50 years after 1969 Telangana stir, protesters to be felicitated

Hyderabad: To mark the golden jubilee of the first Telangana agitation in 1969, a meeting has been organised in memory of Telangana martyrs on Sunday in Siddipet.

The separate Telangana movement was triggered on January 6, 1969, near Khammam railway station with the indefinite hunger strike of one Ravindranath who was protesting against the alleged illegal recruitment of non-local youths into the National Thermal Project at Palvoncha.

The agitation intensified with students coming on to the roads demanding that the state government implement the Gentlemen’s Agreement.

An agreement was reached between Telangana and Andhra leaders on February 20, 1956, to merge the two states with promises to safeguard Telangana’s interests. A “Gentlemen’s Agreement” was then signed by Bezawada Gopala Reddy and Burgula Ramak-rishna Rao to that effect.

As the then government tried to suppress the agitation with armed police forces, it turned violent and about 369 students, youth and even a child in Gajwel of Medak district were killed.

Dr M Chenna Reddy, then a Congress leader, launched the Telangana Praja Samiti in May 1969 and the party won 11 seats in the 1971 Lok Sabha elections.

The Congress government led by Indira Gandhi at the Centre actively tried to slow down the agitation and succeeded in later days.

The movement again gained momentum with the launch of the Telangana Rashtra Samiti in 2001 and achieved for the people of Telangana a separate state on June 2, 2014 after 14 years of struggle.