter note, Srinivasulu45 states, ‘Seeing
the current food politics, I think “pickle” is the only thing which con-
nects the entire Andhra Pradesh’.
Film and Media Industry: ‘There Is No Telangana

in Telugu Cinema’
Film is another cultural medium to promote or dispel social prejudices
and biases. Generally, these are easily internalized by the masses and
satisfy one’s existing set of beliefs. The Telugu film industry, popularly
known as Tollywood,46 is one of the largest in India. According to
Professor Jadhav (1997; Elavarthi and Vamierddy 2015), the arrival of
local film making marked the dawn of yet another avenue to generate
callous stereotypes: ‘The regional discrimination which Telangana was
facing since the 1950s on the basis of language now started appearing
on the big screen. There was no representation of Telangana people in
Tollywood. Heroes would speak only “Andhra dialect” as de facto stan-
dard and villains and comedians would be speaking in the Telangana
accent.’
At this stage, the Telangana dialect ceased to be a question of mere
language, and became an issue of identity and representation.47 The
ubiquitous presence of Andhras in films, print, and electronic media led
to a kind of cultural domination ( Janardhan and Raghavendra 2013:
555). Government media (that is, Doordarshan and All India Radio)
were used as vehicles to ridicule the language and culture of the people
of Telangana. Professor Jayashanker, an ideologue of Telangana Rashta
Samiti, asserted that the demand for a separate state was to protect
the self-respect of the people of Telangana. ‘Although we respect the
culture and dialect of other regions, our dialect and culture is being
ridiculed, particularly in mass media. We can preserve it only through
self-governance’.48
Professor Jadhav highlights another example with the 2013 movie
Mondi Mogudu Penki Pellam, whose main characters are a police officer
and his wife. Prakash and Vemmireddy (2015) comment that ‘the film is
suggestive of the strange relationship between the two regions, where
one region is ashamed of being with the other and wants to reform it
to meet its standards’. They further explain:
Except her character, no major character speaks her dialect in the film.
Her behaviour and language are ridiculed and used to generate comedy.
Even though he loves her, her police officer husband is always ashamed
of her language and makes sure that she does not speak in front of his
colleagues and friends. When she speaks before a colleague in the first
scene, he feels embarrassed and covers it up by saying, ‘she is doing
research in Telangana dialect’. Even a few months before the bifurcation,
Andhra politicians and supporters of unified state were using the anal-
ogy of wife and husband to suggest that the dispute is internal and does
not require outside intervention.
Activists debated the ‘hegemonic structure of the film industry’.49

The movement responded to Telugu cinema’s mocking of Telangana
by attacking the industry and its links to the political apparatus domi-
nated by Seemandhra. Activists argue that the film industry was given
prime land at heavily subsidized prices, besides production subsidies,
soft loans, and tax incentives by successive governments to facilitate
the shift of the industry from Chennai to Hyderabad. ‘Telugu cinema
stood as a sore example for the cultural supremacy thesis of Andhras,’
state Prakash and Vemmireddy (2015: 8). The cultural politics happen-
ing at the national level repeated the same way at local level.50
Mamidi Harikrishna, in his article titled ‘Noorella Therapai Telangana
Atma’ (The Soul of Telangana: One Hundred Years of Screen) declares,
‘There is no Telangana in Telugu cinema’ (cited in Thatha 2015: 406).
He argues that the special ways of life and conditions in Telangana
have influenced and contributed to parallel and cross-over cinema
in India.51 As Telangana opened up as a new market, Telugu cinema
now addressed Telugus as a single unified community, even claiming
to speak for the Telugu nation, although Srinivas believes that this was
only an ‘unintended consequence’ (Reddy 2014).
Hyderabad City as a Site of Cultural Expression

The city of Hyderabad also played a decisive role in cultural change
and expression. Starting in 1999, the government of Andhra Pradesh,
under the leadership of Chandrababu Naidu (the then chief minister)
planned to rebuild Hyderabad and brand it as a global city (Kamat
2011: 188). The effect of the neo-liberal economic policies of the
1990s was already clearly felt and visible in the city due to the wealth
and industry of Andhras. Sociologist Biao (2007: 32) broadly describes
the character and growing trend of the resident populations in many
upscale residential localities in Hyderabad: ‘[People in these localities]
have lands in Andhra, have a house in Hyderabad and have a job in
America’.
By 2008, the number of technology and software companies grew
rapidly. It is interesting to note that as one part of the city was devel-
oped to be known as ‘Hi-tech City’, attracting ‘the best’ technical
minds, students at the OU were in the process of leading a movement
for the deprived masses in the region. They also use technology to
connect with each other. All of this was possible because they were
living in Hyderabad, the cosmopolitan state capital.
The government’s plan of rebuilding Hyderabad was occurring
more at an economic level.The Gachibowli area soon became Hi-tech
City. Multinational companies (MNCs) and major software compa-
nies including Microsoft, Computer Associates, Infosys, and Wipro set
up their branches there. Naidu wanted to compete with the nearby
‘Silicon Valley’, Bangalore. As Hyderabad attracted the global market,
thousands of new jobs were created.Yet, the ‘native people’ of Telangana
could not easily access the new opportunities. In the words of Suresh,
an Osmania activist:
When I shifted to Hyderabad from Jagityal, I was in urgent need of a
job. Those days there were plenty of jobs. After 15 interviews, I realised
that they will not take me because I am from Telangana. They recognise
it through my accent. I started practising more of Andhra accent and
words. But even then, I could not get any chance because then they
reject me because my certificate shows my Telangana identity.
A similar story was also expressed by students who completed pro-

fessional degrees yet struggled for employment. What it highlighted
is a kind of ‘ethnocentrism existing between these two regions in the
name of language and culture’52 (Thirumali 2013: 30). Explaining the
transformations throughout the 1980s and 1990s, Maringanti (2010:
36) states:
New cultural codes have been inscribed into Hyderabad through the
naming of housing colonies, installation of statues and sculptures, renam-
ing of places and institutions, construction of flyovers, development of
new exclusive housing lots and most importantly through cinematic
representations of particular locations in Hyderabad which reworked
popular imaginations quite significantly. Many of these refigurements
of Hyderabad visage pushed its cosmopolitan cultures inherited from
the multi-lingual Nizam state aside and imposed a narrow parochial
‘Telugu’ culture on it.
By 2000, almost every hospital, mall, multiplex, MNC, software,

and service industries in Hyderabad were owned by Andhras.The new
post-industrial economy is, therefore, very different from the indus-
trial economy: it is somehow all encompassing, according to Touraine,
in that it controls not just the production of material goods, but the
production of a symbolic world of meaning (in other words, culture) as
well. One can see the erection of statues of Andhra dominance in the
city of Hyderabad (Rao, Reddy, and Rao 2014). Though the city had
a legacy of the Nizam and Telangana martyr, there was little to show
for it. Amar expresses an activist’s predicament: ‘Isn’t it ironic that many
times we had to go to Andhra businessman to publish our pamphlet
and poster for our anti-Andhra protest, because he has big printing
establishment.This is a question to ask why we [natives] were not given
equal representation in business by the government. Are we lazy or are
they afraid of us?’
Such issues are discussed among Telangana activists. During their
meetings, they sadly joke, ‘After this meeting, we have to eat in an
Andhra hotel’, ‘Where are Telangana people in Hyderabad?’. This kind
of questions provokes Telangana activists to debate and spread aware-
ness on the ownership of resources.
During agitations in 2011, a programme called the Million March
was organized by Osmania University-Joint Action Committee
(OU-JAC). This march is a prime example of cultural resistance.
During the march, activists damaged an ATM of Andhra Bank as it was
associated with Andhra.They dismantled many of the statues of famous
Andhra personalities (freedom fighters, politicians, and artists) situated
on the main road, Tank Bund, by Hussain Sagar Lake. Armed with
nylon ropes, sickles, and other instruments, the activists demolished 12
of the 33 statues and threw 11 of them into the lake. Even the statue
of Sri Sri, a revered Andhra poet of earlier generations of students, was
not spared. While dismantling the statues, student leaders stated to the
media: ‘Today, we made it clear. This is our capital.Your statues are not
welcome here anymore.You cannot impose them onto us. Sooner you
realize the better it is for all of us. A movement becomes violent only as
a reaction to oppressive methods used by the ruling regimes’.53
This echoes the sentiments of students who defined the destruction
of statues as ‘cultural renaissance of Telangana’ or ‘de-Andhraization of
Telangana’. A group of Telangana Rashtra Samithi Vidyarthi Vibhagam
(TRSV) activists said, ‘We are in the middle of a revolution—maybe
we can call it Pink Revolution because we see pink flags every-
where’.54 A popular slogan of students’ march was: Telangana Jago,
Andhra Bhago (Telangana wake up, Andhra go!). It raised a kind of
consciousness which could be understood as symbolic of the identity
politics between the two groups. Social movements are specific to
culture, history, and social structure (Singh 2001: 40).This, according to
Melucci (1980), defines NSMs and the cultural reproduction of social

relations, symbols, and identities. Cultural symbols are reproduced to
reclaim the past through which collective cultural identity is recalled.
The organizational form has a self-referential quality (Buechler 2011:
170). ‘A feeling of the time has come when people should belong first
to Telangana and then to their parents’ (Reddy 2009: 165). Regional
unrest is broadly articulated on the lines of nationalities and cultural and
economic spaces (Bheenaveni 2013). As mentioned earlier, Telangana
student movement was largely led by Dalit students and the cultural
revivalism was also going along the movement, for example, boycot-
ting Hindu upper-caste culture, challenging caste structure, celebrating
Ambedkar, Jyotiba Phule, Savitribai Phule, Shahuji Maharaj, Periyar,
Komaram Bheem, and Chakali Ilamma. Thus, the political represen-
tation and issues of regional imbalances were further elaborated and
accentuated by the caste alliance and it made upper castes to form
their own organization. Kamma, Velama, Vaishya, Brahmin, and many
other caste-based organizations appeared in Hyderabad, projecting and
eulogizing their caste culture and contribution.The goal of these orga-
nizations was to represent their caste and be part of bargaining process
in movement. Landowning castes like Kapus were devising ways to get
other backward class (OBC) status and reservation.55 They represented
their demand through mainstream political parties such as Telangana
Rashtra Samithi (TRS) and Congress. As opposition, political parties
have regional pockets of influence almost compel them to swing on
the tide of regionalism. Narain (1976: 911) calls regionalism in India
‘psychic phenomenon’ and ‘emotional overtone gets easily attached to
regionalism which, in turn, can be traced to its cultural moorings and
economic roots’. He concludes that regionalism in India is a complex
amalgam of geo-cultural, politico-economic, and psychic factors. It is
difficult to decipher which component has ascendency (1976: 913).
Interestingly, Telangana movement adds a mix tone of caste culture to
the regionalism. Venugopal (2009: 38) also emphasizes that ‘regional
inequality, as a concept, cannot be understood without understand-
ing ‘cultural roots and dimensions’. Statistics would merely present the
growth in terms of profit and loss. He summarizes his arguments:
Neglect of sub-regional aspirations, cultural oppression, internal

colonialism, exploiting a region as hinterland for resources—raw
material and cheap labour, exclusion of locals from centres of power

and decision making structures, promoting a section of the locals
with comprador nature as minor partner and co-opting and using
them as show-pieces, exercising brutal forces against local elements
that effectively articulate the concerns of the region—all these are
evident symbols of the discriminatory state policy against Telangana.
(Venugopal 2009: 46)
Thus, tension between migrants and ‘sons of the soil’ manifested

itself not merely economically but also deeply in a cultural way. The
conflict between Assamese and Bengalis in Assam and the Shiv Sena’s
slogan of ‘Maharashtra for Maharashtrian’ illustrate a similar cultural
notion.Without unpacking this notion, it is not easy to understand the
underlying current of any regional movements.
DISCUSSION
At every social front, Telangana cultural manifested itself by rejecting
and boycotting ‘Andhra’ culture. From ‘idli sambhar go back’ to
boycotting Andhra Tiffins and Andhra movies, the Telangana movement
gained a cultural consciousness which is reflected in the literature
produced by its activists. This chapter highlighted the emergence of
the Telangana movement, outlining a brief history and the political
consequences in both regions of Telangana and Andhra. A vast migra-
tion from Andhra to Hyderabad for government jobs diminished the
scope for employment among Telangana youth. Using their influence,
Andhras acquired ‘mulki’ status to own land and resources. Gradually,
this spawned a cultural hegemony of Andhra culture over local
Hyderabadi and Telangana culture. Cultural humiliation of Telangana
government employees was rampant. Excessive unemployment and
cultural humiliation collectively created resentment among youth led
to a year-long agitation in 1969 and culminated in the formation of a
political party that produced many revolutionary leaders. By the end
of 2000, activism spilled across India and the rest of the world through
the Telangana diaspora. During this phase, cultural symbols, ethos and
identities, food, festivals, and films were instrumental in creating a
contentious politics and asserting Telangana identity and its history. In
2009, students reignited the movement with the help of other activists
to reach out to the masses. In this phase, the assertion of Telangana
cultural symbol were asserted and propagated in an effort to boycott

Andhra culture. In other words, the Telangana movement gained
momentum not only by cultural assertion but also by creating a counter-
culture of the other. This signified a cultural confrontation between
Telangana and Andhra that reflected in group formation, mobilization
strategies, slogans, and the manner of protests for Telangana statehood.
There was a time in early twenty-first century when Chandrababu
Naidu did not want to hear the word ‘Telangana’ in the legislative
assembly. But by the end of 2010, Telangana became the buzzword
in Andhra politics. For KCR, food became a powerful tool to play
cultural politics. How language plays a vital role in construction, diffusion
of contentious politics, argues a movement scholars Professor Sidney
Tarrow,‘The deployment and diffusion of contentious language respond
to both cultural and strategic incentives through the constitution
of actors who draw upon a battery of language to describe their identi-
ties, their claims, their opponents, and their forms of action’ (Tarrow
2013: 20).
Compared to the 1969 agitations, the 2009 period was much more
enriching in terms of ideological and movement strategy. In 2009,
countless debates and ideologies were at work. Three major ide-
ologies worked in the movement after 2010, namely (a) Geographical
Telangana, (b) Democratic Telangana, (c) Dalit-Bahujan Telangana/
Socially Inclusive Telangana. These three concepts were backed by
various political parties. The demand of Geographic Telangana was
raised by TRSV, All India Student Federation (AISF), National Student
Union of India (NSUI), Telugu Nadu Student Forum (TNSF), and
Akhil Bhartiya Vidyarthi Parishad (ABVP). Its aim was to promote and
ensure Telangana statehood through democratic, non-violent methods.
Their primary focus was to achieve a state first and then deal with
social issues later. On the other hand, Chaithanya Mahila Sangam
(CMS), Progressive Democratic Student Union (PDSU), Telangana
Student Organisation (TSO), Telangana Madiga Vidyarthi Sangam
(TMVS),Telangana Student Association (TSA), and Telangana Vidyarthi
Sangam (TVS) supported the notion of ‘Democratic Telangana’.
Organizations not affiliated to any political parties but to caste groups
and others working with Ambedkar’s and Phule’s ideology were the
Dalit-Bahujan Telangana/Social Inclusive Telangana. Groups adhering
to this concept were Bahujan Student Forum (BSF), Madiga Student
Federation (MSF), schedule caste (SC), scheudule tribe (ST) students’

union, Backward Castes Students Union, Telangana Madiga Student
Federation (TMSF), Girijana Vidyarthi Sangam (GVS). The idea behind
Dalit-Bahujan Telangana was to ensure social justice within the con-
stitutional framework. However, these ideologies culminated from the
existing ideologies of Communists, Maoists, and Dalit activists.
In 2007, Dalit students, under the banner of BSF, organized various
programmes with political parties and called upon Dalit and OBC
leaders such as Mayawati and Sharad Yadav to promote the Dalit and
OBC agenda in the movement. Their massive rally for Telangana
State Bahujan Students (Prachar Yatra) carried the slogan: ‘Mayawathi
Pradhan Mantrini Cheddam; Telangana Rashtranni Saiddhum’ (If Mayawati
becomes the prime minister, we will get our Telangana state).56 They
organized talks and seminars in commemoration of Ambedkar, Jyotiba
Phule, Savitribai Phule, Periyar, Narayna Guru, Chhatrapati Shahuji
Maharaj, Komaram Bheem, and Kanshi Ram. Later when MSF was
founded, they included pictures of Babu Jagjivan Ram, Chakali Ilamma,
and other local leaders in their pamphlets.
In her discussion on identity movements, Bernstein (2008: 287) uses
the term ‘deconstructive movements’ and explains that such movements
may target the state, institutions, and more general cultural practices.
What Bernstein means by deconstructive is basically that movements
change the meaning of existing identities and add new meaning to
them. Therefore, exposing the social basis for these categories by
deconstructing them undermines the cultural and political bases for
oppression (Bernstein 2008: 288). Struggles for recognition are, and
have been, a struggle for political voice (Hobson 2003: 265). This
struggle, whether for social or cultural recognition, would manifest in
some or the other form of politics. However, Bernstein (2008: 289) raises
critical questions around recognition which need to be addressed: how
are deconstructive movements linked to movements of recognition?
Can deconstructive movements emerge in the absence of movements
for recognition? If so, under what conditions do such movements
emerge (Bernstein 2008: 288)? How do movements negotiate identity
for empowerment when the identity around which the movement is
organized is also the basis for grievances (2008: 289)?
There has been a tendency to tag any movement for recognition
as an ‘identity movement’. Sociologists demystify culture (Reed and
Alexander 2007: 21). By demystification, Reed and Alexander (2007: 21)

mean they explain the form, meaning, and existence of culture
quite directly by the social structure or power, terms that refer
to ‘demystifying projects to social force that exists apart from
symbolic mediation, the hard stuff of social life’. They conclude that
‘cultural conflicts are therefore identity conflicts’ (2007: 229). For
Bernstein (2008: 289), ‘movements that seek to challenge the stigma
associated with a given identity may change the practices of institutions
or the knowledge that is produced by these institutions’. What we
can derive from this discussion is that the source of oppression lies
and reflects in the cultural practices of the group that was subjugated,
discriminated, and humiliated. Therefore, defining economic basis
(as most scholars have emphasized) takes us back to the Marxist theory
of class that undermines the centuries of caste oppression.
NOTES
1. Scholars have different views on defining the category of student.
According to Pinner (1972: 83), ‘Students share certain characteristics with
intellectuals or others in academic settings but their position sets them apart’.
Other scholars (Aspinall 2005; Emmerson 1968; Lee 2005) have also debated
student identity as workers, military leaders, and so on. In Marism, students do
not constitute a class (Weinberg and Walker 1969: 82).
2. Although there is no consensus on the question of class in NSMs, this
debate offers some important insights.
3. He characterizes the trajectory of cultural resistance as moving along
three spectra (political consciousness, social unit, and results) that begin at the
level of unconsciousness, the individual, and survival, and end at consciousness,
the entire society, and complete revolution, respectively. In such a framing,
theories of cultural resistance may also subscribe to teleological conjectures of
change, according to Duncombe (2002: 7–8).
4. It describes a state of being as well as a category of social knowledge and
classification. In an ideal universe, political identities merge emotional attach-
ment and institutional categories. ‘I am Indian’ and ‘we are Indians’ would be
both ontological and epistemological statements.
5. Much of the recent theorizing on culture and movements was actually
formulated by critics (Fantasia 1988; Goodwin and Jasper 1999; Jasper, 1997;
Johnston and Klandermans 1995; Morris and Mueller 1991; Snow et al. 1986)
or in response to challenges raised by critics.
6. It is within the context of social movements, however, that the indetermi-

nacy of culturally embedded identities is heightened and new possibilities are
explored. It is not so much that political movements have come to identify a
layer of more ‘cultural’ injustice flourishing alongside the economic injustice
that were the staple of an earlier socialist politics.
7. In Habermas’ scheme, there are three structural components: culture of
the particular tradition of a community, the network or solidarities or society
and, finally, process of socialization or personality development that formulates
identities.
8. Castells proposes three forms and origins of identity building:
Legitimizing identity: A set of logic and meaning introduced and propagated by
the ruling powers, in order to rationalize, reproduce, and expand existing rule.
Resistance identity: Constructed in response to devaluation and stigmatization;
where social actors build ‘trenches of resistance’ in opposition to the ruling
norm. This formation leads to communes or communities of resistance.
Project identity:The construction of a ‘new identity that redefines their position
in society and, by doing so, seek the transformation of overall social structure’
(Castells 1997/2001: 8).
9. Adding to this debate while defining the nature of the movement, the
perception of the people of the region that they are treated as an ‘internal colony’.
10. During everyday interactions, conversations contain a sense of regional
pride which is also sectioned by the local or regional proverb. Meier-Dallach
(cited in Raagmaa 2002: 61) believes that regional identity may also lie in
deliberate emphasis on local cultural or regional peculiarity or even express
itself in political and cultural actions. Scholars (Passi 2003: 477; Peterson and
Anand 2004) have recognized regional culture and identity as key elements in
the making of regions as social and political spaces.
11. The Nizam invited scholars from Europe and the Middle East to translate
science subjects into Urdu.
12. The famous Golconda Patrika had to be so named because the govern-
ment prohibited the use of the word ‘Andhra’.
13. The findings of the report were not disclosed until 2013 when they were
made available at the Nehru Memorial Museum and Library in New Delhi.
See Thomson (2013).
According to Noorani (2001), ‘The lowest estimates, even those offered
privately by apologists of the military government, came to at least ten times
the number of murders with which previously the Razakars were officially
accused …’.
14. Major general J.N. Chaudhuri took over as military governor of
Hyderabad and stayed in that position till the end of 1949. In January 1950,
M.K. Vellodi, a senior civil servant, was made the chief minister of the state
and the Nizam was designated ‘Raj Pramukh’.
15. Mr M.K. Vellodi, a civil servant, was appointed as the chief minister of
the Telangana state from September 1948 to 1952. His period is known as
Vellodi rule. He was appointed by the central government in Telangana state
before forming democratic government by people through elections.
16. The history of the anti-mulki protest can be traced back to 1910 when
Maharaja Sir Kishan Prasad took up the struggle of Mulkis. Mulkis fought
against the Non Mulkis’ domination and suppression. In 1919, The seventh
Nizam, Mir Osman Ali Khan, passed an order (Firman) that Mulkis were
exclusively eligible for government employment.
17. In addition to job opportunities in Hyderabad, the arrival of the Green
Revolution accentuated the migration process.Though the Green Revolution
created surplus in coastal Andhra, the region ‘could not ploughed back into
agriculture as capital absorption by agriculture, unlike industry, is inelastic’. As
Haragopal (2010a: 53) argues, ‘The coastal capital in search of greener pastures
started moving to those areas of Telangana region wherever there were sources
of irrigation, particularly tanks or river water’.
18. From an interview with Professor Harinath on 31 May 2013.
19. The slogan was given by Ramchari who had earlier worked in the
Nizam’s administration. He also formed the Hyderabad Hitha Rakshana Samithi
in August 1952.
20. Available at https://www.telegraphindia.com/1130804/jsp/7days/
17193418.jsp.
21. Indian Express, 2 October 1953.
22. In agreement with national leaders G.B. Pant and Jawaharlal Nerhu,
Andhra leaders like B. Gopala Reddy (CM), N. Sanjeeva Reddy, Gothy Lachanna,
A. Satyanarayana Raju, and leaders from Telangana like B. Ramakrishna
Rao (CM), Dr M. Chenna Reddy, J.V. Narasinga Rao, K.V. Ranga Reddy,
and J.V. Narasinga Rao were signatories.
23. Chief Minister N. Sanjeeva Reddy denied the post of deputy chief
minister to Telangana person as was agreed in the Gentlemen’s Agreement.
This movement lay on the foundations of the failure of implementation of
Gentlemen’s Agreement and lack of employment opportunities to the people
of Telangana.
24. Interviewed on 19 September 2013.
25. Also see Adiraju (1969).
26. He was interviewed on 23 June 2013 at the Congress Bhawan, Hyderabad.
27. However, when we speak of diversity in the region, one can find around
30 different dialects of Telugu in the state of Andhra Pradesh and almost half
of them are present in the Telangana region.
28. The Fazal Ali Commission recognized the consequences of uniting a

developed area with a backward area and recommended that Telangana be
kept as a separate state.
29. Universities in many developing nations are in capital cities and thus
close to the seat of power. In this geographical environment, it is relatively easy
to organize a demonstration which can be seen—and perhaps felt—at the seat
of government (Altbach 1984).
30. Interview with Professor P.L.Vishveshwar Rao, September 2013.
31. Lalitha was a popular singer and leader in the movement before her
murder in 1999.
32. Prajashakti Publications. 2002. Neekochina Bashalo Rayi Neevimuktikosam
Rayi, Interview to Prasatanam, p. 127. Hyderabad: Prajashakti Publications.
33. Available at http://www.thehindu.com/todays-paper/tp-features/tp-
educationplus/maa-telugu-talli-to-be-or-not-to-be/article665963.ece.
34. From the interviews of Sudarshan, a PhD scholar and senior Telangana
activist.
35. From the interview of Dr Chiranjeevi on 19 June 2013.
36. Referring to the Kakatya Dynasty (between eleventh and fourteenth
centuries), Pandu Ranga Rao from Kakatiya Heritage Trust claims that
Bathukamma and Sammakka festivals find roots here. Available on http://
www.deccanchronicle.com/140601/lifestyle-offbeat/article/telangana-
brush-history, accessed 11 October 2017.
37. Osmania University Notification letter Lr. No. 05/Sem/Hist/2013 dated
22 April 2013. The seminar held on 28–9 June 2013.
38. A press handout was released during a press conference at Zen College
at Lakdi-ka-Pul in Hyderbabad on 1 July 2013.
39. However, when we talk about diversity in the region, one can find
around 30 different dialects of Telugu in the state of Andhra Pradesh and
almost half of them exist in the Telangana region itself.
40. Interviewed on 8 January 2013 at his residence.
41. Sorrel-leaves.
42. Available at http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/hyderabad/KCRs-
remarks-trigger-biryaniwar/articleshow/7411639.cms, accessed 15 June 2014.
43. Interview at his residence.
44. Tuomainen (2009: 548), in his study of Ghanaians settlers in England,
concludes that ‘the importance of the maintenance of ethnic food ways as
a marker of ethnic identity among migrants, often portrayed by the prompt
establishment of food-related businesses, such as among the Chinese in the
UK. The case study of Ghanaians, nevertheless, shows that the initial reaction
after migration differs among migrant groups’.
45. Interviewed on 19 June 2013 at his residence.
46. During N.T. Rama Rao’s period, Tollywood was shifted from Madras to
Hyderabad in 1994.
47. Available at http://www.anveshi.org.in/telangana-and-language-politics-
of-telugu-cinema/.
48. For detailed interview, see Rajiv 2009.
49. In a seminar held on 10 September 2014.
50. To the grossly under-explored field of Telugu cinema, S.V. Srinivas’s
Politics as Performance: A Social History of the Telugu Cinema is a significant
contribution. As one of the first works on the topic, it is likely to gain histori-
cal value and become a reference book.
51. He lists Angrez (2005), Ankur (1974), Baazaar (1982), Hyderabad Blues
(1998), Hyderabad Nawabs (2006), Mandi (1983), Nishant (1975), Susman
(1987), and how despite being made in non-Telugu languages, they reflect the
region, its uniqueness and flavour.
52. However, when we talk about diversity in the region than one can find
around 30 different dialects of Telugu in the state of Andhra Pradesh and
almost half of them exist in the Telangana region itself.
53. Available at http://missiontelangana.com/toppling-our-masters-and-
statues/.
54. From a meeting among activists and Telangana intellectuals over the
movement’s goal at Arts College on 25 October 2013.
55. Since 2009, Kapus had high hopes in politics under the leadership of
Chiranjeevi, the popular Telugu Star. Chiranjeevi had no clear political stand
on the separate Telangana demand.
56. BSF pamphlets on 14 November 2007, 14 April 2008, 17 September
2009, and many other pamphlets of each year where date is not mentioned.
2 Osmania University
Academics, Culture, and Politics
For the past five decades, Osmania University (OU) has regularly
made headlines due to the robust participation of its students in the
movement for Telangana statehood. The university has produced
several activists who later became part of mainstream politics and
university faculty. Due to its constant student activism, OU has
popularly been referred to as ‘Telangana University’. The widespread
notion that the ‘movement is the business of Osmania’ is explained
here, highlighting Osmania’s role throughout the various phases of the
movement. The Srikrishna Commission Report (SCR) on the ques-
tion of bifurcation notes that OU and Kakatiya University became
‘trouble spots’ and ‘trouble creators’ during agitations (Srikrishna
Commission 2010: 51–2). OU has been the nerve centre for every
agitation, strike, meeting, or debate for a separate Telangana. Lipset
(1968) argues that ‘intellectuals and students have a major potential
mass base for new revolutionary movements, and they remained a
source of radical leadership and mass support while other elements
of society have not’. Here, the word ‘intellectual’ has a wide con-
notation and this chapter explains how, due to the movement for
separate Telangana, intellectuals established organic linkages with the
poor working classes through their art, music, writings, and speeches.
This chapter illustrates how a culture of resistance was created by
intellectuals (students, alumni, and teachers) and how their activism
made the campus the epicentre of a mass movement. Focussing pri-
marily on out-of-the-classroom ethnographic material, this chapter
DOI: 10.1093/oso/9780199488414.003.0003
discusses the influence of campus education and (un)learning: how

university spaces and interpersonal relations make individuals more
cognizant of their regional identity, and how this identity assertion
translated into a mass movement.
OU CAMPUS: A SITE OF DISSENT

OU is an open, residential campus in Hyderabad, adjacent to the
twin city of Secunderabad. The campus shares a border with the
English Foreign Language University (EFLU). The main road that
connects EFLU to nearby Vidya Nagar is around 3 kilometres long
and passes through OU, in which there are five bus stops. Most of
the university departments and hostels are situated along this road
(see the route on Map 2.1 below). OU is a multidisciplinary uni-
versity, heavily devoted to the social sciences. As the oldest and larg-
est university in the region, its alumni have served in nearly every
sector, from journalism to politics, law, engineering, education, and
medicine. The history of the movement shows a large participation
of social science students studying at Arts College who had actively
and vibrantly responded to the state’s social and political issues. Most
of the political leaders in Telangana were ‘produced’ by this campus.
The Narmada Research Scholars (NRS) Hostel, also known as
Dr B.R. Ambedkar Hostel, has been the ‘hallowed abode’ of student
leaders (Pathania 2015). The college became the ‘sacred’ place for
activists, where students pay homage to the sacrifices made by their
predecessors. It is a common saying among students that ‘once you
are part of Arts College, you will be a Telangana activist for life’. From
the 1950s, students have contributed to the movement as alumni or
as faculty, by guiding and motivating successive generations. How and
why the university served as a site of regional Telangana identity asser-
tion is central to this chapter.
OU was established in 1918 by the seventh Nizam of Hyderabad
state, Nawab Osman Ali Khan, and the university was named after
him. It is the seventh oldest university in the country and third oldest
university in South India. The Nawab believed that higher education
must have its foundations deep in national consciousness and national
integration, which he found a tangible reality. While establishing the
university, his administration felt Urdu to be the appropriate medium
Osmania University 73
BASTI
NAKA
TAR
EFLU OLD PG HOSTEL
OU POLICE
R O A D
STATION
KAVERI HOSTEL YAMUNA HOSTEL
ART’S TEA
COLLEGE STALL
M A I N AMBEDKAR HOSTEL
(NRS)
SARASWATI
TEMPLE PARK LANDSCAPE
T Y
MAIN GARDEN
S I
LIBRARY
LAW
E R
COLLEGE
COLLEGE OF
I V
COMMERCE
N
LADIES HOSTEL
U
COMPLEX ACADEMIC STAFF COLLEGE

A
TEMPLE
I
N
A
M
ANDHRA ADMINISTRATIVE
O S
MAHILA ENGINEERING BUILDING

SABHA STUDENT
HOSTEL
TRIVENI
HOSTEL
NCC GATE
A R TOWARDS ANVESHI LIBRARY

AG
YAN
VID
MAP 2.1 Osmania University Route Map

Source: Map by Monika Batham.
of instruction ‘as it was the official language of the state’. Yet, this
contrasted with the supremacy of the English language that ruled
India. Nevertheless, it became the first Indian university to use an
Indian language, Urdu, as the medium of instruction (Geiger 2009:
154–5; Elliot 1972: 274). In his letter to the Nizam, Nobel laureate
Rabindranath Tagore praises Osmania’s initiative and dedication to

impart education in the vernacular:
I have been long waiting for the day when, freed from the shackles of a
foreign language, our education becomes naturally accessible to all our
people. It is a problem for the solution of which we look to our native
States, and it gives me great joy to know that your State proposes to
found a University in which instructions are to be given through the
medium of Urdu. It is needless to say that your scheme has my fullest
appreciation.1
One of the founding fathers of the Telangana movement, Professor

Keshav Rao Jadhav (popularly known as ‘Mr Telangana), whose fore-
fathers from Maharashtra migrated to Hyderabad in late nineteenth
century, states, ‘The Nizam had hired English and Urdu translators from
Europe and the Middle-Eastern universities. He had natural sciences
translated into Urdu. I studied physics, chemistry, and mathematics in
Urdu script’.2 The Nizam hired teaching faculty from abroad as well.
The academic excellence of the university, Professor P.L. Visweshwar
Rao claims, ‘can be appreciated by the fact that until 1980, there were
25 professors from abroad teaching at Osmania’. Professor Rao smiles
while recalling, ‘My own guide, Professor Krishnamurthi was from the
University of Pennsylvania. Professor Shiv Kumar, Professor Gautham
Mathur were from University of Cambridge, and many other great
scholars in their areas used to teach us’.3
From its inception, the university campus had been a fertile site
for liberal ideologies. For example, in 1940, the Communist Party of
India (CPI) played an important role in making the Telangana armed
struggle—a peasant uprising against the Nizam—a mass movement.
Many Marxist thinkers such as George Reddy and Javed Alam have
had an association with Osmania. According to senior activists, the
spread of Arya Samaj was received well in Hyderabad and a section of
Hindu students at Osmania became active members. Students were also
influenced by the magnetic personality of Swami Ramanand Teerth, the
founder of Hyderabad State Congress. His thought-provoking lectures on
the Mackenzie Report and on the evolution of democracy on the day of
Janmashtami (birthday of Lord Krishna) were delivered at OU in 1936.
During the Indian independence movement, Vande Mataram4 was
a popular song praising ‘Mother India’. The song was banned by the
Nizam on 28 November 1938. The same day, some Hindu students at

OU went to the prayer hall and sang the song. When students were
exiting the prayer hall of B hostel, the warden and other officials of
the university collected signatures of the students who had violated
the university order (Hugar 2015: 31). On 29 November, the students
were literally kept under house arrest—they were asked not to leave the
hostels and not to attend the college until further notice. Ultimately,
students were asked to leave the hostels. In retaliation, they formed an
action committee of the Vande Mataram strikers with K.Achyut Reddy
as president, P.G. Puranik, Narsing Prasad Jaiswal, D.M. Deshmukh,
and a few other members to take necessary action depending on the
situation. The committee decided to continue the movements until
their demands were met.5 Emphasizing the autonomy of the university,
Elliot (1972: 274) states that the ‘Osmania case demonstrates how the
university’s development as a separate institution with its own vital
interests and values helps to generate a propensity to resist incursions
from outside’.
The phrase Vande Mataram was used as initial or common greetings
by the patriots while calling the names of freedom fighters. During
the accession movement, the people started to greet each other on
their first sight with the words ‘Vande Mataram’ instead of saying
‘Good Morning’ or ‘Namaskar’. This was part of a movement called
the Vande Mataram movement, which has a unique place in the history
of students’ movement in India—it cracked the citadel of the Nizam
Kingdom. It has profound impact on the minds of a whole genera-
tion of young men of the days. During the Vande Mataram Movement
(1933–9), a leader called Ramachander Rao (popularly known as
Vande Mataram Ramchander Rao) was arrested and jailed for uttering
Vande Mataram.6 To support him, students of OU and its colleges at
Warangal and Aurangabad also participated in the national indepen-
dence movement and sung the same song. In 1938, a large section of
Hindus, sang Vande Mataram instead of the prayer song7 that praised
the Nizam in their morning prayers. Consequently, 350 students were
given official notice not to sing Vande Mataram. Explaining the event,
Jadhav8 recalls:
Order prohibiting the recital of Vande Mataram in the university hostels,

having been violated by certain students, their names had been removed
from the hostels and they have been suspended from attending the col-
leges. Scholarships and free-ships granted to them have been cancelled.
They were asked to settle their accounts with the hostel wardens and to
be ready for eviction.
This led to an intense debate between the university administra-

tion and students. One student,Venkata Rao Vakil, wrote an appeal to
Mr Akbar Hyder, vice-chancellor (VC) of OU, stating, ‘It was very
difficult to find a prayer for various sects of the Hindu students which
could be acceptable to Shaivaites, Vaishnavaites, Lingayats, Shaktaites,
and so on. Hindu religion had numberless sects and sub-sects and
hence the choice of Vandemataram’ (Adiraju 2009: 14). The VC replied
to the letter stating that he agreed that Vande Mataram was a secular
choice; however, it did not change his official stance.This reply invoked
a discussion among faculty and students and points to a liberal campus
culture of debate at the university. Bourdieu (1983), DiMaggio (1991),
and Daenekindt and Roose (2015) explain the gradual process of
such hegemony of the state by stating that celebrations such as
classical music, prayer, literature, and dance, which a child learns
through his school curricula and are sponsored, celebrated, and
diffused by the state, thus granting them a high degree of legitimacy9
and consecration.
The campus also contributed to making leaders such as P.V.
Narasimha Rao, who played an active role in state as chief minister and
in national politics, and who later went on to become the prime minis-
ter of India. Keshav Rao Jadhav claims that ‘student activism has always
played a prominent part of the Telangana movement since 1957, as
they [students] were most affected by the discrimination’. Hyderabad
state was merged with the Andhra region forming the state of Andhra
Pradesh in 1956, shifting the nature of the movement and focussing it
on inter-regional issues.
Osmania has been a hotbed for every kind of activism from all
spectrums of ideologies to non-violent and radical resistance. Classroom
teaching played an insignificant role, if at all, in the formation of
this cultural resistance. Rather, it was primarily the non-academic
environment that contributed to a campus culture of activism for a
separate Telangana. As Suvaram Sudhakar Reddy, who is currently the
general secretary of the Communist Party of India, recalls his student
days at Osmania in 1965, the time when Naxalite movement was

starting out due to split in Communist movements:
Being an Osmanian, I learnt ten times more than what I learnt in the
classroom. My outlook had become much wider, broader and I cer-
tainly gained from my stay on the campus. Comrade Aziz Pasha and
Sadanand were student leaders of other colleges then but later joined
the OU campus. ‘We used to organise study circles at YMCA all at
Narayanaguda and Young Men’s Club at Sultan Bazar. Comrade Rohit
Sen was a popular speaker in our meetings. (Reddy 2017)
An inspiring student leader in the 1969 struggle, Dr Sridhar

Reddy contributed to the literature on the movement by publishing
several books. During the agitation, he left his studies and dedicated
himself to the movement, taking an oath that he would not cut his
beard until Telangana became a state. Later he completed his doctoral
thesis on student politics in Osmania and published various books on
Telangana. He left his studies and dedicated himself to the movement,
taking an oath that he would not cut his beard until Telangana became
a state. Later he completed his doctoral thesis on student politics in
Osmania and published various books on Telangana.10 OU alumni,
Dr Kasim, who had been part of the Maoist movement, started the
magazine Poru Telangana in 2010 to contribute to the movement as
a writer-activist, and later became a faculty member at Osmania.
He guided the movement through his ideological writings. Another
activist-writer, Mr B.S. Ramulu, took an oath publicly to publish a
book every month until Telangana state formed. In all, he published
150 story books and six novels. He explains, ‘They (Andhra) made fun
of Telangana Telugu, I decided to popularise our Telugu and I keep
writing and see now I have a wide readership of common masses’.11
Intellectual work, according to Shils (1959: 403), whether it is scholarly,
scientific, literary, or artistic, must be concerned with problems which
arise from the situation it confronts, and it must be carried on within
an intellectual tradition; the standards of aspiration and judgement that
guide it must likewise be conjoined to the situation and the tradition.
Intellectuals must recognize the significance of political processes in
developing their understanding and critique of the existing social-
political order (Kothari 2012).12
Several forums were organized for critical debate on Telangana

issues. During agitations from 2009 to 2013, the writings of Kancha
Ilaiah (then professor of Arts College) revitalized the movement. Later,
when the Telangana movement gained momentum, Ilaiah initiated a
discourse on the topic of Dalit-Bahujan Telangana. Unlike others from
the region, he did not subscribe to the notion that a separate Telangana
would bring about any change. Instead he focussed on the education
of Dalits and Other Backward Classes. He emphasized the importance
for lower castes to learn English, claiming it as the only source of their
emancipation in a neo-liberal era. He started celebrating his birthday
as ‘Dalit Bahujan English Education Day’. His slogan ‘Read, Write and
Fight’ inspired scores of Osmania students. Speaking on his birthday in
2013, he stated,‘I am not saying that things will drastically change if you
learn English. Today English is the language of rulers, if you want to
rule, you have to learn’ (translated from Telugu).13 Ilaiah is an ideal for
many Telangana students at OU.Thus, OU and its intellectuals, through
their critical understanding of socio-political issues of Telangana,
gained a grand reputation among the masses, media, and activists.
THE ROLE OF OSMANIA INTELLECTUALS IN

TELANGANA MOVEMENT: 1969 PHASE
‘What is the role of intellectuals when the state or the nation is faced
with a crisis?’
Satyanarayan (1969)
This question was part of the opening speech delivered by OU VC,

Dr Ravada Satayanarayan at the convention for ‘Telangana University
and College Teachers’ held on 20 May 1969. Osmania teachers, under
the guidance of the VC, organized the convention to debate issues
facing Telangana. His remarks became the foreword of a research
volume, ‘The Telangana Movement: An Investigative Focus’:
… after certain amount of introspection, I came to the conclusion that,

as the various problems involved in the Separate Telangana agitation are
not clear to many person—even to those very deeply involved on either
side of the movement—it would be appreciated as a useful service by
all concerned if the teachers of the colleges take up on themselves the
work of clarifying the issue. (Thota 1969)
Osmania intellectuals spent a considerable time studying and

understanding the regional problems so as to make a strong and valid
political position. Dr Satyanarayana argued that intellectuals should
play a dynamic role and cautioned them against the consequences of
inaction. He called for members to express their views clearly and
plainly. In an obvious reference to safeguards for Telangana, the VC
observed, ‘I detest the word safeguard; it is a humiliation—either live
together on mutual trust or better separate’ (cited in Thota 1969). He
encouraged other Telangana activists and argued, ‘if the organizations
do not discharge this much obligation, it is a sin’ (1969). The conven-
tion concluded that the ‘socio-cultural exclusiveness’ of Andhra is at
the ‘root of the exploitation of Telangana automatically, administra-
tively and politically’ (1969). They described the Telangana movement
as a ‘revolt of the youth against all exploitation’, specifically focussed on
ending regional exploitation (1969).
A similar situation occurred during the 1990s. Before forming
the Telangana Rashtra Samithi (TRS), intellectuals examined the
Telangana problem, new data was collected, and various seminars were
held in OU between 1992 and 1997 that conceptualized the issue
from various angles.The proceedings were published by the Centre for
Telangana Studies in 1997 in an edited book, Telangana: Dimensions of
Underdevelopment, which became a catalyst thenceforth.
With a sad look on his face, Chiranjeevi utters, ‘Andhras will not
understand our pain. Now, in the presence of media, every week OU
students are committing suicide, but Andhras are calling it a politi-
cal move or political suicide. And some of our Telangana leaders are
also speaking their language’. Going back to the history of ‘dignified
politicians’, Chiranjeevi recalls how on 15 May 1969, the ex-deputy
chief minister of Andhra Pradesh, Konda Venkata Ranga Reddy, and
the VC, Satyanarayana, resigned from their posts when they learned
that government had killed thousands of innocent students. Konda
Luxman Bapuji was the first state minister to resign from office.
University intellectuals, in such crises, did not surrender, but rather
used their autonomy: the VC passed a resolution for students to
boycott classes until the demand for a separate state was conceded.
The university relayed a strong message to the government that staff ,
students, and teachers were united in their concern and expressed
their solidarity with the movement against the ‘hegemonic’ power of
the Andhra state. Dr Rao explained the student–teacher unity: ‘We

were fully aware of the fact that students have a genuine cause. It was
not them but the entire Telangana was suffering due to the exploita-
tion by the Andhra region. Even Arts College faculty was dominated
by the Andhra region.’
Expressing a similar opinion, Professor Rakesh, who led the Teachers’
Association, explained how teachers watched after and enabled the
movement through students:
Many times, we had no money for students’ bail but then our union
of Telangana teachers was so cooperative and within no time, we used
to collect money. When Andhra teachers’ saw us, they started lobbying
and supporting the United Andhra demand. It was their media, their
government, so their small strikes used to appear on the front page of
the newspaper.14
Teachers not only supported the students but also advised them how
to counter the Andhra student lobby on campus. ‘It was because of our
teachers’ guidance we could understand the political agenda and strate-
gies of Andhra students’,15 claims Krishna, a 1969 activist. Two of the
popular founding fathers of the movement—Professor Jaishankar and
Professor Keshav Rao Jadhav16—had been the guiding force behind
the student movement. Similarly, Sri Sri’s poetry influenced the youth
and students in 1969. Students formed poetry and theatre clubs and
various other platforms for mobilizing students. Each event and group
added strength to the fibres of Telangana activism.
Students served as frontrunners, while professors and alumni served
as the movement’s guiding force. University employees were mobi-
lized as well.The OU community decided to commemorate 1 May 1969
as ‘Telangana Demand Day’. Thousands of students and employees
gathered in Hyderabad holding a banner that read, ‘Telangana Demand
Day’. As the communist movement remained popular since the 1940s,
the intelligentsia’s perspective of the movement was influenced thus.
They related to the history of Telangana as part of the peasant revolt
against the landlords.Therefore, they chose 1 May, International Labour
Day, to commemorate the day they made their historic appeal.
Some radical Left ideologues such as Gaddar, Andhesri, Goranta,
Narayan Rao, Sri Sri, Varavara Rao, and many others formed Virasam
(Vipalava Rachayitala Sangham [Revolutionary Writers Association])17
in 1970, and Jana Natya Mandali (JNM) as a cultural group was

founded in 1972. The Progressive Writers Association (Arasam
Abhyudaya Rachayi-tala Sangham) gave a new direction to literature and
people’s arts. All these forums provided platform for Dalits and other
lower-caste writers, artists, and poets of society. JNM and Virasam,
along with the Revolutionary Democratic Front (RDF) and Srujana,
made a profound impression on educational institutions that became
centre for spreading the revolutionary culture and ideology inspired
by the Naxalbari movement. Gaddar18 explains: ‘The idea was to tell
the common masses that all human beings are capable of writing and
through his writings he can write bring social change. With a collec-
tive effort, Virasam motivated young writers from different class and
caste backgrounds.’
Gaddar’s singing performances attracted rural youth and the labour
class. Students from OU also started writing for Virasam-run journal,
Aruntara. In October 1974, Andhra Pradesh Radical Student Union
(APRSU) formed on the basis of radical ideology of Marx, Lenin,
and Mao. This organization, among many others, was formed by com-
munist ideologues who led the anti-feudal struggles.
The programme of the Gramalaku Taralandi or ‘Go to Villages’
campaign, undertaken by the Radical Student Union (RSU), Radical
Youth League (RYL), and the cultural front JNMs spread the message
of agrarian revolution attracted these youths.
These organizations were consolidated through the establishment of
the Rytu Coolie Sanghams (RCS, the organization for peasants/landless
poor). By the end of 1978, the RCSs were established in most parts
of Karimnagar district, specifically Sircilla and Jagityal (Srinivasulu
2002: 20). RCS united farmers and labourers for Jattra Yatras (Victory
Marches). One of the largest march took place on 7 September 1978,
in which people from 150 villages marched together to Jagityal town.
Gaddar, a popular balladeer and Telangana activist, recalls:19 ‘I joined OU
right after the agitations. In 1971–2, to oppose the Andhra movement,
I became a cultural activist and joined Arts Lover Movement on campus.
It was run by fine art student intellectuals. The idea I learnt is that art
should be for people’s sake. It should be for the annihilation of caste.’20
Gaddar kept the movement’s spirit alive with his revolutionary
songs, some of which were featured in the film Jai Bolo Telangana. His
song Podusthunna Poddumeeda became the voice of common masses.
Many OU youth were inspired by him and joined full-time art and
cultural activities. A lot of them went on to become singers, poets, and
writers. Commenting on sustaining the movement, Gaddar states that
‘intellectuals burn like paper but activists are like coal that burns with
the ideological spirit and keeps the movement charged’.
In 1990s, dozens of new groups emerged on campus supporting
the separate Telangana movement. There were groups who explored
the history of Telangana and boycotted everything related to Andhra
Pradesh. In 1999, to oppose the AP formation day on 1 November,
a student activist Sanghishetty Srinivas, climbed up the Arts College
building and hoisted a handmade Telangana flag. He recalls:
Like all other government offices in the state, our university admin-
istration was also full of Andhra people. It used to celebrate all the
state sponsored festivals. Andhra Pradesh State formation day had
become the part of the official state cultural festivals therefore to
oppose the existing State Day was not just opposing the state but
rejecting all the historical and cultural celebrations glorified by the
state. It was a shame for us to celebrate Andhra Pradesh formation day
in the premises of Arts College whose hundreds of students were killed
by the same Andhra state.21
What Shetty Srinivas tried to oppose was the ‘cultural hegemony’

of the state, which, according to him, is reflected in the socio-political
and cultural life of the state. Shetty was arrested by the police and
later released. However, this incident motivated him to dedicate his
life to the movement. He has written almost 40 books and translated
dozens of volumes on Telangana. He also became the main pillar of
the Telangana Resource Centre. Without a doubt, his efforts inspired
OU students in their activism. After the year 2000, student activists
founded magazines such as Campus Voice which enjoyed a wide reader-
ship among hostel students, especially those in NRS hostel.
After serving in radical groups, Telangana student activists became
disillusioned.
We were struggling against issues like capitalism, imperialism, feudalism,

etcetera and we worked against the state. But after decades we realised
that Telangana has never become the primary agenda of all these radical
groups. Scholars have different views on why Naxalites or other radical
Left parties did not highlight the caste issue. In many ways the 1980s has
been the most important phase in the history of Andhra Pradesh. This
decade was also rife with caste violence in the Andhra region where the
‘Red’ and ‘Green’ revolution was strong.
Srinivasulu (2002: 33) argues that ‘if caste violence is symptomatic
of the rising aspirations of the downtrodden and disadvantaged strata of
our society and their challenge to the historically inherited and estab-
lished structure of socio-economic, cultural and political dominance,
then the violence is also an expression of resistance to these aspirations
by the dominant power-that-be.
According to both Srinivasulu’s (2002: 2) and Damodaran’s (2008:
94–5) studies of caste relations in Andhra Pradesh, the Andhra
region has been economically and politically dominated by two
land-owning castes, the Kammas and the Reddys, who formed
just 6.5 per cent and 4.8 per cent of the population, respectively.
Caste has largely defined both political power and entrepreneurial
dominance, as the Reddys dominated the political space and the
Kammas the entrepreneurial space (Srinivasulu 2002: 7). The class-
oriented struggles of the communists did help Dalits, according to
Srinivasulu. It helped in providing or increasing their daily wage
and also in their acquisition of land. They received education and
had a social space to articulate their grievances. Dalits were certainly
closer to the Naxalite party than any other political party. Therefore,
there was no contention between Naxalites and Dalits (Patil 1992: 30).
Naxalites established sangams (associations) in the name of caste in
some parts of Telangana. In Nizamabad and some parts of Medak
district, Chillara Kulhala Sangam or Ambedkar Yuvajana Sangam were
organized (see Laxamaiah 2007).
Lower-caste politics began to rise to the surface in late 1980s.
Marginal communities like Chakalis (dhobhis), Nayibrahmins (barbers),
Kummhari (pot makers), Katikaparlu (a caste that buries the dead),
and Dalits (particularly Madigas) have not only participated in the
movement but in fact formed many organizations and protested.
‘Caste-Based Telangana’ (Kula Sanghala Telanganam) became ubiqui-
tous headlines of the local newspapers. The decade witnessed the
mushrooming of caste-based organizations. The decade witnessed
the mushrooming of caste-based organizations such as Telanganalo
Samajika Prajarajyam and caste organizations like Madiga Dandora,
Kuramgolla Doludebba, Democratic Forum for Dalits and Minorities
(DFDM), Telangana Jana Parishad, and Telangana Mahasabha. Along

with caste organizations, these organizations have created a cultural
discourse through their political activism for Telangana movement.
In creating these different discourses, Osmania intellectuals played a
key role. In fact, the idea of forming these organizations has a close
linkage with OU.
To carry forward the legacy of Telangana activism on campus, the
young generations of Telangana activists and intellectuals promulgated
a universal approach to the movement. A popular Telugu magazine,
Jambudweepam,22 was started by a resident of NRS, Vikram. Vikram is
in his 40s and is completing his PhD in Telugu literature. He regularly
visits villages to educate masses about Dalit ideology.Vikram shares his
opinion about the movement:
Telangana movement is a movement which made dozens of our stu-

dents who think they are leaders but in reality, they are spoiling the
other young students. They don’t know even why they need a separate
state. This movement has diverted the real issues of caste atrocities, caste
humiliation. Now, nobody talks about Dalit issues. Either Telangana is
formed as a separate state or not, would Dalit or adivasis of the region
ever get any benefit?23
As Vikram speaks, his voice gradually gets louder, indicating his

anger. He pauses for breath and continues, ‘See, I don’t want to waste
my time about a waste movement; I would be happy to tell you about
the caste problems in Telangana which is a much more serious issue
than Telangana’. According to him, a separate Telangana will not solve
social problems. Vikram is the most senior scholar in the NRS hostel.
He is married with two children, lives in a rented flat near campus,
and teaches at a college. Every evening, he visits the hostel after dinner
and there is always somebody to meet him. Everyone knows his stand
on Telangana. Student activists used to regularly invite him to their
programmes, but his vocal criticism of the Telangana movement has
made him a less popular speaker. Showing old issues of his magazine,
he says,‘I want university students to write (in the magazine) and this is
the need of the hour.We don’t have any good scholars after Ambedkar.
These present student leaders don’t deserve to be students’. Activists
like Vikram find student leadership corrupt as they misuse the name of
Osmania to further their self-interests.
Among Leftist parties, there was also a contention over the question
of private property accumulation, as historically, Dalits were denied the
right to property in the Hindu social order. Hence, they have right-
ful claims over the resources. However, according to Dalit activists, a
lot of speeches and debates took place, but they brought about little
practical change. After serving in these radical group, Telangana student
activists became disillusioned. ‘We were struggling against issues like
capitalism, imperialism, feudalism etc. and we worked against the state.
But after decades we realised that Telangana has never become the
primary agenda of all these radical groups.We again felt cheated,’ Gogu
Shyamala, a renowned poet, expresses.‘We were told not to accumulate
private property. I gave up my house and everything I had to the party.
After working for years with them, we found out that our leaders
have flat in metro cities, their children are studying abroad. We were
betrayed’. In fact, radical left intellectuals like Ilaiah (cited in Simhadri
and Rao 1997: 25) mentioned that ‘the real hegemony of Andhratwam
(Andhraness) got established with the communist school of thought
headed by Kammas and Reddys of Andhra, propagating formation
of Vishalandhra but not a Telugu-centred linguistic state (Telugu)’.
Disillusioned, many activists decided to return to their families, took
up jobs, and started living a normal life. Nevertheless, the vision of a
separate Telangana never wavered in the minds of the leading activists.
Dr Chiranjeevi shares, ‘I spend almost two decades running from police,
hiding from the government and becoming so called radical but it was
all illusion. When I hear first time in 1988, a slogan from BSP founder
Kanshi Ram that “Ballet is more powerful than Bullet”, it gave me
hope that through democratic way, our dream of separate Telangana is
possible’.
However, crucial to an understanding of Dalit mobilization and
politicization is the organized attack launched against them by the
Kammas of Karamchedu in Prakasham district in July 1985. Since
1980s, the advanced Green Revolution belt of coastal Andhra has wit-
nessed intense caste-based polarization and mobilization on both sides
of the social spectrum, that is, among landowning as well as labouring
communities (Srinivasulu 2002: 29).
With the formation of hundreds of organizations publishing a
saga of literature showing discrimination and humiliation, Telangana
intellectuals started spreading cultural consciousness among masses.
In January 1986, a few activists from 1969 agitations decided to

form ‘Telangana Information Trust’. Their goal was to collect all the
available literature on Telangana and spread it to the masses. Some of
its members visited various parts of the world wherever Telangana
diaspora resided. Various meeting and conferences were held
nationally and internationally to chalk out the future strategy of how
to get separate Telangana. Around 1991, Osmania students, with the
help of 1969 activists, formed two organizations: Telangana Student
Front (TSF) and Telangana Liberation Student Organisation (TLSO).
In 1992, the Kakatiya unit of TSF was formed and organized various
seminar on small states. Both the organizations agitated for 15 per cent
supernumerary seats for Telangana students in OU. The cumulative
effect of such small-scale activism kept the fl ame of the movement
alive. After experiencing a lull since the 1970s, now the issue of
separate Telangana started heating up again in political corridors. The
reason behind this was that Congress, badly defeated by the Telugu
Desam Party (TDP) in the state, wanted to regain its base. To gain
sympathy of the masses, Congress demanded the creation of separate
Telangana.
Many of the 1969 activists joined university services. They con-
tinued their exemplary activism through arts, literature, and politics.
Similarly, there are many young university students who have penned
their movement experiences and produced dozens of books. Most of
these students read and are inspired by Dalit intellectuals and poets
of Telangana.24 According to Rahul, a campus activist, ‘These intel-
lectuals highlighted the local culture to oppose the exploitation of the
Telangana people by the Andhra’s dominant castes. Some of them were
murdered during their public performances’.
During this phase, the movement worked silently as intellectuals
of the movement (mainly those who were part of 1969 agitations)
produced a saga of literature which gradually reached to the masses.
During this period, a range of activists evolved who were influenced
by senior activists. Those who sacrificed their lives in 1969 agitations,
their family, friends, and relatives motivated subsequent generations to
take up the issue of Telangana. These intellectuals collaborated with
students of Arts College at OU. As a result, many university students
became full-fledged activists who published magazines and books
about Telangana.
An important Hyderabad convention was held on 1 December 1996

under the banner of ‘Telangana Jana Sabha’, which was followed by a
series of public meetings and group meetings at Karimnagar, Siddipet,
Janagaon, Nizamabad, Khammam, Nalgonda, Bhongir, and many other
small towns in various districts. The Bhongir conference and public
meeting was a major breakthrough in Telangana movement, where
future strategy was discussed. It was addressed by Kaloji Narayan Rao,
Professor Jayashankar, Professor Simhadri, Professsor P.L. Visweshwar
Rao, Dr Srinivasulu, Sidda Reddy, and many others.These meetings laid
the foundations for subsequent activism in the 1990s. In these meetings,
intellectuals agreed that Telangana could be achieved only through dem-
ocratic means. This example depicts how intellectuals of the university
responded to the political scenario. French thinker Pierre Bourdieu (in
Swartz 2013: 245) states, ‘Political voices must come out of solid social
scientific research’. A key role was played by the intellectuals of OU in
shaping the Telangana movement. Apart from intellectuals, as Srikanth
(2013: 39) suggests, ‘the resurrection of the regional identity has been
facilitated by the opportunism of political parties, the unjustifiable
inaction of the left’. The movement was sustained and nurtured by a
wide range of committed artists, singers, poets, writers, educated elite,
intellectuals, democratic voices, and journalists (Haragopal 2010a: 58).
In 2000, the Indian government created three separate states25:
Jharkhand, Chhattisgarh, and Uttarakhand.The aspiration to project their
agendas at the national level was rekindled among Telangana supporters.
Some senior activists and intellectuals from OU and Kakatiya University,
under the leadership of Professor Jayashankar,26 raised a demand of
separate Telangana. Many of these intellectuals had experienced the
1969 movement, which had failed because of corrupt leadership. They
also realized that without political motivation, this demand cannot
reach the national level.They approached a local politician, Kalvakuntla
Chandrashekhar Rao (popularly known as KCR), who was then
deputy speaker of Legislative Assembly during the TDP rule, to form a
new party. By not getting a ministerial post, KCR stepped out of the
then ruling party TDP in 2000 and formed TRS in 2001. He was supported
by all the Telangana movement organizations like Telangana Jana Sabha
(TJS), Telangana Maha Sabha (TMS), and Telangana Aikya Vedika, and
various research wings and individuals, Telangana movement could
spread widely.27
Two influential organizations, TJS28 and TMS, set out to focus on

solving basic problems people faced. These organizations asserted
that mere geographical formation of Telangana would not be suf-
ficient, and demand for a Telangana that guarantees a promise of
solving basic issues like distribution of land, construction of projects,
providing water for drinking and irrigation, education, medical
facilities, employment, welfare, ending caste discrimination, issues
relating to women, protection of Dalit and tribal rights, and basic
human rights of people. They worked with theoretical and practical
perspectives to achieve liberty, equality, and self-rule in Telangana.
During Chandrababu Naidu’s regime, TJS became a target for brutal
repression from state, and soon, beginning with Belli Lalita in 1999
till 2004, at least six activists of TJS and Telangana Kala Samiti (TKS)
were murdered by the state or state-sponsored forces. The Telangana
regional bourgeois class possesses rich experience in capitalizing
Telangana cause for developing their own political identity. Thus, by
2000, there were enough associations, groups, and platforms at socio-
economic, cultural, and political fronts.
Andhra Pradesh was ruled by TDP under the leadership of
Chandrababu Naidu in 1990s. Maoism too was rampant in the state,
and particularly in the Telangana region. Police, under the Naidu rule,
made new strategies to counter Maoism. The Jai Telangana Movement
was also labelled as ‘Naxalite movement’. Many professors and students
of OU were targeted as naxalites. According to a history professor at
Osmania who actively participated in the 1969 movement, ‘In those
days government targeted many Osmania University students and
labelled them as Maoist. This way it was easy for police to encounter
them. There were cases where police personnel were taking bribe by
putting fake cases on Osmania students.’
Many students use Telangana as a surname on their Facebook
accounts. Twitter and YouTube Channels, Dalit Camera (an alternate
media with more than 4,450 subscriptions), magazines, cassettes, CDs,
calendars, key rings, and books also helped Osmania students and
intellectuals spread their voice across India and the world. This changed
the social and cultural life of Telangana. ‘Jai Telangana’ and revolu-
tionary songs of Gaddar, Daruvu Tellanna, and Rasamayi Balakishen
were ringtones on many activist’ mobile phones. Even during 2009
movement, messages of pro-Telangana and pro-Naxalites filled social
media.To counter this, many activists from abroad shared their status as
‘I am from Telangana and I am not a Naxalite’ (see E.S. Rao 2010: 118).
The researcher had the opportunity to meet a group of activists in the
United States of America with Telangana NRI Association (TeNA).29
They formed Telangana Cultural Society30 in Singapore and Canada as
well, which celebrates social and cultural festivals such as Bathukamma.
During the Telangana movement, they organized various seminars and
conferences, published literature, and invited activists and intellectuals
from Telangana as guest speakers.
The 1990–2000 period was crucial for intellectual activism. It
was because of intellectuals’ effort that Telangana issue was back in
the limelight. A plethora of literature in the form of oral and written
traditions—books, poetry, and folk songs—was produced by univer-
sity professors. The Telangana debate was also reframed in the wake
of Mandal agitation. The Andhra region had experienced heinous
caste violence in Karamchedu (17 July 1985 in Prakasham district),
Tsunduru (6 August 1991 in Tenali Mandal, Guntur district), and
later in Vempentta (16 July 1998 in Kurnool district of Rayalaseem).
Even for activists, the caste issue was taking a central focus among the
Telangana activists. It led to a caste-based grouping among Telangana
activists. Many caste groups emerged and Leftist groups started waning
on campus. In 1991, OU alumnus and ‘son of the soil’, P.V. Narasimha
Rao became the country’s prime minister. Although the Telangana
issue was not broached officially during his tenure, his contribution in
introducing neo-liberal policies of globalization brought some struc-
tural changes to the state economy and strengthened the Telangana
diaspora. It was during this time that networks between Telangana
activists and diasporas were forged. Non-resident Indians (NRIs)
helped academicians and activists financially in promoting Telangana
folk, art, and activism for separate statehood.
Another example of successful portrayal of intellectuals’ contri-
bution was the preparation of the Statement of Agenda for People’s
Telangana. The organization that bought out this agenda was the
People’s Telangana Foundation. This document set the base for a
concept which is known as ‘Social Justice Telangana’. The same group
formed ‘Telangana Intellectual Forum’, which became instrumental in
devising strategies for mass mobilization for the movement. Another
milestone intellectuals achieved was Suryapet Declaration31 in 2012,
which was to show the government the strength of people’s movement.

Along with Osmania intellectuals, Professor Kodandaram, Telangana’s
popular Singer, and artist Deshapathy Srinivas32 were the heroes of
Samara Bheri (Call to War) meeting.
Srinivas recounted how valiant leaders from Telangana like Arutla
Rama Chandra Reddy and Arutla Kamala Devi fought on behalf of
Telangana people. He asked the Telangana leaders whether they would
stand on the side of Telangana martyr’s mothers like Shankaramma
(Srikantha Chary’s mother) or on the side of Vijayamma, mother of
a looter like Y.S. Jagan. This declaration not only strengthened the
demand for separate statehood but also brought intellectuals and politi-
cians together for future struggle.
Intellectuals often exist in a state of creative tension with the rules
and restrictions imposed by the prevailing institutions on everyday life
(Furedi 2004: 32). According to Lipset (1960: 311), intellectuals are ‘all
those who create, distribute, and apply culture, that is, the symbolic
order of man, including art, science, and religion’. Historians who
have studied youth movements have been concerned with the ‘intel-
lectual’ and the ‘political face of the student activism’ (Wasserstrom
and Xinyong 1989). Observing movements as knowledge producers
underscores the role of movement intellectuals who articulate interests
and cognitive praxis of the movement. Such activities, according to
Buechler (2011: 182), create public intellectuals who take society as an
object of analysis to develop new understanding of the object for real-
ity. The demand for separate Telangana has been conceived, nurtured,
directed, and articulated by such intellectuals.
Bourdieu (2003: 11) reminds us that intellectual efforts are crucial,
but they ‘cannot stand aside, neutral and indifferent, from the struggles
in which the future of the world is at stake’. Intellectual’s ideas do not
remain limited to classrooms.33
According to P.L.Visweshwar Rao,
During my tenure as Arts College Principal, I gave my students full

freedom to organise meetings, rallies and whatever else they wanted
to do during the 2009 agitation. But at the same time, I was expecting
them to attend classes regularly. And I gave the highest number of PhDs,
so that they can go back to the society and explore the history of their
Telangana.34
TELANGANA MOBILIZATION AGAINST CULTURAL

MARGINALIZATION
Like Amos, who had formed Telangana Non-Gazetted Officers’
Association to mobilize Telangana masses and was one of the first
Telanganaites to get job in Hyderabad in 1952, there were hundreds
of other government employees who tolerated humiliations in their
offices. But Amos could not take it after ten years and he decided to
leave his job in 1962. He formed Telangana Non-Gazetted Officers’
Association to mobilize Telangana masses against injustice and humili-
ation towards the people of Telangana. He was the general secretary
of the association. This association was instrumental in mobilizing
common public during a separate Telangana agitation in 1968, and
raising the issue of utilization of surplus revenues of Telangana. An
agitation took place at a meeting in Kakinada in November 1968
by students and Andhra people against the ‘Telangana Safeguards’.35
Employees collected various sets of data on the status of representa-
tion of Telangana people in jobs in comparison to the Andhras. This
was the first generation of Telangana employees that gained govern-
ment employment, and their entire family was dependent on them.
As government employees, they also had a limitation that they could
not agitate directly against the government. Therefore, they took these
issues to youth and students. OU students, being in the capital city,
closely observed the exploitation of Telangana employees during their
visit to any office. Gradually, their campus politics also started cen-
tring on the issue of Telangana. In fact, the 1968 Osmania University
Student Union (OUSU) was fought on the Telangana issue. However,
two key posts went to opposing groups: the students who supported a
separate Telangana won the presidency, while the secretary post went
the group that supported the proper implementation of safeguards that
were promised to Telangana as per the Gentlemen’s Agreement. This
election and the ensuing factional politics of students prepared the
students for future agitations. Explaining the intensity of this victory,
Mr Saiffuddin,36 a law student in 1968 states:
It was the victory of Mallikarjuna which gave students a hope that a sep-
arate Telangana is possible. The demand for safeguards implementation
was supported by the government itself; therefore, the group was given
support by the administration as well. But the separate state demand

caused trouble for the state and national governments. This factional
politics was the beginning of the real movement for a separate Telangana.
Government employees from Telangana made several forums to
make other people conscious about the issue of Telangana. Their main
focus was university students. OU provided the platform to think and
assert the indigenous identity. In 1969, student leaders realized that a
separate Telangana was not possible without political power. Osmania
students offered new avenues to activism into a political constituency
by forming the Telangana Praja Samithi (TPS). The process of this
formation is the evidence of their vision and attachment to their
Telangana identity. They expanded the base of TPS and decided to
mobilize masses for the next elections. As the movement spread across
villages, it caught the attention of other political parties. TPS was an
offshoot of the separate Telangana agitation. The TPS’s precursor was
the Telangana people’s convention formed in February 1969 at a meet-
ing attended by lawyers, doctors, journalists, peasants, businessmen, and
others to press for granting of statehood for Telangana (Reddy and
Sharma 1979: 57). The idea of TPS was given final shape after the
successful Telangana Bandh on 3 March 1969 by the Telangana People’s
convention convenor Mr Madan Mohan. Other student leaders were
Pratap Kishore, P.N. Swami, Raghuvira Rao, and Mallikarjuna. Sridhar
Reddy made his own TPS.
Finding this a golden opportunity for a rebound into poli-
tics and a chance to regain popularity among masses, local leader
Dr Marri Chenna Reddy37 (MCR) managed to secure the post of
TPS president.38 Advocate Ramdass, a 1969 activist explains: ‘MCR
joined the movement almost five months after the movement started.
Since he joined the movement, the division started taking place. All
the Reddy students started supporting him as they found in him a
political mentor’.
With MCR in place as the TPS president, students set up a del-
egation to meet important sources who could take their demand to
parliament. According to the activists, ‘We did all those things which
MCR suggested us to do for the demand of Separate Telangana at the
national level. Under his leadership, we got to know how to approach
the national level politics. We met with political leaders. Within few
months, we got busy like political leaders.’
The agitation became more intense as students pinned their high

hopes on creation of a separate state of Telangana. The schedule of
their activities demonstrates the intensity of their commitment to the
movement:
• May 23: Delegation met Chief Minister K. Brahmananda Reddy.

• June 4: Telegram sent to Prime Minister Indira Gandhi and union home
minister for the immediate central intervention in view of the fast deteriorat-
ing conditions and the breakdown of law and order in Telangana region.
• June 8: Delegation of the convention met Union Home Minister Y.B.
Chavan and impressed upon that the creation of separate Telangana can
alone satisfy the aspirations of the people of Telangana.
• June 18: Delegation of the convention met minister for judicial and legisla-
tive department, government of West Bengal and a member of parliament.
• June 19: Delegation met a member of parliament from Bharatiya Kranti
Dal, Mr Prakash Vir Shastry.
• June 20: Delegation of the convention met governor of Andhra Pradesh and
apprised him of the research findings.
• June 25: Delegation met the revenue minister and governor of Andhra
Pradesh.
• June 27: Meeting with Chairman, Region Committee Mr J. Chokka Rao
to request him to take a lead to break the dead-lock.
Showing this schedule, Reddy, now in his sixties, recalls: ‘In those
two months, we did not leave any stone unturned for our goal’.
Agitations, protests, strikes, conferences, meetings, and negotiations
with politicians were planned by student activists.
Beginning on 14 January 1969, their agitation lasted for almost nine
months. This went down in history as the longest period for any stu-
dent agitation in the world. To control the growing student agitations,
police opted for violent means. The police’s aggressive way of dealing
with student agitation created more solidarity among activists. Jacob,
an activist in 1969 who lost his best friend in police violence, emo-
tionally recounts scenes from the agitation: ‘As students protested, the
police became aggressive with the agitators. This was one of the rare
experiences in the history of agitations, that Andhra police, violating
all the laws, shot directly in the head and chest of the peaceful student
agitators. This action led to violent agitations.’
According to police rules, the use of tear gas is not allowed until
the situation becomes critical. Moreover, the rule does not allow the
police to shoot above the waist. However,‘the police not only used tear
gas and lathi charge but also used real bullets instead of rubber ones’,
Stalin states. Dr Sanjeev, a medical student during the 1969 agitation,
expressed his anger towards the media:
Official data shows only 370 students were killed. Believe it or not, but
according to our estimation more than 1000 students lost their lives.
You can imagine a scene when I went to the Gandhi hospital to inquire
about one of my friends who was killed in police firing and doctor took
me to the room and it bodies were piled up on the top of each other
as there was no space to keep bodies. They were kept in the rows and
line by putting some wooden board to make lines. It was a genocide my
dear. But Andhra politicians managed everything as it was their media
and their government. But OU students know their realities.
An activist from 1969 agitations, Mr Suresh, a law student in those

days and later joined radical communism reflects: ‘Choosing May 1st
as “Telangana Demand Day” also denotes that it was the demand to
abolish the slavery which the people of Telangana were forced to do
under the cruel regime of Andhra people. It was a message to tell
Andhra people that we are fighting for our rights as labour, as human
being.’
The pamphlets of the time described OU as a ‘battlefield’, ‘battle-
ground’, ‘war zone’, and ‘hotbed of politics’ as used in the print media.
According to the convener of OUSU in 1969, agitations were curbed
by the state yet more repression was met with more intense agitations.
Ramesh, who lost three of his close friends in police firing, states:
In this yearlong agitation, we were arrested many times by the police,
but our teachers were always helping by getting us bail. This served to
strengthen the bond between students and teachers. After each student
death, there were meetings and mourning, but every loss strengthened
their spirit for the movement and encouraged students to fight the
upcoming Parliamentary elections.
The agitations in 1969 shook the people’s spirit for the separate
Telangana. Student unity became a symbol of trust and masses lost
trust in politicians. The empirical data shows example of their strong
campus solidarity as one of the reasons that they could sustain their
agitation for one year. Ramdas, a postgraduate student at the law col-
lege in 1969, expresses the solidarity among Osmania students:
On January 24th, the firing occurred in Sadashivapeta in which
14 students were injured. A person name Shankar, 17 years old, was
the first person who died in 1969 Telangana movement. Around 3000
people attended his funeral in Sadashivapeta. On the very Next day
i.e. 25th January students were holding a meeting in front of Engi-
neering College, during that meeting news reached that students who
got injured in yesterday’s firing admitted in Gandhi Hospital, need
urgent blood for treatment. After listening that news, hundreds of stu-
dents sitting in the meeting, started running towards Gandhi Hospital
to donate their blood and saved lives of their fellow students. In those
days, the students didn’t have scooters and cycle motors. The spirit to
go reach as soon as possible from University to Secunderabad Gandhi
Hospital was a wonderful (apoorva) scence (drushyam or sunnivesham).
Their sacrifice and deep concern for the life of their fellow activist
was praised by many newspapers.39
This example is a depiction of what a community stands for.40

It was the campus solidarity fermented over the years among its
students. The importance of ‘we’ feeling builds a strong community.
Strong communities produce strong networks. In these kinds of
communities, social interaction occurs through cultural symbols and
identities.41 Since identities are created and shaped through social
relations, networks play a crucial role. They build and reinforce iden-
tities of individuals and provide them with a political consciousness
that allows them to get ideologically closer to a given political issue.
Thus, a university campus constitutes a small, but a very strong com-
munity of activists. On virtual media, on social networking there are
end number of groups which are also called online communities,
online groups, and even the word family is used to show their unity.
The terminology used in social media such as ‘Campus Community’
or ‘Osmania Community’ are used on social media, and it highlights
Osmania as community of the activists. The real essence of the com-
munity lies in the fact that ‘we’ are one. We can derive that smaller the
community is, the stronger the networks are.
During the 1969 movement, bound by the law, the police could
not use real bullets. If the situation was tense, the police could use
rubber bullets, but they were to be shot only below the waist. However,
student activists are told that there was no law followed by the police.
According to the activists, ‘dealing with tear gas was a routine for activ-
ists. Police shot the real bullets openly at the students and hundreds of
students lost their lives. It made us angry, if we had weapon we could
also answer them back.’ Recalling those days, one of the main activists
of 1969, Dr Chianjeevi, explains the strategy their group planned to
deal with tear gas shell:
Collectively, we all top activists used to make strategies how to handle
police attacks. We used to carry two handkerchiefs and two onions in
our pocket.We were munching on our strong onion to stop the smell of
the gas shell. The minute police used to throw the tear gas shell; it takes
15–20 second to burst. After 20 second, gas start coming out and make
it boiling hot which is impossible to touch. Within those 20 second, we
used to catch hold of one handkerchief to pick-up the shell and throw
back on police. Then police used to run away. This way, we used to
make use of our handkerchief.
The victory of the idea of separate Telangana in campus elections
justified the demand for separate Telangana and strengthened the unity
among students. This victory was followed by a series of protests,
planned by the students. Janardhana (author of Telangana Udyamamu,
Prarambham-Vishtruti),42 a pre-university student, participated in the
movement and witnessed the hunger strike of Sri Ravindranath
Khammam. He noticed large-scale participation of the Social Welfare
hostel students. Non-teaching Osmania staff also joined the protest
in large numbers. This event was published in the newspapers titled,
‘Non-domiciles in Telangana to Quit before February End’.43 Thus,
terminology such as non-domicile or non-mulki, as defined by the
state, was used by activists to unite the people of Telangana against Andhra.
On 23 January, the then-education minister of the state of Andhra
Pradesh, P.V. Narasimha Rao (who himself was from Telangana region)
met with Osmania students and VC and appealed to suspend the
agitation.44 However, the negotiations did not lead to a positive result
for the government. University students boycotted their classes. By
June 1969, a mass satyagraha was organized in all districts of Telangana.
‘For the entire academic year, students protested on the road denou-
ncing police atrocities. Jails were overpopulated with students and
schools in Telangana were used as detention centres. For 10 months, the
government came to a standstill, with ‘the only functioning department
being the police’, recalls Professor Keshav Rao Jadhav, one of the
founding fathers of the movement. He claims that ‘no policemen died
or injured in these agitations’, indicating that students were not armed
but police told the media that students attacked them. Tadakamalla
et al. (2009: 38) claim that ‘the credit of raising mass consciousness
about the movement and spreading awareness about the injustice goes
to Osmania students’. Thus, the 1969 agitation cannot be imagined
without the contribution of OU and its students.
A student of Arts College, Sriram45 (president of an independent
group which supported separate Telangana), who fought separately,
explains his experience.
During the agitation, I was arrested and jailed for nearly two and half
months at Rajahmundry and Chanchalguda jails.There I met Mr Amos,
and we used to discuss about Telangana. But once upon time, I was there
for 15 days underground in a very severe atmosphere, where I had to
live in a dark place without food. I was treated like a criminal.
Dr Sanjeev, a medical student in those days who actively led the

agitation, repents:
We made many mistakes in 1969. We were all young and protesting
every day without thinking of any consequences. We lost our friends
in police firings. We put tremendous effort to continue our protests
for almost 9 months continuous. Our energy was drained, we were
exhausted. Without proper planning, we wasted our energy.
Sriram, going against his family’s will, left his studies after this expe-
rience and became a full time activist. He returned to the university to
finish his PhD in 1978 and his thesis explains the 1969 student revolt
that he had experienced. Like him, many students lost years of studies,
but they continued their struggle to achieve an official identity of the
separate statehood for Telangana.
Keeping their ideology aside, every political ideology from Left to
Right responded to the agitations. Most of the organizations, though
political in nature, focussed on culture in their mobilization strate-
gies. They highlighted the cultural politics of Andhra and the gradual
encroachment by the Andhra in the city of Hyderabad. They linked
the issue of unemployment with the Andhras’ rampant migration.
Such comparisons were easily grasped by the people of Telangana as the
basic survival issues such as jobs affected everyone. According to

Mr Prashant, an Osmania activist, ‘I have attended various meeting
of these organisations. Each of these organisations highlighted the
discrimination with Telangana employees on by making fun of their
culture’. Everyday humiliation on cultural basis gradually built up
anger against the Andhra employees so as with their region.
Students channelled their emotions in the form of votes in 1971 by-
elections. Swimming against the currents entrenched in the Congress
and the electoral Communists, OU students made their way through
by winning 11 of 14 parliamentary seats from the Telangana region,
under the banner of TPS. The student party, TPS, won 11 of 14 par-
liamentary seats they contested. The victory of TPS was preceded by
the sympathy swayed due to the sacrifice of thousands of students and
youth of Telangana during their year-long agitation throughout the
region.This was the first time in the Indian political history that a new
party, formed by students and employees, won the majority. This was a
historic victory for any student movement turning into political party.
This overwhelming victory in the region made students so confident
that they prepared a grand celebration. This demonstrated how the
masses shifted their trust from politicians to students. Student leaders
were busy deciding the date of the separate statehood formation. They
even had a meeting to decide their state cabinet ministries; they also
prepared a flag with Telangana map on it.
However, before the political journey of TPS could take off, TPS
chairman MCR was looking out for his next political move, or ‘biding
his time’, as Suri (2016: 11) calls it. He played what some activists call
‘opportunistic politics’ and the politics of ‘betrayal’. Reddy, after meet-
ing with the then prime minister, Indira Gandhi,46 decided to merge
TPS with Congress party. As a result, Chief Minister Brahmananda
Reddy (from Andhra region) resigned as the next tenure, according to
Gentlemen’s Agreement, was given to the Telangana Chief Minister.
Thus, on 30 September 1971, P.V. Narasimha Rao was appointed the
chief minister of Andhra Pradesh. The TPS was dissolved and its mem-
bers re-joined the Congress.47 MCR’s decision was condemned by
the entire student and intellectual community and he was declared as
a ‘traitor’ by the students.
MCR’s politicking and the eventual merger of TPS with the rul-
ing Congress party led to a mixed reaction among students. A section
of students hoped to get equal representation in jobs and resources.

But there was a widespread frustration among student activists, who
lost their close friends in this struggle and felt betrayed by the politi-
cians. They lost trust in the state and in electoral democracy. Many
of them joined numerous radical movements and opted for the anti-
state positions which continued for almost few decades. This was the
rare historical moment which offers many explanations about politics
behind the movement and how politics corrupt the movement. OU
student activism witnessed such historic moment of democratic and
political upheaval. For their electoral gain, it was easy for politicians
like Chenna Reddy to change their positions.‘We shouted for days that
Chenna Reddy chor hai (Chenna Reddy is a thief) but nobody bother
to hear us anymore’, Dr Chiranjeevi recalls those days. Commenting
on the failure of the student struggle, the president of 1969 movement
Founders’ Forum, Mr Basant,48 states:
It was not the defeat of Indian democracy. It was the political culture of
Andhra lobby not to accept others’ opinion. We received a democratic
mandate through elections. But they (Andhra political lobby) bought
our leader with the help of Congress. Now, in the history of Telangana,
Chenna Reddy is the biggest enemy but if you see who created Chenna
Reddy and who destroyed Chenna Reddy—it was the Andhra politi-
cians who didn’t believe in democracy.
Meanwhile, the Andhra Pradesh High Court, in a judgement on

17 February 1973, stated that the status of mulki applies to those who
live in Hyderabad and not the ones who were born here.This caused a
huge disappointment; resentment ran deep among Telangana activists,
which led to more agitations against the state government. To avoid
any further agitations, government made an arrangement known as
Six-Point formula, which was endorsed by the leaders of both the
regions. Except from jobs, resources, and backward caste classics, there
was one point that emphasized was the establishing a central university
in Hyderabad (see Benichou 2000: 282).
The socio-political situation of Telangana and Andhra grew intense
as the ruling class of Andhra was starkly challenged by the regional
Telangana politics and the growing consciousness of Telangana masses.
Between 1969 and 1971, in the turbulent period of Telangana sub-
nationalism, only two major parties, TPS and Congress, were trying
to influence the mass political behaviour, according to Reddy and

Sharma (1979: 244). People identified themselves with the TPS on
emotional grounds and justified their association with a regional party
that was devoid of any national directives and commitments (1979:
245–6). Regionalism was a powerful factor in state politics, causing
tension and ‘affecting the political process in the form of defections
among legislators and party leaders, switchover and the dropouts
among voters’ (1979: 312).
Telangana activists realized that their weakness lies only in their alli-
ance with corrupt political leadership. From 1973 to 2000, the issue of
Telangana remained silent in political sphere. No major rally or mobi-
lization took place during this period on campus. From 1972 onwards,
many Telangana activists who participated in 1969 agitation, felt
betrayed by the politicians. It was an emotional set back to the student
movement. They developed anger against the state. They were looking
for an alternative. As sympathies swayed towards the extreme Left,49
many student leaders joined the Naxal movement50 and People’s War
Group (PWG). Many student leaders like Kolluri Chiranjeevi, Ram
Das, Srinivasulu, and many of their batch mates joined such groups in
the forests and left their student life. The ‘people think that because of
the growth of Naxalism, government did not form separate Telangana.
But actually, Naxalism grew because government ignored Telangana
problems’.51 For a long time after 1972, the Osmania campus remained
silent on the issue of separate statehood. However, these radical groups
(Radical Student Union and PDSU) were in constant touch with
university students and formed their unions on campuses.
Though the 1969 agitation did not achieve its goal of separate state-
hood, it ignited the spirit of separation and motivated campus activism
politically. It turned the student politics into radical activism. Student
realized the weakness of democratic institutions. Many of them lost
their faith in democratic politics. Right after the political ‘betrayal’ of
student’s efforts, they channelized their energy into radical ideologies
such as Marxism, Leninism, and Maoism and embraced violent activism
to ensure justice to peasants, landless, and poor. Due to students’ shift to
Naxalism and the Maoist movement, PWG, campus activism suffered
from 1972 to 1980. The year 1973 brought an end to the campus
activities for Telangana for a decade. Gradually, the demand of Telangana
faded from popular debate and discussion. Left activists found other
reasons to keep the ideological class struggle alive on campus. One

such Left ideologue was Mr George Reddy, an OU student who
served as one of the founders of RSU on campus. On 14 April 1972,
he was killed by his ideological opponents on the campus. George
Reddy’s death came as a shock and loss for the academic community,
as he was a brilliant scholar and left ideologue. When no police action
was taken against the culprit, anger swelled against the Andhra police
and administration. This factor also contributed to the growth of radi-
cal movements across the state. The APRSU and RSU were formed
in 1974. Remembering those days, Dr Sanjeev shares his experience:
‘I joined People’s War Group. Mr Pattabhi Sitaramaiyya was captain
number one of our union and I was number two. From 1972–77, I was
underground. After 17 years, I realised that the Naxalite movement has
diverted the agenda of separate Telangana’.
Like him, many other activists, after a decade or more, realized that
Telangana had never been the primary agenda of the Naxal parties.
They became hopeless, and many returned to their families to lead a
normal life. They realized that without proper political interference,
their dream of a separate state was not possible.
Mr Ajit,52 who spent almost 17 years in the Maoist movement, reveals:
Our government spread the wrong message that the demand of sepa-
rate Telangana came into existence because of Naxalism. But actually,
Naxalism grew because government kept ignoring the people’s demand
of separate Telangana. We tried all the possible democratic method,
agitation, formed political party, fought and won elections but even
then, we did not get our Telangana.53 Government forced us to adapt
violent means.
The state targeted the radical students and among the common
masses, the image of such students is made to look like anti-national,
criminal. Being a Maoist is not taboo at Osmania. Many professors
proudly declare, ‘Many of our top students are Naxalite and Maoist’.
Such pedagogy tends to be opposed by the state as it goes against the
establishment. As Sridhar Reddy remarks, ‘I am also a Naxalite but
without gun. How does Naxalism develop? It comes from dissatisfac-
tion and discrimination done to Telangana people by the Andhra gov-
ernments. I have given a big philosophy on Naxalism. Naxalism does
not come from forest but it comes from disparity and discrimination.’
After 1972 political betrayal, Hamza Alavi terms the Telangana

movement ‘the most revolutionary movement that has yet arisen in
India’ (Alavi 1973: 325). In Haragopal’s (2010a: 54) words, ‘the birth
of the Naxalite movement took up the agenda of radical agrarian
changes.This movement was partly to complete the unfinished agenda
of the Telangana armed struggle in 1940s’. In other words, due to
such radical groups, the question of land and land reforms became the
political agenda. The activities of Naxalite movement started affecting
the political class of Andhra as well as Telangana elite. And no doubt,
with this contention over land issues, the Andhra had dominated
the Telangana elites. This was the beginning of regional politics and
decline of national politics of Congress. The debate on campus was
again changing. There were left wing and right wing but there was no
debate on Telangana until late 1980s. Radical groups in the forest had
their student’s wings at Osmania such as PDSU, RSU, and SFI. The
popular face of Osmania in 1970s, George Reddy used to run a study
group called The Progressive Democratic Students. Jampala Chandra
Shekhar Prasad changed it into PDSU. During the 1980s and 1990s,
under the regime of Chandrababu Naidu, hundreds of students were
killed by the police in the name of Maoism or Naxalism. Waseem, a
member of RSU in early 1990s, shared his concern: ‘In those days, if
any Osmania student was found involved in Separate Telangana activi-
ties, he was arrested and labelled as Maoist. I have seen in those days,
Gaddar was the only hope for students who managed to get them
released on bail through all his political connection and because of his
popularity in Telangana’.
According to Waseem,54 who was running a campus magazine in
late 1999, there were many organizations formed during the early
1990s but many of them worked underground for fear of the govern-
ment retaliation. OU was the dual target of police and politics. Alumni
maintained their networks nationally and internationally, contribut-
ing to a vibrant political scene. The Telangana Information Trust and
Telangana Resource Centre were established by retired university
professors, engineers, doctors, and journalists were part of this trust,
which published extensive material on Telangana and created a data-
base of Telangana literature. They met with the Telangana diaspora to
garner financial support. Telangana Development Forum (TDF) was
formed by the Telangana NRI settled in the other countries like the
United States of America, New Zealand, Australia, and UK. Telangana

activists like Er Vidya Sagar Rao, Dr Gopal Reddy Gade, and Professor
Harinath Polasa were the main speakers of these programmes orga-
nized by TDF abroad. Popular cultural artist, Rasmai Balkishan, was
invited to mobilize the NRIs abroad.55 Thus, OU intellectuals played
a key role in creating consciousness about regional pride and identity.
Since 1960s, campus has been producing generations of intellectuals.
They have not only served as the guiding force for young generations
but also contributed to the state and national politics and academia.
Srinivasulu (2017: 20) describes the contribution of Osmania:
The role of the university and its teaching and student community
in the Telangana state agitation in the late-1960s, in the struggle
against the internal Emergency in the mid-1970s, in the expanding
democratic and civil rights movement against the repressive policies
of regimes since the 1980s, and in autonomous student mobilisa-
tion demanding a separate state of Telangana, from the 1990s until its
realization in 2014, demonstrates the university’s vibrancy to larger
societal and political issues.
In short, OU’s contribution to the several social movements proves
how a university contributed to the larger society by cultivating aca-
demicians into public intellectuals and raising issues of awareness and
resisting which is against the common welfare of the society. Although
the medium of instruction and official work is English, OU allows
the students to write their exams in Telugu. Thus, it gives hope to
those new entrants from the subaltern section, especially who are first
generation learner in their families and making it to higher education.
This is a liberal aspect of OU and its contribution to the inclusion of
students from rural background.
***
The history and legacy of OU reflects a culture of resistance. OU

students and intellectuals ignited the movement by raising debates,
organizing seminars, rallies, making protests strategies for the move-
ment.Their first major agitation of 1969 effectively created conscious-
ness among common masses. Due to the failure of its leadership, it
could not yield any result. Telangana students’ participation in the
radical movement was the offshoot of this ‘political failure’ or what
activists call ‘political betrayal’ in 1972. From 1973 to later early 1990s,
Osmania intellectuals kept the Telangana spirit alive through their off-
campus activism in the form of civil society activism and gradually
making national and global networks. Students did not let the issue of
Telangana die. In 2001, with the formation of TRS, the aspirations for
Telangana were rekindled and young generation of students gained a
moral and political support to fight for separate Telangana. By fram-
ing new ideologies, devising new strategies, and mobilizing masses by
promoting Telangana folk culture and music, Osmania intellectual led
the movement to its successful path.
NOTES
1. Available at http://www.osmania.ac.in/aboutus-originandhistory.php,
accessed 8 August 2015.
2. Interviewed at his residence in Vidya Nagar on 17 September 2013.
3. Interview at his residence in Secundarabad, 22 September 2013. He was
the first to publish an edited volume on Telangana issues in English in 1997,
and was a popular principal at Arts College.
4. It was written by Bankim Chandra Chatterjee in his novel Anand Math. It
became the inspiration for Swadeshi Andolan in 1905.
5. Golkonda Patrika. 1938. ‘Vande Mataram Movement’, 1 December, 2.
6. B.C. Mahabaleshwrappa. 1997. Hyderabad Karnatakadali Rajkiya Chluvaligalu
1946–56. Gulbarga: Gulbarga University Prasaranga.
7. Translated from Urdu:
May God Preserve unto eternity thy kingdom,

And thee, Osman, in thy splendour;
May he make thy religion glorious
As he has made thee superb among kings.
Available at http://www.thehindu.com/news/cities/Hyderabad/when-vande-
mataram-landed-students-in-trouble/article18064764.ece.
8. Interviewed on 2 June 2013 at his residence.
9. The education system fulfils a culturally legitimizing function by repro-
ducing, via the delimitation of what deserves to be conserved, transmitted, and
acquired, the distinction between the legitimate and the illegitimate way of
dealing with legitimate works (Bourdieu 1985: 23).
10. Interviewed at his residence.
11. Interviewed at his residence.
12. Available at http://www.csds.in/events/rajni-kothari-1928-2015.
13. Talk on ‘Dalit-Bahujan English Education Day’ held at Arts College on

5 October 2013.
14. In Thota (1969).
15. Interview in Hyderabad, September 2013.
16. Interview in Hyderabad, September 2013.
17. During the 1969 agitation, Sri Sri’s poetry influenced the youth and
students. In 2009, the same role was played by balladeers Gaddar and Balkishan.
And during the Million March in 2011, dozens of statues, including Andhra
Pradesh’s people’s poet Sri Sri, was also dismantled. After the demolition, OU
students stated in a press conferences: ‘we made it very clear that Andhra icons
are not welcomed here in Telangana’.
18. The association was functional even during 2009 movement and popular
artists like Vimalaka, Rasmai Balkishan, Daruvu Yellana, and Warangal Ravi
became part of it.
19. Interviewed on 1 September 2013 at his residence.
20. Gummadi Vittal Rao is known as Gaddar. He adopted this name as a trib-
ute to the pre-independence Gaddar Party, which opposed British Colonial
rule in Punjab during the 1910s.
21. Interview at his residence in Hyderabad, on 12 October 2013.
22. An ideal-type or an imaginary island of an egalitarian society.
23. Interview in NRS hostel, 25 September 2013.
24. Poets such as Kalekuri Prasad, Madduri Nagesh Babu, Master Jee, Bojja
Tarakam, Katti Padmarao, Endluri Sudhakar, Shikamani, Boya Jangaiah di
Theresh Babu, Nagappagori Sunder Raju, and Dalit feminist writers like
Boyi Vijaya Barathi, Challapalli Swaroopa Rani, Madduri Vijaya Rani, Darisi
Sasinirmala, G. Vijayalakshmi Rani, Karri Vijakumari, Seetha Mahalakshmi,
Nakka Vijaya Bharathi, Jajula Gouri, Gogu Syamala, Jupaka Subhadra, M.
Gouri were well-known faces of Telangana. Revolutionary singer Belli
Lalita was the convener of Telangana Kala Samiti, an organization affiliated to
Telangana Jana Sabha. Through her folk and cultural performances, she propa-
gated the demand for separate Telangana since the 1990s. She was also a leader
of Dol-Debba (an association of Yadavas).
25. Compared to that of Telangana, the demand for these states was not
serious or urgent.
26. Professor Kothapalli Jayashankar was a student activist in 1952 agitation
and a teacher-activist in the Jai Telangana Movement in 1969. He was against
the formation of Vishalandhra.
27. According to Nag (2011: 123–4), KCR was not the only man to tap the
opportunity that presented itself. Ale Narendra, known as ‘Tiger’, a three-term
BJP MLA and two-term MP had been weighing his position after breaking
away from BJP. He floated his own outfit, Telangana Sadhna Samithi (TSS).
In August 2002, Narendra merged TSS with TRS, pledging to work jointly
for the cause of a new state.
28. Telangana Jana Sabha was formed in 1998 by Akula Bhoomiaha. TJS,
along with its sister organizations, Telangana Students Front and Telangana
Kala Samiti, made a great impact on the movement during the late 1990s and
early 2000s.
29. TeNA started a magazine called Tengedu, which covers news and articles
on Telangana political and social developments. Some Osmania professors and
activists write articles for this magazines.
30. After the formation of Telangana state, TeNA has been organizing
parades and showcasing Telangana identity and culture by displaying Telangana
symbols such as Bathukamma, Bonalu, Pochampally sarees, Pembarthy metal
works, Warangal Fort Thoranam, Charminar, and displaying Kakatheeya
Thonranam, bathukammalu, bonalu, peerlu, and pictures of Telangana legends
and icons.
31. Available at http://missiontelangana.com/suryapet-shows-the-power-
of-telangana-movement/
32. He was a school teacher but his passion for Telangana movement made
him a popular singer. He is considered the personal advisor of KCR.
33. Paolo Freire, in his Pedagogy of the Oppressed (1970), observes the poten-
tial of education to challenge the oppressive myths and ideologies dominant
in postcolonial life and encourage the possibility of freedom through critical
thinking and transformation of the self. His approach to the classroom empha-
sized praxis, where ideas are put into thoughtful, reflective practice to achieve
social change.
34. Interview at his residence in Hyderabad, on 1 September 2013.
35. 10 July 1968 was observed as ‘Telangana Safeguards Day’ by Telangana
people in response to the injustice done to them.
36. Interviewed on 30 August 2013.
37. Before May 1969, MCR was a minister in the central government
and prior to that he was a minister in Andhra Pradesh under Brahmananda
Reddy. Gandhi made him a central minister and therefore, he had to resign
from his MLA seat. When he was contesting, his opponent, Mr Vandemataram
Ramchandra Rao (famous ideologue of the Vande Mataram movement in the
1940s), filed a nomination against him. MCR won but V. Ramchandra Rao
filed a case against him in Supreme Court, and ultimately, his ministership was
nullified by the court and he was barred for six years from elections. He was
compelled to resign as a minister. He became politically unemployed. He found
the opportunity to join the Telangana movement, not as a politician.There was
a Reddy domination in Telangana region. He made the Telangana movement
his full time job, and headed the Telangana Praja Samiti, formed by OU students.
38. MCR was acquainted with Gopal Krishna, the elder brother of TPS
president, Madan Mohan. He expressed his desire to become president of
TPS. Soon, Madan Mohan handed over the chairmanship of TPS to MCR.
39. Taken and translated from Lokeshwar, P. 2007. Pratyeka Telangana Udyamala
Charithra (Third Reprint), p. 62. Hyderabad: Gandhi Publication.
40. This incident and such severe nature of the movement has been recorded
by a local reporter and later published in many books.
41. Identity is a group action that occurs again and again over time by way
of action, decisions, processes, and structures (Clark and Hoffmann-Martinot
1998: 214).
42. Special Issue dated 5 June 1969, republished in 1969 Udyammamu-
Charitraka Patralu 2 (eds) by Tadikamalla Vivek, et al., Telangana History
Society, Hyderabad 2009.
43. The Hindu, 23 January 1970. During these student agitations, residents of
Hyderabad who were basically from the Andhra region were scared because
there were some students who spread rumours about the evacuation ‘Andhra
settlers’. However, yet there was no such incident.
44. ‘Bid to End Telangana Agitation’, The Hindu, 24 January 1969.
46. Prime Minister Indira Gandhi was against the bifurcation: ‘I stand firmly
for an integrated state … There is an overall rationality in the foundation
of our states and we should be very careful not to break the foundation of
rationality in momentary passion’ (Gray 1974: 183).
47. In 1972, when the Supreme Court upheld the Mulki rules, the Jai
Andhra Movement was started in Coastal Andhra and Rayalaseema regions
with the aim of reforming a separate state of Andhra.The movement lasted for
110 days.The Supreme Court upheld the implementation of Mulki rules.The
people from the Andhra region viewed the Mulki rules as ‘treating them like
aliens in their own land’, according to Sunil, an OU activist.
48. Interviewed on 22 June 2013.
49. Since the establishment of Vrasam (Revolutionary Writers Association)
in 1970 and Jana Natya Mandali in 1972, educational institutions became the
centre for spreading the revolutionary culture and ideology, inspired from
the Naxalbari movement. In October 1974, Andhra Pradesh Radical Student
Union (APRSU) was formed based on the radical ideology of Marx, Lenin,
and Mao.
50. The Naxalite youth upsurge is perhaps the best remembered because of
the participation of several brilliant students from elite institutions, the most
famous among which was Presidency College in Kolkata. Many of these
students joined the movement out of a sense of disillusionment with the exist-
ing educational system and with the socio-economic condition prevailing in
the urban areas.The Naxalbari uprising provided these students with a sense of
purpose and oriented them further towards armed (Dasgupta 2006).
51. From the focus group discussion on 26 September 2013.
53. Students supported MCR by making him the leader of their political
party but he abandoned them by merging TPS with the Congress party.
54. Interviewed on 25 June 2013 in his hostel.
55. Available at http://www.deccanabroad.com/telangana-dhoom-dhaam-
atlanta-rasamai-balkishan-show-saturday-july-23rd/, accessed 28 August 2016.
3 Campus Networks and Agitations
The Making of a Student Activist
Examining everyday practices extends our understanding of how the processes

work in any protest or movement.
Alberto Melucci (1996)
This chapter attempts to present the ‘lifeworld’ that activists inhabited
at Osmania University (OU). It examines various networks student
activists formed and explores the inner mechanisms of their activism.
What motivates a student to choose a path of activism? How can we
understand the campus culture in relation to activists’ backgrounds
and their understanding of the movement? Ethnographic observations,
interviews with old and new leaders, insights from informal and formal
chats and discussions, as well as popular slogans from a year of fieldwork
from December 2012 to December 2013 are presented. What elements
of daily campus life and culture helped in the production and function-
ing of various networks? How did students change the tide to make it
a mass movement for Telangana? To understand this, the ethnographer
investigated the spatial practices of activists and became a keen par-
ticipant observer. The chapter discusses how students are inducted to a
‘network culture’, trained and made part of the movement on campus
and shows how networks are rooted in Telangana cultural ethos.
ORGANIC LINKAGES BETWEEN ACTIVISTS

AND CAMPUS
Sunil parks his bike in front of his college. He gets off slowly as his
concentration is fixed on the building’s wall which is flooded with
DOI: 10.1093/oso/9780199488414.003.0004
coloured posters and pamphlets of different student organizations,

both in Telugu and English. Pictures of student leaders overpower the
text. He closely examines them and finds his own picture in his orga-
nization’s poster. This gives him deep satisfaction, and with confident
look on his face he walks up the stairs and bows his head in front of
the building. As he walks into the corridors, the guard and peon of
the building greet him with ‘Namastey Anna’ [Hello, brother], and
he reciprocates the greeting. His doctoral supervisor approaches him
from the opposite direction and he nods his head to greet. His guide
shakes hands with him. Sunil replies, ‘Nenu bagunnanu’ [I am fine].
They spend a few minutes chatting over a cup of tea. Sunil invites
his guide for a post-lunch protest organized by his student union.
He comes out of the college building and rings some of his friends
asking them to bring the banner for the protest. Within half an hour,
there is a small tent set up in front of the building. In no time, almost
50 activists gather together shouting Jai Telangana and give speeches
to the standing audience. The principal of the college also delivers a
10-minute speech. Non-teaching employees of the university con-
gregate in a corner, sipping tea and chatting, glancing at the numer-
ous posters on the wall. Meanwhile, students on bikes continue to
arrive. In the next 10 minutes, media vans are seen buzzing around.
Sunil and three other leaders speak to the Telugu media and warn the
government that if they do not form a separate statehood, students
will sacrifice their lives for Telangana. When the media leaves, Sunil
mounts his bike and with two other activists, both on their phones,
sets out to mobilize more students in the hostels for an upcoming
protest march organized by the students’ Joint Action Committee.
The scene described above is typical of Arts College, the most
popular and prestigious college among 400 other affiliated colleges of
OU. This college served as a popular landmark for activists’ meetings
and the epicentre of Telangana activism. The majestic building of Arts
College is made of pink granite and a grand archway at the centre is
flanked by huge doorways. In front of this is a long, ornamental foun-
tain. Most of the activist meetings are held inside this building. Strikes,
public gatherings, sit-ins, rallies, and processions are held in front of the
building, known for its awe-inspiring facade.
Arts College is surrounded by small parks which are maintained by
the college administration. During the evening, students gather here
Campus Networks and Agitations 111
to have tea at one of the nearby food stalls. The park is a common site
for students—whether activists or not—to meet informally. This space
is of historic and symbolic significance to the spirit of the movement.
In many ways, the park served as the interface between the student
movement and the general public. Every evening, families and friends
from the nearby areas come to pass their leisure time. As a result, they
have become spectators to the frequent protests at the Arts College.
The area is large enough to hold rallies and state level protests. As it
is located on the OU main road, it gathers crowds from the passing
traffic, pedestrians, and local tourists. From this road, passers-by are
able to view the college and park. People sitting in the park view the
posters, banners, and flags set up by the students on daily basis as pro-
grammes are frequently organized by various student unions, even after
the state’s formation. OU alumni who visit fondly recount their time
at Arts College and remember the martyrs of the 1969 agitation. Thus,
for nearby residents, the Arts College main building is the symbol of
struggle, dedication, and activism.
During the 2009 agitation, students held a rally called Vidyarthi
Mahagarjana. Newspapers estimated that around two to three hun-
dred thousand people participated. Students did not vacate the park
for nearly a month. They played revolutionary songs, dramas, and
gave speeches alongside social activists. During field research in 2013,
the OU Madiga Students’ Front organized a massive meeting, which
was addressed by the popular Madiga leader, Mr M. Krishna Madiga.
During this rally, more than 50 news cameras covered the event. Media
vehicles packed the road. Students from Kakatiya and other state uni-
versities joined the rally and called their relatives and families to join,
making it a family affair.
Although the park is a public space, it serves as an ‘identity affirming
space’ (Carter 2007). This kind of space is qualitatively different than
other public spaces as it is an expression of society. Castells (1983) aptly
states, ‘Space is not a reflection of society; it is society’. This society,
rooted in local culture, has its linkages with the Telangana movement.
It is the extension of the Arts College. Sunder, a vendor who sell snacks
in the park every day from 11 am to 9 pm shares his viewpoint with a
shy expression: ‘I wish there is agitation everyday … it will bring more
business. Without these rallies or protests, this park and my business
both seem lifeless’.1
Aside from rallies, protests, or meetings, wedding receptions are

another occasion where student activists network and display their stat-
ure within in the community. What is interesting about this site is that
it is one rare occasion where student activists across party lines come
together. Student leaders bring along their supporters, and the number
of supporter shows his strength or power. Often times, popular politi-
cal figures of the movement (such as Kalvakuntala Chandrashekhar
Rao (henceforth KCR), President of Telangana Rashtra Samiti (TRS);
Professor Kodandaram; and Gaddar) attend these receptions. It is
important to note that these wedding functions are an open invita-
tion to all Telangana activists. Other activists, journalists, professors, and
local and national politicians concerned with Telangana issues are also
invited. In this way, every kind of social gathering—marriage ceremo-
nies included—serve as a medium of networking among Telangana
activists.
For the masses, being a Telangana activist is considered very hon-
ourable. Those who have arranged marriages customarily receive
a sizable dowry. Their activism adds as a plus point to their profile
and in negotiations for a larger dowry. To make an impression on a
prospective bride’s family, activists show files of news coverage with
pictures showing them addressing or leading a rally. These pictures are
also uploaded on social media, typically Facebook. Other activists have
their picture taken with a famous personality or politician, and this
photo is used in their marriage profile (bio-data). Similar to pamphlets
and posters, wedding invitations also have the slogan, ‘Jai Telangana, Jai
Jai Telangana’ printed on the card.
The researcher had the opportunity to attend two student wed-
ding receptions, both of which were held on campus and were open
to the entire university. To be sure, these were ideal opportunities
to witness a unique tradition among activists as well as meet new
activists. Everyone proudly introduced themselves and their asso-
ciation with the Telangana movement and exchanged their visit-
ing cards. Most of the cards labelled their role as state president or
chairman, Osmania University-Joint Action Committee (OU-JAC)
or TS-JAC, and at the same time, as office bearer of Madiga Student
Federation (MSF) or Telangana Student Front (TSF), and so on.
Nearly all visiting cards are printed in English. This indicates a
political aspiration to connect with all political leadership, especially
to the ruling party ruling at the centre. The cards also show their
pride in declaring themselves part of the Telangana movement.
Ever-present is the OU logo and the slogan Jai Telangana (Long
Live Telangana). When asked ‘why only Jai Telangana, why not Jai
Osmania?’, an activist replied, ‘See brother, everyone knows that we
[students] all are from Osmania. But our visiting cards are temporary.
We are fighting for our Telangana identity which is our permanent
affiliation. We have printed our dream and our goal on these cards.
Jai Telangana!’
Such a prompt reply makes one think how seasoned these activists
have become in delivering memorable sound bites, easily quotable, and
digestible by the media.
Interestingly, out of the 47 student activists from the 2009 agitations
who were surveyed, 40 were married with children. Three got mar-
ried as fieldwork was conducted and four were bachelors, including
one who has taken an oath that he ‘will never marry, but will serve
the people of Telangana as a political leader’. Such is the dedication
to the movement, but more importantly, it points to how the move-
ment affected all aspects of life. Marriage, personal appearance and
dress, vocation and lifestyle were all confronted with the mission of
Telangana independence.
Among left-wing students, there is also a trend to oppose tradi-
tional forms of rituals and celebrations. There were occasions when
the Left students were married after a public talk or seminar orga-
nized by their party. With little preparation or arrangements, they
exchange garlands in front of a small gathering, as a token of mar-
riage. Left parties and Dalit students of Osmania campuses have set
such examples to oppose the traditional ritualistic way of marrying,
with dowry and pomp and show. A Progressive Democratic Student
Union (PDSU) activist describes his marriage experience, ‘I had such
a simple marriage, in a seminar. After all the speeches by our teach-
ers, we exchanged our garland and everyone clapped and greeted us.
My parents were at the stage. My wife is from Andhra region … we
faced lots of difficulties but then after we had our baby, things started
getting better.’
Such programmes on campus hailed a new culture among activ-
ists that that made a social statement. This was one of many cultural
contributions credited to the Telangana movement. An activist, Murali,
whose brother committed suicide in 2010 due to poverty, shared a

philosophy behind the trend of simple celebrations:
Peasants and common masses are committing suicide in Telangana
due to poverty and it is ironic to see that people are spending lavishly
in their wedding functions. What is the use of this education if we
cannot think about the situation of our fellow human beings? I am
happy at least our Osmania students are trying to bring cultural
change by introducing new rituals.2
This new cultural pattern is unique among students of Osmania and
is partially resulted out of consciousness provided by the movements. It
is also interesting to note how all aspects of their lives, including the act
of marriage, take place within campus space, with the university com-
munity serving as a surrogate family. Such celebrations inspire other
students to emulate these practices and join the cause. They also influ-
ence and change thinking around dowry and inter-caste marriages,
beyond the walls of campus.
IDENTITY NETWORKS AND ACTIVISM ON CAMPUS

Networks played an essential role in the mass movement for Telangana
statehood. Students were mobilized on their cultural identity of
belonging to Telangana as well as their caste background, since the vast
majority of students at OU belong to other backward classes (OBC),
scheduled caste (SC), and scheduled tribe (ST) communities. Melucci
(1985, 1986) places great emphasis on the role of everyday processes of
networking, learning, and construction of meaning in a social move-
ment. Networks are consciously organized to protest and demonstrate.
Everyday practices can ‘develop and establish relationship of coopera-
tion, learning a culture of experimentation with political idea about
everyday life’3 (Yates 2015: 238). The everyday life of an activist in
a university campus influences students and shapes their aspirations
for Telangana state. What follows is an account of one activist the
researcher observed. It demonstrates the web of networks an activist
creates around himself, in order to ‘get the work of the movement
done’, as they say.
The day is 14th April, the birth anniversary of Dr B.R. Ambedkar, the
father of the Indian Constitution. It is a busy day for Manish as he
is invited to speak at six different programmes. He wakes up around

8:30 a.m. with the sound of flipping of newspaper pages, as his three
roommates are reading the news coverage of the previous day’s function
which they all attended. As his phone rings, Manish leaves his room, his
toothbrush sticking out of his mouth as he greets his hostel mates.
Manish is the general-secretary of the Telangana Student Union and a
leader of the OU-JAC. As a Dalit leader, he has been invited in his village
to participate in another programme organized by the district commit-
tee of the Telangana Rashtra Samiti.There are three parallel programmes
running in Arts College entitled ‘Ambedkar’s Idea on Separate State’,
‘Ambedkar and Social Justice’, and ‘Ambedkar’s Ideas on Nation’. Manish
has not prepared any speech yet, but he is not too worried. He
gives up searching for material on Google, as it is all in English, which
he struggles with. He finds online speeches on Ambedkar by activist
Professors Kancha Ilaiah and Kodandaram and begins taking notes in
Telugu. Meanwhile, he receives call after call from the various pro-
gramme organizers, reminding him of the programmes. He reassures
them he will come.The first programme is scheduled for 10 a.m. but he
doesn’t plan to arrive before 12:30 p.m. First, he needs to visit his party’s
office to show his face—one doesn’t get far in politics if one does not
network with the big leaders.To display his status, he brings ten students
with him. One of them arranges for a big car. They arrive at 11:30 a.m.
There are around 100 people waiting for their leader to come. In the
mean-time, Manish introduces himself to many other student leaders
and popular main-stream leaders with his visiting cards. He constantly
receives phone calls and continues to reassure them that he is on his
way. Finally, the party leader comes around 1:30 p.m. and has lunch with
party workers. After lunch, the party leader distributes T-shirts printed
with Ambedkar’s image. Around 3 p.m., he returns to Arts College to
attend the programme organized by the Girijana student association
which was supposed to start at 10 a.m. and end at 1 p.m. The organisers
make way for him through the audience up to the dais. He spends one
hour listening to other speakers before he gives a 10-minute speech.
He immediately leaves for another programme at Nizam College. At
5 p.m., he gives a press statement with seven other student leaders at Arts
College regarding separate Telangana. This lasts about an hour. There is
yet another programme organized by the Gulla Kulam Student Front,
but Manish is not able to attend. At 10 p.m., after having dinner with
students from the Madiga Student Forum, he returns to his room. He is
greeted by three guests—none of whom he has met before—but who
were sent by one of his close activist friends. He goes to another friend’s
room to sleep. He is welcomed warmly and they go for tea with six
junior students from another hostel. They chat and smoke for two hours.
The discussion centres on the activists’ struggle to approach and curry
favour with politicians. Around 2 a.m., he goes to his bed while check-
ing Facebook for comments and likes to his recent posts.
Student leaders do not attend any programme alone—there is
always a group of students who forms an entourage. They assist with
receiving phone calls for him and arranging his schedule. They never
say no to any request; ‘Yes, anna. Sure, anna’ is their answer to every call.
Manish explains why this is so:‘Anna, this is all about maintaining good
relations and meeting new people. We work in different organisations
but are connected. We all are the same. We all struggle for the separate
statehood for Telangana’. As a student leader, Manish is well aware that
he needs to devote substantial time networking. Networking is an
important aspect of student politics, especially in movements. Manish
dresses every morning in the same clothing: blue jeans and a white
shirt with a pocket, where he keeps his smartphone. He belongs to a
poor family from a rural area of Nalagonda district in Telangana. The
happiest moment of his life was gaining admission in OU as an MA
student. It took him two years to prepare for the entrance exam. He
explains:
I came to Hyderabad with only one aim: to study in Arts College.
I stayed with one of my friends for a few months. It was expensive
living in the city. I used to come here to Osmania to learn from students
how to crack the entrance exam. I also started preparing for competi-
tive exams. When I got admission in Telugu literature, that day I was so
happy when I told this news to my family, they distributed sweets in
my village. Living in the capital and having your own room is the most
important thing in one’s life. Slowly, I began mixing with all kinds of
students and parties and now I know people in politics, media, bureau-
cracy, police and academia. Recently in my brother’s wedding, I invited
all the big names in Telangana and they all came to attend the reception.
For the majority of OU activists, their first visit to Hyderabad is
once they have gained admission to Osmania. As many come from
villages and towns across Telangana, the shift is significant. It is matter
of pride for their families and relatives to be part of the capital city.
Settling in Hyderabad is equated with making valuable connections
and being part of a cosmopolitan network. However, after students
arrive in the city, they quickly become aware of the level of competi-
tion they face in exams, jobs, and housing and the marriage market.
NETWORKING AT WORK
OU is considered the most popular and prestigious university in the
region. Almost 85 per cent of students come from the Telangana region
and the rest are from Hyderabad.4 Most students who join OU are
products of the Andhra Pradesh Residential School system, which
has branches across the state. Students who earn the state scholarship
receive free education and lodging in these schools. A large section of
these students who come to Osmania belong to economically lower-
class families, and are the first in their family to attend a university. At
OU, they become members of the Andhra Pradesh Residential School
Alumnus Association on campus. There is a feeling of solidarity and
friendship among this group, especially as most of them are SCs or STs.
Explaining the reason behind this, Amar,5 an activist from a radical
student group recounts:
During our school days, some Leftist groups used to come and dis-
tribute their pamphlets on various social problems. The content in the
pamphlets was so radical and anti-government but was very appealing
to us. These pamphlets enhanced our understanding about activism and
Telangana problems. In their speeches they used to mention Osmania
University and its history of producing radical activists. The first time
I got to know about George Reddy who was a brilliant scholar and
Left ideologue in 1970s; but he was shot dead by the Right-wing in
his hostel. That scene was just imprinted in my mind. I was so excited
to read about such leaders. My group of friends started dreaming of
studying in Osmania.
Because of their exposure to these ideologues, students who graduate
from these schools have a heightened awareness of Telangana issues and
are sympathetic to the cause for statehood. That, combined with the
solidarity they experience when arriving at OU and the intense activ-
ism on campus, serves to crystallize their involvement in the movement.
For every movement to survive, enlisting new members to sustain
the activism is crucial. Predictably, thousands of new students arriv-
ing on campus every July become the target of activists’ recruitment
efforts. Building trust is of prime importance, and various student
groups compete for this trust. Social networks are important channels
for the recruitment of new students. Diani and McAdam (2003: 33)
explain the structural function of networks as it operates in two orga-
nizations studied. They hypothesized that the individuals who have
social ties with people already involved in a movement organization
are more likely to become involved in that organization. But for new-
comers who are not ‘connected’, trust becomes an important aspect
before joining an organization.6 Trust keeps the movement spirit
going, despite the ‘ebbs and flows of social interactions’ (Diani and
McAdam 2003: 36).
Activists from different parties on campus compete to win the trust
of ‘new comer’ students. Deepak, an ST student who comes from a
lower middle-class family, states:
Telangana issue is very genuine and we are so concerned about having a
separate state. But I had never thought that I will be so actively involved
in the movement and sacrifice my academic career. Sometimes I feel
that I was not meant for leadership but it was due to the police and
government attitude towards us which makes us activists. I remember
during 2009–2010 agitations, police registered some cases against us.
My name also came in the list as protesters.When I saw my name, I was
shocked to see that every possible criminal charge was made against us.
I had sleepless nights. My dream of joining into academics was shattering.
I had no other option except stick with the activists and running after
court and politicians to remove my charges. We had only one hope that
if Telangana comes, we will get rid of these charges.
When new students take admission at Arts College (as well as other
colleges), activists greet students at the time of admission and offer
assistance. They provide them with free university admission booklets
which feature various student parties. For a new student, it is the first
exposure to campus politics.
All student organizations ‘publish’ their own information booklets.
Though they all contain the same information—the university syl-
labus and fee structure—the cover page is added by student unions
who wish to advertise their party. Interestingly, for this rather costly
coloured printing, student unions find sponsors, which are generally
the owners of private engineering or medical colleges. This helps stu-
dent unions cover the cost of these publications. These booklets attract
new students who come from rural areas, as they think it is the official
university booklet and that the student union is an official univer-

sity entity. Interestingly, OU does not have any official unions; since
1988, student union elections have been banned.Yet, even without any
formal student unions, activism remained alive and flourished due to
students’ unwavering commitment to the Telangana cause. Moreover,
the university itself proved to be a safe and nurturing haven for the
‘business’ of movement activism.
For activists, ‘new students’ are not only those who are enrolled in
the university but also those who prepare to enter the following year
and who currently stay in the OU hostels illegally as ‘non-boarders’.
Non-boarders are usually enrolled in a coaching centre to prepare for
a range of competitive exams. These coaching centres charge a sizable
tuition fee—unaffordable for poor, rural students. OU student activists
help these students gain admission in coaching centres. They bargain
with the coaching centres’ director or manager to lower the fee by
almost half. In some cases, they are able to get a full fee waiver. This
is the strategy to win the trust of newcomers and gain their support.
Activists invest their time in helping them, banking on the fact that
they will inevitably wind up at the university. Many youths who try to
survive in expensive city like Hyderabad will sooner or later aspire to
become a university student to get subsidized accommodation. Once
they join OU, activists can count on their participation and backing
whenever there is a call for any rally or agitation. In fact, some student
leaders have used their unions’ power to establish a nexus between
coaching centres and student unions. Campus walls are flooded with
advertisements for coaching institutes.
Geographic location has also been an important aspect for any
kind of networking. Crossley (2012) states that urbanization had this
effect because it drew large groups of individuals with similar interests
together, allowing them to form networks and thereby to influence one
another, organize and mount collective actions. He suggests that uni-
versity campuses have a similar effect. Thousands of Osmania students
reside beyond the hostel area in three areas called Taranaka, Uppal, and
Basti. They are a stone’s throw from campus, and are home to many
students after they get married. Even then, they continue making use
of their allotted room on campus until the submission of their doctoral
thesis. As per the flexible university rules, there is no fixed deadline for
PhD thesis submission. ‘Career’ student activists are by-products of this
policy, which contributes to the way in which the university serves as

a fertile site of resistance.
Types of Networks
Like other campuses, national and regional political parties have estab-
lished student wings in OU, all of which support the movement for
separate Telangana. In 2013, there were more than twenty major parties
on campus. Activism from the National Congress Party’s student wing,
National Student Union of India (NSUI),7 spiked in 2009, when the
Indian government indicated Telangana state formation was imminent.
The Bahujan Student Front (BSF), the unofficial student wing8 of the
Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP), failed to gain traction despite the domi-
nance of SC/ST/OBC students on campus. This may be due to the
party’s limited vote bank in the state. Due to their ambiguous stand
on Telangana, the Bhartiya Janata Party (BJP) and Telugu Desam Party
(TDP) were comparatively late in the game in establishing their stu-
dent unions on campus; they changed their stance several times before
eventually supporting the movement.9
However, many left-wing student parties had the similar ambigui-
ties, causing disillusion among students. According to activists, it was
because of ‘ideological differences’. However, analysing the number of
divisions and groups, it appears to be personal differences within lead-
ership rather than ideological. Therefore, some activists, after work-
ing in several left groups, began to work independently in search of a
political mentor. Gaddar, a 1972 alumnus and dedicated leader, gained
popularity as a revolutionary face of the movement. Masses regard
his contribution to the movement. Similarly, Rasmai Balkrishnan
(the founder of a cultural group called Dhoom-Dhaam), and Akala
Bhumaiah also had a huge fan following on campus. Each activist
maintains his own personal network that extends beyond the campus.
The oldest student wing working on campus is PDSU.10 It gained
popularity on campus because of its committed leadership and vision-
ary approach post-Telangana politics. It questions that post-separate
statehood, how would the government solve the problems of unem-
ployment, farmers’ suicide, land issues, and so on. It helped the stu-
dents to understand and be aware of the Telangana politicians who are
upper caste feudal lords. PDSU’s approach has been to make students
understand and highlight the likelihood of a Telangana state which

would be ‘as gloomy as it is now because it would be a power transfer
from Andhra capitalists to Telangana feudal lords’, according to Rajesh,
one of the OU-JAC leaders. To some extent, the ideological network-
ing does try to answer the larger questions but there is no mobilization
on this basis. The divide between the Left and the Right also seems
blurred. In every existing ideology, the membership and leadership
is largely of lower-caste students who also represent the separate
Telangana movement and other significant issues such as reservation,
caste atrocities, and caste injustice.
Where student parties failed, JACs flourished. JACs are the best
example of mobilization process of the movement and one of the most
organic. JAC has been an ideal framework for the movement to reach
out to the masses. This trend can also be looked as a democratization
process within movement institution. This democratic representation
among the students reflected in their mobilization and unionization.
Therefore, by the end of 2012, there were voices from every caste, reli-
gion, and cultural front. Such collectivities have identity-sets, according
to Oommen (2010: 38). They have multiple identities. JAC represented
those whom Oommen would define as ‘the dominated and stigmatised
are in search of dignity which democracy promises but does not always
deliver’ (Oommen 2010: 42). A democracy cannot function if the insti-
tutional logic of the system is made subservient to the personal ambition
or the ideological predilections of political leaders (Varshney 1998: 44).
JAC served as an ideal equalizer between personal ambition of student
leaders and their commitment to the demand of separate Telangana.
Caste-Based Networks
A new student’s initial network tends to form easily on the basis of
one’s affiliation to their hometown or village, caste, or alma mater. Each
caste organization on campus organizes welcome parties—‘Freshers’
Welcome’—for new students. Gradually, new Osmanians become
well informed on Telangana’s problems and politics and join the cause.
Whenever there is a call for strike, rally, or protest, these networks make
the mobilization easier for activists.
Gradually, caste issues and interests started taking precedence in
Telangana student politics. Melucci (cited in Diani and McAdam 2003:
306–7) argues that ‘“who identifies whom and is identified by whom

as part of a movement” is an interesting question …’ However, caste
controls their known circle and limits their personal networks. But to
make close connections, a student leader connects with new students
in different ways:
1. Arranging admissions for new students in the schools and colleges

and especially coaching centre. Activists help the concerned students
who are unable to pay high fees of private colleges or coaching cen-
tres for civil services. The student leaders talk to the director of the
college and try to settle down fees and other expenses. Sometimes
he is able to get these students full fee concession. As the majority
of students prepare for group I and group II services, they study by
themselves and avoid taking coaching. But arranging for coaching
classes at affordable rates is the best medium for an activist to win
favour from new students.
2. With their political connection, student activists help the common
students to get an ad-hoc job in the degree college as a lecturer.This
is another way to attract the common students and win their trust.
There is a huge number of such jobs. Colleges in Hyderabad have
more than 50 per cent ad-hoc staff.
As stated earlier, the vast majority of students on campus belong

to lower castes (STs, SCs, and OBCs). By 2013, there were more
than 50 subcastes represented on campus. As a result, more than 15
major caste organizations were formed. Caste solidarity works at a
much deeper level than any other form of identity or ideology. In
Telangana, the largest population among SCs are the Madigas. Because
of the organization, Madiga Reservation Porata Samiti (MRPS), which
later became a movement, their platform is wholly tied to caste. The
MRPS emerged against the dominance of Malas in government jobs
and therefore their demand centred on creating a subcategorization of
reservation. As the largest beneficiaries of reservation policy, Malas
have the highest cultural capital among SCs. Many of them are
journalists, writers, academicians, and politicians.
The MRPS movement originated in 1994 with a demand of
reservation on the basis of subcategorization. Thereafter, sub-caste
leadership began to emerge and by 2010 it was much more prevalent
in politics.11 MRPS formed its student wing, the MSF, on campus.
Student leader Vengapalli Srinivas was instrumental in its formation.

Many villages where Madiga students came from hoisted a flag of
MRPS to counter the TRS flag. After MSF, there were other popular
caste groups such as BC Sankshema Sangam (founded by Ramarao),
Telangana Girijana Vidyarthi Sangam (TGVS; founded by Nehru
Naik), Bahujan Student Union, Telangana Praja Front, and Telangana
Bahujan Vidyarthi Vedika.
Ajay, a history student spoke about his experience:
When I came to this hostel, I did not know anybody. I had no friends.
Then I got to know that if I have to get an ad-hoc job, I had to make
friends with the student leaders. I attended dozens of their program to
just be in their eyes. Many times, I had to mobilise students for their
programs. It took me few months to get to know everybody and then
I started approaching them for this job. Finally, I got it through their
approach. Now, for the past three years, I have been teaching ad-hoc.
But still I have shown loyalty towards them. If they ask for any help or
money, I give them. I have to be part of the movement as they assure us that
if our own state Telangana is formed, we will be getting permanent jobs.
This is an effective network to connect not only with new students
but also with those who are aspirants of joining the university. Senior
activists try to bring new students from their own villages and their
relatives to prepare them for activism. Thus, Osmania activists have
approached students from different venues. After all, the formations on
campus are not solely for the mobilization for Telangana; there were
other issues which were contributing to this activism.
Campus Political Networks

Osmania activists have established their network nationally and glob-
ally. They try to connect with every possible state and country where
Telangana people reside and encourage them to form their JAC.
Student groups who are affiliated by the mainstream political parties
get some amount of funding from their parent party. For example,
TRS, TDP, and NSUI invest some money in such organization. These
student leaders have to keep meeting the local head or their parent
party. Every leader has a bike and has to run around. There is no rest
for a leader. If there is any call from the party regarding protest, they
have to mobilize students and organize protests on own his own. ‘We
collect money from professors and also from students to organise these
protests’, says Mohit, a leader from NSUI. ‘I am emotionally attached
with the movement, I sacrificed everything for this movement with
this hope that we will work only when we will get our own separate
state’.
Himesh,12 a Telugu literature student who writes all the pamphlets
for his OBC organization explain the ideology of the movement:
Now, the movement is not limited to Telangana only. It has brought
a cultural revolution. We are opposing the celebration of Ganesh
Chaturthi on campus. We are celebrating Mahisaur, Ravana, Hidimba etc.
We projected our Telangana icon Komaram Bheem along with Phule,
Ambedkar and Periyar. We want Dalit-Bhaujan Telangana where power
should be in our hand. On the other hand,TRS wants power, they don’t
care about Telangana.
However, Jitendra, a Telangana Rashtra Samiti Vidyarthi Vibhagam
(TRSV) ideologue, says, ‘people give different argument saying that
irrespective of politics, we have to first get our Telangana. But these
communist and other ideologies are delaying this process. They don’t
understand what we are saying that let Telangana come into existence
and then you can fight for whatever you want’.
Apart from the political differences, TRSV actively participated
in all the rallies and marches organized by the JAC such as Chalo
Assembly; Chalo Parliament; Chalo Delhi; Chalo Hyderabad; Million
March; Vidyarthi Garjana, Vidyathi Mahagarjana, and so on. Beyond
their caste, class, and ideological difference, students and common
masses actively participate in all of these protests. The common goal
of achieving their statehood evoked regional sentiments.The intensity
of these protests can be better understood when we compare it with
the Jai Andhra movement that emerged only to counter Telangana
movement.
K. Srinivasulu, who is now a retired engineer but was actively
involved in the 1969 activism, claims:
What makes an activist is his ideological commitment to the issue. Ide-
ology can be anything but one has to be committed honestly which
requires lots of sacrifice. In case of Andhra, we don’t see a single leader,
professor, Chancellor or anybody from the any district coming out
and devote their life for united Andhra. They give press statement and
then disappear. They are all over the media because it is their media,
with their small protests in Hyderabad. We lost thousands of people but

they call our demand political. Isn’t this ironic, that we are nowhere in
mainstream politics, but we are ‘political’ for them who have ruined our
movement and our politics.
Expressing similar anger, the former principal of Arts College,
remembers a time during 2009–10 agitation:
I was getting calls from the politicians, from police, from media about
how to tackle the student agitation in front of Arts College. I had to
save students’ life and also control their anger. I tried my best to pro-
vide them what I could as the issues they were fighting were larger but
nobody could imagine their vision. I had complete trust on students.
Media also played an important part in making the claim of
Telangana movement at the national and global level. However, the
ownership of media was another question which was raised by the
movement leaders.When the question of Andhra ownership came into
existence, the question of caste also emerged at the same time. An
activist highlights the lack of equity: ‘Isn’t it ironic that each time we
have to go to Andhra businessmen to publish our pamphlet and poster
for our anti-Andhra protest, because they have big printing establish-
ment. This is a question to ask why we [from Telangana] were not
given equal representation in business by the government. Are we lazy
or are they afraid of us?’
Table 3.1 provides a picture of the Andhra upper-caste dominance
in media. All the 15 major media houses in Andhra Pradesh are con-
trolled by the upper-caste Andhra businessmen.
Such data was mentioned by speakers in public talks on Telangana
held at Arts College. Student activists collected data on caste and
discussed it in their meetings. The movement eventually entangled
with the caste–class issue. The cultural difference and regional imbal-
ances are further accentuated by the alliances among the upper castes13
(Bheenaveni 2013). With the consciousness of Andhra ownership, a
large section of students started boycotting Andhra films. Amit, a PhD
student of economics and a left-wing activist, starts his day by reading
a minimum three newspapers. He spoke of the effect of the boycott on
news coverage in the region: ‘Since we decided to boycott Andhra films,
Andhra media got scared and they started covering news on Telangana.
Since our Telangana businessmen started one newspaper called
Namastey Telangana, it posed a challenge for the Andhra newspapers.
TABLE 3.1 Andhra Upper-Caste Dominance in Media

Media House Ownership
1 Enadu Kamma
2 Vaartha Vaishya
3 Saakshi Reddy
4 Andhra Jyoti Vaishya
5 Andhra Prabha Vaishya
6 Andhra Bhoomi Reddy
7 Prajashakti Reddy
8 Vishalandhra Reddy
9 Deccan Chronicle Reddy
10 ETV Kamma
11 TV9 Kamma/Raju/Reddy
12 TV 5 Kamma
13 Gemini Kamma
14 NTV Kamma
15 Maa TV Raju, Kapu/Kamma
Source: Various pamphlets published by the student organizations.
This is their business strategy. For businessmen, people’s emotions are

business and nothing else.’
The movement’s dynamics manifested as ‘us’ vs. ‘them’. The region,
as a source of inspiration, evoked activists’ aspirations. There were
many activists who took oaths, pledging allegiance to an independent
Telangana by not cutting their beard until Telangana is formed,14 ‘not
joining any government job until Telangana gets its own government’,
and ‘not celebrating any Andhra festivals’. As Reddy (2009: 165) puts
it, ‘A feeling of the time has come when people should belong first to
Telangana and then to their parents’.
Over the past four decades, social movement studies have explored
the linkage between the context of social movement and political
opportunity. The concept of political opportunity structure is ‘in dan-
ger of becoming a sponge that soaks up every aspect of the social
movement environment’ (Gamson and Meyer 1996: 275). Scholars
(Meyer and Corrigall-Brown 2005; Tarrow 1998; Tilly 1978) suggest
studying social movement coalition politics and the role of political
context on shaping such coalition. JAC as a social movement organiza-
tion is akin to the process whereby individuals join social movements,
involving an assessment of cost, benefits, and identity. As the political

context changes, the cost and benefits are assessed differently, and for
this reason, actively engaged coalitions are difficult to sustain over a
long period as circumstances change.
Student leaders tend to have a few student helpers with them at
all times. Functioning as personal assistants, these students serve as
the ‘right hand’ to the leaders by maintaining their daily schedules,
Facebook accounts, looking after guests, and planning for events. Those
who are fluent enough in English are tasked with replying to official
correspondence. These helpers play an important role in enabling the
movement by empowering leading activists to multitask and broaden
their network.They also serve as gatekeepers to the activists they serve.
Like a well-oiled machine, students at OU plan, strategize, and execute
their plans with a thoroughness of mainstream politicians. Rakesh, a
Leftist activist, comments in a lighter note: ‘These student helpers vol-
unteer their time and energy with the hope of benefitting from it later.
In fact, they also write their leader’s doctoral thesis.’ A political science
professor agrees to this saying:
Many times students who are into working in jobs in the city or out-
side the city, don’t get time to work for their thesis. Such students
generally pay money to some needy student who writes thesis for
them. We know all this is happening but we remain silent because
there is issue of survival for majority of students. Not everyone gets
fellowship.
The researcher befriended a student named Srinivas, who later
introduced him to one of the main student (JAC) leaders, Rajiv. After
dinner in the mess hall, he took the researcher to meet Rajiv in his
room. The scene was as follows:
There were five men in the room and only two of them were OU
students. Rajiv was on the phone, talking loud in Telugu. Ramu, lanky
and long haired, was uploading pictures to update Rajiv’s Facebook.
Another was a student leader around 38 years of age, while the others
were in their late 40s. In the small single room, there were two beds.
Three men were sleeping on the floor, one of whom was a mess worker
who provides food to Rajiv and his friends. One wall was dominated
by a big framed picture showing Rajiv addressing a student rally during
the main agitation of 2010 at Arts College. There were also pictures of
Ambedkar, Kanshi Ram, and Mayawati adorning the other walls. Ramu,
started showing all the newspaper cuttings and pictures of agitations

where Rajiv’s name was mentioned. It was a thick file of more than 100
pages and each page contained a minimum of 3 news clippings.
Pointing to his picture, Rajiv explains in broken Hindi:
This was the most important part of the student movement. When we
started Padayatra and reached the villages, women greeted us by wash-
ing our feet with milk. This news was widely circulated in the media. It
was the best moment of our life; when we felt that the common masses
trusted us more than politicians.
Ramu, fixing his hair with his right hand, interrupts in his broken
English and says, ‘I was also there and experiencing all of this and
realised the importance of a mass movement. I became a full-fledged
activist and started working with anna (Rajiv). Anna is the most
dedicated leader and we want to see him get into politics’.
Rajiv is also known for his commitment to the movement and
decided not to get married. He declared that he will sacrifice his life
for the public. He comes from an economically poor family and is a
first-generation learner. In 2009, he became an important voice of the
movement and has been a part of various Dalit ideological streams
and a member of the SC/ST student union and the Bahujan Student
Forum. He is influenced by Ambedkar, Kanshi Ram, and Mayawati,
and dreams of meeting the latter. ‘My student supporters want me to
fight [politically]. I am getting some offers [from political parties]. My
intention is not to get fame; rather I want to just represent my people
so the real issues can come in the forefront. I want to live and die for
Telangana’.
There are student activists who follow Rajiv’s ideas on Telangana as
they think he is a ‘down to earth’ person and will listen to everyone.
He helps poor students gain admission in colleges and coaching cen-
tres.The support from students motivates him and nurtures his political
aspirations.
Similarly, there are other student leaders who also consider them-
selves equal to Rajiv but their fan following is not as strong as his.
Dr Surya, a professor at Osmania, shares his opinion about Rajiv: ‘Rajiv
as a student leader is popular for his simplicity and humbleness among
common students. Poor students see him as one of them’. In a uni-
versity campus, a student leader’s image primarily depends on rapport
building, within the dormitory space she or he lives in; and secondly
her or his affiliation with a particular political party.
HOSTEL AS AN ABODE FOR CAREER ACTIVISTS

During their campus stay, students spend a considerable time in
the hostel. Osmania campus has 24 hostels, and most of them are
named after Indian rivers: Godavari (A), Krishnaveni (B), Kaveri (C),
Thungbhadra (D), Gowthami (E), Bhagirathi (Old PG), Narmada
Research Scholar Hostel (NRSH), Yamuna (New PG), Maneru
Hostel, Pinakini, Manjeera, Kinnera, Ganga, Swarnamuk, Sabari, Sutlej,
Gomathi, Saraswathi, Pranahita, Triveni, BEd Hostel, Hi-Tech Hostel,
Technology Hostel, and the Ladies Hostel.
A hostel named E-1 (Gouthami hostel) is located in front of Law
College on the busiest road of the campus.This hostel is located just 20
paces away from the main road. The area between hostel and the main
road is bordered by low bushes and small trees. In this semi-private
area, some students bathe in the open in front of the hostel. This is the
everyday scene of life in hostels, though it may look like a village scene.
There are separate hostels for research scholars and postgraduate stu-
dents. One of the important aspects of hostel life is that there are more
‘outsiders’ in the hostels than ‘insiders’ or enrolled students. Outsiders
are also referred to as ‘non-boarders’ while hostel students are called
‘boarders’. There is no strict rule on campus so almost each and every
room, which is allotted to one person officially, has two or three people.
In some of the older hostels, rooms are comparatively large and allot-
ted to three students, but oftentimes more than five people live there.
During fieldwork, the researcher found that nearly every room hosted
at least one non-boarder, and if the room belonged to a student leader,
they often accommodated as many as four guests. This is what makes
this hostel life a community. Since the hostel mess hall only serves
food to boarders, many students and their guests cook together in their
rooms.They have cooking utensils and a small gas stove to prepare food
in the room. An electric rice cooker is present in nearly every room.
During a focus group discussion, a senior activist stated that ‘until 2005,
when there used to be lots of Andhra students, hostels were providing
Andhra meals, but gradually we started boycotted their food item’.
Plain rice, daal or sambhar, and home-made pickle make up their staple
diet, which they generally consume together sitting on the floor. On

some special occasions, they cook meat. Normally, there is a trend to
take a ‘power nap’ after lunch. Around 5 pm, students start going out
of the hostels to meet and socialize. The presence of the non-boarders
helps in creating a ‘collective consciousness’ as they have ample time
to spend among students and become part of the campus community.
Consuming alcohol is not common among students, and for many, it is
an expensive habit. However, non-activist students believe that student
leaders have their dinner in big hotels, enjoying ‘biryani and whisky’.
Due to widespread friendships and a deep sense of community,
some non-boarders keep their belongings in one friend’s room, may
dine in another friend’s room, and sleep in yet another’s room. These
non-boarders generally range in age from 25 to 35 years. Despite
being employed in the city, their main goal is to gain admission to OU.
During their stay, they inevitably become involved in the protests and
rallies being held, and this deepens their interest in officially becoming
a part of the university. Thus, the hostel serves as an ideal residence for
outsiders where they come to know and bond student activists who
may eventually help them securing a better future.
Student activists generally spend their mornings reading the Telugu
newspapers to understand the political dynamics. Accordingly, they
plan their protests and strategize. For example, if any political party
leader gives any anti-Telangana statement, student leaders of different
parties will gather and burn the effigy of that person. They arrange
press conferences in front of Arts College and try to highlight the issue
to mobilize student population.
During the day, non-boarders who are not employed prepare for
the civil service and other competitive exams in their room or in the
library. Some of them take coaching classes nearby. This is done con-
currently with preparing for the OU entrance test for Arts College to
get a hostel room. During their stay, they read more about Telangana
movement and its history. Their stay in hostels makes them more
aware about the Telangana movement. They actively participate in the
agitations and rallies. There are many activists who are non-boarders
but people know them as a student leader. While interviewing some
student leaders, the researcher also found out such cases.
In front of boys’ hostels, specifically Narmada Research Scholars
(NRS), a barber sets himself under a tree with his tools: an old style
wooden chair, a mirror, shaving cream and a knife, some branded shave
lotions, and cream. He charges Rs 10 for a haircut, much cheaper
than the market rates. On the other side of hostel, there is a tea shop
or dhaba. From morning to evening, different vendors come to sell
fresh vegetables and different snacks door to door. The scene conjures
a feeling of a village community where interpersonal communication
and interdependency is very strong. People know each other’s private
and public lives. At OU, hostel life is akin to living at home, embedded
in local practices and customs.
Food vendors come right in front of NRS hostel. There is a long
queue of vendors on their cycles and mopeds in the morning between
8 and 10 am. They sell south Indian food items such as idli, vada, dosa,
and puri for breakfast. Interestingly, none of these vendors come from
the Telangana region; they are originally from the Andhra region.
During the 2009 movement for separate Telangana, when the uni-
versity closed the hostels15 and the mess hall to curb the movement
and closed down the roads, these vendors managed to hide from the
police and reach the hostels on their small bikes and supply food to the
students.Though they were caught many times by the police; they paid
bribes and continued coming to the campus.
In the 2009 agitations, some hostels received lot of fame as they
were featured in the news. Osmania hostels turned into war rooms.
Students organized themselves into groups, brainstormed over pro-
test programmes, and resolved not to let the fight fizzle out, as was
the media’s running headlines during the agitation.The most popular
hostel is NRS, which is also known as Dr B.R. Ambedkar Hostel. It
has been the hallowed abode of all Telangana activists and student
leaders, as every other room in NRS has a different student union
or members of different JACs. It is difficult to make out exactly how
many groups exist as every individual has a membership of multiple
unions.
Generally, university space is known for its academic activities. In
the case of OU, it is known for its leading role and active participation
in the movement. Every site of the campus offers some kind of history
and students proudly relate themselves with campus site. ‘I belong to
the hostel where George Reddy used to stay’ or ‘the main leader of
the movement is my neighbour in the hostel’ is how activists explain
where they live, when speaking with an outsider.
As per the university rules, if a student gets government or per-

manent employment, he must vacate the hostel. Yet, since so many
students do not gain employment or only temporary or contract based,
many linger beyond their degree or take years to complete their studies.
Their Telangana identity and their affiliation with the movement also
delays their departure from student life and entry to the workforce.
In this sense, having free shelter and subsidized food can make this
struggle more manageable. Many professors acknowledge the trend on
public university campuses in India of students not leaving the campus
until they have government jobs. Some even stay on after getting into
job, residing illegally/unofficially in the hostel. Therefore, the hostel
serves as a space not merely for accommodation but as a survival space
for unemployed youth—boarders and non-boarders alike. In other
words, the institutional space shared by non-institutional people also
makes it a more open and ‘public’ space.
In OU, students join any course (irrespective of their interest) to
get into Arts College. During interactions with non-activist students,
the researcher found16 that there is a term affectionately called a ‘food
course’ (a medium used to stay in hostel and get hostel food). Once
they get in the university, they continue to prepare for another subject
for another MA, to remain a student. There are cases where students
have enrolled in a master’s degree after completing their PhD for the
sole purpose of remaining in the hostels. As a result, the dean of stu-
dents of the Arts College recently added to the hostel rules a provision
that those who are undertaking the same degree for a second time will
be given the last preference for the hostel. Thus, the academic space
is a pull factor for use of and access to the non-academic benefits
(food and lodging). Comparing it with his time, former Arts College
principal, Professor P.L.V. Rao,17 states:
If government does not create jobs, there will be no food to eat, no food
for thought. Not only Masters, but PhD is used as a food course in Arts
College. In our time, master degree was enough to get you a decent job,
but now I see doctoral students are applying for fourth class jobs. This
is the state of affair of our university education. There is no research or
innovation.
The majority of students in the social sciences have access to free

hostels, which provide water, electricity, wireless internet connection,
and subsidized food. Their degree takes a backseat to preparation for

state-wide competitive exams for administrative jobs. To tackle this sit-
uation, the university eliminated the two-year MPhil course and offers
only a direct PhD after MA. However, the problem of overstaying in
the hostels was not resolved chiefly due to the extremely low ratio of
PhD submissions, aided by the university’s policy (or lack therefore)
of a deadline to submit theses. According to the records of the politi-
cal science department at Arts College, from 2003–12, there has been
an extremely low ratio of doctoral submissions. Students have taken
admission and they tend to stay enrolled until they get a government
job. This is affecting the new students as they do not get rooms in
the hostel because the earlier occupant is not ready to finish his/her
studies and leave their room. The problem is more serious among PhD
students who are not allotted a hostel. It is very difficult to get a room
in a hostel like NRS which is a single-seater hostel. Interestingly, all of
the residents belong to SC or OBC. There are very few upper-caste
students in the social sciences.To get a room, one needs to have a good
network, and usually these are along caste lines. According to Sunil, one
of the respondents from NRS hostel, ‘the student who was previously
living in this room was an OBC. Before giving his room to me, he made
sure that I also belong to the OBC community and this is an unwritten
law one has to follow.’ Even after knowing this fact, students want to
live and enjoy the rich political culture of this hostel. NRS hostel, built
in 1979, is called the ‘headquarters’ of different student parties.
The hostel space also became instrumental in students’ expres-
sion of their feeling as Telangana Prajalu. During the 2009 movement,
hundreds of students wrote about their experiences, their emotional
attachment with the movement. There are many students who have
written more than 10 books during their stay in the hostel. One
student has written 40 books, describing his feelings about Telangana.
The hostel provides a sense of community. Popular singers, musi-
cians, writers, composers, artists, and painters have called these hostels
their home. There are groups working within hostels which organize
monthly meetings to discuss suffering and humiliation faced by the
people of Telangana in different regions.
Similarly, the hostel serves as a space for consumption of global
technology. Students use YouTube, Facebook, and other sites to get
news on Telangana. Living in the hostels where previous generations
of activists lived inspires them to read novels, poetry, and writings of

said activists. As in recent past, some TV channels like TV6 covered
Telangana movement stories attracted students. They frequent the
nearby shopping malls and purchase clothing, mobile phones, and
watch the latest films. Some have also purchased bikes and financed
weddings in their family. Student consumption patterns have changed
drastically in recent years due to the rise of market forces coupled with
the institution of generous academic scholarships.
Students who receive fellowships often manage to save enough to
purchase a motorcycle. It is especially useful for a student leader as it is
easier to go around campus and within the city by bike. On an average,
there are dozens of bikes parked in front of every hostel.
Interestingly, when we talk about the public university, we think
about a life ‘subsidized’ in terms of its minimum living cost compared
to the outside campus space. However, university education opens
many career opportunities for the students, especially in the capital.
Nevertheless, securing a government job becomes an endless struggle
for Osmania students. Private jobs are also hard to get for Osmania
students. Harish, a student who works for a Telangana channel which
is owned by TRS party shares his experiences: ‘When we apply for
any private job and face an interview. The minute these [Andhra]
people know that we are from Osmania, they won’t hire us. For them
Osmania campus means only movement’. Such experiences build up
anger against the Andhras and create strong solidarity among Telangana
activists. ‘Our enemy [the Andhra elite] is strong. He has money, he
has power. All we have is our commitment for Telangana, our vote for
Telangana and the future of Telangana’ (Manne 2013: 92).
Dhabas as ‘Strategy Forums’ of the Movement

University campuses usually have some places for students to socialize,
such as tea shops and canteens. In the present time of globalization,
one can notice in every university campus a particular kind of modern
structure of tea shop, with a cash counter and service window. Contrary
to this, Osmania campus has old style tea shops (called ‘dhabbas’ or
‘dhabas’) that are usually temporary kinds of structures—there are no tables
and students sit on large stones. Dhabas, especially those within the city,
have a culture where people discuss everyday socio-political situations.
Newspaper is also an important part of dhabas. In understanding a

university, one can glean as much useful information about academic
departments and offerings as one can about the social spaces where
students engage in non-academic activities. Tea shops and eateries are
some key spaces where student life revolves around on the OU campus.
In the evening, students come outside to have tea at dhabas. Mostly, tea
shops are called canteens, which have a proper concrete structure.
Tea acts as the social glue among activists. Activists spent a great deal
of time socializing at tea shops or dhabas as this helps in building a
collective consciousness. In front of every hostel there is a dhaba where
students congregate in the evening over a cup of tea and snacks, which
is conducive to extended discussions.18 Most of these discussions cen-
tre on the latest news headlines or some personal/family issues where
job and marriage are highly debated topics. For students, it is about
discussing personal stuff, but for student activists, it is an ‘activists’ labo-
ratory’, where they test the mood of the campus. Even officials from
government intelligence department in civil uniform spent hours at
the dhabas during strikes and agitations to understand the strategies of
the activists. OU Alumni, who are working near the campus area, often
come to have tea at these dhabas. Thus, these dhabas serve as ‘strategy
forums’ for student leaders and activists. Discussions at these dhabas
sometimes turn so political that in the late evening, many political
leaders come to understand the mood of the students. The crowd and
intensity of the discussions at these dhabas makes an impression on
student leaders and set the tone for their upcoming rally or protest.
Another attractive feature of these dhabas is that student unions hang
their posters at these dhabas. On an average two–three new posters
appear on these walls every day. Each poster contains the slogan ‘Jai
Telangana’ on the left side and ‘Jai Jai Telangana’ on the other. This gives
students something to talk about. Some of these dhabas have the local
Telugu newspapers, which provide starting points for students to initi-
ate discussions. The daily news coverage of university student leaders
was the most common phenomenon during 2009–13. Strategies for
protest marches, rallies, and press statements are discussed primarily at
these dhabas. From 5 pm to 8 pm, the dhabas fill up with students and
activists. Senior activists bring new students to introduce them to other
student leaders. As everyone is from Telangana, it is very easy for stu-
dent leaders to initiate discussion. New students are impressed to meet
student leaders they have heard about in the media. These dhabas serve
as a platform for meetings between these new students and long-stand-
ing student leaders of the university. Although these student leaders live
in hostels, they are often so busy that one must approach them through
mutual friends. Their schedules are often long and demanding. They
have to update themselves with Telangana issues and be ready with their
press statements. Bharat, one of the activists, describes:
Few years ago, before I joined OU, I came here to see one friend. We
met at a dhaba for tea. Suddenly, I saw a senior student leader from
my home town that I regard so much, was having tea there. I went
to meet him and introduce myself. He was happy to know that I was
from his town. He called somebody and introduced me and within
half an hour, I met so many students from my hometown. They told
me how to crack the exam and get in Osmania. It was only because
of that meeting at dhaba that now I am not only an Osmania student
but also an activist.
According to Rajiv, the Bahujan Student Union activist, ‘… [from]

5 p.m. to 8 p.m., I generally spent at dhabas. I come here because everyone
wants to meet me. As a senior activist, it does not look good for me to
go to every single room and meet new students. But dhaba is the best
place to interact with them about our politics on Telangana.’
Monu, another activist from MSF, frequents the dhabas not for
refreshment but for the social component. He says, ‘Although I don’t
drink tea but I meet all my friends at dhaba. The beauty of these dhabas
is that you meet unexpected faces people every day. I met many
students on these dhabas who later became my best friends.’
Sachin, a popular activist who has a huge fan following on campus,
explains his experience, ‘What I learnt from my experience as an activ-
ist is that a leader has to be with masses fully. He has to drink tea with
them even if he is in not in mood of having tea. Every action of an
activist shapes his image among common students.’
Recruitment to the movement is often achieved by means of pre-
existing networks (Snow, Zurcher, and Ekland-Olson 1980), such as
friends. Moreover, they are more likely to follow through on expressed
interest in political projects where they have friends who do likewise
(McAdam 1986). Connections to activists shapes the way in which
individuals perceive activism, encouraging assimilation of a positive
activist identity (Passy 2001).This connection can occur through many
ways. One way is having a friendship with the student leader or activist.
In some cases, and despite the low ratio of female activists, love affairs
among activists is an important way to stay with the movement.19
However, the male–female friendship does not happen on the dhabas,
as generally, it is male students or activists who meet at these dhabas
and smoke cigarettes. A Leftist student, who had been a leading figure
in 2009 agitation and was arrested and jailed for few months, explains
the significance of dhabas: ‘The discussion on these dhabas involve
those petty issues that you won’t even think in your everyday life but it
affects your life. Chai, cigarette, and chatting is what makes an activist’.
Talking about another popular feature of the dhaba culture on Indian
campuses, Pathania (2011) writes, ‘the combination of tea and cigarettes
makes the discussion spirit high, healthy and argumentative’. Besides tea,
cigarettes, and snacks, dhabas often have newspapers20 which frequently
fuel discussions on the headlines. It is an informative source of daily
action and reaction between the protestors and government. Habermas,
while defining space (in the European context), describes the ‘cafe as
the sphere of private people comes together as public’ (Haine 2013: 13).
The private issues sometime take over the political ones. Similarly, most
of the activists are questioned on what is happening over Telangana.
For example, at the end of 2013, the Telangana bill was tabled in parlia-
ment and people were assured of a separate Telangana. After July 2013,
the discussion shifted to ‘who will get the MLA ticket’ among student
activists. Activists started changing parties. Dhaba discussions were cen-
tred on this political upheaval. Generally with chai, chatting begins on
a personal note. At times, one’s personal life intersects with political
situations. In one of the discussion, a student shares:
I have to arrange my sister’s wedding. I am looking for a guy for her.
But now I am thinking to postpone it for some time because I want to
try for MLA ticket, Therefore, I will keep her wedding on hold. I have
to mobilise more students and meet political leaders for ticket. Running
after these politicians also costs lots of money.
In many ways, the dhaba as social space connects activists in a
very informal manner and serves as a site where various unexpected
networks are also formed. Generally, when a newcomer participates in
discussions at the dhaba, it creates friendship between the newcomer
and the people who frequent the dhaba. Being a small campus
community, students share interpersonal relationships.
Until early 1980s, there used to be some discussion group gather-

ings at these dhabas. A popular group called ‘Banda-canteen Broadcast’
used to discuss all national and international issues. One of the alumni
explained:
There was a discussion on Vietnam War between George Reddy and
Kulkarni. There were many new students sitting and curiously listen-
ing to the debate but had no idea about the terminology used by the
debaters. Then George Reddy advised everyone to read ‘At War With
Asia’ by Noam Chomsky, Gradually, after the murder of George Reddy
by some Right wing ideologue, the discussion and debate sessions at
dhabas disappeared. (Kumar 2012)
During the Telangana agitation in 2009, dhabas served as the best
meeting and networking places for students. Most of the student lead-
ers have their political chats at dhabas. The age-wise friendship can
be easily noticed. During agitations, these dhabas serve the strategic
meeting points. They talk for hours on different issues and discuss all
sorts of matter, from personal to political. As their campus produces
dozens of student leaders for Telangana, it provides a historic back-
ground for their talk on the movement. New strategies are prepared
for agitations. All leaders spend their free time at dhabas; it has become
part of the campus culture.
In one of the protests on 15 February 2010, students marched from
Arts College to NCC gate. They were attacked repeatedly by police.
More than 50 students were injured. The police destroyed Sudhakar
Chai Dabba and beat the owner. After a few days, students collected
some money and contributed to rebuilding the dhaba. This incident
shows how authorities destroy public space of meeting point in the
time of crisis. Pinsker (2013) uses the concept (in reference to Viennese
cafes) of a ‘third space’ that emerges both from the recent work of soci-
ologists such as Ray Oldenberg and from the work on the ‘production
of space’ and ‘lived environment’ of cultural geographers such as Henri
Lefebvre and Edward Soja. To explain the concept of third space as a
geographical metaphor, he writes, ‘The literary cafes as a third space is
“located” at the border-zone between the “public” and the “private”,
the “inside” and “outside”, a third space that mediates between a site
of enunciation of identity, lived experience, and contested meaning.’
(2013: 54). Therefore, the third space refers to the space that is neither
the home nor the formal work space. In case of students, the workplace
is the university’s formal spaces such as classroom and library. This

third space exists outside these formal spaces which is very much part
of public sphere, so the ‘dhaba’ offers a third space which is equated
with an informal space like someone’s living room; yet, it is in public
and a safe place/space where one can be and discuss things and have
an audience. The dhabas, an activist named Sunil, comments, ‘are the
training ground for those who want to become an activist’.
Campus Police Station

Police action played an important role in intensifying the fervour
among activists. Mukesh believes, ‘Once you go to jail or your name
comes in any case, then you have nothing left except being part of
the movement as an activist’. It has been oft-quoted in India that one
cannot become a famous leader without going to jail. Students refer
to freedom fighters like Nehru, Gandhi, Jaiprakash, and many other
popular leaders. ‘Our journey from going to jail starts from our campus
police station where they maintain our record. Many of us have spent
nights in this station under police custody; later we were shifted to
Chanchalguda jail and many other jails,’ Devender, a JAC leader, stated.
Many state universities in India have a police station inside or
adjacent to the campus premises which is generally named after the
university. The first building at the main road across the campus is the
office of police station called ‘Osmania University Police Station’. It
gives an image of a police ‘camp’ before entering into the university
campus. The campus is under complete police surveillance.
Hostel B became hugely popular in 2009 due to its location across
from the police station. During protests, police often put up barricades
in front of the hostel. Some activists would keep an arsenal of stones
on the hostel’s rooftop. When the situation became tense, police fired
tear gas and the activists on the roof would hurl stones onto the police.
When they would run out of stones, the police would enter and beat
each resident of the hostel.
All of the JAC leaders who led the agitation in 2009–10 have had
police cases registered against them. They all faced multiple charges of
stone pelting on police, guilty of rioting, disobedience, carrying arms
and deadly weapons, attempt to murder, and so on.21 According to all
the activists, ‘we agitated for our demand.We rallied, we shouted slogan
and we were beaten up by the police. Police used tear gas, rubber bullet
and we faced severe torture from police. Therefore, we came to the
conclusion this is “Andhra” police and their behaviour is very obvious’.
There are around 15 top JAC leaders, and each one of them is facing
more than 100 cases. According to activists, ‘fake cases were registered
to spoil our career and our spirit and also to warn the campus students
about their career’. Every week or month they have to be present in
the court. ‘In the eyes of government, we are hard core criminals’,
Amar laughs while sharing his grief:
I go more to court than my college. I am facing 115 different cases
registered from 2009 to 2012. Our own advocates [OU alumni] are
fighting our cases for which they don’t even charge because they are
also activists. Every week there is some court case date and on a certain
date in a month I also have to appear in OU police station to show
my face.
Another leader, Umesh, displayed the police FIR cases and com-
mented sadly:
I am married man and have a kid. I need to get a job and start settling
down my life but now I am bound to be part of the movement until
these cases go on. We are running after politicians to resolve these cases
but there is no hope so far. We all come from poor families and we are
first generation learner, we don’t have resources even to pay bribe and
get the case resolved.
However, state using repressive measures to control youth protests
has been a part of the history of every student movement. Filing police
cases against students can spoil their career. Thus, FIR was used as a
powerful tool by the police. The boundaries of the campus were put
under surveillance. A barricade in front of the police station controls
the speed of traffic.This barricade becomes powerful during the move-
ment as it is used to stop the student march during agitation.This is the
most controversial space which has not been conceptualized by move-
ment studies scholars. It is a ‘total institution’ existing in an open space
of campus which, through its own mechanisms, controls the liberal and
democratic space of the campus.
Anil, a political science doctoral student, says, ‘No, things are not as
easy to explain. These few characters cannot decide the future of the
movement. I know there are some dedicated student leaders who have
left everything for their movement and they have mastery over ideol-
ogy of the movement but the problem is that media does not want to
highlight them.’
The media helps the image of a leader in the making. Media ‘poli-
tics’ is well known by activists but not discussed widely, as students also
look for their self-interests and to fulfil their political aspirations. The
media helps them in enhancing their personality as well as their aspira-
tions. This is the other side of activism. Mahesh claims that he was the
one who suggested the concept of JAC. Since the beginning, Mahesh
was associated with the movement and participated in all the major
events. Like Rajiv, he also has prepared a file containing newspaper
cuttings. ‘It is because of print and electronic media that we have pre-
pared our strong profile. Media keeps us alive among masses and grass
root activist,’ Sunil comments. While chatting, he picked up a file and
shows newspaper cuttings of his pictures, which he had beautifully
pasted in it. He shows his biodata, which he calls an ‘activist’s CV’. He
mentions every possible thing he has done for the movement—how
many months and years he spent in the jail and how many cases he is
charged with. He is seeking a ticket to any party. Hinting at a national
level party, he hands over his CV to the researcher which mentions
how many times he has been to jail and the length of his association
with the movement.
THE ROLE OF LANGUAGE IN MAKING AN ACTIVIST

After the success of the 2009 mass agitation, student activists planned
to launch their own political party.22 However, each of the 15 student
leaders had their own political ambitions. Eventually, with extensive
consultation of their teachers and former activists (from 1969), stu-
dents decided to establish the OU-JAC.23 Later, there were many
fragmentations within the JAC, and gradually, some student leaders
left to form their own JACs. They were connected with the Telangana
Student-Joint Action Committee (TS-JAC), which represented the
confluence of all ideologies. Telangana agitations at Osmania were led
by a dozen of these student JACs. During agitations, only TS-JAC and
OU-JAC leaders gave press statements to the media. The majority of
these leaders gave their statements in Telugu. Some of them were also
able to speak both English and Hindi. This played an important role
in the formation of leadership. Ajay, a prominent leader of the JAC,

explains the phenomenon:
Telugu is our mother tongue and we speak Telugu; thus the movement
is limited to the Telugu audience.When the movement gained momen-
tum, English and international media used to cover our news. We have
one person who is a third-generation learner and he is fluent in Telugu,
Hindi and English, and as a city guy, he was well networked with the
media. Therefore, all the media was going to speak to him. Although,
he joined the movement in the latter phase, we made him our media
spokesperson. But we later realised that the media started portraying
him as a mass leader.We know the reality, but that is media politics.They
want such people who can speak their language.
‘Media politics’ and ‘media language’ are two themes which con-
cern JAC leaders. Kamal, a JAC leader, explains: ‘See, tamdu [younger
brother], media houses are owned by Andhra capitalists. These rich
people want to create dummy leaders who can speak their language.
You must be thinking that it widens the movement at a national
level. But, for the sake of language, the media misrepresented our
leadership.’
Commenting on a fellow activist’s popularity, another JAC leader,
Raj, expresses similar grievances: ‘What he knows is only English. He
is a kind of leader who can speak any party’s language because parties
need a face who can speak their language, not his own.’
Raj is a poor Dalit student from Karimnagar and comments on
Kamal’s popularity:
He is an elite Dalit who knows Telugu, Hindi and English, and did not
take the movement forward. He is a brilliant speaker and has a lot of
potential to become a leader. He talks about Ambedkar but students
don’t find his actions like an Ambedkar’ite. Ambedkar never fought for
his personal interests. But he is advertising himself just to gain political
interests. Such people generally sell their soul to political parties.
Raj takes a break, makes a phone call, and then takes a puff of his
cigarette. In the meantime, Rahul, who is a close ally to Kamal, joins
the discussion.When Raj comes back, he changes his tone and focusses
more on media.
The media played an important role in highlighting our issue and the
reason behind this was that we had strong social media to try to reach
the maximum number of people. Whenever media ignored our issues,

we were highlighting and boycotting the mainstream media on social
media. Our Telugu social media was keeping check on mainstream
English as well as Telugu media.
The longer agitational phase of 2009–13 cannot be imagined with-

out electronic and social media and its contribution in the ‘making’ of
activists.
DISCUSSION
Network processes build and sustain the essence of a social move-
ment (Diani and Bison 2004). The chapter attempted to highlight
these processes through dynamics of campus networks. However, these
dynamics are not limited to the university space alone; rather they are
enmeshed in the broader network for the movement. The strength of
Osmania students’ activism lies in their robust networks, produced by
the campus culture of activism. This culture has evolved over the past
five decades, both on and off campus. Alumni are a prominent part
of the campus community of activists and, in fact, many are teach-
ers at OU. Most of the state’s bureaucrats, journalists, lawyers, doc-
tors, officers, social workers, police, and politicians are also students
of OU. Whenever they meet, they refer to the OU network as ‘our
Osmania community’. Among the campus community, a culture of
honour is firmly in place. This is evident during public meeting or talks
on Telangana—if any movement leader appears unexpectedly at the
venue, the organizer is bound to request him to address the meeting or
announce his presence.That way, student leaders, old and new, become
known to each other, thus weaving a stronger network of those who
support the Telangana cause.
Specific sites and spaces within the university are used by activists
for networking. The main ones are the ubiquitous dhabas, along with
the hostels, where boarders and non-boarders mingle with alumni and
outsiders. However, social media has also contributed to connecting
Telangana activists across time and space.
Thus, campus networks are also built with personal motives, where
activists hope to expand their personal agenda, while fighting for the
collective cause.
NOTES
1. From an informal chat with the vendor (translated from Telugu).
2. From the interview of a MSF activist, Murali on 11 September 2013.
3. Yates (2015: 3) uses the term social centres, space where alternative liv-
ing arrangements, social and educational events, and political campaign are
hosted. Networks are deliberately stimulated through the organized events
and quotidian socializing that take place in and around centres, as well as
in communicative or adversarial protest such as demonstrations and direct
action.
4. Data 2009–13, Directorate of Admission, Osmania University.
5. Interview, 16 July 2013, at B hostel dhaba.
6. Granovetter (1973) and Pizzorno (1986) focus on ‘trust’ in understanding
the political behaviour of new recruiters.
7. On the other hand, NSUI could not establish a base on campus because,
according to activists ‘its parent party Indian National Congress has a long
history of denial and betrayal’ (through interviews).
8. The officer bearers of BSF claim to be a student wing of BSP but there is
no official student body of the party.
9. TDP was the last organization to form their student union Telugu Nadu
Student Front in 2013.
10. In 1970s, a group called RSU (Radical Student Union) was started by
George Reddy but it got dissolve after his death. He was murdered by the
Right wing group.
11. MRPS movement gained momentum after their violent protest by
burning down Gandhi Bhawan in 2006 during Congress chairperson Sonia
Gandhi visit to Hyderabad.
13. Available at http://www.thehansindia.com/posts/index/Hans/2013-
09-14/Upper-caste-ethics-and--spirit-of-Samaikyandhra/71741.
14. The oath was taken by Dr Sridhar Reddy, a student leader in the 1969
agitation.
15. To control students’ participations in rallies and meetings, government
closed down students’ hostels in six major universities in Telangana region
for 10 days. Available at https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/hyderabad/
Telangana-hostels-to-be-closed/articleshow/5317197.cms, accessed 12
December 2016.
16. While asking the question, ‘Why did you choose sociology or history or
political science?’, there was only one answer: that these are ‘food courses’—
they are easy to gain admission, and admission guarantees one food and lodg-
ing in the hostel.
17. He served as the principal of Arts College during the agitational phase
2007–11. Excerpt is from his interview on 21 September 2013 at his residence.
18. Describing the European café, Haine writes that a cafe is an ‘intellectual
laboratory’ (cited in Rittner, Haine, and Jackson 2013: 13).
19. However, it is not just to have a connection as ‘it is not networks per
se that matter but connection to similarly (politically) inclined alters and an
absence of ties to alters who oppose activism’ (Crossley and Ibrahim 2012:
600).
20. Describing the European cafes, Haine also notes that cafe and the news-
paper were born at roughly the same time and in the same place (cited in
Rittner, Haine, and Jackson 2013: 13).
21. Remand Case Diary. FIR no. 21/2010. Division: Kachiguda, East Zone,
Hyderabad. 20 January 2010 at 1230 hrs. Offence U/s.147, 148, 332, 188,
307 IPC r/w.149 IPC Sec. and (1) of Criminal Amendment Act and sec. 3 of
PDPP Act. 1984. Name and Address of the complainant: Smt. G. Anitha, RSI,
CAR Head Qrts, HQ Coy. Hyderabad.
22. Available at http://www.thehindu.com/news/cities/Hyderabad/ou-
students-decide-to-launch-political-party-and-contest-elections/article
4863206.ece.
23. The student wing of TRS party, TRSV was not part of this JAC.
4 Learning from the Past, Imagining
the Future
Ross (1975), in his study, ‘Students for a Democratic Society’, in

the United States of America, argues that social movements tend to
have a generational character. Scholars (Altbach 1974; Braungart and
Braungart 1990; Lipset and Schafl ander 1971) have referred to the
American student movements of the 1930s and 1960s, and identified
how they shared similar dynamics. Braungart and Braungart (1990:
84) argue that ‘when a political generation forms, not only is there
intergenerational conflict between the young and their elders, but
intragenerational conflict occurs’. In their studies on cohort groups,
Braungart and Braungart (1990: 183) highlight that ‘a cohort is
viewed as an age group “in itself ”, whereas a generation is a dynamic
age group “for itself ” ’. Referencing Ortega (1961) and Esler (1984),
they state, ‘a generation shares a collective mentality and represents
a new integration, with its own “vital style” and sense of destiny’
(Braungart and Braungart 1990). This chapter attempts to understand
the case of Telangana whereby generations of Osmania alumni, who
have been part of the movement since their student days, continue
their activism by regularly visiting the campus and meeting the new
generation of students. Students, professors, government employees,
businessmen, lawyers, journalists, and various associations from every
social stratum have contributed to the movement by networking with
each other. The chapter draws comparisons between two agitational
phases—1969 and 2009–13—and examines how the campus became
a site of the confluence of these two generations of activists through
DOI: 10.1093/oso/9780199488414.003.0005
Learning from the Past, Imagining the Future 147
the formation of Joint Action Committees ( JACs). The chapter pres-

ents the circumstances in which university students took the reins
from politicians’ hands and devised their own ways to agitate and
mobilize the masses. By tapping into generations of Telanganaites,
students and the growing ranks of alumni were able to enlist the
masses for their support.
STUDENT–ALUMNI NEXUS
Contemporary Osmania campus activism is a continuation part of
the historical upheaval carried out by the student generation of the
1960s. It is the culmination of dreams, inspirations, and aspirations
of its alumni and the present students. Not all the students arrive
on campus with same political aspirations. Some become politi-
cally involved or inclined because they are recruited by their friends.
Political aspiration also motivates people to become part of activists’
networks. Everyday informal greeting between old and new activists
not only creates a collective identity but also sets the basis of collective
decision for rallies and protests. Networks provide opportunities for
action through the circulation of information about ongoing activities,
existing organizations, and people to contact, and a reduction of the
practical costs attached to the participation. They may be the source of
social pressure on prospective participants (‘if you go, I will go too’),
although there is possibility of cross-pressure (Kitts 2000; McAdam
and Paulsen 1993) and of the opposite mechanism, whereby people
participate precisely because they do not expect others do anything
(Oliver 1984). Movement scholars underscore how personal ties with
leaders or influential members inspire participation in protests. Snow,
Zurcher, and Ekland-Olson (1980, in Crossley 2015: 27) emphasized
that ‘among 60% to 90% of adherents to religious groups were linked
with activists before joining collective action’. Diani and Lodi (1988,
in Crossley 2015: 27) show that in Milan, ‘78% of activists had prior
connections with ecologists before participating in the environmen-
tal movement’. These studies highlight the fact that personal bonds
serve to connect prospective activists with an opportunity for protest
(Crossley 2015). The Telangana agitation of 2009 was not possible
without the help and guidance of Osmania University (OU) alumni
who have continued their activism since 1969.
The tradition of inculcating activism to the next generation is

characteristic of Osmania activism and has maintained the movement’s
fervour. Strategies and ‘best practices’ have been shared as well, adding
value to the movement’s trajectory. For example, the 1969 movement
conveyed their protest strategies, including how to deal with police fir-
ing, how to escape a police raid, and how to negotiate with politicians.
The phase of 2009–13 agitations proves that OU alumni reproduced
the campus legacy of activism. Comparing it with arms revolt of peas-
ants in 1940s, Thirumali states that the intensity and mobilization of
the 2009 student agitations was in ‘no way lesser than the people’s
movement in the 1940s. The difference perhaps is that weapons were
used earlier but today they are only the yatras, garjanas, etc.’1
One of the reasons for a strong culture of resistance at OU could
lie in the fact that there have been no official student union elections
since 1988 when the state government banned student union elections
at all state universities in Andhra Pradesh.2 Without elections, youth
energy was not channelized solely within the space of the campus.
Those who participated in the year-long agitation in 1969 and later
joined university and college as faculty have a sympathetic attitude
towards new students. In college functions and seminars, they shared
their experiences and stories of horrific memories of the friends they
lost during the 1969 agitations. ‘Interaction with them inspires youth
like me,’ says Raj, a senior activist, who spent almost 12 years on campus.
He states:
When I heard Professor Jadhav, Professor Vishveshwar Rao and

others’ speech, I developed a deep attachment with the building of
Arts College and all those hostels where these people stayed. Many
times, when I get demotivated in my life, I come here; touch the
footsteps of Arts College building and look for hours and hours at this
building and remember those people who sacrificed their lives for
Separate Telangana identity and culture.3
Osmania has three important types of activists: students, teachers,

and alumni. Alumni constitute a broad range that covers people from
every walk of life. Many of those who participated in 1969 agitation
formed a group in 2012 under the banner, ‘1969 Movement Founders
Forum’. Along with OU teachers, this group became the guiding
force to the subsequent generations. Many people of this group joined
journalism, politics, teaching, and other public facing professions. They

motivated new students with their experiences.
JAC: A COLLABORATIVE EFFORT

As discussed in Chapter two, Osmania alumni were instrumental
in the formation of Telangana Rashtra Samiti (TRS) in April 2001,
which provided a platform to channelize emotions, passion, and
energy of the new generation students. It reignited the demand and
aspirations for separate Telangana among masses. From 2001 onwards,
countless student organizations appeared in the movement network
landscape. With a larger presence of scheduled caste (SC), scheduled
tribe (ST), and Other Backward Class (OBC) students and activ-
ists, new organizations such as Telangana Girijan Vidyarathi Parishad
(TGVP), Telangana Democratic Student Federation (TDSF),
Bahujan Students’ Federation (BSF), Madiga Students’ Federation
(MSF), Telangana Student Association (TSA), and many more were
formed. Many Dalit student organizations (especially MSF and BSF)
articulated the ideology of national Dalit leaders such as Kanshi Ram,
Mayawati, and Manda Krishna Madiga.4 Tribal students were more
concerned about local politics and caste issues, and later supported the
demand for ‘Dalit-Bahujan Telangana’. Their activism also charged
up the student wings of mainstream political parties such as National
Student Union of India (NSUI) and Akhil Bhartiya Vidyarthi
Parishad (ABVP). Though these organizations had a small following
on campus, they played a vital role in publicizing the movement in
the media. In April 2001, with the formation of TRS, Kalvakuntala
Chandrashekhar Rao (henceforth KCR) promised intellectuals that
Telangana would form through democratic means. After winning his
first assembly and parliamentary elections in 2004, KCR served as a
minister in the central government from 2004 to 2006. During his
ministership, the separate Telangana issue was not pursued. One after
the other, TRS won all elections and by-elections and continued
performing well in the state and parliamentary elections. However, in
2009 state assembly elections, TRS’s poor performance raised critical
questions among intellectuals and supporters who had their hopes
high from KCR.The party that was formed with one agenda of sepa-
rate statehood started diverting its attention to other political issues.
In November 2009, the state government of Andhra Pradesh

made Hyderabad a ‘Free Zone’5 for jobs. This policy overruled the
existing one which ensured some seats for the Telangana region but
now anybody from any part of state can fight for jobs in Hyderabad.
This rule would create a tough competition for rural students from
Telangana. With their educational background they were in no posi-
tion to compete with city people of Andhra. Sensing this fear, Osmania
students, along with students from other universities, led various
protests to boycott this rule. The agitation turned intense and violent
when police arrested few agitators.
It was first time that a JAC on separate Telangana was formed in
November 2009 by Osmania students (though on July 2006, a JAC,
Telangana Aikya Karyacharana Samiti, was formed, comprising 56
organizations with the aim to democratize Telangana and unite dif-
ferent sections of Telangana people). A few days after agitation started,
Progressive Democratic Student Union (PDSU), All India Student’s
Federation (AISF), SC, ST Vidyarthi Sangham, and Chaithanya Mahila
Sangam (CMS) had joined the JAC. These organizations together
formed JAC on 15 November. Some organizations expressed their
support to the proposed indefinite hunger strike, while others orga-
nized rallies and agitations. Osmania became the epicentre of this
confluence of ideologies that culminated into a JAC. The following
organizations supported initially:
1. BSF
2. BC Vidyarthi Sangham
3. MSF
4. Girijana Vidyarthi Sangham (GVS)
5. Telangana Rashtra Samithi Vidhyarthi Vibhagam (TRSV)
6. Telangana Students’ Organization (TSO)
7. Telangana Vidyarthi Sangam (TVS)
8. Telangana Vidyarthi Vedika (TVV)
JAC members met KCR and convinced him that it was time to
raise the Telangana demand powerfully. Raju,6 a JAC leader, explains
what happened:
In a meeting at TRS party office, students gave a call that to kick

start the agitation, KCR should fast-unto-death. There was a long
discussion over this issue. Then, all of a sudden, students started

shouted and telling him that hundreds of young students have ended
their life for Telangana issues, to regard their sacrifice KCR should
take this challenge.
After sensing the students’ anger, TRS chief KCR7 agreed to sit
on an indefinite hunger fast for a separate Telangana. Osmania stu-
dents gave assurance of complete support to KCR and hundreds of
students started fasting with him. While KCR was fasting, students
planned protest marches and rallies across Hyderabad. News reported
that during rallies, students attacked public property such as shop-
ping complexes in Panjagutta and surrounding areas. Many of them
were arrested and detained by the police. Osmania alumni felt that
the ‘history of 1969 agitation is repeated once again’. Government
did not respond to the agitation for more than a week. From 8 to
9 December, 22 people committed suicide (see Nag 2011: 156). This
ignited anger among the youth. The agitation and its wide coverage
by the national media made KCR a hero of the movement. With
each new day, the number of protests increased but there was no
response from the government. On the other hand, KCR’s health
started deteriorating. Sensing the danger, on 9 December 2009, at
11 pm, the central home minister, P. Chidambaram, on behalf of the
Government of India, stated to the press:
The process of formation of Telangana will be initiated soon. An
appropriate resolution will be moved in the state assembly. We
requested the Chief Minister of Andhra Pradesh to withdraw cases
filed on or after November 29, 2009 against all leaders, students and
others associated with the present agitation. We are worried about
the health condition of KCR and we are requesting him to stop
the hunger-strike, as well as to stop agitation especially the students
involved.8
The next day, government officials met KCR and broke his fast
by offering him a glass of juice. This was telecast live on television. In
response to this, Suraj, an Arts College student activist, stated:
We saw visuals on TV that KCR was drinking juice. He broke the
strikes without even consulting us. Many of us were also fasting with
him. KCR broke his fast without their consultation; they became dis-
trustful to us and to the common masses of Telangana. We gave the
press statement that he drank not the juice, but the blood of Telangana
youth. We took out his shava yatra [symbolic funeral procession] on the
Osmania University campus.9
In a TV interview, an OU leader expressed his resentment, ‘He is a

Telangana traitor; his feudal lordship cannot stand before the youth
power of Telangana. We will carry his coffin.We will lead the movement.
Even if we lose our lives, had to face severe repression and police lathis,
bullets and fencing, we won’t stop.’10
This marked a divide between student activists, who felt cheated by
KCR, and TRS politicians. Students had nothing to look forward to, as
other political parties such as Congress, BJP, or CPM remained unclear
on their stand on separate Telangana. The ambiguous stand of politi-
cal parties created enough of confusion leaving in the course a large
political void (Haragopal 2010b: 157). In this situation, to deal with
Telangana issues, a political JAC was also created by all the politi-
cal parties11 and they chose OU professor and civil liberty activist,
M. Kodandaram, to head this forum. Because of the widespread sus-
picion of the political parties, there sprung a number of other JACs—
first among university students, and then journalists, employees, writers,
democrats, women, SCs, backward castes, and local committees includ-
ing village level JACs (Haragopal 2010b: 159). From this point onwards,
students took the movement into their hands and made a powerful
attempt to reach out the masses. They became intolerable of any anti-
Telangana voice. On 25 December 2009, Mr Nagam Janardhan Reddy,
a Telangana politician from TDP, visited OU with a delegation. During
his speech, he made a reference to party leader Chandrababu Naidu,
which enraged students. They attacked him as he was leaving, kick-
ing and beating him with sandals (chappals). Students also destroyed
the guests’ vehicles. Mr Reddy suffered bruises and nearly fell uncon-
scious.12 Later, in the evening, a convoy of TDP politicians arrived at
Arts College and requested the students to peacefully discuss their
concerns and demands. They were not received well. As they stepped
out, students mobbed them, raising ‘Go back’ slogans. Protesters did
not want to hear the name Chandrababu Naidu, as he opposed the
idea of separate Telangana.
By far, it was the result of students’ unity through JAC that
‘wielded considerable power and influence’ (Janardhan and
Raghavendra 2013: 553). They chalked out their programme from
January 2010 onwards, demanding the immediate declaration of
separate Telangana. A rally called Vidyarthi Mahagarjana was orga-

nized on 3 January 2011 in front of Arts College. Over 80,000
students and other activists gathered at the sprawling campus, and it
was estimated that 12,000 police and paramilitary personnel were
guarding the university, which resembled a fortress, writes Kingshuk
Nag (2011: 177) in his journalistic account of the agitation.
Addressing Garjana, CPI Maoist Central Regional Bureau Secretary
Mr Anand remarks:
The more repression unleashed on students, by arresting in hundreds,

lathi charging and firing tear gas and by filing more than 30 fabricated
cases will soon transform into resistance. Rulers should recognise that
this is not a law and order problem. This is people’s problem. Our
party believes that people themselves will solve it. Our party from the
beginning has been emphasizing on militant mass struggles and in this,
students have to play an active role.13
After their huge success, Osmania University-Joint Action Committee

(OU-JAC) decided to launch another programme called Pada Yatra,
starting on 19 January 2010 from OU and ending at Kakatiya University.
Through this yatra, students spread awareness among the masses living
in villages. This 600-kilometre-long march marks a historic journey
of student movements. When students arrived in villages, they were
welcomed warmly. According to Amar, one of the founding members
of JACs,14 ‘We used to walk 30–40 km every day. Rural people gave a
very hearty welcome. We used to deliver speeches at every stop from
city, small town, village and each village had taken responsibility to
host us’.
Expressing the same, Krishan,15 an OU-JAC representative, also
recalls: ‘All of our team members were so overwhelmed with the
response we received from common people. Our eyes were in tears
when village women welcomed us with pad-abhisheka.16 This was a
symbol of trust and responsibility on us that we would bring their
Telangana a statehood.’
The village women washing students’ feet with milk was tele-
cast live. This was a landmark in the movement’s history, as society
publicly showed tremendous respect at the students’ loyalty to the
movement. Politicians now felt they were in competition with students.
This caused an existential crisis for established politicians like
KCR. In an effort to regain political clout, KCR, along with local

politicians, promptly supported the students. He offered financial
support and provided them with t-shirts and caps with Jai Telangana
printed on them. With his generous efforts, he managed to recover
many students’ trust.
In contrast with politicians, Osmania student activists and intel-
lectuals analysed the Telangana issue from different ideological angles.
This led to the formation of countless JACs with a common objective
of ‘Telangana first’. All JACs culminated into two main JACs: Osmania
University (OU-JAC) and Telangana State (TS-JAC). Every section
of the society became a part of the movement—from bureaucrats to
businessmen, office clerks to politicians, washermen to ironsmiths,
paan-wale to vendors. People from every walk formed their JAC and
participated in the movement to make it a democratic representation.
Listed below are some of the popular ones:
1. Telangana Caste Association (Viswakarma, Rajaka, Gouda,

Padmashali, Budaga, Jangalu,Yadava)
2. Telangana Rashtra Munuru Kapu Mahasabha
3. Telangana Mudiraj Mahasabha
4. Telangana Dalit Associations JAC,Tribal Association JAC,Women’s
Associations JAC,
5. Telangana Businessmen’s JAC, Telangana Rythu Bazar JAC,
Toddy Tappers’ JAC, City Cable Operators’ JAC, Construction
Workers and Mason’s JAC, Electronic Media Workers’ JAC, RTC
Employees JAC
6. Employees JAC, Telangana JAC for Private Employees,
7. Telangana Prajasanghala Joint Action Committee
8. Telangana Intellectuals Forum
9. Telangana Mass and Social Organisations Forum (TMAS Forum)
10. Telangana Gazetted Officers’ JAC
11. Telangana RTC Employees JAC
12. Telangana Electricity Contract JAC
13. Aanganwadi Teachers’ JAC
14. Agriculture Workers’ JAC
15. Telangana Uniformed Services JAC
16. Telangana Model Farmers’ (Adarsha Rythu JAC)
17. Telangana Senior Citizens Association
18. Telangana Sarpanches’ JAC

19. Telangana MPTC Members’ JAC
20. Telangana Social Activists JAC
21. Telangana Vikalangula JAC
22. Muslim Forum for Telangana
There were also upper-caste JACs such as Uma Devi Reddy

for Women JAC, Jitta Balakrishna Reddy for Youth JAC, Satyam
Reddy for Physically Challenged JAC, and several others at the
district level.
The representation of various social groups in the movement indi-
cates the conscious of their Telangana identity vis-à-vis their Andhra
counterparts. Students nurtured this consciousness by organizing a
series of seminars, meetings, and discussions at the district and village
levels. Arts College became the command centre for activists. Heavy
attendance of youth and students in everyday meetings in front of the
College was evidence of the growing intensity of Telangana issues.17
This intensity of the movement differed from the 1969 agitation, which
was an unplanned upsurge divided into two major student factions
raising different demands, characterized by fragmented leadership. On
the other hand, the 2009 phase was a result of a protracted struggle of
agitations, rallies and discussions, and unyielding commitment. Here
students became mainstream political leaders whereby the ‘history of
political betrayals’ was used as a medium to criticize the politics of
the TRS party. In 1969, there was a debate on the justification of the
demand for separate Telangana. Contrary to this, 2009 onwards agita-
tion was primarily centred on ‘how quickly can Telangana be separated
from Andhra’? In both time periods, Osmania student activism served
as a strong and stable pillar.
The growing influence of JACs can be measured by adding the fact
that in 2010, 12 MLAs resigned from their posts as part of the concern
for the spate of young students who had committed suicide in the
name of Telangana statehood. As a result, there was a by-election, and
Osmania students diligently campaigned for these MLAs against to
get their seats back. Opposition candidates from TDP and Congress
suffered huge losses. According to Haragopal (2010b: 161), ‘it suggests
that demand for a separate state has percolated deeper in popular
consciousness.’ Thus, emergence of JACs in the regions was the direct
result of misleading and manipulative politics of Telangana leaders.

This new (non-party) political culture earned a great reputation in
the region which influenced political formations in the state. Each
agitation from 2009 onwards achieved mass support and made students
the heroes of the Telangana movement. The schedule of their activism
indicates their continuous struggle. Below is a calendar of the move-
ment which chronicles activism from the end of 2009 to the end of
2011—a period of intense activism.
2009–2011 Calendar of the Movement
• 2009:
– 29 November: TRS launched agitation and KCR sat on indefi-
nite hunger strike along with hundreds of students
– 4 December: Suicide of K. Srikanth Chari that led to violent
agitation
– 9 December: Historic announcement by the Government assur-
ing the formation of separate Telangana. KCR broke his fast
without consulting students
– 10 December: Chalo Assembly call by OU-JAC
• 2010:
– 3 January: OU students’ massive rally Vidyarthi Mahagarjana
– 5 January: Union home minister’s meeting with all party
leaders18
– 18 January–7 February: Students started padayatras to mobilize
people to boycott any commission set up by the government.
It started from Osmania University, Hyderabad to culminate at
Kakatiya University, Warangal after covering all the district of
Telangana.
– 28 January: Political JAC gave deadline to ministers to resign
– 3 February: Formation of the ‘Committee for Consultation on
the Situation in Andhra Pradesh’
– 20 February: Chalo Assembly Call by OU-JAC
– March: Split in JAC (PDSU, AISF, TVV, Telangana Student
Union (TSU) expelled)
– August: By-elections of the 12th assembly segments in five dis-
tricts in Telangana
– 30 December: Srikrishna Committee submitted its report
• 2011:
– 5 January: Students agitated and boycotted the report; violence
erupted with police use of tear gas and lathi charged and arrested
dozens of student leaders
– 20 January: Three student suicides led to violent clash between
police and students19
– February: Sakala Janula Samme
– 17 February: Non-Cooperation Agitation (Sahaya Nirakarana
Vudymama) by Telangana Employee JAC
– 21 February: Chalo Assembly call by OU-JAC
– 21 February: Another self-immolation by a student galvanized
society20
– 10 March: Million March
– 3 July: 81 MLAs, 17 MLCs, and 12 MPs (from Telangana region)
resigned21
– 5–6 July: Call for 48-hour bandh
– 13 September: 42-day historic strike
– 24 October: Strike was called off
– 15–16 November: Student–police violent clash at Osmania
The passion and fervour for the movement ignited in 2009, and by
2010, a single call for a rally or protests would gather tens of thousands
youth and students of Telangana. The OU-JAC started a ‘non-
cooperation’ movement in Telangana with a slogan of ‘Pen Down,
Chalk Down, Tool Down, Mouse Down’,22 with the aim of closing
all official activities. The movement was compared with the Indian
National Movement by many newspaper and magazines. ‘Telangana
state is our Birth Right’ and ‘Telangana Ichchedi Meme, Telangana
Thechchedi Meme’ (We will give Telangana, We will bring Telangana)
was another popular slogan that became iconic among the youth due
to students’ growing influence. A Telangana scholar and activist wrote
about Telangana movement and compared its ‘Million March’ with
Cairo’s March in Egypt.23
Azad, an OU-JAC activist, recalls his participation in an agitation,
which ended in his hospitalization:
Just two days before, I bought my phone and it was early morning,
I received a call from my girlfriend and she wished me, ‘Happy Valen-
tine, comrade’. She asked about the plan. I told her that I was busy in
organizing a rally this evening.We had a lovely chat for few minutes and
then suddenly I got busy with other calls. Then the same evening, I was
arrested and my phone got smashed under a police vehicle during clash
with police.Valentine ended up with violence on us. I was injured and
was hospitalized for a month.
Recalling the same incident, a local police officer,24 who reported
several OU agitations, describes it as one of the more violent
agitations of Osmania students, in which he himself was injured.
While meeting for tea at dhaba with the researcher, he narrates the
incident’s details:
It was 14 February, around 5 pm, about 400 students of Osmania
University, majority of them were from Arts College, led by Vangapalli
Srinivas, Rajaram Yadav, Praveen Reddy and Pidamarti Ravi took out
a rally from Arts College to NCC gate to burn the effigy of Central
Government as a part of ongoing agitation for Separate Telangana.
Disturbed by the recent student suicides, the students’ leaders announced
that except TRS Party MLA, no other MLA resigned, for students
who sacrificed their lives for separate Telangana. The Political leaders
are making mockery of students’ suicide. These words spread like wild
fire and the mob increased up to 1000 approximately. After a while
students tried to push police by raising provocative slogans like Police go
back, is it a students’ campus not a police campus etc. and jumped over
the gates of Osmania University. Police maintained maximum restraint,
formed human chain and persuaded protesters to not to take out rallies
as prohibitory orders under section 144 CRPC were promulgated in
Hyderabad City. After a lot of persuasion, they burnt effigy within the
campus and started returning. After burning the effigy, the agitating
students reached to ladies hostel by raising slogans in unparliamentary
language as ‘Telangana Drohulara Kabardar, Telanganaku Adduosthe
Addanga Narkestam’ (if you stop us, we will cut you in pieces) and
‘police go back’. Since, the strength of students increased the students’
slogans made girl students to come out of their hostels and join them in
College of Management lane.
To see the unruly crowd, ACP announced additional force to
occupy campus. This unlawful rally of students reached Arts College
and stopped. Meanwhile a few students started talking to media. The
inspector, along with ACP Kachiguda and police force, returned to
Arts College bus stop. The JAC leaders Pidamarti Ravi, Suman, Rajaram
Yadav, Praveen Reddy, along with around 300 other students, came to
Arts College bus stop and suddenly started pushing the police person-
nel to go out of the Osmania University campus, and insisted that not
‘they will show their power at Tarnaka not in the campus’. Among
them, some others tried to set fire to the tents, where the police per-
sonnel were taking rest. Police tried to convince and persuade them
not to resort to such violent activities. However, a group of students
ran behind Arts College towards Manikeshwar Nagar with slogans
‘Telangana Drohulara Kabardar Kabardar Telanganku Addosthe Addanga
Narekestam’, while another group ran towards B hostel, Tarnaka side,
and students present there started pelting stones from Arts College on
police.
Meanwhile, the police pickets at MK Nagar was also alerted. Then
police started announcing that the unlawfully assembly is not permis-
sible as the prohibitory orders are in force and if they do not disperse
immediately tear gas will be used. Instead the mob became more violent
and started pelting stones under the cover of darkness and trees.
Then, in self-defence and with no option left, the police fired
three rounds of tear gas shells because of which the mob ran helter-
skelter. However, as the tear gas shells were ineffective, they regrouped
immediately and started pelting stones again. The police, once again,
warned them that lathi charge will be resorted to, if they do not dis-
perse. The students continued pelting stones because of which police
did mild lathi charge dispersing the mob. In the meantime, a group
of students came from rear side of tents and set fire to all four tents.
Equipments like stone guards, lathis, chairs, dragon lights, ropes, and
police vehicles were also damaged in this confrontation.
DCP East zone arrived at the scene around 7 pm and directed all
policemen to withdraw to police station. Around this time, Joint
Commissioner of police also came to B-hostel junction to monitor
the situation. During this time, the students regrouped again under
cover of darkness and resumed pelting of stones from all the direc-
tions on police officers and personnel. They started charging towards
police, who were returning to police station, with 80–100 girl
students providing cover to them. This mob turned more violent and
started hurling stones, glass pieces and sticks keeping the girls as shield
with an intention to cause injuries to the police. In selfdefence, the
police fired tear gas shells and rubber bullets at B hostel junction.
However, the unruly students’ mob persisted with attacking police
with stones, glass pieces etc. The police used ‘Vajra’ vehicles for firing
of three tear gas shells but soon the vajra operator got hurt as he was
hit by a stone on his right hand.
The police officer described that it was his first time seeing so many
women activists aggressively taking part in the agitation. ‘For a while
we were confused how to handle the situation,’ he said,
Around this time, when the police ordered for chasing away the crowd,
the students’ mob ran into B hostel and some students ran towards Arts
College. Subsequently, it was learnt that some girl students who were
providing cover for male students probably could not run on par with
their counterparts and appear to have fallen on the road and received
injuries. They were wearing simple sandals and flipflops. On the other
hand, boys were in their proper sports shoes. For girls, it is hard to run
in chunnis and suits.
Next day on 15 February, around 9:45 am, one police vehicle was
attacked by the students near B Hostel and was damaged due to pelt-
ing of stones on the vehicle. The vehicle was suddenly stopped and
there was a lot of slogan shouting. The police from rushed to the spot
and protected the vehicle. Meanwhile, about 200 to 300 students gath-
ered at Arts College, and simultaneously, they all started pelting stones
on the police force as well as on Police Station. In the time of stone
pelting, some of the police personnel sustained injuries. Another mob
got mobilized around Arts College area and started moving towards
B hostel while pelting stones and broken glass pieces etc. on the police.
After some time around 11 am, the mob came on to the main
road and reached near the police station and damaged barbered wire
fencing meant for blockade and indulged in stone pelting. The police
made announcements through asking students to move away but the
students continued stone pelting etc. The police in self-defence fired
tear gas shells. The students of B hostel standing on terrace and from
1st floor windows were in elevated position and in the stone pelting
that followed, some police personnel received injuries along with
some journalists.
The officer ended by stating, ‘Our previous experiences reveal that

whenever there is an attack on students by the police, students formed
several groups during agitations; they come on to the main road, rush
to Tarnaka, Habsiguda and Manikeshwar Nagar, damage public and
private property and also cause injuries to the passers-by.’
This particular incident of violence was condemned by civil society,
as the police personnel claimed. According to him, on the same day,
about 70 media personnel and lawyers entered the campus to protest

against alleged manhandling and assault on media by the police per-
sonnel. Some members of State Human Rights Commission visited
the university campus again and attempted to convince the students
not to resort to violence.
In this agitation, student leaders Sri Bhaskar (TRSV), Mahesh
(TRSV), Kumar Swamy (MSF), Yellender and Jagan (PDSU), Ashok
(AISF), and D. Srinivas (OU-JAC) were arrested under various charges
of rioting, destroying public properties, inciting violence, and so on.
Women participated equally, especially the leaders and activists from
PDSU. Female PDSU participants like Nagamani, Swapana, Srivani,
Sumati, Hymavathi, Anju, Kavitha, Koteshwari, Mani, and Sujitha were
also arrested and sent to jail.25
Thus, student agitations from 2009 to 2013 followed a unique
strategy in framing slogans. Many of their protests ended up with
violence because they provoked police. But as with anything, there
are two versions of the same story. One is about police blaming
students’ behaviour as being rowdy and using vulgar language. On the
other hand, students claim that they had to be aggressive only because
government purposely appointed Andhra officers who were ready to
throw all of them in jails. According to Rajiv, a popular JAC leader:
We made this a successful protest because we mobilised our girls and
boys both and from NCC gate to Ladies Hostels to Arts College
and then to Tarnaka … our network was so strong that even police could
not understood the intensity of the protest. When police reapplied that
we were fearless, they started registering hundreds of fake cases on us
to put us in jails.
Rajesh,26 one of the OU-JAC leaders, describing the supremacy

of student power, states, ‘It was February 2010 there was a lathi charge
by the police on some women activists. Regarding this matter, I called
directly to minister Savita Indira Reddy. She not only responded nicely
but within half an hour she came to Osmania University and apolo-
gized to the lady warden for police action.’
By this time, the government began to acknowledge growing
student authority. Rajesh continues to explain:
I still remember the time when we were so powerful due to our activism.
Media used to wait outside Arts College for our press statement. We had
a super busy schedule. We had sleepless nights during that time. We had
no time even to attend our family calls. I remember, the then state min-
ister Karim Srihari and many others contacted us through some other
friends and had to wait to get our appointments.
To make a protest successful, the key is to mobilize students, and
for that, activists’ networks are crucial. Organizing a successful protest
requires many things. The leader should be a good orator. Cultural
programmes have been used as crowd pullers as well as to make the
masses conscious and sensitive about the Telangana issue. Explaining the
2009 strategies, Krishank Manne (2013: 91) describes in his account
of the 2009 movement that OU-JAC was the perfect combination of
dynamic leaders with their qualities:
If Pidamarthi Ravi and Rajaram Yadav were think tank’s, Mandala
Bhaskar and Balka Suman were crowd pullers, If Durgam Bhaskar,
Gadari Kishore, Kailash Neta and Balraj were good speakers then
Dharuvu Ellanna, Vijay were singing warriors, if Vangapally Srinivas
was daring then TGVP boys were dashing, if Stalin, Rajesh were
committed then Kota Srinivas, Ashappa, Azad, and Karate Raju were
confident. Balalakshmi, Satyavati and Suguna were the face for women.
Success of any movement depends on the strategies used by its
members. These strategies exist in the form of decision-making,
schedule-planning, making use of the resources, motivating masses by
highlighting various issues, using mass communication tools, and so on.
Organizing a ‘protest’ is part of a strategy in a movement. Generally,
student unions such as TRSV and NSUI (who belong to ruling party
like TRS and the Indian National Congress) are expert in organiz-
ing a quick protest as they get full resources from their parent parties.
Secondly, they have good networking in the media and know how to
handle the situation. Main student leaders of these parties even have
a television in their hostel rooms to keep themselves up to date with
the news and political activities. If there is a protest going on in Delhi,
Osmania activists plan an agitation in no time and alert media person-
nel. Some activists even have an effigy that they prepare in advance,
ready to use at a moment’s notice. That way, they only need to tag it
with a name when they plan to burn it at a protest. Similarly, they keep
banners and posters ready to protests any time when they need. They
call some close friends in media and some activists and within no time,
they organize a full protest.
The role of media, including social media, played a crucial role in

2009 agitations. It helped them in conveying their message to every
corner of the state. During 1969, there were only three popular news-
papers: The Hindu, Deccan Chronicle, and Andhra Bhoomi. On the con-
trary, in 2009, media became the centre of the movement, and people’s
sentiments were guided by the media. Telangana people owned two
newspapers and a news channel. According to an industry analyst, by the
end of 2010, Andhra Pradesh had 19.9 million television households,
of which 11.3 million were cable and satellite households (Reddy
2010). Thus, television served as a connector between the movement
and masses. The live telecast of the students’ self-immolation caused
intense public anger against the government and strengthen the public
support for the separate Telangana movement. These visuals had such
a deep effect on masses that on one call by student JAC, youth could
reach and rally in Hyderabad within no time.
Along with the use of media and technology, activists strategically
selected cultural symbols from Telangana folklore, assimilated them
in the movement, and manoeuvred them as historical symbols and
tools of assertion. Dappu is one of those traditional symbols used by
the Osmania students to assert their rights. Dappu is a traditional
medium of communicating the official announcements in the vil-
lages. It highlights the ‘life-world’ of lower castes. In 2009, it was
used as a cultural symbol to reach out to masses and served as the
beat of the movement. As an indigenous instrument of the region, it
could reach to that section of society which has been on the margins
for ages. In every movement, agitation, or strike, dappu caught the
centre stage.There are doctoral students at Arts College who research
the sociology and history of dappu. Some journalism students are
exploring the role of dappu in traditional communication. There are
Facebook group called Madiga Dappu Yuvasena, which organize vari-
ous shows and claims that they have the ‘best dappulu team in the
state’.There are hundreds of activists who add dappu with their name
on their Facebook accounts.
Similarly, activists worship Telangana Talli (mother goddess) to
oppose Telugu Talli which is a cultural symbol worshipped by Andhra
Telugus.27 In many places, statues of Telugu Talli were vandalized.
This created an outrage among Andhra people as well. Similarly, new
Facebook groups were formed such as Telangana Blackvoice. Madan,28
one of the active members of Blackvoice explains, ‘Blackvoice rep-

resents the voice of oppressed and discriminated people. Black is the
symbol of the oppressed. Black symbolizes dried blood and is therefore
closely related to the bloodshed of oppressive rule and the suffering,
hunger, misery and death of the ruled masses’.
Their logo is a phoenix with a red star on the Telangana map.
According to its activists, ‘Telangana map denotes self-respect, self-
rule and a separate state, Map in Blue means symbol of social justice
and phoenix represents ashes to glory, and immortality. Red star is the
symbol of revolt, liberty and revolution and Raised fist expresses Unity,
Strength, Resistance, Solidarity and support.’
Every symbol and colour finds a new meaning when it is linked to
a movement. While designing a logo, an activist considers those who
sacrificed their lives. A simple insignia of a party can appeal masses. It
is a part of attracting people or a symbol of protesting against others.
JACs organized programmes in Hyderabad and mobilizing people
from rural area. From September to December 2011, Telangana JAC
organized series of agitation such as rail-roko, rasta-roko (road-blockade),
and so on. Auto-rickshaw drivers JAC was instrumental in making
these blockades successful. During rail-roko programme in Hyderabad
violence erupted due to intervention of police which also led to arrest
of several student union leaders. There were series of agitations to
oppose arrest of student leaders and army on campus.29 For many
days, Osmania campus turned into an army camp, as Mukesh,30 leaned
against the wall, then sank into the chair and sighed, while describing
that period:
Agitations were going on in Hyderabad. We were literally living in an

army camp. Nearby area like Basti and Taranaka were under surveillance.
Many army people were staying in these areas to watch over student’s
activities. For weeks there was no food supply. That was the festive
season but many of us couldn’t go home. There were fire-crackers in
our homes and we were hiding in our rooms listening to the sounds
of bullets.
During 2009 agitations, the ‘non-boarders’ became a serious issue

for the university administrator as they were a large participation of
them in protests. To tackle this, police kept the campus under surveil-
lance. While holding a tea cup and a cigarette, Naresh,31 an activist
who prepared the design of the posters for one organization, lowers his
tone and tells two of his friends:
Once I had some work in the police station. The city police in-charge
was my known people. He asked us who else is living in your room
and what is his name and other details. Then, he showed the full detail
of how many people legally and illegally residing in every room of the
hostel. What is happening in our rooms and how many out-borders are
staying in hostels. They have their own informants. Police also knows
that how many student leaders are extorting money in the name of
movement. But they don’t arrest them because otherwise student would
think they are against the movement.
Mukesh’s face shows a sign of surprise. However, the movement
had much complex dynamics not just for the activists but also for
the administration and police. For student activists, it was not easy to
organize end number of talks and protests on campus.
There is a job crisis world over. Our state is no different from other.
But separation is not going to solve any problem. What this agitation,
rallies and movements are doing basically creating bunch of goons,
bunch of middle-man who bargain for students’ interests and their
own benefits. Bunch of student leaders will get their political benefit.
It is not going to benefit common student. These leaders have no
vision for anything.
Suresh, another resident of NRS hostel who is the next door neigh-
bour of a JAC leader, reveals:
In our hostel, many students are aware what our student leaders are
doing. Except two-three leaders, everyone has sold their soul to cheap
politicians. They enjoy a lavish life. But by living in the hostels with us
they show that they are like us. It is a known fact that they extort money
from business in the name of movement. They are rowdies; they can
beat anybody in the name of Telangana movement. Andhra business-
men are afraid of doing businessmen in Hyderabad. A bunch of these
students are creating terror in the city.
CHANGING MOVEMENT STRATEGIES AND DYNAMICS

Ways of protesting and mobilizing students differed for this generation
than for the first generation of activists. If we compare it with the 1969
phase, we can draw following comparisons:
1. Student composition was different in 1969, in that there was a large

percentage of Andhra students at OU. At that time, Osmania was
the only university in the area. Later, Kakatiya was founded, and by
1990, many educational institutions appeared on the map of Andhra
Pradesh, but the Telangana area was not given much attention. On
the other hand, student composition in 2009 at OU was dominated
by students from the Telangana region, while students from the
Andhra region had several institutions to choose from.
2. In the 1969 movement, student movement leadership reflected
the upper-caste majority on campus. By 2009, SC, ST, and OBC
students constituted almost 90 per cent of the population in
Osmania. Also, in contrast with the earlier generation that was mostly
in the natural sciences and medical fields, by 2009, most students
on campus belonged to the social sciences. This is in part due to
the declining academic reputation of the university and diminishing
intellectual and financial resources. Economically well-off students
were no longer drawn to OU as they were in its heyday.
3. In 1969, there were three main leading organizations (Telangana
Praja Samithi, Osmania University Student Union, Telangana
NGO’s Union). By 2009, countless organizations and sub groups
emerged. Apart from that, the movement received its support from
abroad and networked closely with Osmania students. ‘Without
this networking, it was hard to organise a single protest,’ says Jai, an
activist who was invited by an NRI association in Singapore.
The strategy differed in 1969 because ‘there was no time for analysis’,
according to 1969 activist,Advocate Ramdas.‘We did untiring agitations
continuously for 10 months. By that time, we exhausted our energies
and resources. That was a bad strategy; actually, there was no strategy.
We focus on our goal of getting separate Telangana and in a way, we did
but our political class betrayed us’. Activist leader K. Srinivasulu,32 an
engineering student at the time, remembers those days:
In the 1969 movement, farmers used to get involved. From all section
used to participate. Caste was not there. Class was not there. Those days
Left, Right or Centre was not clearly known. All these communalisms
and all were not well known that time.We have not read Marx, Lenin or
anyone else. Poet Sri Sri was our inspiration. Our concern was to react
to the societal problem. Everyone fought for one cause.
On the other hand, the 2009–13 movement occurred in a planned

manner. Students learnt from the mistakes of 1969 agitation. They
systematically used the university space and its intellectual and academic
resources. The kinds of ideologies formed and implemented were
never planned earlier. According to Professor G. Krishnareddy, ‘the
important contribution of 2009 agitations is the formation of the
Joint Action Committees ( JACs) by the students’. Through JAC,
students get the participation of every section of the society which
helped the movement in creating a strong ideological base.
ROLE OF FOLK, THEATRE, AND ART

During 2009 agitations, campus produced many cultural activists.
Many activists on campus are part of these groups and make music
albums on Telangana movement. Enjoying as much popularity and
respect as politicians, they have performed with famous singers such
as Rasmai Balkrishna (Dhoom-Dhaam group), Gaddar, Belli Lalitha,
and Varavara Rao. During the 2009 movement, these activists became
the voice of the movement. Their music revived the spirit of move-
ment among masses. Therefore, the 2009 movement was turned into
a cultural revolution by the university students. Student activists of
Osmania have written plethora of literature in Telugu to reach out
to masses. They recorded their music cassettes, albums, and YouTube
videos to highlight their sufferings and feelings about their Telangana
identity. Some popular movies were also made after the 2009 student
movement. Print and electronic media also helped them to highlight
their programmes. There were no popular cultural activists in
Telangana. It was an Andhra poet, Sri Sri, who captivated the youth.
Sridhar Reddy,33 who led his own group supporting separate
Telangana in 1969, explains: ‘Sri Sri was a progressive poet who
suffered with poverty in his young age. In his twenties, he wrote
great poetry that energized and inspired youth of our generation,
especially me as I used to write poetry at that time’.
Sri Sri’s poems became the voice of the generation of radical activ-
ists as well as student activists of the separate Telangana movement. On
the contrary, post-2000 Telangana phase of the movement produced a
range of young poets who became the face of 2009 agitations. Manoj
arrives at the dhaba in front of B Hostel with three other friends, Raju,
Mohan, and Yunus. He is holding a piece of paper in his hand. Raju

calls out at the chaiwala to make them tea. Mohan lights his cigarette
and makes himself comfortable, then says, ‘Yes Anna, please recite now’.
Manoj,34 a history student and a popular poet, shares his story:
One of my activist friends encouraged me to write my poetry and sing
it to every programme organised by the university. I have a great pas-
sion for poetry but it was all sad love poetry. After coming here one day
we saw that one of the students of Nizam College committed suicide
in front of Arts College, I have seen his close friend crying. It was such
a pathetic scene which shook my consciousness. We organised many
condolence meetings on campus. In these meetings, I have seen activ-
ists from different parts of Telangana came to participate. Some of them
recited poetry for Telangana. I was so impressed with the reality of the
problems. I felt bad that I was somehow writing more about utopian
things which does not have any meaning for my state people. Since
then, I decided to join hard core activism. I started writing poetry about
Telangana in Telugu and started sharing it with my activists’ friends.
Now, I have four books on Telangana issue. Now, I go to villages and
people love my poetry as they can relate themselves with it. The latest
one contains the picture of Arts College in its cover page. Whatever
I am today is because of this campus.
The movement has produced countless poets, writers, novelists, art-

ists, musicians, and local global leaders. Students feel proud to associate
themselves with the movement. These artists have a strong following
in rural areas as well. Among Osmania student singers, Daruvu Yellanna
became a popular voice of Telangana. His song, ‘Veerullara vandanam
Vidyarthi, Amarlara Vandanam Paadalaku’ (A Salute to Students) became
the voice of Telangana youth. Common students and activists sang
this song in their groups. This song was dedicated to the martyrs of
Telangana and evoked patriotic feelings for Telangana. Yellanna was
among those who sacrificed their career for the movement. To him, it
was the love for common people which made him what he is today.
The rented house of one of the student activists, Daruvu Ellana,35 is
full of awards and medals which he received as ‘Telangana movement
singer’ from every part of Telangana. He was invited by the Mumbai
JAC to sing revolutionary songs at the meetings and also helped the
OU-JAC by providing financial support. He described the event as
follows: ‘The happiest moment of life was when I was invited to Mumbai
by Telangana activists. I am proud that I represented my Telangana in

the economic capital of India where thousands of Telangana people
came to listen and appreciate my revolutionary song for separate
Telangana.’36
Since 2009, he has been invited as a guest artist to most of the
programmes organized by Osmania students.37
Like Mumbai, there were many other cities, where Telangana people
are settled and protested for Telangana. Similarly, there was a strong
network between Telangana diaspora settled in China, UK, Europe,
the United States of America, Canada, and other countries. All the
global networks have financially contributed to the groups working
in Hyderabad. These networks, through social media, made the move-
ment more vibrant at the national level.
During 2009–10 agitations, the government shut down the uni-
versity and hostels to curb movement activities. Notice was given to
all the students to leave the hostel. Water, food, and electricity supply
was cut. The entire campus was put under surveillance. Police had
control over all the activities. Students gathered and set up a huge
stage in front of Arts College. Their motivational speeches continued
around the clock. They invited popular Telangana activists to address
their gathering. The government did not allow anybody to enter
that area except students. However, balladeer Gaddar and musicians
Rasmai Balkishan, Vidyasagar Rao, and Deshpati Srinivas used to
come regularly. But activists as well as common students had records
of all of Gaddar’s songs on Telangana. In NRS hostel, it is common
to see many students playing Gaddar Anna’s song. Rasmai Balkishan
played a vital role in sensitizing students through his staged dramas
during agitation. An activist, Mukesh, describes the impact of these
dramas:
The students had set up their stage in front of Arts College. We
stayed, eat and sleep there. The cultural program, revolutionary
speeches and stage dramas were keeping our spirit high. In one of
the play by Rasmai Balkishna depicted ‘Andhra’ police who was
brutally beating Telangana students with their boots and lathis and
firing bullet on their head. These scenes projected in such a real
manner what we all had experienced during our agitations. These
scenes were so touching at every dialogue we had goose bumps and
our eyes were full of tears.
CHANGING STRATEGIES
The period from 2009 to 2014 witnessed many agitations, rallies,
marches, and strikes for the separate statehood for Telangana. On the
other hand, the Andhra region was protesting for ‘United Andhra’
(Samaikhayandra). However, there was no major agitation led by the
Andhra region as they did not have proper leadership.38 Andhra
activists resorted to following the strategy of Telangana activists’
initiatives such as Vanta Varapu, Rail Roko, and so on. In 2013, they
formed many JACs to oppose the demand of Telangana but their
protests remained largely limited to the Hyderabad city. A history
professor from OU, commenting on the Samaikhyandhra movement,
found no comparison between the two:
We have been writing books and publishing it for past 50 years but
media never highlighted us. These Andhra leaders will publish a pam-
phlet about united Andhra and they will gain lots of popularity in
media. But leaflets, pamphlets are just information; it is not an intellec-
tual material. And without intellectuals you cannot launch any serious
movement. Tell any name of the book written by their activists. Our
activists have written hundreds of books and thousands of songs were
composed only for Telangana.
Telangana Samburalu39 (food festivals) were organized in the college

premises and used to express resentment against commercialization of
culture, art and conventions, and food. The demonstrators distributed
boiled channa. To gain public support, TRS involves in funding these
festivals. The people were mobilized for different types of protests—
strikes, dharnas, mass processions and rallies, gheraos, civil disobedi-
ence, Vanta Varapu (cooking on the streets), cultural programmes, and
political meetings. In the name of reasserting the cultural identity of
Telangana, the traditional Bathukamma (goddess of life) festival, where
women offer flowers to a goddess and seek her blessings to become
good housewives, was organized and celebrated in public with the
blessings and support of Telangana ideologues and activists. Along
with long-established Bathukamma songs, which have patriarchal
overtones, new ones on the plight of Telangana and in praise of those
who died for the cause of the state were composed and sung in public
celebrations.
Students planned new programmes and used various protest strat-

egies. ‘Fasting’ was opted as the last form of protest. On the other
hand, some civil society groups have organized fasting. Taking a
critical stand on hunger strike as a protest strategy, Dr Surepally,40 an
Osmania alumni from Telangana, questions its efficacy: ‘Poor people
think they can change India by fasting or by hunger strike. Fasting
is just one form of protests, isn’t it? But can it bring any change?
Can’t we do opposite of it—cook well and eat well—be more
effective?’
To oppose the traditional way of fasting as protest, Telangana stu-
dents organized Vanta Varapu—cooking and eating in public places
such as roads or railways tracks. Through this strategy, they united
their fellow students. As one activist pointed out, ‘Who will come to
have fast with you and suffer hungry? But everyone will always ready
to come to feast. Vanta Varapu strategy also helped building student-
mass relations stronger and connecting all our activists’.
The form of protest decides the future of movement. In the
case of Telangana movement, students adopted new network strate-
gies to connect with the masses. Food was used as a medium to
protest. Students, teachers, politicians, businessmen, doctor, lawyers,
engineers, civil right activists, and daily wage labourers joined these
protests with their families to participate in the protests. Male and
female activists helped each other cut vegetables and cook three
times a day for everyone in temporary community kitchens. More
than 20,000 stoves were lit in different locations to feed the pro-
testers. Every caste and community came up with a unique way of
protesting. Potters depicted the Telangana fl ag on pots, drew the
map of Telangana, and inscribed the word ‘Telangana’ with colours;
embroiders weaved ‘Telangana’ on cloth, and so on. Women JAC41
was spreading a 200-metre-long fabric on the road with the word
‘Telangana’ hand-printed on it. Paan seller made a map of Telangana
on the paan leaf. The agriculture class took up their ploughs and
etched the word ‘Telangana’ in the soil. An activist cannot imagine
himself without networking. The service castes of Telangana expressed
their solidarity with the Telangana movement through remonstrative
forms of shaving, washing clothes in public space. ‘These protests
forms are rooted in their desire to turn the political system to listen
to their voices’42 (Thirumali 2010).
In 2013, when movement was at its peak, a doctoral student (also

a former Indian army personnel and closely associated with 69 activ-
ists), returned his degree during convocation at Osmania and shouted
the slogan ‘Jai Telangana’ on the stage. In his press statement, he said,
‘What is the use of accepting a doctorate when the issue of Telangana
is still pending?’ He further stated, ‘My only wish is that when I die
I should be cremated in Telangana. And if I die early, I ask my son
to put me in the mortuary and only bury me when Telangana is
declared as my own soil.’43 Such statement evoked sympathy and
motivated youth who used this as a strategy saying that ‘degree is not
as important as Telangana’. Such strategy became part of protest and
resistance.
ACTIVIST, CLICKTIVIST, AND ‘TICKETIVIST’

Many activists, who joined a political party, maintained their loyalty
to it. Apart from campus activism, their political motive was to get
the party ticket for elections. Close to the state assembly elections,
these activists demonstrated their strength to influence the party.
They organized various meetings on Telangana at the campus and
invited their political party leaders. Most of the leaders who formed
their own JACs claim to have been with the movement ‘since the
beginning’. They maintain a physical folder of newspaper clippings
and flyers of their activism, as well as regularly updating their profile
on Facebook. For Krishank and other student leaders, the movement
is no longer one that is just about identity or access to resources,
but also about opportunities:44 ‘If you look back, you will realise
that in 2009, the issue raked up once again during the allocation of
SI posts.45 For us, the formation of Telangana is a way of ensuring
that everyone is given equal opportunity—whether it is in education
or jobs. As students that’s what we have been fighting for—better
opportunities’.
Social media has elevated some activists’ stature and created a
global awareness of the movement. Many ‘Facebook leaders’ got
more popularity than those who really had a mass base. From 2009
onwards, there were more than 50 groups on Facebook in the
name of Osmania and Telangana at the national and global level
(by 24 December 2014). Some common pictures such as Telangana
map and Telangana agitation were widely shared by the activists. On

every picture, students generally comment ‘Jai Telangana’ and ‘Osmania
Students’ struggle long live’, the popular slogans of the movement.
Social media movements produced thousands of activists who, as per
social movement literature, can be called ‘clicktivists’ or ‘slacktivist’.
The Facebook group Blackvoice Telangana is run by Osmania alumni
and some current students of Osmania. A history student, Krishna,
posts messages like ‘Boycott Andhra Movies in Telangana: Be a Fan
of Your Mother and Motherland Telangana—Jai Jai Telangana’ and
‘I cannot openly publish this message otherwise the police will kill
me because they are from Andhra. I am spreading messages through
Facebook to express my feelings for Telangana. Our group has a huge
fan following.’46
Citing the role of mainstream media in making a movement, Ajit, a
professor of journalism, opines:
It is not the movement but the political parties which decide who will
be the activist. All media houses are run by the political parties. Media
focuses on certain people who are visible but the grassroots activists are
not highlighted because media follows an elitist approach. If you talk
to a real activist, he will use a very crude language and his real experi-
ence. Such language is not liked by the mainstream media as it does not
make a news.
The researcher met many activists who were reluctant to interact
with media, in spite of their strong ideological beliefs. They have their
own resentment with the movement and its leadership but they have
no resources to launch their own group. But they have spent much
time in the movement; they cannot leave it at this stage.Therefore, they
continued their activism without compromising with their principles.
JAC leaders were accused of ‘turning puppets in the hands of political
parties’.47 Sharing such experience, Shyam,48 a 41-year-old resident in
NRS hostel, shares his thoughts on the movement:
I don’t want to talk about Telangana activists. In the name of activism,
they are extorting money. They call themselves Ambedkar’ites. There
is no ideology of those who extort money. When I questioned their
practices, they gave logic that finances are important for a movement.
They also get funding from political parties. What do they do with the
money? Students are committing suicide here in Telangana. There are
deeper roots of feudalism.
Shyam takes out a piece of paper and draws a diagram to show the
caste atrocities by Reddys and Velammas. His voice gets louder as his
frustration begins to show, and he tears apart the diagram. ‘Do these
student leaders have any answer to the caste question in Telangana?’ he
asks angrily. He pauses and continues:
I don’t want to waste my time talking about this non-sense movement.
It has produced just a bunch of goons and middlemen. That is not what
Ambedkar or Kanshi Ram has imagined for Dalit society. They are all
PhD students but you ask them any book of Ambedkar, you will get
no answer. They have no vision. They are surviving only because they
are associated with glorified Osmania University. They themselves did
nothing to glorify it.
Ignoring the question posed, Shyam, in his prophetic style, reveals:
You will see various characters of the Left, Dalit-Bahujan and Telangana
movement. Leftist leaders would convince you how they are attached
to the masses. A Dalit leader would say he is attached with Dalits. But
Telangana student leaders would say, ‘I am closely attached with TRS’.
This is the irony of Telangana politics. To them, it is just about how to
get a ticket from TRS.
A defining characteristic of an activist is his or her adherence to a

particular ideology. Ambedkar, Periyar, and Phule appear to play an
important role in the lives of many campus activists. Images of such
social thinkers hang in the rooms of all the activists the researcher
encountered. For the radical Left, the icons are Marx, Lenin, Mao,
and Bhagat Singh. Some activists have posters that nearly cover the
entire wall. Yet, out of the 47 present-day Osmania student activists
interviewed, only one had a complete collection of Dr Ambedkar’s
writings translated in Telugu and some of Phule’s writings. Thus, it
is difficult to define these activists on the basis of their ideological
leanings. For example, the majority of activists are office bearers in
several organizations which are often ideologically antagonistic. The
understanding of their ideology is limited to iconic representations
of above mentioned social thinkers. This can help us understand the
proliferation of student unions in the NRS hostel alone. Popular
politics and the desire to be in the limelight propel many students
into activism such that combined with the lack of ideological men-
tors there is not one single ideology that has defined the movement.
Thus, campus activism does not represent any particular ideological

understanding among student activists; rather, it is a combination of
their regional identity, political aspirations and the ‘ultra local’ vision
of the movement. Close to the elections, ideology is compromised,
and student leaders of from left-wing and right-wing parties run after
every political party to get election tickets. Like mainstream politics,
campus politics turns to be very opportunistic. All their activism and
politics ends up into a struggle of getting election ticket.Those who do
not get the ticket continue with their ideological activism. They prove
themselves as popular leaders in the eyes of mainstream party leaders.
There are two ways to show their strength. One is by showing the real
strength in numbers by taking their supporters with them when they
attend any party function or any public ceremony where their party
leaders are also invited. For example, in the marriage function of the
university student, all the student leaders enter the hall with dozens of
their supporters behind them; they meet with all the popular leaders.
Second is the virtual way—through social media. All student leaders
have Facebook accounts. They upload the pictures and videos of their
programmes, agitations, confrontations with the police, addresses to
large gatherings, meetings with ministers and bureaucrats, organizing
protests, and so on. This account is generally maintained by the closest
friend who is considered the ‘right hand’ of the student leader. He
manages all his appointment and schedules. Common students from
other universities and colleges approach this right hand to get their
work done.
Krishank Manne writes in his agitational account, ‘Movement and
agitation are done by people who are hungry and angry’ (Manne 2013:
24). Manne, with other senior activists, was jailed twice. Many JAC
leaders have a history of being jailed in two of the well-known jails
of the area: Chanchalguda Central Jail and Cherlpally Jail. Sharing his
experiences, Rajiv49 explains, ‘See, in India, without going to jail, one
cannot become leader. From Gandhi, Nehru, and Patel to Lalu Yadav,
everyone survived jail which made them the mass leader. I can go
to jail again and again for my people of Telangana. I exist because of
Telangana’.
His statement shows the power of region in a federal system of
democracy. Most of the regional movements in democracy have
gained momentum because the regional identity was presented in
such a manner that evoked the cultural feeling of its people. For
example, the basis for the demand of separate Jharkhand state from
Bihar was the tribal identity that spurred a mass movement. Similarly,
Chhattisgarh was formed on the basis of the Chhattisgarhi language
spoken in the region. Therefore, there is a correlation between
culture, language, and region. Firoz, a sociology student at Arts
College, states:
I come from Warangal district which is known for its struggle and
sacrifices. When I joined here, I met many senior activists from my
area who carry forward the legacy of the radical left. I started attend-
ing their program and rallies, agitation. Now, you see I am speaking
to the media on the behalf of Osmania students. My family does not
own a TV in my village but when they heard that I was on TV and
they called me I was the happiest person on earth. This campus is the
most pious place for students like me who come from extremely poor
families.
During the 1969 agitation, OU led the movement and hundreds

of students lost their lives. The majority of these students were from
Khammam and Warangal districts. Therefore, these two districts are
generally represented in student leadership.
Caste has been used as a mobilizing factor in Telangana movement
since the 2009 agitations. There are only a few Osmania student lead-
ers who gained fame and emotional support mass across the party. As
argued earlier, emotions are rooted in cultural practices, and it takes
cultural activism to stimulate them. The dedication, use of slogans, and
fearless actions of the activist turns him into a mass leader. Such action
catches media attention, which brings them closer to the mainstream
leaders. That was the strategy followed by Pidamarthi Ravi, Rajaram
Yadav, and Balka Suman, who were ready to fight and take action.Their
actions, in police language, are illegal and rowdy. During the 2010–11
agitations, there were cases of government property destruction. Some
TVV student leaders were accused of setting New Necklace Road and
Jamai Somalia railway station on fire on 21 February 2011 (Editorial
2011: 3).50
On the other hand, Left ideologue such as Kota Rajesh and Nagam
Kumaraswamy, Jagan remained ideologically committed, and gained
mass support but never got involved in any violence. Another Left
activist like Kota Srinivas, Stalin and others refrained from violent
activities. Regardless, each of these group leaders was charged with
more than 100 cases by the local police. Their history of activism
shows a particular trend from being an ordinary student to becoming
a popular student leader. For example, Pidamarthi Ravi grew up in
extremely poor economic conditions, studied in government schools,
and reached OU and opted for Telugu literature for his doctoral. His
friends revealed that he was always found in library reading for com-
petitive exams and they were confident that he would easily crack
state civil services. But they believe that it is his generous nature
that made him a leader. He never said no to any of his friends who
sought any kind of help. While he was with the SC/ST Students’
Association, Ravi publicly shattered an idol of the Hindu god Lord
Ganesha to oppose Brahminism on campus, which cast him into
limelight. To counter the slogan of Bharat-Mata [Mother India], he
coined the slogan Ambedkar Pitah [Father Ambedkar]51 and offered
his support to BSP.
During interviews with the old generation of activists (1969–72)
and then the present generation of activists (2000–14), the researcher
found an interesting connection between these generations—that
both are first generation learners. Except one or two activists, all
of them belonged to economically poor backgrounds. Students
from elite backgrounds used to attend Arts College, but now it is
only first-generation learners who do so. Between November 2009
and February 2010, 60 young students aged 18–25 committed
suicide. Many of them were self-immolations (Government of
India 2010: 387). This was a distinct phenomenon in 2009 agita-
tions. On the contrary, there was not even a single suicide during
1969 agitations. Dr Chiranjeevi became visibly emotional while
talking about this phenomenon: ‘We used to face the police bullets
directly and many of our friends sacrificed their lives but we never
quit even in the extreme hopeless situations. This generation is
losing hope’.
During 1969, there was a low number of faculty members from
Telangana region, but it was predominantly students who devised their
own strategies. But during 2009, the ratio was different. Arts College
had the largest faculty from Telangana, and it became a joint struggle
for both students and teachers.
DISCUSSION
The university campus is a site where ‘identities are actively made,
remade’ (Vennela 2014) and strengthened. Most of the students who
were part of the movement were first generation students. Their
families had high expectations of them to secure a government job
in Hyderabad. Thus, they do not necessarily come with the aim of
engaging in politics or activism on campus.Yet, it is the image of the
university as an ‘activists’ campus’ that contributes to and strength-
ens their Telangana identity. As more and more students from small
towns and villages came to Hyderabad to join OU, they learned
more about the difficulties of settling in Hyderabad. Living in the
city forced them to think more of their career. Seeing first-hand
the difficulties and struggle to gain employment coupled with the
lack of representation of people like themselves in government jobs
and positions of power, students from Telangana felt the only solu-
tion to these social inequities was forming a separate state. Thus,
the university provided the consciousness and understanding of the
problems and offered a solution. Daily life experiences in Hyderabad
magnified reasons to become an activist and the university campus
provided a safe haven.
Activists define collective identities in opposition to other groups
in society, including targeted groups such as the state or counter-
movement groups. Collective identity is an interpretation of a group’s
collective experience: who these members of the group are, what their
attribute are, what they have in common, how they are different from
other groups, and what is the political significance of all this (Whittier
2002: 302). It emerges from interaction within movement contexts as
participants transform their sense of themselves. It is grounded in the
group’s social location, that is, its structural position, its common expe-
riences, and dominant definition of the group. It, thus, is shaped by
forces external to the movement, but it is never a straightforward result
of a shared social location. The collective identity of JACs fragmented
into various segments. On the one hand, it was narrowing the collec-
tive identity but at the same time, it was democratizing the movement.
Three ideological concepts—‘Geographic Telangana’, ‘Democratic
Telangana’, and ‘Dalit-Bahujan Telangana’—represented a vision, a
strangery and planning for their dream state. This ideological grouping
not only rekindled activists’ aspirations and mobilization process for

separate statehood, but also highlights intellectuals’ contributions to
the movement. One can argue that it fragmented the movement and
put it on the righr path. Looking at it from another point of view, the
movement can be understood as an identity-resistance movement, in
which caste and sub-caste identity mobilization affected its internal
structure. It helped the marginalized section to gain pride in their
identity.
Telangana movements brought together individuals from different
social locations at one platform. The comparison of 1969 and 2009
generations of activists provides important similarities and differ-
ences. For example, the state repression was much severe in 1969–72
agitations but there was no suicide during 1969 agitation. On the
other hand, during 2009–13, several students committed suicide for
statehood. This explains how external dynamics (state and power
structure) influence the movement actors’ decisions and strategies. By
2009, students had lost all hope. The strength of the 2009 movement,
compared to the 1969 one, lies in the activists’ awareness and pride in
collective identity of Telangana, their cultural understanding of the
movement, which created a feeling of self-empowerment through
identities that were inward-looking. Due to caste and sub-caste
JACs, identity of Telangana was constantly negotiated as the specific
question of ‘whose Telangana is this?’ became the central question
of the movement. Dalit-Bahujan Telangana, Madiga Student Union
focussed more on identity empowerment.
In other words, caste-based groups have a strong presence on
campus, but all these groups culminated into a common platform of
JACs. Under the broader umbrella of OU-JAC and TS-JAC, several
internal substructures like caste, minorities, gender, and region
played a crucial role. The strategies and goals of these JACs were
largely shaped by the media, local politics, and state and national
politics. Moreover, political culture of Osmania campus and youth
leadership as well as an individual’s aspirations contributed to more
dynamic and powerful protests and agitations, posing threats to
the existing structures of state power and politics. Thus, individual,
culture, and structural transformation are inseparable (Whittier
2002: 306). In caste-based JACs, activists explored caste connections
within and outside the country (among diasporas) to widen their
political space. It challenged the existing leadership of the move-

ment and their bargaining power with the state. However, internal
dynamics of movements was not simply determined by external
contexts. The JAC as a concept became popular among every
section of Telangana society, from elite to the common masses.
Each social class had formed their own groups, first on the basis of
collective identity of Telangana, then on the basis of primordial iden-
tities, and then on the basis of ideology (‘Geographic’, ‘Democratic’,
and ‘Dalit-Bahujan’ Telangana). In the longer run, such groupings
strengthened the movement at grassroot level. Interestingly, this
basis strengthened the movement and made it more democratic
by introducing concepts such as ‘Democratic’, ‘Geographic’, and
‘Dalit-Bahujan’ Telangana.
A movement only takes an agitational route when it generates a
collective identity. The success of Telangana movement was the com-
bination of various internal and external factors. For example, dappu,
as a traditional symbol of caste-based occupation, was presented as a
symbol of assertion by the activists. Telangana dappu was popularized
as a new identity to solidify Telangana identity. Similarly, the individual
talent of singing got a public expression through movement (which
otherwise was not possible).There are studies (Braz 1973; Danda 1983;
Dasgupta 1983; Mahapatra 1983; Rao 1981; Saikia 1982; Singh 1983)
on social movements and collective actions of individuals that dem-
onstrate the emergence of charismatic leadership and how it becomes
a symbol of the emotive aspects of the cultural consciousness of a
community, articulates the strategies of solidarity, and revitalizes the
indigenous traditions (Singh 2001: 169). Castells introduces another
concept of identity: project identities. A project identity is formed
‘when social actors, on the basis of whichever materials are available
to them, build a new identity that redefines their position in society
and, by so doing, seek the transformation of the overall social structure’
(Castells 1999: 8).
In short, the second phase of the Telangana movement agitation
started from 2009 and was qualitatively different from the 1969 phase.
Both generations came together and led frequent and successful
agitations between 2009 and 2014.They created a tough situation for
the political class, who had lost trust of the common masses. Again,
OU intellectuals (professors, doctors, engineers, journalist, and so on),
and alumni were instrumental in launching successful agitations

and they remained the guiding force for other university students
as well. Thus, without the institutional contribution of Osmania,
it is hard to imagine the movement for the separate statehood of
Telangana.
A common factor that binds the two generations of activists
is their trust in the democratic (electoral) means for Telangana to
achieve statehood. That is why a mass movement could sustain for
almost for more than five decades (though some activists from 1969
generations learnt this lesson the hard way, as many of them took
the extreme revolutionary path for a while). Both phases of the
movement experienced the leadership of seasoned politicians: MCR
(Marri Chenna Reddy) in 1969; and KCR (K. Chandrashekhar Rao)
in 2000. Such phenomena raise a critical question for us—what is the
relation between social movements and politics? Scholars of social
movements, especially resource mobilization theorists, consider poli-
tics as a resource for the movement, and issues of resource mobiliza-
tion as important to examine and understand movements. Touraine
(1981) argued that a movement must be more than just oppositional
and that it must propose alternatives. In the 1969 movement, after
forming a separate political party, TPS, and winning the elections,
the possibility of creating a political alternative was lost the minute
MCR merged TPS with the Congress party. Between 2001 and 2009,
the KCR phase paints a similar picture. With the help of Telangana
intellectuals, KCR formed TRS party in 2001 and won several elections,
served as a cabinet minister in the central government, but the issues
of separate statehood had not made a headline during his tenure.
Another phase of agitation was started by the university students.The
phase of 2009–13 marks an extraordinary commitment of student
activists who not only led a mass movement but also provided an
alternative to the existing politics by forming JACs. With the advent
of JACs, the movement entered an institutional phase which was
critical to the movement’s success. More illuminating is the assertion
among Dalits and OBC students that has changed the basis of caste
as a social institution. They produced counter-historical narratives to
challenge the existing ones. Castells (1997/2001: 9) notes that the
identity building on the basis of history, geography, or biology often
results from ‘unbearable oppression … making it easier to essentialise
the boundaries of resistance’. Resistance identities are defensive

socio-cultural formations, and they are products of alienation and
resentment in relation to the dominant institutions and ideology of
society, which make their reasons for being no less comprehensible.
Resistance identities do not generate the institution of civil society
because they do not tend to aim primarily at institutional transfor-
mation vis-à-vis the state (Castells 1997/2001). Castells provides us
framework of NSMs to understand the Telangana movement. Earlier
chapters highlighted that within the larger spectrum of the move-
ment, a parallel movement for caste identity assertion was taking place.
The tradition and trajectories of their (ongoing) struggle can help us
in understanding the contemporary activism. Gore (1989), Oommen
(1990), and Singh (2001) agree on the idea that ‘movement are not
idiosyncratic phenomena that they have some degree of autonomy in
relation to the autonomy of society itself ’ (Singh 2001: 167). Singh
(2001: 136–91) raises a question: ‘how to comprehend and analyze
the growing conflicts, contestation, protests, demands and assertions
of people relating to ethnic identity, regional autonomy to nation and
sub-nation, monopoly over symbolic heritage, language, culture and
religious faith …’ In other words, the formation of collective identity
(of Telangana or any regional movement) is primarily cultural which
finds its explanation economically, and generally manifests itself
politically.
The second theme which we can derive from Telangana move-
ment is the lived experience of its activist and its relationship with
movements. Telangana movement has produced several student
intellectuals who later emerged as ‘organic intellectual’ (using
Gramscian term who sees a greater challenge among students as
they are not tied to the system in the same way like other social
groups). The university education is not limited to bookish knowl-
edge but it also provides a space where social learning takes place
among students. It is the place where students’ everyday interac-
tions (de)construct new narratives, which provides alternatives to
the existing forms of knowledge. Understanding these systems of
learning and knowledge production helps us in understanding the
genesis of social movements.
Democratizing the production of histories by writing subaltern
and Dalit literature has challenged the existing liberal and critical
school of thought. Pathania (2012), in his ethnography of one of the

premier institutions of India, highlights how educational practices
were exclusionary in a liberal campus like JNU where ‘Ambedkar
was not accepted as a scholar until 1990’. But gradually with
student activism and engagement with academic discourse of caste,
Ambedkar’s ideology has developed into a school of thought. The
graffiti on campus walls includes Ambedkar who appears larger than
Marx, Mao, and Lenin. Thus, the project of building a new kind
of historical culture and democratizing the production of history is
vital. Movement generates new knowledge, theory, and questions.
Space, organizing, learning, and knowledge production are deeply
interconnected in the course of activism for social change (Choudry
2015: 86).
NOTES
1. Available at https://www.mainstreamweekly.net/article1970.html, accessed
19 September 2015.
2. The ban was implemented following the death of a Nizam College
student leader. See https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/hyderabad/
Lift-ban-on-student-polls/articleshow/42067746.cms, accessed 15 January
2015.
3. Interview on 29 June 2013, Hyderabad.
4. Manda Krishna Madiga formed MRPS to fight for subcategorization to
oppose dominance of Mala caste among SCs. He tried to unite all 59 sub-
castes of Dalits. He became popular among students since he formed a group
called MSF. In January 2014, he also formed a party called Mahajana Socialist
Party (MSP).
5. Available at http://www.thehindu.com/todays-paper/tp-national/tp-
andhrapradesh/lsquoHyderabad-cannot-be-viewed-as-a-free-zonersquo/
article16477754.ece.
6. Raju was one of the JAC leaders who attended several meetings at TRS
office during 2009. From his interview on 2 June 2013.
7. KCR was the cabinet minister in the Congress government from 2004 to
2009. After four years of his tenure, Osmania students realized that he was not
raising the separate Telangana demand.
8. Deccan Chronicle, 24 December 2009.
9. To express their anger, the student activists told the media that ‘this
coloured thing he drank was our urine’.
10. In an interview with TV9 and NDTV on 31 November 2009. Gaddar, a

famous balladeer and the radical face of the movement, echoed the sentiment
by saying KCR is the traitor of Telangana movement. For details see, Andhra Jyothi,
31 November 2009.
11. Congress party was the first one to get out of this JAC and then TDP.
12. TDP leaders attacked on Osmania Campus, The Hindu, 25 December
2009.
13. CPI (Maoist) CRB secretary Interview. Andhra Jyothi, 1 January 2010.
14. Interviewed on 27 September 2013 at B hostel.
15. From his interview on 30 August and 23 September 2013 at the
Department of Journalism, Arts College.
16. Pad-abhisheka is the act of dousing milk over one’s feet. It is a form of
honour and reverence, usually performed on Hindu gods.
17. During 2012–13, around one hundred talks were organized in the
Arts College premises by activists regarding themes of development, econ-
omy, Dalits, Madiga, reservation, agriculture, peasants, labour, and women of
Telangana. The most common word was ‘Jai Telangana’ and ‘struggle’ in the
title of these talks.
18. INC, BJP, CPI-M, CPI, TDP, AIMIM, TRS, PRP attended this meeting.
19. Available at https://economictimes.indiatimes.com/news/politics-
and-nation/telangana-erupts-again-3-students-commit-suicide/ articleshow/
5482695.cms.
20. Available at https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/hyderabad/Student-
who-set-himself-ablaze-for-Telangana-cause-dies/articleshow/5598698.cms.
21. Available at http://www.thehindu.com/news/national/crisis-looms-
as-81-telangana-mlas-some-mps-submit-resignations/article2158170.ece,
accessed 18 February 2014.
22. From Nadustunna Telangana (2011: 1).
23. Nadustunna Telangana. 2011. ‘Editorial’. (3): 5 (The editor also writes all
across the world people are revolting against imperialism, hegemony, dictator-
ship, capitalism, feudalism, p. 4).
24. The officer’s name has been withheld as he would only speak on the
condition of anonymity. The narrative is from several informal conversations
with him held in August 2013.
25. A copy of police FIR is attached in the Appendix. Mentioned
narratives is from ethnographic notes of authors’ everyday discussion with
police officials.
26. From his interview on 28 August and 11 September 2013.
27. Available at http://www.thehindu.com/todays-paper/tp-national/
tp-andhrapradesh/telugu-talli-statue-unveiled/article5307531.ece.
28. Interviewed on 17 June 2013 at the Arts College, Osmania University.
29. Available at http://www.thehindu.com/news/national/andhra-pradesh/

Telangana-bandh-Students-police-clash-at-Osmania-Univer-sity/
article15454760.ece.
30. He is a resident of Dr B.R. Ambedkar (PG) hostel known as NRS.
31. Resident of hostel B, who generally hangs out at tea shops every eve-
nings with his close friends. Excerpt is taken from my ethnographic notes on
2 November 2013.
32. Interviewed on 19 June 2013 at the department of political science,
Arts College, Osmania University.
33. From interview at his home on 22 June 2013.
34. The researcher met with Manoj several times. He was invited to sing
his revolutionary songs. The narrative is from his interview conducted on
22 December 2013 at his rented accommodate at Taranaka.
35. In 1999, Daruvu formed a team called Daruv Kala Brundam. His idea was
that Telangana should be sung and led by Dalits not by the upper castes. He
also formed Telangna Rashtra Vidhyarthi Samiti in 2001. He himself belongs to
Madiga caste but married to an OBC girl. He got a job as teacher but he left
it for the movement.
36. Interviewed on 10 October 2013 at his residence.
37. ‘Telangan Etlostadi’ (How to get Telangana?): a programme organized by
TSJAC and OU-JAC on 12 June 2013.
38. See The Hindu, 2 November 2013.
39. Available at http://www.thehindu.com/news/national/telangana/students-
celebrate-bathukamma-samburalu/article6429983.ece.
40. Interviewed on 19 September 2013 at Satvahana University, Karimnagar.
41. Professor Revathi, Professor Vimala, and Dr Sujatha were actively
involved in the women’s JAC. They celebrated Chakali Illama’s birth anniver-
sary as Telangana Women’s Day.
42. Available at www.mainstreamweekly.net/article1970.html.
43. Captain L. Pandu Ranga Reddy in his interview to Deccan Chronicle on
2 October 2013. Available at http://archives.deccanchronicle.com/130208/
news-current-affairs/article/osmania-university-student-rejects-degree-
telangana-statehood.
44. Available at http://www.firstpost.com/politics/how-student-leaders-
were-the-driving-force-behind-telangana-996213.html.
45. Police sub-inspector, a government post that is respectable and highly
sought-after.
46. Posted on Blackvoice Telangana wall on 10 January 2013.
47. ‘Students Attack OU JAC Leaders’. Available at http://www.the-
hindu.com/news/cities/Hyderabad/Students-attack-OU-JAC-leaders/
article15456975.ece, accessed 14 October 2017.
48. From several informal conversation at the hostel during ethnographic

observation between 2013 and 2014.
50. The editorial of Nadustuna Telangana magazine compared this incident
with the historical chora-chori incident during non-cooperation movement of
1920.
51. See Nadustua Telangana (2011: 10).
5 New State, Old Narratives
The political map of India has been drawn and redrawn several times
since independence, according to recommendations made by the
States Reorganisation Commission Act of 1953. Demands for new
states have reshaped regional power dynamics. Starting with Andhra
Pradesh, many new states were created, including Himachal Pradesh,
Kerala, Madhya Pradesh, and Manipur. In the decades since, states and
boundaries have been created and shifted for linguistic or political
reasons. With the exception of Chhattisgarh, all such demands began
with protests and resistance. The territorial reorganization had differ-
ent socio-political undercurrents. Tillin (2013: 5–6) identifies three
processes behind the state formation: (a) compromise between historic
social movements and new political parties in the 1970s; (b) challenges
to the upper-caste dominance in the Hindi heartland by Dalits and
Other Backward Classes (OBCs); and (c) Bharatiya Janata Party’s (BJP)
changed approach to federalism and their emergence as national party
(also see Heath 2002). On the other hand, Weiner (1978) highlighted
the ‘sons of the soil’ theory to understand the demand for the separate
statehood. All the analyses of state formation are centred on political
(representational or electoral benefits) and economic gains.
After more than six decades of struggle, on 2 June 2014, Telangana
appeared on the map as the 29th state of India. Contrary to above
mentioned approaches, this book unfolds cultural contours to explain
the emergence of Telangana movement for separate statehood. There
are historical factors that guide these cultural resistances. William Sax
(2011: 173), in his study on Uttarakhand statehood, argues that ‘cultural
and ethnic factors have been prominent in the creation of new Indian
DOI: 10.1093/oso/9780199488414.003.0006
states (with the exception of Uttrakhand)’. Mitra (1995: 59) observes

that ‘culture is the ubiquitous, common element of all separatist move-
ments’. No other state has witnessed as violent or intense a struggle as
that preceding the formation of Telangana. Nowhere in modern Indian
history have as many youths lost their lives as they did for Telangana.
One cannot imagine history of Telangana without the sacrifice and
struggle of university resistance. For a separate statehood from Andhra
Pradesh, thousands of students sacrificed their lives. On 20 February
2010, 19-year-old Siripur Yadaiah set himself ablaze in public view at
Osmania University (OU).1 His suicide note read: ‘I am an orphan,
I was hopeful of getting a job in Telangana. But it appears that a separate
state will not happen’. LikeYedaiah, hundreds of young students commit-
ted suicide between 2005 and 2014, citing lack of a Telangana state as the
kernel of their despair. These suicide notes present a counter-narrative
to the state’s ‘promised’ narrative of ‘inclusive’ development and growth.
Each death doused the anger of Telangana activists until 2 June 2014.
The present movements based on identities is an effort to create
a culture of resistance. Culture is not a sphere, but a dimension of
all institutions—economic, social, and political (Jordan and Weeden
1995: 8). The assertion of culture is sui generis, independent of political
nationalism, but it may manifest politically or economic motivations
may operate in parallel with cultural factors, which makes culture
a complex phenomenon. On the other hand, ‘ethnically based
nationalism arises out of a sense of alienation, on the one hand, and
resentment against unfair exclusion, whether political, economic or
social’ (Scheff 1994: 281). Della Porta et al. (2006) claim that territorial
identities do not fade but are increasingly impacted by other places
and cultures. This leads to resistance movements to defend traditional
cultures, which in turn, leads to a resurgence of nationalism, ethnic
movements, and religious mobilization (2006:15).
The ruling class of any state serves as the ‘means and the end of the
political oppression and cultural suppression that are imposed on the
indigenous communities,’ as Chomsky observes (cited in Meyer and
Alvarado 2010: 16). The Telangana movement has been symptomatic
of the existing cultural hegemony of ‘settlers’ (which they term as
‘Andhra dominance’) that was reflected in every walk of life of the
state and which led to exclusion and underdevelopment of Telangana
region. This inevitably resulted in the concept of ‘Samajik’ or ‘socially
New State, Old Narratives 189
inclusive’ Telangana, an ideology projected by Osmania intellectuals

and alumni (C.H.H. Rao 2009). Many felt that Telangana had ‘not
received its due share in investment allocations, and that the “surpluses”
from Telangana, were diverted to the other regions’ (Rao 1969, cited in
Rao 2009). The ‘feeling of injustice’ due to these disparities is greater
among the educated classes because of their awareness of injustices
faced in terms of job promotions or career mobility (Rao 2009).
‘Representation and inclusiveness is not easy to be achieved in a bigger
state as the voice of the marginalized sections remained fragmented,’2
argues C.H.H. Rao (2009) in his article on regional disparities pertain-
ing to Telangana.
POLITICS OF NARRATIVES
Generally, a social movement provides counter-narratives to existing
narratives. These new narratives gradually become part of our socio-
cultural understanding. The history of Telangana regional politics has
been a history of countless narratives by the government of ‘consti-
tuting’, ‘establishing’, ‘forming’, and ‘setting up’ dozens of ‘safeguards’
‘committees’, ‘commissions’, ‘agreements’, ‘pacts’, ‘government orders’,
‘official statements’, ‘negotiation’, ‘promises’, ‘assurance’, and so on.
These words appear thousands of times in the modern history of
Telangana politics.The Telangana movement engaged with the state by
opposing government policies known as ‘safeguards’ says Dr A. Gopala
Kishan, who was one of the founding fathers of Telangana Praja Samiti
(TPS). According to him, ‘none of our interests—relating to health,
education, self-governance, and sale of agricultural lands—was safe-
guarded’.3 These ‘safeguards’ were planned to ensure equal develop-
ment in the region, but many of them were never implemented. Yet,
they remained part of the state’s narrative.
The first chapter highlights the discrimination, humiliation, and
neglect of Telangana people and culture, specifically in government
employment and financial allocation by the ‘dominant’ culture of
Andhra. Employees hailing from Telangana faced constant humiliation
as their culture and accent were considered ‘inferior’. As OU is located
in the capital city of Hyderabad, its students recognized the cultural
politics at hand. When agitations to uphold the policy of safeguards
were repeatedly ignored by the government, OU students raised the
demand for separate statehood in 1969 and formed the TPS, rally-
ing widely for support. Their collective anger burst onto the streets of
Hyderabad in the form of the first violent student agitation, accelerat-
ing the movement, and creating turmoil in the city for nearly a year.
Hundreds of students lost their lives in these protests, which fuelled
more protests and resulted in a mass satyagraha across Telangana. For
the entire academic year, students were on the road confronting the
police. Jails quickly became overpopulated with students, and even
schools in Telangana were used as detention centres. At the movement’s
peak, students invited Dr Marri Chenna Reddy (MCR), a Congress
party leader, to head the TPS. After a year-long failed agitation in 1970,
student activists set their eyes to the parliamentary election of 1971.
‘This election was the only hope left for us. We coined the slogan—
Employment, Status and Pride. We had no experience of any election
except campus election of 1968 which was fought on Separate
Telangana issues and we won that with this hope we were so ready to
take the challenge and responsibility of parliamentary election.’4
In the 1971 election, TPS won 11 of 14 parliamentary seats, the
most remarkable victory in the history of students’ struggle. With
high hopes, pamphlets were published announcing ‘Telangana State’.
However, Reddy’s politicking and the eventual merger of TPS with the
ruling Congress party led to widespread frustration among students, as
they lost trust in the state. This new narrative was accepted by those
who opted for a peaceful approach to remain close to power. But many
activists rejected the Reddy–Congress narrative and imagined a new
narrative. Sympathies began to sway towards the extreme Left with
many student leaders joining the Naxal movement and People’s War
Group. Activism on campus waned and the emotions and forces gener-
ated by the 1969 movement did not find a political platform. More
than a decade later, students became disillusioned with the Left’s inac-
tion. Nevertheless, the vision of a separate Telangana never wavered in
the minds of the leading intellectuals who had experienced the 1969
agitation and lost friends in police firings. In 1986, they formed the
‘Telangana Information Trust’, where they penned their experiences of
the movement. Later, many of them became popular writers and poets.
In addition, OU alumni formed many socio-cultural organizations
such as Telangana Jana Parishad, Telangana Mahasabha and Telangana
Sanskruti Samakhya, to evoke consciousness among the masses.
In an effort to forge unity among people of the Telangana and

Andhra regions, N.T. Rama Rao (NTR) offered a new narrative called
‘Telugu Unity’: Telugu Jathi Manadi, Ninduga Velugu Jathi Manadi (Ours
is a Telugu nation, ours is a flourishing nation).Yet, many saw this as a
ploy to distract attention from the Telangana cause. Telugu unity was
just another narrative, which, according to Srinivasulu (2012), was
‘a myth invented by Andhra people to justify their exploitation and
oppression of the Telangana region’. ‘In reality, it was “Andhra Unity,”’
Ramesh,5 a 1969 activist claims. ‘In governments’ eyes, Telangana does
not even exist but this identity is well documented in our minds’. Most
of the actors involved in agitations and protests were the university
educated class.
Similarly, Telugu Talli6 is another narrative created by the state to
keep Telugus united by promoting common linguistic and cultural
heritage. New departments were established in universities to enhance
research on Telugu language and literature.The song, Man Telugu Talli ki
Malle Poodanda (A jasmine garland for our mother of Telugu), was sung
at every government office function. During the Telangana movement,
activists rejected Telugu Talli and coined Telangana Talli. Later, at the
peak of the movement, Dalit activists questioned whether Telangana
Talli representing the ‘real mother of Telangana’. Instead, they chose to
celebrate Chakali Ilamma as Telangana Talli. After Telangana became a
state, Joint Action Committee ( JAC) leaders and government planned
to erect statues of her across various districts of Telangana.7
When the Indian government created new states of Jharkhand,
Chhattisgarh, and Uttarakhand, aspirations rekindled among Telangana
supporters. They pushed their agenda to the national-level authorities.
In 2001, with the help of intellectuals, activists, and politicians, the
TRS formed under the leadership of K. Chandrashekhar Rao (hence-
forth KCR) and Telangana activism experienced a robust revival.
Many activists had reservations with KCR and feared history would
repeat itself, as they compared him to MCR. From this point onwards,
through various programmes, pamphlets, and songs, students spread
awareness in cities and villages about social backwardness of Telangana,
an absolute deficit of governance and nepotism in employment prac-
tices, as well as the unjust exploitation of Telangana’s natural resources.
During this phase, the movement expanded and diffused into different
ideological camps, no longer clinging to the Left.
The movement entered the second phase on 29 November 2009,

when KCR’s announcement of a fast-unto-death caught national
attention. At this time, Osmania students played a crucial role: before
KCR began his fast, he ensured he had the support of students. Yet,
nine days later, when his health started deteriorating, the government
became concerned about the consequences of his death. A new nar-
rative crafted by the Congress government ‘assured’ the creation of a
separate state by forming another commission called the Sri Krishna
Commission. It was seen as another ‘political betrayal’ in the eyes of
activists, who sensed a repetition of 1969 with KCR in place of MCR.
This time, they declared, they ‘would not let history repeat itself ’.When
KCR abruptly broke his fast, students cut all ties with him. They took
the movement into their own hands and made a powerful attempt
to reach the masses by forming a JAC—a non-political organization.
Students were successful in their grassroot outreach, as the masses not
only understood students’ narratives, but also warmly accepted them.
However, KCR managed to rebound and regained public sympathy by
helping student padayatras. The period from 2009 to 2013 was char-
acterized by rallies, meetings, marches, protests, agitations, and strikes.
At the height of the movement, KCR vowed that his party would
appoint a Dalit as chief minister if Telangana became a state.8 This
was to counter the growing popularity of the Madiga (Dalit) leader,
Manda Krishna Madiga9 who formed his own party to fight elections.
However, after TRS won the state election with a clear majority, KCR
and his family members were given key positions. Before he took oath
as the first chief minister of the new Telangana state, he pledged to
rescind the police cases lodged against Telangana activists during the
movement, as well as create one lakh jobs for the new state’s youth.
Many former student activists have received retroactive government
orders from the police for their involvement during the Telangana
movement—activists call it a ‘betrayal’. The handful of activists given
election tickets by the TRS party and who are currently in power
remain silent about their fellows’ plight. As organic intellectuals, they
strongly believe that they must continue their struggle to achieve a
truly democratic Telangana. ‘Those who are enjoying power now,
should remember that it was our fellow students who sacrificed their
lives to create this state which they claim as their now,’ expresses an
angry agitator in a rally organized by the Telangana Unemployed JAC.
Thus, they find little difference in their struggle pre and post-state
formation.
Post-State Formation Narratives

Within a few months after the new government formation, students
were back on the streets protesting against the state which they fought
so hard to bring into existence. Angry and dissatisfied with the present
government’s neglect of its own promises, they formed the ‘Student
Unemployed Joint Action Committee’ and protested against the gov-
ernment for not doing enough to provide employment opportunities
to educated youth. They are raising the same issues of unemployment,
poverty, and farmers’ suicides, and so forth—issues which concerned
them prior to the state’s formation. According to students, ‘all that
was achieved was a geographic Telangana and a power transfer from
Andhra’s feudal Reddys to Telangana’s wealth landowner Velammas’.
A prevalent feeling of ‘being cheated’ is felt among generations of
Osmania students, who made countless sacrifices for the state, yet did
not reap any benefits from the formation of the state. Osmania students
see these actions as yet another ‘chapter of betrayal’ in the long history
of the struggle for a separate Telangana. Neellu-Nidhulu-Niyamakaalu
(water, resources, and employment) are still discussed in activist meet-
ings. These are the common issues that still need to be addressed.
In the aftermath of the state’s formation, mainstream media and new
school textbooks have portrayed KCR as the architect of Telangana.
His close ally from OU, Professor M. Kodandaram, one of the found-
ers of T-JAC, has denied this claim, citing the collective effort of civil
society in achieving statehood. He alleged that KCR ‘indulged in
horse trading of MLAs and MPs’ and implemented unilateral decisions
without consulting ministers or senior officials.10 In 2016, Professor
Kodandaram, with the help of students and other civil society groups,
mobilized people from every part of Telangana and raised burning
issues in the region. In addition, several non-governmental organiza-
tions (NGOs) such as the Telangana Development Forum, Telangana
Intellectuals Forum, Telangana Resource Centre, Telangana Jagruthi,
and Telangana Information Task Force are actively involved in dis-
seminating the idea of a separate Telangana.Their websites provide free
access to academic books and articles, literary works, biographies of
Telangana heroes, and video clips of speeches by Telangana leaders and

political events. Once again, we see how intellectuals chose their own
path towards social justice, rather than curry favour with power. The
coalition of intellectuals and student community served as the basis
of radical opposition and deepening democratic practice (Haragopal
2010b; Kannabiran et al. 2010: 69–88). This is reflected in the largely
violence-free and disciplined response to protracted political negotia-
tion since 2009 (Shaw 2014).
Politics of Ideological Narratives

In general, ideology needs to be problematized in the context of move-
ments. This would help us in exploring why movements’ organization
or leadership splits up and divides. In this regard, educational institu-
tion such as school and university are an important site where social
hierarchies, rituals, and traditions are reproduced through a dominant
ideology. The recent critical debates on ideology highlight that class
and ideology are neither empirical nor epistemological realities. They
are materially and relationally continued through the infinite semio-
sis of linguistic meaning and the historical contingency of discursive
practices (Bhabha 2015: 6). Ideology is not necessarily the expression
of a class interest. It never stands on its own but involves in relations
with other ideology. It is never complete, but continues to evolve
and modify itself (Sigel 1990). It is the way certain class interests and
other social forces attempt to intervene in the sphere of signification,
to articulate or harness it to a particular project to hegemonize (Hall
1997: 30–1). Thus, ideology is not a monolithic entity that drives all
facets of our thinking (for example, class ideology). It is also a realm
of contestation and negotiation (Eagleton 2007: 101). Therefore, in
contemporary times, whether political parties and movements have
any concrete ideology or not is the key question to be raised. The
leadership in the Telangana movement used different strategies, tactics,
and mechanisms for their cause.Yet, if we analyse them from the tradi-
tional Marxist or functionalist ideological paradigm, it does not explain
the ambiguities of caste and regional aspirations. Over 60 years, the
movement has experienced varied leadership, demands, and countless
ideological spectrums. These demands ultimately seek the representa-
tion of every social group, seeking a truly socially democratic state.
Therefore, in any identity based movements or mobilization, the word

‘ideology’ does not convey a serious message.
For the past two decades, identity has been an important theme
capturing the attention of new social movement scholars. Snow and
McAdam (2010: 46) look at identity as ‘constructive perspective’ which
focusses on the construction and maintenance of collective identity in
social movements (also see Hunt, Benford, and Snow 1994; Lichterman
1999). Identity work in social movements is not necessarily confined
to discussion about creating ‘we’. Bernstein (2008: 288) uses the term
‘deconstructive movements’, which may target the state, institutions,
and more general cultural practices. These movements are motivated
by activists’ understandings of how categories are constituted and how
those categories, codes, and ways of thinking serve as axes of regu-
lation and domination (Crossley 2002; Eyerman and Jamison 1991;
Melucci 1996; Rochan 1998). Taking the concept of identity move-
ment critically, Bernstein (2008: 291) argues that ‘collective action’ is
highly researched that centres around issues of domination and so on.
Therefore, it not only defines who ‘us’ is, but also acknowledges some
injustice done to ‘us’ and attributed it to structural causes (Gamson
1992; Morris and Braine 2001; Taylor and Whittier 1992).
To oppose the historical injustice, Osmania students formed a musi-
cal band called Bheem Drum to represent the traditional symbol of a
community. Similarly, the dappu emerged as a powerful symbol for
the movement. Identity assertion occurred through food consumption
and festivals as well. In celebration of Ambedkar’s birthday, a group of
Dalit students composed a Beef Anthem at OU in 2012. Through these
cultural resources they invoke a ‘collective memory’ (Eyerman and
Jamison 1998: 70). Icons, symbols, and food practices, which were con-
sidered derogatory, have become part of the activists’ toolkit in resisting
cultural hegemony. The emerging middle class in India that has largely
received higher education are ‘harbingers of newness’ due to their
active participation in agitations and protests (Pathania 2015: 290).Yet,
this ‘newness’ needs to be looked at critically when it comes to the
issue of marginalized communities based on caste, region, religion, or
gender. Marginalized students use the logic of historic discrimination
and injustice done to ‘us’ vs. ‘them’ as their vantage point for any issue
they raise. They claim that ‘class’ analysis not only misguides but also
weakens the fight against casteist forces. Therefore, these binaries of
‘us vs. them’, ‘bourgeois vs. proletariat’, or ‘Hindu vs. non-Hindu’ and
so forth, are fixed. This leaves little scope for any change in ideology.
The narratives of Telangana ideologues justify the movement as
a struggle for identity and autonomy, and rationalize it as a struggle
against domination, exploitation, discrimination, deception, and
humiliation (Srikanth 2013: 42). Political parties not only ignored the
socio-cultural history of the state but also bypassed the people’s aspira-
tions. Hundreds of student suicides were labelled as ‘political strategy’.
Radical left parties used students’ energy for their party interests while
Telangana issue was given only a token inclusion in their agendas.
Amidst all this, OU intellectuals’ efforts over half a century to research
and understand the Telangana problem of writing and publishing lit-
erature, forming organization, and mobilizing masses finally achieved
success. What is important to understand is that a movement occurs
when the inequality becomes intolerable and there is no space left for
negotiation. It occurs when there is no other option left, when rep-
resentation becomes redundant, and existence becomes meaningless.
The Telangana movement is the combination of various identities
assertion and above mentioned challenges. The grouping, organiza-
tion, mobilization, and the strategies of the movements are loose and
unstructured in these new movements. The changing student (social)
composition has also changed the context of higher education, which
led to the identity assertion. It takes us back to the question that
Bernstein (2008: 289) asks: ‘How do movements negotiate identity
for empowerment when the identity around which the movement
is organised is also the basis for grievance?’ It also provides us insight
to understand the weakness of the Telangana movement. Before the
movement is unified, it splintered into various caste and sub-caste
groups. The process of formation of Telangana identity and caste asser-
tion did not work in tandem. In fact, unlike the assertion of caste
and sub-caste identity occurred before identity formation for separate
Telangana. In other words, lower castes were doubly deprived of their
identity as Dalit and being Telanganaite. On the other hand, upper
castes appeared to have a single agenda—of attaining statehood. Caste
appeared as a dividing factor among Leftist parties but at the same time,
it was making a collective identity for Dalits. Ideology of Dalit-Bahujan
Telangana ignited aspirations of all the lower castes, including OBCs.
Therefore, caste issues may not be the primary agenda item in their
ideology, yet, caste is used as a political tool. Therefore, there is a need

to problematize the notion of ideology. Any caste movement has the
possibility to transform itself into an anti-caste movement if it can
develop a democratic culture of its own and challenge the cultural
institution. Movement that emerges from identity has some uniqueness
that reflects in its cultural practices.The contemporary student activism
makes university a potential site for a cultural resistance.
The formation of a new state does not necessarily guarantee the
welfare and representation of historically marginalized identities—it
demands continuous resistance and agitation for democratic represen-
tation. Universities, in this regard, provide fertile ground where students
and teachers can question the establishment and devise critical and
creative ways to establish organic linkages with the ontological realities
of the public. The mass movement led by Osmania activists sets an
example for any resistance movement around the world.The university
as a democratic institution stands taller than other public institutions.
NOTES
1. Available at http://www.thehindu.com/news/national/Telangana-student-
succumbs-to-burns/article16816028.ece, accessed 16 October 2014.
2. Available at http://www.mainstreamweekly.net/article1213.html, accessed
14 March 2016.
3. Available at https://www.telegraphindia.com/1130804/jsp/7days/
17193418.jsp, accessed 14 March 2016.
4. Srinivasulu (OU activist in 1969), interviewed on 18 June 2013 at his
residence in Gandhi Nagar, Secundrabad.
5. From his speech at Telangana Vidyarthi Vedika prorgram at Arts College
on 2 October 2013.
6. Like Bharat Mata in the British era,Telangana Talli is presented as a victim
of colonial domination, the victim here is Seemandhra capitalists (Srikanth
2013: 42).
7. Available at https://www.ap7am.com/lv-198321-chakali-ilamma-statue-
unveiled-in-warangal-district.html, accessed 6 November 2016. A Telugu
movie was also made on the life of Chakali Ilamma.
8. Available at http://indiatoday.intoday.in/story/dalit-telangana-first-chief-
minister-k-chandrasekhara-rao/1/298009.html.
9. As Dalit politics, government jobs and position were largely held by
Mala community, there was space for the emergence of non-Mala. Madiga
constitute 12 per cent of the population in Telangana region, but had no

stake in power. Manda Krishna Madiga tried to bring 59 sub-castes of Dalit
together. He led the MRPS agitation for subcategorization in reservation.
His growing popularity made Osmania student leaders his close ally. With his
help, students formed Madiga Student Federation (MSF) at OU and organized
massive gatherings at the Arts College.
10. Available at http://www.thehansindia.com/posts/index/Telangana/
2017-10-07/Kodandaram-vows-to-fight-against-KCR-Govt/331643,
accessed 10 October 2017.
References
Abraham, M. 2016. ‘India’s Student Protests: Struggle for a Better World’.

ISA Forum Blog. https://isafo-rum2016.wordpress.com/2016/03/21/
indias-student-protests-struggle-for-a-better-world/.
Adiraju,V.R. 1969. The People’s Struggle. Hyderabad: The Telangana Publications.
———. 2009. Telangana: Saga of a Tragic Struggle. Hyderabad: Anupama
Printers.
Agarwal, P. 2009. Indian Higher Education: Envisioning the Future. New Delhi:
SAGE Publications.
Alam, S.M. and Khan, W. 1972. Metropolitan Hyderabad and Its Region.
Hyderabad: Asia Publishing House.
Alatas, S.H. 1977. The Myth of Lazy Native. London: Frank Cass Company
Limited.
Altbach, P. 1966. ‘The Transformation of the Indian Student Movement’. Asian
Survey 6 (8): 448–60.
———. 1967. ‘Student Politics’. Transition 28: 25–7.
———. 1968. ‘Student Politics and Higher Education in India’. Daedalus:
Journal of the American Academy of Arts and Science (Winter Issue): 254–73.
———. 1972. The University in Transition: An Indian Case. Mumbai: Sindhu
Publications.
Altbach, P.G. 1966. ‘A Wide-Angle View: The Student Movement and the
American University’. The Phi Delta Kappan 47 (8): 424–7.
———. 1968a. Student Politics in Bombay. Mumbai: Asia Publishing House.
———. 1968b. Turmoil and Transition: Higher Education and Students Politics in
India. Mumbai: Lalvani Publishing House.
———. 1969. ‘Student Politics and Higher Education in India’, in Students
in Revolt, ed. S.M. Lipset and P.G. Altbach, pp. 241–62. Boston: Houghton
Mifflin.
200 References
———. 1970a. Student Revolution: A Global Analysis. Mumbai: Lalvani

Publishing House.
———. 1970b. ‘Student Movement in Historical Perspective: The Asian
Case’. Journal of Southeast Asian Studies 1 (1): 74–84.
———, ed. 1974. University Reforms: Comparative Perspectives for the Seventies.
Cambridge, Mass.: Schenkman.
———. 1982. Student Politics: Perspective from the Eighties. New Jersey: The
Scarecrow Press.
———. 1984. ‘Student Politics in the Third World’. Higher Education 3 (16):
635–55.
———. 1987. ‘A New Student Militancy’. Economic and Political Weekly 22
(13): 543–4.
———, ed. 1996. ‘The International Academic Profession: Portraits of
Fourteen Countries’. Higher Education 35 (3): 364–6.
Alavi, H. 1973.‘Peasants and Revolutions’, in Imperialism and Revolution in South
Asia, ed. K. Gough and H.P. Sharma. New York: Monthly Review Press.
Apple, M.W. 1996. Cultural Politics and Education. New York: Teachers College
Press.
———. 2001.‘Comparing Neo-Liberal Projects and Inequality in Education’.
Comparative Education 37 (4): 409–23.
———, ed. 2010. Global Crisis, Social Justice and Education. New York:
Routledge.
———. 2011. Education and Power (Third Edition). New York: Routledge.
Armstrong, E. and Bernstein, M. 2008. ‘Culture, Power, and Institutions: A
Multi-Institutional Politics Approach to Social Movements’. Sociological
Theory 26 (1): 74–99.
Aspinall, E. 2005. Opposing Suharto: Compromise, Resistance, and Regime Change
in Indonesia, pp. 140–3. California: Stanford University Press.
Attewell, P. and Thorat, S. 2007. ‘The Legacy of Social Exclusion: A
Correspondence Study of Job Discrimination in India’. Economic and
Political Weekly 42 (41): 4141–5.
Ball, S. 2004. Class Strategies and the Education Market: The Middle Classes and
Social Advantage. London: Routledge Falmer.
Beckford, J. 1989. Religion and Advanced Industrial Society. London; Boston:
Unwin Hyman. Beissinger, M., Jamal, A., and Mazur, K. 2012. ‘Who
Participate in Democratic Revolutions? A Comparison of Egyptian
and Tunisian Revolutions’. Paper presented at ‘American Political
Science Association Meetings’, New Orleans. http://www.princeton.
edu/~mbeissin/beissinger.tunisiaegyptcoalitions.pdf.
Benichou, L.D. 2000. From Autonomy to Integration: Political Development in
Hyderabad State 1938–48. New Delhi: Orient Blackswan.
References 201
Bernstein, B. 2000. Pedagogy, Symbolic Control and Identity: Theory, Research,

Critique. London: Taylor and Francis.
Bernstein, M. 1997.‘Celebration and Suppression: Strategic Uses of Identity by
the Lesbian and Gay Movement’. American Journal of Sociology 103: 531–65.
———. 2005. ‘Identity Politics’. Annual Review of Sociology 31: 47–74.
———. 2008. ‘The Analytic Dimensions of Identity: A Political Identity
Framework’, in Identity Work in Social Movements, pp. 277–301. Minneapolis:
University of Minnesota Press.
Beteille, A. 2007. ‘University at the Crossraod’. Current Science 82 (4): 25.
Bhabha, H.K. 2015. Critical Inquiry 42 (1): 1–30.
Bheenaveni, R. 2013. ‘Division of Andhra Pradesh: Upper Caste Ethics and
Spirit of Samaikyandhra’. Hans Indi. http://www.thehansindia.com/
posts/index/Hans/2013-09-14/Upper-caste-ethics-and-spirit-of-
Samaikyandhra/71741.
Bhushan, B.N.V. 2009. Telangana: The State of Affairs. Hyderabad: AdEd Value
Ventures.
Bhushan M.B. and Venugopal, N. 2009. Telangana: The State of Affairs.
Hyderabad: AdEd Value Ventures.
Bhushan, S. 2013. ‘Higher Education in 12th Plan’. Economic and Political
Weekly 48 (4): 17–19.
———. 2016.‘Public University in a Democracy’. Economic and Political Weekly
51 (17): 35–40.
Biao, X. 2007. Global Bodyshopping: An Indian Labour System in the Information
Technology Industry. Princeton; Oxford: Princeton University Press.
Bischof, G., Karner, S. and Ruggenthaler, P., ed. 2010. The Prague Spring and
the Warsaw Pact Invasion of Czechoslovakia in 1968. Lanham, MD: Lexington
Books.
Blehl,V.F. 1963. The Essential Newman. New York: Omega Books.
Bombongan, D.J. 2008. ‘Revisiting Newman’s Idea of a University for Our
Times’. Philippiniana Scara XLVIII (129): 469–83.
Bourdieu, P. 1983. ‘The Field of Cultural Production or the Economic World
Reversed’. Poetics 12 (4–5): 311–56.
———. 1985. ‘Social Space and the Genesis of Groups’. Theory and Society
14 (6): 723–44.
———. 2003. Firing Back against the Tyranny of the Market 2. New York: New
Press.
Brand, K.W., ed. 1983. Aufbruch in eine Andere Geselleschafi. Frankfurt Campus.
———, ed. 1985. Neue Soziale Bewegungen in Westeuropa und den USA. Ein
Internationaler Vergleich. Frankfurt: Campus.
Braungart, R.G. 1984. ‘Historical Generations and Generation Units: A Global
Perspective’. Journal of Political and Military Sociology 12: 113–35.
202 References
Braungart, R.G. and Braungart, M.M. 1990. ‘Youth Movements in the 1980s:
A Global Perspective’. International Sociology 5: 157–81.
Braz, R. 1973. Student Movement, Political Development and Modernisation
in India. Master’s thesis, Graduate School of the University of Massachusetts,
Amherst. https://scholarworks.umass.edu/theses/2460.
Brooks, R., ed. 2016. Student Politics and Protest: International Perspective. New
York: Routledge.
Buechler, S.M. 1995. ‘New Social Movement Theories’. The Sociological
Quarterly 36 (3): 441–64.
———. 2011. Understanding Social Movements: Theories from the Classical Era to
the Present. Boulder, CO: Paradigm Publishers.
Butalia, U. 2012. ‘Let’s Ask How We Contribute to Rape’. The Hindu, 26
December. http://www.thehindu.com/opinion/op-ed/lets-ask-how-we-
contribute-to-rape/article4235902.ece.
Calhoun, C. 1993. ‘New Social Movements of the Early 19th Century’. Social
Science Journal 17: 385–427.
Carnoy, M. 2000. Globalisation and Educational Restructuring. Paris: International
Institute of Educational Planning.
Carter, D.J. 2007. ‘Why the Black Kids Sit Together at the Stairs: The Role of
Identity-Affirming Counter-Space in Predominantly White High School’.
The Journal of Negro Education 76 (4): 542–54.
Castells, M. 1978. City, Class and Power. London: Macmillan.
———. 1983. The City and the Grassroots: A Cross-Cultural Theory of Urban
Social Movements. Berkeley: University of California Press.
———. 1997/2001. The Power of Identity, as a part of The Information Age:
Economy, Society and Culture, Volume 2. Oxford, UK: Blackwell.
———. 1999. The Rise of Network Society, as a part of The Information Age:
Economy, Society and Culture,Volume 2. Oxford, UK: Blackwell.
Chaitanya, K. 1994.‘JNU Rebuff to Communal Fascism’. Economic and Political
Weekly 29 (4): 160–1.
Chandran, R. 2012. ‘Exactly Whose Sentiments are Hurt by Beef and Pork?’
Round Table India: For an Informed Ambedkar Age. Accessed 3 February 2015.
https://roundtableindia.co.in/~roundta3/index.php?option=com_conte
nt&view=article&id=5764:exactly-whose-sentiments-are-hurt-by-beef-
and-pork&catid=119:feature&Itemid=132.
Chandra, P. 1938. Student Movement in India. Lahore: All India’s Student
Federation.
Charon, C.E.T. 2004. ‘Re-Encountering Cuban Tastes in Australia’. Journal of
Anthropology 15 (1): 40–53.
Chatterjee, P. 1997. The Present History of West Bengal: Essays in Political
Criticism. New Delhi: Oxford University Press.
References 203
Chattopadhyay, S. 2009. ‘The Market in Higher Education: Concern for

Equity and Quality’. Economic and Political Weekly 46 (29): 53–61.
———. 2012. Education and Economics: Disciplinary Evolution and Policy
Discourse. New Delhi: Oxford University Press.
Chaturvedi, B.N. 1956. A Descriptive Atlas of Hyderabad State. Allahabad:
Indian Press Private.
Chomsky, N. 2013. On Anarchism. New Delhi: Penguin.
Choudry, A. 2015. Learning Activism: The Intellectual Life of Contemporary Social
Movements. New York: University of Toronto Press.
Ciotti, M. 2006. ‘At the Margins of Feminist Politics? Everyday Lives of
Women Activists in North India’. Contemporary South Asia 15 (4): 437–52.
Clark, T.N. and Hoffmann-Martinot, V. 1998. The New Political Culture.
Boulder, CO: Westview Press.
Cohen, J.L. 1985. ‘Strategy of Identity: New Theoretical Paradigm and
Contemporary Social Movements’. Social Research 52 (4): 663–716.
Crossley, N. 2002. Making Sense of Social Movements. Philadelphia: Open
University Press.
———. 2012. ‘Student Perspective: A Perspective from the UK’. Mobilising
Ideas. Accessed 10 June 2016. https://mobilizingideas.wordpress.com/
2012/05/02/student-protest-a-perspective-from-the-uk/.
———. 2015. ‘Relational Sociology and Culture: A Preliminary Framework’.
International Review of Sociology 25 (1): 65–85.
Crossley, N. and Ibrahim, J. 2012. ‘Critical Mass, Social Networks and Collective
Action: Exploring Student Political Worlds’. Sociology 46 (4): 596–612.
Culler,A.D. 1965. The Imperial Intellect:A Study of Cardinal Newman’s Educational
Ideal. London:Yale University.
Curran, J.A. 1951. Militant Hinduism in Indian Politics: A Study of the R.S.S.
New York: Institute of Pacific.
Daenekindt, S. and Roose, H. 2015. ‘De-Institutionalisation of High Culture?
Realised Curricula in Secondary Education in Flanders, 1930–2000’.
Cultural Sociology 9 (4): 515–33.
Damle,Y.B. 1966. College Youth in Poona. Pune: Deccan College.
Damodaran, H. 2008. India’s New Capitalists: Caste, Business, and Industry in a
Modern Nation. New York: Palgrave Macmillan.
Danda, A.K. 1983. ‘Gahira Guru and His Sant Samaj Movements’, in Tribal
Movements in India:Volume 2, ed. K.S. Singh, pp. 197–208. New Delhi: Manohar.
Dasgupta, P.K. 1983. ‘The Adi Samaj Movement among the HO’, in Tribal
Movements in India:Volume 2, ed. K.S. Singh, pp. 93–107. New Delhi: Manohar.
Dasgupta, R. 2006. ‘Towards the “New Man”: Revolutionary Youth and Rural
Agency in the Naxalite Movement’. Economic and Political Weekly 41 (19):
1920–7.
204 References
Dasgupta, S., Bhattacharjee, R., and Singh, S. 1974. The Great Gherao of 1969: A
Case Study of Campus Violence and Protest Methods. Mumbai: Orient Longman.
Deccan Chronicle. 2013. ‘Statehood Refused Due to T-Case in UNSC’.
https://www.pressreader.com/india/deccan-chronicle/20130210/
281801396353407.
Della Porta, D., Andretta, M., Mosca, L., and Reiter, H. 2006. Globalization
from Below: Transnational Activists and Protest Networks. Minneapolis, MN:
University of Minnesota Press.
Desai, M. 2008. ‘Where Did We Go Wrong’, in Beyond Degree, ed. I. Panda,
pp. 178–83. New Delhi: India International Centre.
Deshmukh, C.D. 1968. ‘Student Violence Part of a Vicious Circle’. The Tribune,
24 April.
Deshpande, S. 2013. ‘Towards a Biography of the “General Category” Caste
and Castelesssness’. Economic and Political Weekly 48 (15): 32–9.
DeSouza, P.R. 2015. ‘Living Between Thought and Action’, in The Public
Intellectuals in India, ed. R. Thapar, S. Sarukkai, D. Raina, P.R. DeSouza,
N. Bhattacharya and J. Naqvi, pp. 79–100. New Delhi: Aleph Book
Company.
Dewey, J. 1961. Democracy and Education. New York: Macmillan Publishers.
Dhangare, D.N. 1983. Peasant Movements in India. Delhi: Oxford University Press.
Diani, M. and Bison, I. 2004. ‘Organizations, Coalitions, and Movements’.
Theory and Society 33: 281–309.
Diani, M. and McAdam, D. 2003. Social Movements and Networks: Relational
Approach to Collective Action. New York: Oxford University Press.
DiBona, J. 1966. ‘Indiscipline and Student Leadership in an Indian University’.
Comparative Education Review 10 (2): 306–19.
DiMaggio, P. 1991. ‘Social Structure, Institutions and Cultural Goods: The
Case of United States’, in Social Theory for a Changing Society, pp. 133–67.
Boulder: Westview.
D’Souza, E. 2004. ‘IIMs-I: Market and Equity in Education’. Economic and
Political Weekly 13: 1107–9.
Duncombe, S. 2002. Cultural Resistance Reader. London; New York:Verso.
———. 2012. Cultural Resistance Reader. New Delhi: Adarsh Books.
Eagleton, T. 2007. Ideology: An Introduction. New Delhi: ABS Publishers and
Distributors.
Nadustunna Telangana. 2011. ‘Editorial’ (4): 17.
Edward, J. 2009. Language and Identity: An Introduction. NY: Cambridge
University Press.
Elavarthi, S.P. and Vamireddy, V. 2015. ‘Telangana and Language Politics of
Telugu Cinema’. Anveshi-Broadsheet 2 (4 and 5). http://www.anveshi.org.
in/wp-content/uploads/2015/01/Language-Region-and-Community-
English.pdf.
References 205
Eliot, T.S. [1934] 1968. ‘Choruses from “Rock”’, in Selected Poems, pp. 161–85.
London: Faber.
Elliot, C.M. 1972. ‘The Problem of Autonomy: The Osmania University Cas’,
in Education and Politics in India: Studies in Organization, Society and Policy, ed.
S.H. Rudolph and L.I. Rudolph, pp. 273–312. Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard
University Press.
Emmerson, D., ed. 1968. Students and Politics in Developing Nations. New York:
Praeger.
Eyerman, R. and Jamison, A. 1991. Social Movements: A Cognitive Approach.
University Park, PA: Pennsylvania State University Press.
———. 1998. Music and Social Movements: Mobilizing Tradition in the Twentieth
Century. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press.
Fantasia, R. 1988. Cultures of Solidarities: Consciousness, Action, and Contemporary
American Workers. Oakland: University of California Press.
Ferree, M.M. 1992. ‘The Political Context of Rationality: Rational Choice
Theory and Resource Mobilization’, in Frontiers in Social Movement
Theory, ed. A. Morris and C. McClurg Mueller, pp. 29–52. New Haven:
Yale University Press.
Ferree, M.M., Gamson, W.A., Gerhards, J., and Rucht, R. 2002. ‘Four Models
of the Public Sphere in Modern Democracies’. Theory and Society 31 (3):
289–324.
Frank, A.G. and Fuentes, M. 1987. ‘Nine Theses on Social Movements’.
Economic and Political Weekly 22 (35): 1503–10.
Fraser, N. 1997. Injustice Interrupts: Critical Reflections on the ‘Postsocialist’
Condition. New York: Routledge.
Freire, P. 1970. Pedagogy of the Oppressed. New York: Continuum.
Friberg, M. and Galtung, J., ed. 1984. Rorelserna. Stockholm: Akademilitteratur.
Furedi, F. 2004. Where Have All The Intellectuals Gone? London, UK: Continuum.
Gamson, J. 1995.‘Must Identity Movements Self-Destruct? A Queer Dilemma’.
Social Problems 42 (3): 390–407.
———. 1996. ‘The Organisational Shaping of Collective Identity: The Case
of Lesbian and Gay Film Festivals in New York’. Sociological Forum 11:
231–61.
Gamson, W. 1992. Talking Politics. New York: Cambridge University Press.
Gamson, W.A. and Meyer, S.D. 1996. ‘Framing Political Opportunity’, in
Comparative Perspectives on Social Movements: Political Opportunities, Mobilizing
Structures and Cultural Framing, ed. D. McAdam, J.D. McCarthy, and M. Zald,
pp. 275–90. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press.
Garalyte, K. 2015. ‘Subaltern Autonomy: Dalit Students’ Identity Politics in
India’. Groups and Environment 4: 49–76.
Geiger, R.L. 2009. Curriculum, Accreditation and Coming of Age of Higher
Education (First Edition). New York: Routledge.
206 References
Giroux, H. 1981. Ideology, Culture and Process of Schooling. Philadelphia: Temple

University Press.
———. 1983. Theory and Resistance in Education: A Pedagogy for the Opposition.
South Hadley, Mass.: Bergin and Garvey.
———. 1989a. Teachers as Intellectuals: Towards a Critical Pedagogy of Learning.
Massachusetts: Bergin and Gravey.
———. 1989b. Schooling for Democracy: Critical Pedagogy in Modern Age. London:
Routledge.
Giroux, H.A. 1977. Pedagogy and the Politics of Hope—Theory, Culture and
Schooling: A Critical Reader. Boulder. CO: Westview Press.
———. 1991. ‘Democracy and the Discourse of Cultural Difference: Towards
a Politics of Border Pedagogy’. British Journal of Sociology 12 (4): 5.
———. 1999. ‘Rethinking Cultural Politics and Radical Pedagogy in the
Work of Antonio Gramsci’. Educational Theory 49 (1): 1–19.
Giroux, H., Freire, P., and MacLaren, P. 1988. Teachers as Intellectuals. New York:
Bergin and Garvey.
Gitlin, T. 1993. The Sixties:Years of Hope, Days of Rage. USA: Bantam Books.
———. 1995. The Twilight of Common Dreams: Why America Is Wracked by
Culture Wars. New York: Metropolitan Books.
Goodwin, J. and Jasper, J.M. 1999. ‘Caught in a Winding, Snarling Vine: The
Structural Bias of Political Process Theory’. Sociological Forum 14 (1): 27–54.
———. 2003. ‘Caught in a Winding Snarling Vine: The Structural Bias of
Political Process Theory’, in Rethinking Social Movements. Boulder: Rowman
& Littlefield Publishers.
Gore, M.S. 1989. The Non-Brahmin Movement in Maharashtra. New Delhi:
Segment Book Distributors.
Gorringe, H. 2005. Untouchable Citizens: Dalit Movements and Democratization in
Tamil Nadu. New Delhi: SAGE Publications.
———. 2016.‘Drumming Out Expression, or Drumming It In? Identity, Culture
and Contention in Dalit Politics’. Contribution to Indian Sociology 50 (1): 1–26.
Government of India. 1955. Report of the State Reorganisation Committee. Delhi:
Government Printer.
———. 2010. Report of the Committee for Consultations on the Situation of Andhra
Pradesh. New Delhi: Ministry of Home Affairs.
———. 2016. National Policy on Education 2016: Report on the Committee for
Evaluation of the New Education Policy. New Delhi: Ministry of Human
Resource Development.
Gramsci, A. 1971. Selections from the Prison Notebooks of Antonio Gramsci, ed. and
trans. Q. Hoare and G.N. Smith. New York: International Publishers.
Granovetter, M.S. 1973. ‘The Strength of Weak Ties’. American Journal of
Sociology 78 (6): 1360–80.
References 207
Gray, H. 1974. ‘The Failure of the Demand for a Separate Andhra State’. Asian
Survey 14 (4): 338–49.
Guha, R. 2008. ‘Crucibles of Modernity’, in Beyond Degree, ed. I. Pande,
Gundimeda, S. 2009. ‘Democratisation of the Public Sphere: The Beef Stall
Case in Hyderabad’s Sukoon Festival’. South Asia Research 29 (2): 322–42.
Gupta, R.C., ed. 1968. Youth in Ferment. Delhi: Sterling.
Guru, G. 1995. ‘Dalit Women Talk Differently’. Economic and Political Weekly 30
(41/42): 2548–50.
———. 2012. ‘Egalitarianism and the Social Sciences in India’, in The Cracked
Mirror: An Indian Debate on Experience and Theory, ed. G. Guru and S. Sarukkai,
pp. 9–28. New Delhi: Oxford University Press.
———. 2017.‘Taking Indian Nationalism Seriously’, in What the Nation Really
Needs to Know:The JNU Nationalism Lectures, ed. JNU Teachers’ Association,
pp. 2–13. New Delhi: Harper Collins.
Habashi, J. 2014. ‘Langauge of Political Socialisation’, in Social Movements:
Transformative Shifts and Turning Points, pp. 326–46. New Delhi:
Routledge.
Habermas, J. 1967. On the Logic of the Social Sciences. Cambridge, MA: MIT
Press.
———. 1981. New Social Movements. Telos 49: 33–7.
———. 1984. The Theory of Communicative Action: Reason and Rationalisation of
Society. Boston: Beacon Press.
———. 1987. The Theory of Communicative Action, trans. T. McCarthy.
Cambridge, UK: Polity Press.
Habermas, J. and Blazek, J.R. 1987. ‘The Idea of the University’. New German
Critique 41: 3–22.
Haine, W.S. 2013. ‘Introduction’, in The Thinking Space: The Cafe as Cultural
Institution in Paris, Italy and Vienna, ed. L. Rittner, W.S. Haine, and J.H.
Jackson, pp. 1–22. UK: Ashgate Publishing.
Hall, S. 1997. ‘Culture and Power’. Radical Philosophy 86 (Nov/Dec): 24–42.
Hall, S., Evans, J., and Nixon, S., ed. Representation (Second Edition). London:
Sage.
Haragopal, G. 2010a. ‘The Telangana People’s Movement: The Unfolding
Political Culture’. Economic and Political Weekly 45 (42): 51–60.
———. 2010b. ‘Emergence of a New Political Culture in Andhra Pradesh’, in
The Telangana Struggle for Identity, ed. K.R. Velchala, J.V. Raghavendra Rao,
and B. Narsing Rao, pp. 155–66. Hyderabad: Telangana Cultural Forum
Publication.
Hardtmann, E.M. 2009. The Dalit Movement in India: Local Practices, Global
Connections. New Delhi: Oxford University Press.
208 References
Harinath, S. 2013. Dalit Women and Dropout Rates in Collegiate Education: A

Study of the Warangal District of Andhra Pradesh. Newcastle Upon Tyne, UK:
Cambridge Scholars Publishing.
Heath, O. 2002. ‘Anatomy of BJP’s Rise to Power: Social, Regional and
Political Expansion in 1990s’, in Parties and Party Politics in India, ed. Z. Hasan,
pp. 232–57. New Delhi: Oxford University Press.
Heredia, R. 1996. ‘Tribal Education for Development: The Need for a Liberal
Education’. Journal of Education and Social Change X (1–2).
Hobson, B. 2003. Recognition Struggles and Social Movements: Contested Identities,
Agencies and Power. Cambridge, UK; New York: Cambridge University
Press.
Huffinton Post. 2016. ‘Shoot Anti-National JNU Students & Profs, Says
BJP Official’. Accessed 1 April 2016. https://www.huffingtonpost.in/
2016/03/09/jnu-row_n_9415292.html.
Hugar, G.B. 2015. ‘Vande Mataram Movement in Hyderabad Karnataka
1938–39, India’. International Research Journal of Social Sciences 4 (9): 30–3.
Humboldt, W.V. 1970. ‘On the Spirit and the Organisational Framework of
Intellectual Institutions in Berlin’. Minerva 8: 242–50.
Hunt, S.A., Benford, R.D., and Snow, D.A. 1994. ‘Identity Fields: Framing
Processes and Movement Identities’, in New Social Movements, ed. E.
Larana, H. Johnston, and J.R. Gusfield, pp. 185–208. Philadelphia: Temple
University Press.
Hyderabad Forum for Telangana. 2009. Whose Hyderabad Is It? Myths, Facts and
Realities. Secunderabad: Hyderabad Forum for Telangana.
———. 2010. Appeal to Political Parties on People’s Demand for Separate State of
Telangana. Hyderabad: Hyderabad Forum for Telangana.
Ilaiah, K. 2001. God as a Political Philosopher: Buddha’s Challenge to Brahminism.
Kolkata: Samya.
The Indian Express. 1953. ‘High-Power Commission (on the Re-Organisation
of States) by Year-End’.
Indiresan, J. 1999. ‘Campus-Community Linkages: A Dialogue on Diversity’,
in Diversity and Unity: The Role of Higher Education in Building Democracy, ed.
M. Cross, N. Cloete, E. Beckham, A. Harper, J. Indiresan and C. Musil,
pp. 128–54. Cape Town: Maskew Miller Longman.
Jadhav, K.R. 1997. ‘Towards a History of the Telangana Movement’, in
Telangana: Dimensions of Under-Development, ed. S. Simhadri and P.V. Rao,
pp. 5–14. Hyderabad: Centre for Telangana Studies.
Jafar, S.M. 1977. Student Unrest in India: A Selected Bibliography. Gurgaon: Indian
Documentation Services.
Janardhan, V. and Raghavendra, P. 2013. ‘Telangana: History and Political
Sociology of a Movement’. Social Change 43 (4): 551–64.
References 209
Jaoul, N. 2006. ‘Learning the Use of Symbolic Means: Dalits, Ambedkar Statues
and the State in Uttar Pradesh’. Contributions to Indian Sociology 40 (2):
175–207.
Jasper, J. 1997. The Art of Moral Protest: Culture, Biography and Creativity in Social
Movements. Chicago, IL: University of Chicago Press.
Jayaram, N. 1979. ‘Sadhu No Longer: Recent Trends in Indian Student
Activism’. Higher Education 8 (6): 683–99.
———. 2006. ‘India, in Forest’, in International Handbook of Higher Education,
Part Two: Regions and Countries, ed. J.F. James and P.G. Altbach, pp. 747–67.
Dordrecht: Springer.
Jeffrey, C. 2001. ‘A Fist Is Stronger than Five Fingers: Caste and Dominance in
Rural North India’. Transaction of the Institution of British Geographers, New
Series 25: 1–30.
———. 2003. India’s Silent Revolution: The Rise of the Lower Castes in North
India. London: Hurst and Company.
———. 2007. ‘Kicking Away the Ladder: Student Politics and the Making of
an Indian Middle Class’. Environment and Planning, D: Society and Space 26:
517–36.
———. 2008. ‘Generation Nowhere: Rethinking Youth through the Lens
of Unemployed Young Men’. Progress in Human Geography 32 (6): 739–58.
———. 2010. ‘Timepass: Youth, Class, and Time among Unemployed Young
Men in India’. American Ethnologist 37 (3): 465–81.
Jeffrey, C. and Young, S. 2012. ‘Waiting for Change:Youth, Caste and Politics in
India’. Economy and Society 41(4): 638–61.
Jeffrey, C., Jeffrey, R., and Jeffrey, P. 2004.‘Degree without Freedom:The Impact
of Formal Education on Dalit Young Men in North India’. Development and
Change 35 (5): 963–86.
Jessop, B. 2002. The Future of the Capitalist State. Cambridge, UK: Polity Press.
Johnston, H. and Klandermans, B., ed. 1995. Social Movement and Culture.
Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press.
Jordan, G. and Weeden, C. 1995. Cultural Politics: Class, Gender, Race and the
Postmodern World. Oxford, UK: Blackwell.
Joshi, P.M. 1972. Student Revolts in India: Story of Pre-Independence Youth
Movement. Mumbai: Popular Prakashan.
Kakkar, S. and Chowdhury, K. 1969. Conflict and Choice: Indian Youth in
Changing Society. Mumbai: Somaiya Publication Pvt. Ltd.
Kamat, S. 2011. ‘Neo-Liberalism, Urbanism and the Education Economy,
Producing Hyderabad as a Global City’. Discourse: Studies in the Cultural
Politics of Education 32 (2): 18–202.
Kannabiran, K., Ramdas, S.R., Madhushan, N., Ashalatha, S., and Kumar, P.M.
2010. ‘On the Telangana Trail’. Economic and Political Weekly 24 (13): 69–88.
210 References
Kavitha, K. 2014. ‘Telangana: A Brush with History’. Deccan Chronicle, 2 June.

Khagram, S. 2004. Dams and Development: Transnational Struggles for Water and
Power. New Delhi: Oxford University Press.
Khora, S. 2015. ‘Questioning Excellence: Expelling 73 Students in IIT
Rookee’. Economic and Political Weekly 50 (33). http://www.epw.in.ezproxy.
jnu.ac.in/node/145675/pdf.
———. 2016. ‘Removing Discrimination in Universities: Situating Rohith
Vemula’s Suicide’. Economic and Political Weekly 51 (6). http://www.epw.
in.ezproxy.jnu.ac.in/node/146468/pdf.
Kincheloe, J.L. 2008. ‘Critical Pedagogy and the Knowledge Wars of the
Twenty-First Century’. International Journal of Critical Pedagogy 1 (1): 1–22.
Kirylo, J. 2013. A Critical Pedagogy and Resistance. Rotterland: Sense Publishers.
Kitts, J. 2000. ‘Mobilising in Black Boxes: Social Networks and Participation
in Social Movement Organisations’. Mobilisation: An International Quarterly
5 (2): 241–57.
Klandermans, B., Kriesi, H., and Tarrow, S., ed. 1988. From Structure to Action:
Comparing Social Movement Research across Culture. Greenwich, CT:
Jai Press.
Kothari, R. ‘The Centre and Indian Reality’. By H. Ahmed, P. Vijaisri, and
A.K. Dubey. Seminar 639. pp. 3–5. http://www.india-seminar.com/2012/
639/639_interview_kothari.htm.
Kriesi, H. and Giugni, M.G. 1995. ‘Introduction’, in New Social Movements in
Western Europe: A Comparative Analysis, ed. H. Kriesi, R. Koopmans, J.W.
Duyvendak, and M.G. Giugni, pp. ix–xxvi. Minneapolis: University of
Minnesota Press.
Kumar, A. 2002. The Black Economy in India (Revised Edition). New Delhi:
Penguin.
———. 2012. ‘“Banda-Canteen” Broadcasts: Reminiscences of George Reddy –
Budding Physicist and Revolutionary’. george.reddy.amar.rahe. Accessed 13
February 2014. http://georgereddyamarrahe.blogspot.com/2012/02/
banda-canteen-broadcasts.html.
Kumar, P.K. 2010.‘Popular Culture and Ideology:The Phenomenon of Gadar’.
Kumar, V. 2005. ‘Understanding the Politics of Reservation’. Economic and
———. 2007. Social Exclusion and Different Shades of Dalit Movement. Pune:
Department of Sociology, Pune University.
———. 2016.‘Discrimination on Campuses of Higher Learning:A Perspective
from Below’. Economic and Political Weekly 51 (6): 12–15.
Kumar,V.M.R. 2016. ‘History of Indian Environmental Movement: A Study of
Dr B.R. Ambedkar from the Perspective of Access to Water’. Contemporary
Voice of Dalit 8 (2): 239–45.
References 211
Lall, M. and Rao, S.S. 2011. ‘Revisiting the Equality Debate in India and the
UK’, in Education and Social Justice in the Era of Globalisation: Caste, Race and
Class Intersection in Education, ed. M. Lall and G.B. Nambissan, pp. 25–55.
Delhi: Routledge.
Laraña, E., Johnston, H., and Gusfield, J.R. 1994. New Social Movements: From
Ideology to Identity. Philadelphia: Temple University Press.
Laxamaiah, M. 2007. Nurella Telugu Dalitodyamam. Hyderabad: Samantaara
Publications.
Lee, N. 2005. ‘Representing the Worker: The Worker–Intellectual Alliance of
the 1980s in South Korea’. Journal of Asian Studies 64 (4): 912.
Lee, S.H. 2007. Debating the New Social Movements: Culture, Identity and
Fragmentation. Lanham, MD: United Press of America.
Lichterman, P. 1999. ‘Talking Identity in the Public Sphere: Broad Visions and
Small Spaces in Sexual Identity Politics’. Theory and Society 28 (1): 101–41.
Lipset, S.M. 1960. Political Man. London: Mercury Books.
———. 1968. Revolution and Counter-Revolution. New York: Basic Books.
———. 1971.‘Youth and Politics’, in Contemporary Social Problems, ed. R.K. Merton
and R. Nisbet (Third Edition), pp. 752–4. London: Harcourt Brae Jovanovich.
Lipset, S.M. and Schaflander, G.M. 1971. Passion and Politics: Student Activism in
America. Boston, Mass.: Little Brown.
Lukács, G. 1968. History and Class Consciousness. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press.
Lukose, R. 2006. ‘Re(casting) the Secular: Religion and Education in Kerala,
India’. Social Analysis: The International Journal of Social and Cultural Practices
50 (3): 38–60.
———. 2010. Liberation’s Children: Gender, Youth and Consumer Citizenship in
Globalising India. Durham, NC: Duke University Press.
Lynch, K., Crean, M., and Moran, M. 2010. ‘Equality and Social Justice: The
University as a Site of Struggle’, in The Routledge International Handbook of
Sociology of Education, ed. M.W. Apple, S.J. Ball, and L.A. Gandin, pp. 296–305.
New York: Routledge.
Mahapatra, S. 1983. ‘Raghunath Murmu’s Movement for Santal Solidarity’, in
Tribal Movements in India: Volume 2, ed. K.S. Singh, pp. 129–59. New Delhi:
Manohar.
Manne, K. 2013. No One Dies:The Scrambling of Student Movement. Hyderabad:
Good Tree Publications.
Mantena, R.S. 2014. ‘The Andhra Movement, Hyderabad State and the
Historical Origins of the Telangana Demand: Public Life and Political
Aspiration’. India Review 13 (4): 337–57.
Maringanti, A. 2010. ‘Telangana: Righting Historical Wrongs or Getting the
Future Right?’ Economic and Political Weekly 45 (4): 33–8.
Marisha, Banshal, S.K., and Singh,V.K. 2017.‘Research Performance of Central
Universities in India’. Current Science 112 (11): 2198–207.
212 References
McAdam, D. 1986. ‘Recruitment to High-Risk Activism: The Case of

Freedom Summer’. American Journal of Sociology 48: 735–54.
———. 1988. ‘Micromobilisation Contexts and Recruitment to Activism’.
International Social Movement Research 1: 125–54.
McAdam, D. and Paulsen, R. 1993. ‘Specifying the Relationship between
Social Ties and Activism’. American Journal of Sociology 99 (3): 640–67.
McAdam, D.,Tarrow, S., and Tilly, C. 2001. Dynamics of Contention. Cambridge,
UK: Cambridge University Press.
McCully, B.T. 1940. English Education and the Origin of Indian Nationalism.
New York: Columbia University Press.
McLaren, P. 2000. Che Guevara, Paulo Freire, and the Pedagogy of Revolution.
Lanham, MD: Rowman & Littlefield Publishers.
———. 2005. Capitalists and Conquerors: A Critical Pedagogy against Empire.
Lanham, MD: Rowman & Littlefield Publishers.
Mehta, P.B. 2017. ‘Closing of the University’. The Indian Express, 3 March.
http://indianexpress.-com/article/opinion/columns/closing-of-the-
university-4551570/.
Melucci, A. 1980. ‘The New Social Movements: A Theoretical Approach’.
Social Science Informations 19 (2): 199–226.
———. 1985. ‘The Symbolic Challenge of Contemporary Movements’. Social
Research 52 (4): 789–816.
———. 1986. Nomads of the Present. London: Radius.
———. 1989. Nomads of the Present: Social Movements and Individual Needs in
Contemporary Society. Philadelphia: Temple University Press.
———. 1996. Challenging Codes: Collective Action in the Information Age. New
York; Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Menon, N. 2016. ‘Why Our Universities Are in Ferment’. The Hindu, 15
February.
Metta, S. 1967. ‘Professional, Scientific and Intellectual Students in India’, in
Student Politics, ed. S.M, pp. 357–71. Lipset. New York: Basic Books.
———. 1970. ‘The Partisan Student in India’, in The Student Revolution: A
Global Analysis, ed. P. Altbach. Mumbai: Lalvani Publishing House.
Meyer, D. and Corrigall-Brown, C. 2005. ‘Coalitions and Political Context: U.S.
Movements Against Wars in Iraq’. Mobilization: An International Quarterly
10 (3): 327–44.
Meyer, D. and Whittier, N. 1994. ‘Social Movement Spillover’. Social Problems
41 (2): 277–98.
Meyer, D.S. 1999. ‘A Civil Disobedience and Protest Cycles’, in Waves of
Protest: Social Movements since the 1960s, ed. J. Freeman and V. Johnson,
pp. 267–76. Lanham, MD: Rowman & Littlefield Publishers.
Meyer, D.,Whittier, N., and Robnett, B. 2002. Social Movements: Identity, Culture
and the State. New York: Oxford University Press.
References 213
Meyer, L. and Alvarado, B.M., ed. 2010. New World of Indigenous Resistance:
Noam Chomsky and Voices from North, South and Central America. San
Francisco: City Lights Books.
Mills, C.W. 1960. ‘Letter to the New Left’. Marxists Internet Archive. https://
www.marxists.org/subject/humanism/mills-c-wright/letter-new-left.htm.
Mishra, A. 1993.‘A Left Resurgence? JNU Students’ Union Election’. Economic
and Political Weekly 28 (48): 2579–80.
Mitchell, D. 2003. The Right to the City: Social Justice and Fight for the Public
Space. New York: The Guilford Press.
Mitchell, L. 2010. Language, Emotion, Politics in South India: The Making of a
Mother Tongue. Ranikhet: Permanent Black.
Mitra, S.K. 1995.‘The Rational Politics of Cultural Nationalism: Sub-National
Movements of South Asia in Comparative Perspective’. British Journal of
Political Science 25 (1): 57–77.
Morris, A. and Braine, N. 2001. ‘Social Movements and Oppositional
Consciousness’, in Oppositional Consciousness: The Subjective Roots of Social
Protest, ed. J. Morris and A. Mansbridge, pp. 20–37. Chicago: University of
Chicago Press.
Morris, A. and Mueller, C.M. 1992. Frontiers in Social Movement Theory. New
Haven; London: Yale University Press.
Mosse, D. 2012. The Saint in the Banyan Tree: Christianity and Caste Society in
India. Berkeley: University of California Press.
Nag, K. 2011. Battleground Telangana: Chronicle of an Agitation. New Delhi:
Harper Collins.
Nair, J. 2017. ‘Introduction: A Teach-in for a JNU Spring’, in What the Nation
Really Needs to Know: Extracts from JNU’s Nationalism Lectures, ed. JNU
Teachers’ Association, pp. ix–xxv. Delhi: HarperCollins Publishers India.
Nandy, A. 1997. Creating a Nationality: The Ramajanam Bhoomi and Fear of Self.
New Delhi: Oxford University Press.
Narain, I. 1976. ‘Cultural Pluralism, National Integration and Democracy in
India’. Asian Survey 16 (10): 903–17.
Neelakandan, S.M. and Patil, S.M. 2012. ‘Complexities of Inclusion and
Exclusion: Dalit Students and Higher Education in India’. Journal of Social
Inclusion 3 (1): 86–100.
Newman, J. 1982. The Idea of a University. Notre Dame: University of Notre
Dame Press.
Noorani, A. 2001. ‘Of a Massacre Untold’. Frontline 18 (5). http://www.front-
line.in/static/html/fl1805/18051130.htm.
Nurullah, S. and Naik, J.P. 1962. A Students’ History of Education in India
(Revised Edition). Kolkata: The Inland Printing Works.
Offe, C. 1985. ‘New Social Movements: Challenging the Boundaries of
Institutional Politics’. Social Research 52 (4): 817–68.
214 References
Oliver, P.E. 1984. ‘If You Don’t Do It, Nobody Will: Active and Token
Contributions to Local Collective Action’. American Sociological Review 49:
601–10.
Omvedt, G. 1993. Reinventing Revolution: India’s New Social Movements. New
York: M.E. Sharpe.
———. 1994. Dalits and the Democratic Revolution: Dr Ambedkar and the Dalit
Movement in Colonial India. New Delhi: SAGE Publications.
Oommen, T. 1985. From Mobilisation to Institutionalisation: The Dynamics of
Agrarian Movement in 20th Century Kerala. Mumbai: Popular Prakashan.
———. 1990. Protest and Change: Studies in Social Movements. New Delhi:
SAGE Publications.
———. 2010. Social Movements I: Issues of Identity. New Delhi: Oxford
University Press.
Oommen, T.K. 1974. ‘Student Politics in India: The Case of Delhi University’.
Asian Survey 14 (9): 777–94.
———. 2005. Crisis and Contention in Indian Society. New Delhi: SAGE
Publications.
Ortega,Y.G.J. 1961. What Is Philosophy? New York: W.W. Norton.
Paik, S. 2016. ‘Education and Exclusion of Dalits: A History of Hurt and
Humiliation’. The Wire. Accessed 15 August 2016. https://thewire.in/educa-
tion/education-and-exclusion-of-dalits-a-history-of-hurt-and-humiliation.
Pandian, M.S.S. 2002. ‘One Step outside Modernity: Caste, Identity Politics
and Public Sphere’. South-South Exchange Programme for Research on
the History of Development (SEPHIS), Amsterdam; the Council for the
Development of Social Science Research in Africa (CODESRIA), Dakar,
http://www.sephis.org/pdf/pandian.pdf.
Panikkar, K. 2007. Colonialism, Culture and Resistance. New Delhi: Oxford
University Press.
Pant, H. 2008. ‘In Defense of Liberal Education’, in Beyond Degree, ed. I. Pande,
Paris, R. 1981. ‘Soziale Bewegung und Offtentlichkeit’. Prokla 43 (2): 103–28.
Passi, A. 2003. ‘Region and Place: Regional Identity in Question’. Progress in
Human Geography 27 (4): 475–85.
Passy, F. 2001. ‘Socialisation, Connection, and the Structure/Agency Gap:
A Specification of the Impact of Networks on Participation in Social
Movements’. Mobilisation: An International Quarterly 6 (2): 173–92.
Pathak, A. 2017a. ‘From JNU to Ramjas, Where Has the Spirit of Studentship
Disappeared?’ The Wire. Accessed 4 March 2017. https://thewire.in/
113948/jnu-ramjas-college-spirit-studentship-disappeared/.
———. 2017b. ‘The Spirit of Being a University Teacher in These Turbulent
Time’. The Wire. Accessed 5 October 2017. https://thewire.in/173802/
university-teacher-teachers-day/.
References 215
Pathania, G.J. 2011. ‘Marx Sipping Tea at Nehru’s Dhaba’. Mainstream Weekly
XLIX (47). https://www.mainstreamweekly.net/article3123.html.
———. 2012. University as a Site of New Social Movements: Identity Based
Student Activism in Jawaharlal Nehru University. MPhil thesis, Jawaharlal
Nehru University, Delhi.
———. 2015. ‘Middle Class Resistance in Contemporary Urban India: How
“New” Are These New Social Movements’, in The Trajectory of India’s Middle
Class: Economy, Ethics and Etiquette, ed. L. Lobo and J. Shah, pp. 274–95.
Newcastle Upon Tyme, UK: Cambridge Scholars Publishing.
———. 2016. ‘Food Politics and Counter-Hegemonic Assertion in Indian
University Campuses’. South Asia Research 36 (2): 261–77.
———. 2017. ‘University and the Politics of Narrative’. Cafe Dissensus
Everyday. https://cafedissensusblog.com/2017/09/15/jnusu-elections-the-
university-and-the-politics-of-narratives/.
Pathania, G.J. and Tierney, W.G. 2018. ‘An Ethnography of Caste and Class at
an Indian University: Creating Capital’. Tertiary Education and Management –
The Journal of European Higher Education Society. https://www.tandfonline.
com/doi/full/10.1080/13583883.2018.1439998.
Patil, S. 1992. ‘Ambedkarism-Marxism’. Nalupu, ed. B. Tharakam 4 (6): 28–32.
Patnaik, P. 2007. Alternative Perspective on Education. New Delhi: National
University of Educational Planning and Administration.
Peterson, R.A. and Anand, N. 2004. `The Production of Culture Perspective’.
Annu. Rev. Sociol. 30: 311–34.
Pingle, G. 2014. The Fall and Rise of Telangana. Delhi: Orient Blackswan.
Pinner, F.A. 1972.‘Students—A Marginal Elites in Politics’, in The New Pilgrims:
Youth Protest in Transition, ed. P.G. Altbach and R.S. Laufer, pp. 28–84 New
York: David McKay.
Pinsker, S. 2013. ‘Jewish Modernism and Viennese Cafes 1900–1930’, in The
Thinking Space: The Cafe as Cultural Institution in Paris, Italy and Vienna, ed.
L. Rittner, W.S. Haine, and J.H. Jackson, pp. 51–64. Farnham, England:
Ashgate Publishing Ltd.
Pizzorno A. 1986. ‘Some Other Kinds of Otherness: A Critique of “Rational
Choice” Theories’, in Development, Democracy and the Art of Trespassing:
Essays in Honor of Albert O. Hirschman, ed. A. Foxley, M.S. McPherson, and
G. O’Donnell, pp. 355–72. Notre Dame, IN: University of Notre Dame
Press.
Polletta, F. 1999. ‘Free Space’. Collective Action,Theory and Society 28: 1–38.
———. 2004. ‘Culture Is Not Just in Your Head’, in Rethinking Social
Movements: Structure, Meaning and Emotions, ed. J. Goodwin and J.J. Jasper,
pp. 97–110. Lanham: Rowman & Littlefield Publishers.
Polletta, F. and Jasper, J.M. 2001. ‘Collective Identity and Social Movements’.
Annual Review of Sociology 27: 283–305.
216 References
Prakash, S. and Vemmireddy, V. 2015. ‘Telangana and Language Politics of Telugu

Cinema’. Anveshi-Broadsheet on Contemporary Politics 2 (4 and 5): 7–8. http://
www.anveshi.org.in/telangana-and-language-politics-of-telugu-cinema/.
Prakash, V. 2007. ‘Trends in Growth and Financing in Higher Education in
India’. Economic and Political Weekly 42 (31): 3249–58.
————. 2011. ‘Concern about Autonomy and Academic Freedom’.
Raagmaa, G. 2002. ‘Regional Identity in Regional Development and
Planning’. European Planning and Studies 10 (1): 55–76.
Rajeev, M. 2009. ‘Plank of Self-Respect’. Frontline 26 (26). http://www.front-
line.in/static/html/fl2626/stories/20100101262600900.htm.
Ramulu, B.S. 2007.‘Bisilaki Jajkiya Adhikaram:Avagaahana’. Party Nirmanamu,
Karykramamu, Ennikala Pranalika, Smajika Tatvika Vishwavidhyalayamu,
Hyderabad.
Rao, A.V. 1969. The People’s Struggle. Hyderabad: The Telangana Publication.
Rao, C.H.H. 2009. Regional Disparities, Smaller States, and Statehood for Telangana.
New Delhi: Academic Foundation.
Rao, E.S. 2010. ‘I Am from Telangana—I Am Not a Naxalite’, in The Telangana
Struggle for Identity, ed. K.R.Velchala, J.V. Raghavendra Rao, and B. Narsing
Rao, pp. 118–22. Hyderabad: Telangana Cultural Forum Publication.
Rao, J.V.N. 1969. Separate Telangana: A Suicidal Slogan. Hyderabad: Department
of Information and Publicity, Government of Andhra Pradesh.
Rao, K.S. 2010. ‘Emotional Needs for Separate Telangana State’, in The Telangana
Struggle for Identity, ed.V.K. Rao, J.V. Raghavendra Rao, and B. Narsing Rao,
pp. 89–92. Hyderabad: Telangana Cultural Forum Publication.
Rao, K.V.N. 1972. Telangana: A Study in the Regional Committees in India.
Kolkata: The Minerva Associates.
Rao, M.S.A 1981.‘Prophecy and Heritage in Social and Cultural Movements’.
Social Action 31 (2): 174–81.
Rao, R.R.M., Reddy, V.S., and Rao, N.R.K. 2014. ‘Hyderabad: Then and
Now’. Telangana State Info. https://www.telanganastateinfo.com/hyder-
abad-then-and-now/.
Rao, V.K. 2010. ‘Cultural Incompatibilities Are at the Root of All Other
Incompatibilities’, in The Telangana Struggle for Identity, ed. K.R.Velchala, J.V.
Raghavendra Rao, and B. Narsing Rao, pp. 178–81. Hyderabad: Telangana
Cultural Forum Publication.
Ray, R. and Katzenstein, M.F., ed. 2005. Social Movements in India: Poverty,
Power and Politics. Lanham, MD: Rowman & Littlefield Publishers.
Reddy, C.A. 2009.‘The Grammar of Telugu Culture’. Wichaar:A Comprehensive
Pubjabi Journal. Accessed 25 May 2018. http://www.wichaar.com/news/
295/ARTICLE/17663/2009-12-14.html.
References 217
Reddy, G.R. 1967. ‘Social Composition of Panchayati Raj: Background of

Political Executives in Andhra’. Economic and Political Weekly (23 December):
2211–14.
Reddy, G.R. and Sharma, B.A.V. 1979. Regionalism in India:A Study of Telangana.
New Delhi: Concept Publishing Company.
Reddy, M. 1949. Whither Students? Nidubrolu. Hyderabad: Kisan Publishers.
Reddy, N.M. 2014. ‘Review of S.V. Srinivas’s Cinema as Politics, Politics as
Cinema’. Himal South Asian. Accessed 12 January 2016. http://himalmag.
com/cinema-politics-politics-cinema/.
Reddy, P.H. 1969. ‘Indian Student Rebellion: Some Neglected Factors’.
Reddy, S. 2010. ‘Telugu Television Rewrites Script in 2010’. www.indiatele-
vision.com, www.indi-antelevision.com/special/y2k11/sanjay_reddy_
Yearender.php.
Reddy, S.K. 1978. Telangana: A Study in Reginoalism. PhD diss., Osmania
University, Hyderabad.
Reddy, S.S. 2017. ‘When OU Was a Red Bastion’. The Hans India, 22 April.
Reed, I.A. and Alexander, J.C., ed. 2007. Culture, Society and Democracy:
The Interpretative Approach. The Yale Cultural Sociology Series. London:
Paradigm Publisher.
Rege, S. 2006. Writing Caste/ Writing Gender: Reading Dalit Women’s Testimonies.
New Delhi: Zubaan Books.
Rege, S. 2010.‘Education as Trutiya Ratna:Towards Phule–Ambedkarite Feminist
Pedagogical Practice’. Economic and Political Weekly 45 (44–45): 88–98.
Rikowski, G. 2002. ‘Globalisation and Education’. Paper Prepared for the
House of Lords Select Committee on Economic Affairs, Inquiry
into the Global Economy. London. http://www.leeds.ac.uk/educol/
documents/00001941.htm.
Rochan, T.R. 1998. Culture Moves: Ideas, Activism, and Changing Values. New
Jersey: Princeton University Press.
Ross, A.D. 1969. Student Unrest in India: A Comparative Approach. Montreal:
McGill-Queen’s University Press.
Ross, R. 1975. ‘Generational Change and Primary Groups in a Social
Movement’. Unpublished Paper. Clark University, Worcester.
Roth, R. 1984. ‘Analysen af Nye Sociale Bevægelser—Teorier og Begreber’.
Kurasje 34: 49–68.
Rucht, D. 1982.‘Neue Soziale Bewegungen oder: Die Grenzen Bürokratischer
Modernisierung’, in Politische Viertelsjahresschrift. Sonderheft 13: 272–91.
Saikia, M.C. 1982. ‘The Brahma Movement among the Bodo-Kacharis of
Gopalpura Districts’, in Tribal Movements in India: Volume 1, ed. K.S. Singh,
pp. 241–51. New Delhi: Manohar.
218 References
Sakrikar, D.A. ‘History of the Student Movement in India’. Unpublished

Manuscript. Mumbai.
Sarkar, C. 1960. The Unquiet Campus. New Delhi: The Statesman Press.
Satyanarayan, R. 1969. ‘Foreword’, in The Telangana Movement: An Investigative
Focus, ed. A.R. Thota. A Research Volume. Hyderabad: A.R. Thota.
Satyanarayana, K. and Tharu, S. 2011. No Alphabet in Sight: New Dalit Writings
from South India. New Delhi: Penguin Books.
Sax, W. 2011. ‘Religion, Rituals and Symbols of Belonging: The Case of
Uttrakhand’, in The Politics of Belonging in Himalayas: Local Attachments
and Boundaries Dynamics, ed. J. Peaff-Czarnecka and G. Toffin, pp. 167–81.
New Delhi: SAGE Publications.
Savage, M. and Butler, T. 1992. ‘Assets and the Middle-Classes in the
Contemporary Britain’, in Property, Bureaucracy and Culture: Middle Class
Formation in Contemporary Britain, ed. M. Savage, J. Barlow, P. Dickens, and
T. Fielding, pp. 245–59. London: Routledge.
Scheff, T. 1994. ‘Emotions and Identity: A Theory of Ethnic Nationalism’, in
Social Theory and the Politics of Identity, ed. C. Calhoun, pp. 277–303. Oxford:
Blackwell.
Schwartz, T. 1992. ‘Anthropology and Psychology: An Unrequited
Relationship’, in New Directions in Psychological Anthropology, ed.T. Schwartz,
G.M. White, and C.A. Lutz, pp. 324–49. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge
University Press.
Scott, A. 1990. Ideology and New Social Movements. London: Unwin Hyman.
Sen, A. 2009.‘On Interpreting India’s Past’, in Modern Indian Culture and Society:
Critical Concepts in Asian Studies, ed. K.A. Jacobsen, pp. 10–35. London;
New York: Routledge.
Shah, G. 2004. Caste and Democratic Politics in India. London: Anthem Press.
Shah, G., Mander, H., Thorat, S., Deshpande, S., and Baviskar, A. 2006.
Untouchability in Rural India. New Delhi: Action Aid, SAGE Publications.
Shaw, P. 2014. ‘The Public Sphere and the Telangana Movement’. Media
International Australia 152: 143–57.
Shils, E. 1959. ‘The Culture of the Indian Intellectuals’. The Sewanee Review
67 (3): 401–21.
———. 1961. Intellectuals between Tradition and Modernity: The Indian Situation.
The Hague: Mouton & Co.
Shyamala, G. 2013. ‘Beef, Our Life, Our Culture’. Anveshi Broadsheet on
Contemporary Politics 1 (4). Accessed 14 August 2014. http://www.anveshi.
org.in/beef-our-life-by-gogu-shyamala/.
Sigel, H. 1990. Educating Reason. New York: Routledge.
Simhadri, S. and Rao, P.L.V. 1997. Telangana: Dimensions of Underdevelopment.
Hyderabad: Centre for Telangana Studies.
References 219
Singhal, S. 1977.‘Academic Leadership and Student Unrest’. Report Submitted

to ICSSR. New Delhi: Newman.
Singharoy, D.K. 2010. ‘Changing Trajectories of Social Movements’, in
Dissenting Voices and Transformative Actions: Social Movement in a Globalising
World, ed. D.K. Singharoy, pp. 145–88. Delhi: Manohar Publications.
Singh, D. 1942. The Indian Struggle. Lahore: Hero Publications.
Singh, K.S. 1982. ‘The Gond Movement’, in Tribal Movements in India: Volume
2, ed. K.S. Singh, pp. 177–85. New Delhi: Manohar.
Singh, R. 2001. Social Movements, Old and New: A Post-Modern Critique. New
Delhi: SAGE Publications.
Sitapati, V. 2011. ‘What Anna Hazare’s Movement and India’s New
Middle Classes Say about Each Other’. Economic and Political Weekly 36:
39–44.
Smith, P.J. 2008. ‘Going Global: The Transnational Politics of the Dalit
Movement’. Globalization 5 (1): 13–33.
Snow, D. and McAdam, D. 2010. Readings on Social Movements: Origins, Dynamics
and Outcomes. New York: Oxford University Press.
Snow, D., Rochford, E.B., Worden, S.K., and Benford, R.D. 1986. ‘Frame
Alignment Processes, Micromobilisation and Movement Participation’.
American Sociological Review 51: 464–81.
Snow, D., Zurcher, L. and Ekland-Olson, S. 1980. ‘Social Networks and Social
Movements: A Microstructural Approach to Differential Recruitment’.
American Sociological Review 45 (5): 787–801.
Somers, M.R. 1994. ‘The Narrative Constitution of Identity: A Relational and
Network Approach’. Theory and Society 23: 605–94.
Sooryamoorthy, R. 2008.‘Untouchability in Modern India: A Review Article’.
International Sociology 23 (2): 283–93.
Spencer, M. 1967. ‘Professional, Scientific and Intellectual Students in
India’, in Student Politics, ed. S.M. Lipset. New York: Basic Books Inc.
Publishers.
Spiro, M.E. 1955. ‘The Acculturation of American Ethnic Groups’. American
Anthropologist 57 (6): 1240–52.
Srikanth, H. 2013. ‘Construction and Consolidation of Telangana Identity’.
Economic and Political Weekly 48 (45–46): 39–45.
Srikrishna Commission. 2010. Committee for Consultations on the Situation
in Andhra Pradesh Report. New Delhi: Ministry of Home Affairs,
Government of India.
Srinivas, M.N. 1966. ‘Students in Turmoil’. Seminar 88 (December): 7–48.
Srinivasulu, K. 2002. ‘Caste, Class and Social Articulation in Andhra Pradesh:
Mapping Differential Regional Trajectories’. ODI Working Paper 179.
Overseas Development Institute, London.
220 References
———. 2012. ‘Tank Bund Idolism: Crisis of Cultural Politics of a

Provincial Regime’. SocialSciences.in. Accessed 2 March 2014. http://
socialsciences.in/article/tank-bund-idol-ism-crisis-cultural-politics-
provincial-regime.
———. 2017. ‘Celebration and Introspection: Reflections on the
Century-Old Osmania University’. Economic and Political Weekly 52 (51):
19–21.
Stark, M., Browser, B., and Horne, L. 2008. Cultural Transmission and Material
Culture: Breaking Down Boundaries. Tuscon: University of Arizona
Press.
Steinberg, M.W. 1999. Fighting Words:Working-Class Formation, Collective Action
Framing and Discourse in Early Nineteenth-Century England. Ithaca, NY:
Cornell University Press.
Sukumar, N. 2008. ‘Living a Concept: Semiotics of Everyday Exclusion’.
———. 2016. ‘Gatecrashing the Gurukuls’. Himal Southasian. Accessed
27 February 2017. http://himalmag.com/gatecrashing-the-gurukuls/.
Sundarayya, P. 1972. Telangana People’s Struggle and Its Lesson. Kolkata:
Ghanshakti Printers.
Suri, K.C. 2002. Democratic Process and Electoral Politics in Andhra Pradesh.
London: Overseas Development Institute.
———. 2016.‘Andhra Pradesh: Political Dynamics of Regionalism, Formation
of New States in India’. ISAS Working Papers. National University of
Singapore.
Swain, A. 2017. ‘Compulsory Classroom Attendance for JNU Students Is a
Regressive Idea’. Outlook. https://www.outlookindia.com/website/story/
compulsory-classroom-attendance-for-jnu-students-is-a-regressive-idea/
306219.
Swartz, D.L. 2013. Symbolic Power, Politics and Intellectuals: The Political Sociology
of Pierre Bourdieu. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.
Tadakamallaa, V. et al. 2009. Telangana Udyama Charitrapatralu. Hyderabad:
Telangana History Society.
Tamir,Y. 1993. Liberal Nationalism. Princeton: Princeton University Press.
Tarrow, S. 1989/1991.‘Struggle, Politics, and Reform: Collective Action, Social
Movements, and Cycles of Protest’. Western Societies Program, Occasional
Paper No. 21, 2nd. Ithaca, NY: Centre for International Studies, Cornell
University.
———. 1992. ‘Mentalities, Political Cultures and Collective Action Frames:
Constructing Meaning through Action’, in Frontiers in Social Movement
Theory, ed. A. Morris and C.M. Mueller, pp. 174–202. New Haven, CT:
Yale University Press.
References 221
———. 1998. Power in Movement: Social Movements and Contentious Politics

(Second Edition). New York: Cambridge University Press
———. 2013. The Language of Contention: Revolutions in Words, 1688–2012.
NY: Cambridge University Press.
Tarrow, S. and Della Porta, D. 2005. ‘Conclusion: “Globalization”, Complex
Internationalism, and Transnational Contention’, in Transnational Protest and
Global Activism, ed. S. Tarrow and D. Della Porta, pp. 227–46. New York:
Rowman & Littlefield Publishers.
Taylor, C. 1978. From Mobilisation to Revolution. Massachusetts: Addison-
Wesley.
Taylor, V. and Whittier, N.E. 1992. ‘Collective Identity in Social Movement
Communities; Lesbian Feminist Mobilisation’, in Frontiers in Social
Movement Theory, pp. 104–29. New Haven, Conn.:Yale University Press.
Tejani, S. 2007. Indian Secularism: A Social and Intellectual History 1890–1950.
New Delhi: Permanent Black.
Thakur, M. and Rai, D., ed. 2013. Democracy on the Move: Reflections on Moments,
Promises and Contradictions. Delhi: Aakar.
Thapar, R. 2015. ‘To Question or Not to Question? This Is the Question’,
in The Public Intellectuals in India, ed. R. Thapar, S. Sarukkai, D. Raina, P.R.
DeSouza, N. Bhattacharya and J. Naqvi, pp. 1–40. New Delhi: Aleph Book
Company.
———. 2016. ‘Targeting Institutions of Higher Education: Fear of the
Intellectual’. Economic and Political Weekly 51 (10): 19–21.
Thapar, R., Sarukkai, S., Raina, D., DeSouza, P.R., Bhattacharya, N., and
Naqvi, J. 2015. The Public Intellectuals in India. New Delhi: Aleph Book
Company.
Thatha, S. 2015.‘Constructing Telangana Identity in the Context of Bifurcation
of Andhra Pradesh and Telangana States in India’. The International Journal of
Humanities and Social Studies 3 (8).
The Hindu. 2013. ‘Telugu Talli Statue Unveiled’. http://www.thehindu.com/
todays-paper/tp-national/tp-andhrapradesh/telugu-talli-statue-unveiled/
article5307531.ece.
The Telegraph. 2016. ‘Lawyers Clash with JNU Students as Kanahaiya
Case Hearing Comes Up’. https://www.huffingtonpost.in/2016/03/09/
jnu-row_n_9415292.html.
Thirumali, I. 2010. ‘Lessons from the Telangana Movement’. Mainstream Weekly
XLVIII (14). https://www.mainstreamweekly.net/article1970.html.
Thirumali, I. 2013. Telangana-Andhra: Castes, Regions and Politics in Andhra
Pradesh. Delhi: Aakar.
Thomson, M. 2013. ‘Hyderabad 1948: India’s Hidden Massacre’. Accessed
1 November 2017. http://www.bbc.com/news/magazine-24159594.
222 References
Thorat, S. 2004. ‘On Reservation Policy for Private Sector’. Economic and
Thorat, S. and Newman, K.S. 2007. ‘Caste and Economic Discrimination:
Causes, Consequences and Remedies’. Economic and Political Discourse 42
(41): 4121–4.
———. 2008. ‘Emerging Issues in Higher Education: Approach and Strategy
of 11th Plan’, in Higher Education in India: Issues Related to Expansion,
Inclusiveness, Quality and Finance, ed. S. Thorat, pp. 1–26. New Delhi:
University Grants Commission.
Thota, A.R., ed. 1969. ‘The Telangana Movement: An Investigative Focus’. A
Research Volume. Hyderabad: A.R. Thota.
Tierney,W.G. and Sabharwal, N. 2016. ‘Debating Academic Freedom in India’.
Journal of Academic Freedom 7: 1–11.
Tilak, J.B.G. 2013a. ‘Higher Education in Trishanku: Hanging between
State and Market’, in Higher Education in India: In Search of Equality,
Quality and Quantity, ed. J.B.G. Tilak, pp. 391–407. New Delhi: Orient
BlackSwan.
———. 2013b.‘Higher Education in the BRIC Member-Countries’. Economic
and Political Weekly 48 (14): 41–7.
Tillin, L. 2013. Remapping India: New States and Their Political Origins. London:
Hurst and Company.
Tilly, C. 1978. From Mobilisation to Revolution. Reading, MA.: Addison-Wesley.
Touraine, A. 1971. The May Movement: Revolt and Reform. New York: Random
House.
———. 1981. The Voice and the Eye:An Analysis of Social Movements. Cambridge:
Cambridge University Press.
———. 1985. ‘An Introduction to the Study of Social Movements’. Social
Research 52 (4): 749–87.
———. 1997. What Is Democracy. Boulder: Colorado.
Tuomainen, H.M. 2009. ‘Ethnic Identity (Post) Colonialism and Foodways:
Ghanaians in London’. University of Warwick Journal 12 (4): 525–54.
Turner, S.P. 1994. The Social Theory of Practices. Chicago: University of Chicago
Press.
United Nations Development Programme. 1999. ‘Globalisation with a
Human Face’. Human Development Report. New York; Oxford: Oxford
University Press.
Varshney, A. 1998. ‘Why Democracy Survives’. Journal of Democracy 9 (3):
36–50. Accessed 13 April 2014. https://scholar.harvard.edu/files/levitsky/
files/varshney.pdf.
Vennela. 2014. ‘What Makes a Man or Woman on Campus? Reviewing
the Stakes of Desirability, Agency, and Power in the Movies Sye (2004)
and Happy Days (2007)’. Anveshi Broadsheet. http://www.anveshi.org.
References 223
in/what-makes-a-man-or-woman-on-campus-reviewing-the-stakes-
of-desirability-agency-and-power-in-the-movies-sye-2004-and-happy-
days-2007/.
Venugopal, N. 2009. ‘Demand for Separate Telangana towards Understanding
the Core Issues’, in Telangana: The State of Affairs, ed. M. Bharath Bhushan
and N.Venugopal, pp. 33–54. Hyderabad: AdEd Value Ventures.
Vidyarthi, L.P. 1976. Students Unrest in Chhotanagpur, 1960–70. Kolkata: Punthi
Pustak.
Vinayak, J.P. 1972. ‘Student Violence’. Hindustan Times, 15 October, 6.
Visvanathan, S. 2016a. ‘Dividing Lines: The Death of the University’. Deccan
Chronicle, 30 April. http://www.deccanchronicle.com/opinion/columnists/
290416/dividing-lines-the-death-of-the-university.html.
———. 2016b. ‘The “Everydayness” of Our Violence’. The Hindu, 10 May.
http://www.thehindu.com/opinion/lead/the-everydayness-of-our-
violence/article8576738.ece.
———. 1999. ‘Democracy, Plurality and the Indian University’, in Diversity
and Unity: The Role of Higher Education in Building Democracy, ed. M. Cross,
E.N.C. Beckham, A.H. Musil, J. Indiresan, and C. Musil, pp. 49–79. Cape
Town: Maskew Miller Longman.
Wasserstrom, J. and Xinyong, L. 1989. ‘Student Protest and Student Life:
Shanghai, 1919–49’. Social History 14 (1): 1–29.
Weinberg, I. and Walker, K.N. 1969. ‘Student Politics and Political System:
Towards a Typology’. American Journal of Sociology 75: 82.
Weiner, M. 1978. Sons of the Soil: Migration and Ethnic Conflict in India. New
Jersey: Princeton University Press.
Weiss, M.L. 2011. Student Activism in Malaysia: Crucible, Mirror, Sideshow. Ithaca:
Cornell Southeast Asia Program Publications.
Welch Jr., C.E. 1980. Anatomy of Rebellion. Albany: State University Press of
New York.
Whittier, N. 2002. ‘Meaning and Structure in Social Movements’, in Social
Movements: Identity, Culture, and the State, ed. D.S. Meyer, N. Whittier, and
B. Robnett, pp. 289–307. New York: Oxford University Press.
Williams, J.P. 2011. Subcultural Theory: Traditions and Concepts. Cambridge, UK:
Polity Press.
Yashpal Committee. 2009. ‘Report of the “Committee to Advise on Renovation
and Rejuvenation of Higher Education”’. New Delhi: Ministry of Human
Resource Development, Government of India.
Yates, L. 2015. ‘Everyday Politics, Social Practices and Movement Networks:
Daily Life in Bercelona’s Social Centres’. The British Journal of Sociology 66 (2):
236–57.
Zahir, A. 2008. ‘Dakhni Language’, in Hyderabad Hazir Hai: Writings from the
City of Nizam. New Delhi: Rupa Publishers.
224 References
Zaretsky, E. 1994. ‘Identity Theory, Identity Politics: Psychoanalysis, Marxism,

Post-Structuralism’, in Social Theory and the Politics of Identity ed. C. Calhoun,
pp. 198–215. Oxford: Blackwell.
Zavos, J. 2000. The Emergence of Hindu Nationalism in India. Oxford: Oxford
University Press.
Zimmerman, J. 2017. Campus Politics. New York: Oxford University Press.
Index
Aanganwadi Teachers’ JAC 154 discriminatory policies for

academic colonies in Hyderabad 45–6
corruption 12 formation in 1956 44
freedom 1 Meals 57
Adivasis 15 migration to Hyderabad District
agriculture-based economy 19 43
Agriculture Workers’ JAC 154 Naxalite and Dalit movements
Akhil Bhartiya Vidyarthi Parishad in 53
(ABVP) 2, 5, 64, 149 peasant caste acquired land in
Alam, Javed 74 Hyderabad state 42
Alavi, Hamza 102 Telangana prajanikam (people)
Ali, Fazal 44 against 48
Allahabad University Student Tiffins 57
Union 24 upper-caste dominance in media
All Assam Students Union (AASU) 125
19 Andhrabhasha (Andhra language) 54
All-India Backward Students’ Forum Andhra Bhoomi 163
(AIBSF) 16, 20 Andhra Jana Sangam 40
All India Radio 58 Andhra Mahajana Sabha 40
All India Student Federation (AISF) Andhra Maha Sabha 40
8–9, 64, 150, 156, 161 Andhra Pradesh Radical Student
Ambedkar, B.R. 1, 15–16, 62, 64–5, Union (APRSU) 81, 101,
72, 84, 114–15, 124, 127–8, 131, 107n49
142, 173–4, 177, 183, 195 Andhra Pradesh Residential School
Ambedkar Student Association Alumnus Association 117
(ASA) 1 Andhra Telugu language 55
Amos, K.R. 46, 91, 97 anti-national debate 3
Andhra/Andhra Pradesh 26, 40, 45–6 Appadurai, Arjun 4
226 Index
Arab Uprisings 7 bribing 12

art, role in Telangana movement Butler, Judith 4
167–9
Arya Samaj 74 campus
Ayyankaali 15 political network 123–9
Azadi Campaign (or Campaign for politics 11, 15, 20, 91, 118, 175
Freedom) 2, 5–6 Campus Voice magazine 82
caste-based
Babri Mosque demolition in 1992 19 network 121–3
Backward Castes Students Union 65 student organizations 21
Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) 85, 120, caste(s) 25
144n8, 177 anti-national 3
Bahujan Student Front (BSF) 16, contemporaneity of 21
64, 120 existence and persistence in
Bahujan Students’ Federation (BSF) minds 25–6
149 mobilizing factor in Telangana
Bahujan Student Union (BSU) 123, movement 176
136 Castells, Manuel 34, 36–7, 67n8, 111,
Balkishan, Rasmai 169 180–2
Banaras Hindu University (BHU) 24 Chaithanya Mahila Sangam (CMS)
Banda-canteen Broadcast 138 64, 150
Bapuji, Luxman 79 Chakalis (dhobhis) community 83
Bathukamma (goddess of life) festival Chalo Assembly 124
89, 170 Chalo Delhi 124
BC Vidyarthi Sangham 150 Chalo Hyderabad 124
Bhabha, Homi K. 4, 194 Chalo Parliament 124
Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) 19, 120, Chatterjee, Partha 4
152, 187 Chaudhuri, J.N. 67n14
Bheem, Komaram 62, 65 Chhattisgarh 87, 176, 187, 191
Birsa Ambedkar Phule Student Chomsky, Noam 4
Association (BAPSA) 17 City Cable Operators’ JAC 154
Black students agitation, against civil disobedience 8
apartheid legacy 7 Civil Rights Movement, in United
Black Student Union (BSU) 34 States 33–4
Blackvoice Telangana 173 collective consciousness 130, 135
Block Development Officer Communist Party of India (CPI)
(BDO) 47 40, 74, 76
Bodoland 26 Congress Party 62
bogus mulki certificates 42 contemporary social conflicts 17
Borón, Altilio 13 critical thinking, university role in
Bourdieu, Pierre 76, 87, 90, 104n9 promotion of 22
Index 227
cultural Democratic Telangana 64, 178, 192

conflicts 66 Deshmukh, D.M. 75
hegemony 14 de-statisation process 12
identities 35–6, 39 dialect, use in Telangana 54–6
injustice 67n6 disciplining the bodies 4
production 17 Doniger, Wendy 5
renaissance of Telangana 61 Doordarshan 58
resistance 35, 61, 66n3, 76, 187, Draupadi (Mahashweta Devi) 5
197
symbols 1 economic liberalization in 1991 9
cultural-politics, university as site of education, definition of 22
22–6 engaged learning 5
culture 23, 48 English Foreign Language
acts as authoritative zone 47 University (EFLU), Hyderabad
battle in JNU between two 5 15, 21, 72
as honour and self-respect 51 ethnocentrism 48, 55, 60
provides structure and context 36
use of 35 Facebook 88, 112, 116, 127, 133,
cybercitizens 20 163, 172–3, 175
film and media industry, in Telangana
Dadri lynching 5 57–9
Dalit-Bahujan Telangana 64, 178, 195 folk, role in Telangana movement
Dalit Camera 87 167–9
Dalits 182, 186 food habits, of Telangana people
created counter-public sphere 24 56–7
language barriers for 22 freedom of expression 1, 4
literature 24–5
movement 53 Gandhi, Indira 93, 98, 107n46
politics 197n9 Gandhi, Sonia 144n11
students 5, 14–15 gang rape in Delhi (December
demand for space and equality 2012) 23
for self-representation 23 Gay Pride parades in Delhi 24
dappu (traditional drum), role in Gentlemen Agreement (1956) 44–6,
Telangana movement 52, 163, 68n23, 91, 98
180, 195 Geographic/Geographical Telangana
Deccan Chronicle 126, 163 64, 178
democracy, notion of 10–12 German university, Habermas’s
Democratic Forum for Dalits and criticism of 12
Minorities (DFDM) 83–4 Girijana Vidyarthi Sangam (GVS) 65,
democratic institution, university as 123, 150
10–13 Golconda Patrika 67n12
228 Index
Gorkhaland 26 Indian Army 4, 41–2, 172

Gramalaku Taralandi (or ‘Go to Indian Institute of Technology (IIT)
Villages’) programme 81 Chennai 6
Guru, Gopal 2, 21 Indian Law Society College 5
Guru, Muhammad Afzal 1 individual freedom 23
Guru, Narayna 65 innovation universities 10
Guru–Shishya tradition 13 institutional homogeneity 10
intellectual ambience 13
Habermas, Jurgen 10, 12, 30n28, internal colonialism 27, 38–9, 62
34–7, 67n7, 137 International University Congress
Harikrishna, Mamidi 59 (2006), Havana 13
higher education, in India intolerance 3, 6
balance between state control and Irani, Smriti 3
market driven economy 10
public funding 9 Jadhav, Keshav Rao (Mr Telangana)
Himachal Pradesh 187 44, 47, 74–6, 80, 97, 148
Hindu,The 163 Jagan,Y.S. 90
Hindu nationalism 9 Jai Andhra Movement 107n47
Hindutva 19 Jai Bolo Telangana film 81
hiring alumni 12 Jaiswal, Narsing Prasad 75
Hyderabad city, as a site of cultural Jai Telangana Movement 88
expression 59–63 Jambudweepam (Telugu magazine) 84
Hyderabad State Congress 74 Jana Natya Mandali ( JNM) 81,
Hyder, Akbar 76 107n49
Janmashtami (birthday of Lord
identity Krishna) 74
based movements or mobilization Jashn-e-Azadi (Sanjay Kak) 5
195 Jawaharlal Nehru University ( JNU)
building 36, 49, 67n8 21
constructive perspective 195 allegations of being an anti-
cultural 35 national campus 1
movement 35, 65, 195 arrest of Kanhaiya Kumar 2
ontological and epistemological Azadi Campaign at 2, 5–6
status 35 battle of cultures 5
resistance politics 17–22 common sentiment among JNU
social construction of 36 faculty and student activists 5
ideological Marxist 34 depoliticize the campus 3
Ilaiah, Kancha 16, 78, 85, 115 faculty lectures on nationalism
Ilamma, Chakali 62, 65, 191 2–3
imagination, university as site government minister’s remark
of 13–18 against 4
Index 229
identity of student 4 language, use in Telangana 54–6

Mahisasur Martyrdom Day legitimizing identity 67n8
(Mahisasur Shahadat Diwas) 16 Leninism 100
The New Materialists (TNM) 14 liberal democracy 11
public statement by scholars in liberalization, privatization, and
solidarity with 4 globalization (LPG) 19
students sloganeering for free liberal role, of university 11
Kashmir 1–2 Lord Curzon 8
UGC order for new admission lower-caste politics 83
rules in 4
Jharkhand 38, 87, 176, 191 Maa Saraswati (Mother Saraswati)
JNU Student Union ( JNUSU) 2, 16 13
Mackenzie Report 74
Kakatiya University 43, 71, 87, 153, Madhya Pradesh 187
166 Madiga Dandora 83
Kapus caste 62 Madiga, Manda Krishna 110, 149,
Kashmir 41 183n4, 192, 198n9
Katikaparlu (a caste that buries the Madiga Reservation Porata Samiti
dead) community 82 (MRPS) 122–3, 144n11, 183n4,
Kerala 186 198n9
Khalid, Umar 5 Madiga Student Federation (MSF)
Khan, Mir Osman Ali 68n16 64–5, 112, 122–3, 136, 144n2,
King, Martin Luther ( Jr.) 7 149–50, 161, 183n4, 198n9
Kishan, A. Gopala 189 Madras Presidency 40
Kishore, Pratap 92 Mahad Satyagraha 16
Krishnareddy, G. 167 Maharaj, Chhatrapati Shahuji 65
Kula Sanghala Telanganam Mahatma Gandhi 8–9, 15, 139, 175
(caste-based Telangana) 83 Mala caste 122, 183n4
Kulbargi, M.M. 6 Mallikarjuna 91
Kumar, Jagadish 4 Mandal Commission 20–1, 89
Kumar, Kanhaiya 2 Manipur 187
Kumar, P.K. 52 Manne, Krishank 162
Kumar, Shiv 74 Maoism 100
Kummhari (pot makers) community 83 Marxism 100
Kunjroo, H.N. 44 Mathur, Gautham 74
Kuramgolla Doludebba 83 McLaren, Peter 20
Kyunki Saas Bhi Kabhi Bahu Thi Melucci, Alberto 17–18, 34–5, 37–8,
(television series) 3 62, 109, 114, 121, 195
Menon, Nivedita 3
Lachanna, Gothy 68n22 Million March programme (2011)
Lalita, Belli 52 61, 105n17, 124, 157
230 Index
Mills, C.W. 34 new social movements (NSMs) 62,

Mitchell, Lisa 39 182. See also Telangana movement
Mohan, Madan 92 characteristics of 38–9
Mondi Mogudu Penki Pellam film 58 contradiction between Marxist
Moolnivasi 16 and Hegelian tradition 34
Mosse, David 25 cultural
multinational companies (MNCs) politics as identity building for
60 Telangana activists 49
Munda, Birsa 15 version of 36–7
Muslim Forum for Telangana 155 development of 35
The Myth of Lazy Native (Syed draw support from different
Hussain Alatas) 47 social class 34
identity movements to transform
Naidu, Chandrababu 59, 64, 88, 102, cultural patterns 35
152 Indian debate on 37–8
Naik, Nehru 123 political version of 36–7
Nair, Janaki 5 rise of, reasons for 35
Namastey Telangana 125 Nizam College, Hyderabad 56
Narayan, Jaiprakash ( JP) 9, 19 Non-Cooperation Movement 9
Narmada Research Scholars (NRS)
130–1 Occupy Wall Street movement, in
Nashik Kalaram Temple Satyagraha United States of America 7
17 Operation Polo 41
nationalism 2–5, 9 Osmania University (OU),
ethnically based 188 Hyderabad, or Telangana
minority 35 University 26–8, 40. See also
political 188 Telangana movement
National Student Union of India activist 172–7
(NSUI) 64, 120, 123–4, 144n7, agitations, changing strategies 170–2
149, 162 Beef Anthem composition by Dalit
Nav Nirman agitations 9 students 195
Naxalbari movement 81, 107n49, Beef Festival organized by Dalit
108n50 students 14
Naxalite Bheem Drum band 195
movement 53, 77, 88, 101–2, 190 campus
youth upsurge 107n51 English Foreign Language
Nayibrahmins (barbers) community 83 University (EFLU) 15, 21, 72
Nehru, Jawaharlal 8, 44, 68n22, 139, Narmada Research Scholars
175 (NRS) Hostel (Dr B.R.
neo-liberal dictatorship 20 Ambedkar Hostel) 72,
nepotism 12 173–4
Index 231
notice to students on Vande student–alumni connection

Mataram song 75 147–9
participated in national suicide by students for separate
independence movement statehood 188
75 ticketivist 172–7
police station 139–41 Osmania University-Joint Action
celebrated Savtiri Bai Phule Committee (OU-JAC) 60–1, 109,
birthday 15 111, 114, 120, 125–6, 140, 146
clicktivist 172–7 collaborative effort 148–64
culture of resistance at 148 Osmania University Student Union
Dalit Bahujan English Education (OUSU) 91, 94, 166
Day 16 other backward class (OBC) 6, 17
dhabas as strategy forums of other backward classes (OBCs) 6,
movement 134–9 14–17, 20, 62, 65, 114, 120, 122,
establishment of 40, 72 124, 133, 149, 166, 181, 187
folk, theatre, and art, role in OU Madiga Students’ Front 111
agitation or movement 167–9
history and legacy of 103 pad-abhisheka 153
hostel as an abode for career pada yatra 153
activists 129–34 Pamuk, Orhan 4
identity networks and activism Pannikar, K.M. 44
114–17 Pant, G.B. 68n22
intellectuals role in Telangana parochialism 12
movement 78–90 Patel, Sardar Vallabhbhai 41
language role in making an Pathak, Avijit 4–5, 10
activist 141–3 Pedda Bala Siksha (primary school
linkages between activists and textbooks) 49
campus 109–14 People’s War Group (PWG) 100–1,
mobilization against cultural 190
marginalization 91–103 Periyar 62, 64–5
movement strategies and Periyar Study Circle 6
dynamics, changes in pattern Phule, Jyotiba 15, 62, 65
165–6 Phule, Savitribai 62, 65
networking at work 117–20 Pinjra Tod campaign 24
campus-political network political
123–9 generations 3
caste-based network 121–3 map of India, drawn and redrawn
Non-mulki go back!, agitation in of 187
1952 43 opponents 17
Srikrishna Commission Report opportunities 35
on bifurcation of 71 oppression 188
232 Index
Porta, Della 188 Rao, P.L.Visweshwar 74, 87, 90

Poru Telangana magazine 77 Rao, P.V. Narasimha 76, 89, 96
Prasad, Jampala Chandra Shekhar Rao, Raghuvira 92
102 Rao, Ramachander (Vande Mataram
Prasad, Maharaja Sir Kishan 68n16 Ramchander Rao) 75
production driven success, Rao,V.K. 52
of universities 10 Rashid, Shehla 5
Progressive Democratic Student Rayalaseema 44–5, 107n47
Union (PDSU) 31n37, 100, 102, Reddy, B. Gopala 68n22
113, 120, 150, 156, 161 Reddy, K. Brahmananda 46, 93–8,
Progressive Writers Association 106n37
(Arasam Abhyudaya Rachayi-tala Reddy, Chenna 99
Sangham) 81 Reddy, George 74, 101–2, 117, 131,
project identity 36, 67n8 138, 144n10Reddy, G. Ram 47
Puranik, P.G. 75 Reddy, Jitta Balakrishna 154
Reddy, K. Achyut 75
quota-wala 21 Reddy, Konda Venkata Ranga 42,
68n22, 79
radical pedagogy 22 Reddy, Marri Chenna (MCR) 43,
Radical Student Union (RSU) 99, 68n22, 92, 99, 106n37, 181, 190
143n10 Reddy, Nagam Janardhan 152
Rail Roko 164, 170 Reddy, N. Sanjeeva 44, 68n22
Raju, A. Satyanarayana 68n22 Reddy, Ravinder 52
Ram, Babu Jagjivan 65 Reddy, Satyam 155
Ramjas College 5 Reddy, Sridhar 77, 92, 101, 144n14,
Ram, Kanshi 65, 85, 127–8, 149, 174 167
Ram ke Naam (Anand Patwardhan) 5 Reddy, Suvaram Sudhakar 76
Kodandaram, M. 90, 112, 115, 152, Reddy, Uma Devi 155
193 regional/regionalism 41
Ramulu, B.S. 77 identity movements, since
Rao, B. Ramakrishna 68n22 independence 19
Rao, C.H.H. 189 in India 62
Rao, J.V. Narasinga 68n22 inequality 62
Rao, Kaloji Narayan 55, 87 movements 63
Rao, Kalvakuntala Chandrashekhar religious 6, 35
(KCR) 56–7, 64, 87, 105n28, faith 182
106n32, 112, 149–52, 154, 156, festivals 53
181, 183n7, 184, 191–3 minorities 17
Rao, Krishna Sagar 52 mobilization 188
Rao, Nandamuri Taraka Rama organisations 9
(NTR) 191 training 11
Index 233
resistance States Reorganisation Commission

identity 36, 67n8 Act of 1953 187
university as site of 6–7 student activism, in India 2
Revolutionary Democratic Front Students Islamic Movement of India
(RDF) 81 (SIMI) 19
Rhodes, Cecil John 7 Sudarshan 53
Rytu Coolie Sanghams (RCS) 81 Sukoon food festival, of University of
Hyderabad 14
Safrani, Abdul Hasan 54 Sundarayya, P. 40
Samaikhyandhra movement 170 Suryapet Declaration 89
Samajik or socially inclusive, concept Swami, P.N. 92
of 188–9 Swamy, Chattambi 15
Sax, William 187 Symbiosis University 5
scheduled castes (SCs) 6, 114, 117,
122, 149, 152, 183n4 Tagore, Rabindranath 9
scheduled tribes (STs) 8, 114, 117, Tata Institute of Social Sciences
122, 149 (TISS), Mumbai 14
schools, as public places 23 Tayyabji, Surya 54
Sen, Amartya 3 Teerth, Swami Ramanand 74
Sharma, B.N. 40 Telangana
Shiv Sena 63 29th state of India 187
Shoora, Naraka 16 agitation
Silicon Valley, Bangalore 60 first (1953–72) 39
Singh, Shaheed Bhagat 14 second (1973–2000) 39
social formation process 15 cultural humiliation of
social justice 23 government employees 63
Social Justice Telangana 89 formation in 2014 26
Socially Inclusive Telangana 64 post-state formation narratives
social movement(s) 23–4, 34–7, 113, 193–4
125, 145, 172, 188 ideologues 196
social networks 21, 95, 118 merged with Andhra region after
Sree Narayana Guru 15 independence 26
Srikrishna Commission Report movement 26–7, 76, 196 (see
(SCR) 71 also New social movements
Srinivas, Deshapathy 90 (NSMs); Osmania University
Srinivasulu, K. 43, 57, 81, 83, 85, (OU), Hyderabad, or
100, 103, 124, 166, 191, 197n4 Telangana University)
Srujana 81 combination of various
state formation, process in 187 identities 195
State Reorganisation Commission Communist Party of India, role
(SRC), first (1955) 27, 38–9, 44 in armed struggle of 73
234 Index
cultural consciousness 63 Telangana Information Task Force

as cultural movement 49–63 193
ideological narratives, politics Telangana Intellectuals Forum 89,
of 194–7 154, 193
ideologies in 64 Telangana JAC for Private
inter-regional differences Employees 154
39–49 Telangana Jagruthi 51, 193
as new social movement Telangana Jana Parishad 84, 190
34–40 Telangana Jana Sabha (TJS) 87,
opposing government policies 105n24
189 Telangana Kala Samiti (TKS) 88,
origin of 181 105n24
Osmania University Telangana Liberation Student
intellectuals, role in 78–90 Organisation (TLSO) 86
politics of narratives 189–93 Telanganalo Samajika Prajarajyam 83
symptomatic of existing Telangana Madiga Student
cultural hegemony of Federation (TMSF) 65
settlers 188 Telangana Madiga Vidyarthi Sangam
prajanikam 48 (TMVS) 64
Telangana Aikya Karyacharana Telangana Maha Sabha (TMS) 84,
Samiti 150 87–8, 190
Telangana Aikya Vedika 87 Telangana Mass and Social
Telangana Bahujan Vidyarthi Vedika Organisations Forum (TMAS
(TBVV) 123 Forum) 154
Telangana Bandh (3 March 1969) 92 Telangana Model Farmers’ (Adarsha
Telangana Blackvoice 163 Rythu JAC) 154
Telangana Businessmen’s JAC 154 Telangana Movement Founders’
Telangana Caste Association 154 Forum (TMFF) 54–5
Telangana Dalit Associations JAC 154 Telangana MPTC Members’ JAC 155
Telangana Demand Day 80, 94 Telangana Mudiraj Mahasabha 154
Telangana Democratic Student Telangana NGO’s Union 166
Federation (TDSF) 149 Telangana Non-Gazetted Officers’
Telangana Development Forum Association 47, 91
(TDF) 102, 193 Telangana NRI association (TeNA)
Telangana Electricity Contract JAC 89
154 Telangana Praja Front 123
Telangana Gazetted Officers’ JAC 154 Telangana Praja Samithi (TPS)
Telangana Girijana Vidyarthi Sangam 92, 98–100, 107n38, 166, 181,
(TGVS) 123 189–90
Telangana Girijan Vidyarathi Telangana Prajasanghala Joint Action
Parishad (TGVP) 149 Committee 154
Index 235
Telangana Rashtra Munuru Kapu Telugu Desam Party (TDP) 86–8,

Mahasabha 154 120, 123, 144n9, 152, 155, 184n11
Telangana Rashtra Samithi Vidyarthi Telugu Nadu Student Forum
Vibhagam (TRSV) 61, 64, 124, (TNSF) 64
145n23, 150, 161–2 Telugu Talli (Mother Telugu) 40, 163,
Telangana Rashtra Samiti (TRS) 26, 191
87, 104, 106n27, 112, 115, 123–4, Tengedu magazine 105n29
134, 145n23, 149–52, 155–6, 158, territorial
162, 170, 174, 181 nationalism 2
Telangana Resource Centre 82, 193 reorganization 187
Telangana RTC Employees JAC 154 theatre, role in Telangana movement
Telangana Rythu Bazar JAC 154 167–9
Telangana Sadhna Samithi (TSS) The New Materialists (TNM) 14
105n27 Toddy Tappers’ JAC 154
Telangana Samburalu (food festivals) Touraine, Alain 34
170 Tribal Association JAC 154
Telangana Sanskruti Samakhya 190 TV6 (TV channel) 134
Telangana Sarpanches’ JAC 155 Twitter 88
Telangana Senior Citizens
Association 154 Umbrella Revolution, in Hong
Telangana Social Activists JAC 155 Kong 7
Telangana State Bahujan Students universal Marxism, notion of 35
(Prachar Yatra) 65 universities (Indian). See Osmania
Telangana Student Association University (OU), Hyderabad, or
(TSA) 31n37, 64, 149 Telangana University
Telangana Student Front (TSF) 86 activism, changing pattern of
Telangana Student-Joint Action 8–10
Committee (TS-JAC) 141 debate among intellectuals 1
Telangana Students’ Organization identity resistance politics 18–22
(TSO) 64, 150 student politics at 13–14
Telangana Talli, concept of 53 student population, rise in 25
Telangana Telugu language 55 university-educated class, of
Telangana Unemployed JAC 192 India 25
Telangana Uniformed Services JAC University Grants Commission
154 (UGC) 4
Telangana Vidyarthi Vedhika (TVV) University of Cambridge 74
31n37, 150, 156, 176 University of Hyderabad (UoH) 14
Telangana Vidyarthi Sangam (TVS) administration rusticated
64, 150 members of ASA 1
Telangana Vikalangula JAC 155 suicide by Rohith Vemula 1, 5–6,
The Telegraph 3 26
236 Index
University of Pennsylvania 74 Virasam (Vipalava Rachayitala

urban India 23 Sangham [Revolutionary Writers
Uttarakhand 87, 187, 191 Association]) 80
Visalandhra Maha Sabha 40
Vande Mataram song, banned by viswabharti 9
Nizam in 1938 75 Vrasam (Revolutionary Writers
Vanta Varapu 170–1 Association) 107n49
Vellodi, M.K. 42, 68n14
Vemula, Rohith, suicide by 1, 5–6, Women’s Associations JAC 154
26
Viakom Satyagraha 17 Yellanna, Daruvu 168
vice-chancellor (VC) 4–5 YMCA 77
Vidharbh 26 Young Americans for Freedom
Vidyarthi Garjana 124 (YAF) 34
Vidyarthi Mahagarjana rally 111, 153, Young Men’s Club 77
156 Youth for Equality (YFE) 20
Vietnam War 7, 138 YouTube 88, 133, 167
About the Author
Gaurav J. Pathania is visiting scholar at University of Massachusetts,

Amherst, USA, and also associated as post-doctoral researcher with
Pullias Centre for Higher Education at the University of Southern
California. He completed his PhD in sociology of education from
Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi, and served on an international
project with University College London that explored the distress and
discrimination in Indian higher education. His articles and reviews
have appeared in journals such as South Asia Research, Economic and
Political Weekly, and Cafe Dissensus. His latest research paper, published
by the European Higher Education Society, explores the caste and
class discrimination among university students. Relying primarily on
ethnographic method, Pathania’s research applies insights from cultural
sociology to understand social movements in education, and critically
examines contemporary student activism and its global networks and
solidarities.
Pathania has also contributed to various literary journals. He is the
winner of the All India Poetry Competition 2016, organized by The
Poetry Society (India).

Oso 9780199488414

Uploaded by

Copyright:

Available Formats

Oso 9780199488414

Uploaded by

Document Information

Original Title

Copyright

Available Formats

Share this document

Share or Embed Document

Sharing Options

Did you find this document useful?

Is this content inappropriate?

Copyright:

Available Formats

Oso 9780199488414

Uploaded by

Copyright:

Available Formats

The University as a Site

© Oxford University Press 2018

The moral rights of the author has been asserted.

First Edition published in 2018

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in

You must not circulate this work in any other form

ISBN-13 (print edition): 978-0-19-948841-4

ISBN-13 (eBook): 978-0-19-909369-4

Typeset in Bembo Std 10.5/13

3.1 Andhra Upper-Caste Dominance in Media 126

2.1 Osmania University Route Map 73

While I was on my morning walk, a small crowd gathered around a

(University of Delhi), Professor G.G. Wankhede (Tata Institute of

regular phone calls to listen to my questions, discuss in detail and suggest

AASU All Assam Student Union

DFDM Democratic Forum for Dalits and Minorities (Dalit

PRP Praja Rajyam Party

TSA Telangana Student Association

of the administration building—quickly became known as ‘Freedom

the university student became central to the intellectual’s argument

of documentation, classification and hierarchization’. What makes a

murder of Kannada literary scholar M.M. Kulbargi, who posed criti-

UNIVERSITY AS A SITE OF RESISTANCE

of students catalysed the anti-war movement, particularly, against the

INDIAN UNIVERSITY ACTIVISM: CHANGING

Non-Cooperation Movement in the 1920s. Almost all provincial and

institutes of higher education is to strike a balance between state con-

THE UNIVERSITY AS A DEMOCRATIC INSTITUTION

remain insensitive to the happenings in society around them’. Campus

Habermas presents a critique of the fundamental idea of the German

UNIVERSITY AS A SITE OF IMAGINATION

and OBC students adopted a new kind of activism by using their

Comments like ‘Bakasura and Kumbhakarna tables’ are commonly

Kancha Ilaiah started celebrating his own birthday as Dalit-Bahujan

(see Kumar 2007). That day is now observed as Social Empowerment

IDENTITY RESISTANCE POLITICS

has shed some of its sectarian characteristics, particularly in the public

neo-liberal policies in the early 1990s, the sphere of education became

Gradually, these caste-based student organizations developed into

UNIVERSITY AS A SITE OF CULTURAL POLITICS

caste is deepening in the minds. There is no mechanism to capture

FOCUS OF THE BOOK

regional identity shape the political understanding of university students?

STRUCTURE OF THE BOOK

upon ethnographic observations, insights from informal and formal

23. Available at http://www.bbc.com/news/blogs-trending-34125297.

48. Available at http://www.thehindu.com/opinion/op-ed/life-rape-and-

The available literature on the Telangana movement offers historical,

DEBATING THE TELANGANA MOVEMENT

the nation’s first Black Student Union (BSU), demanding a more

work on contentious politics, McAdam, Tarrow, and Tilly (2001) argue

Source: Buechler (1995).

Reorganisation Commission (SRC) in 1955 (1955: 105). There has

A BRIEF BACKGROUND ON INTER-REGIONAL

these languages became heavily influenced by Urdu. Telangana Telugu

As India gained independence, 500 small kingdoms and princely

lda S KARNATAK REGION

Aurangabad Jalna Kinwat

Patoda Armoor Jagtiyal