The Telangana Tragedy-A Lesson in Integration and Disintegration

The movement for a separate Telangana state begins in 1968 and culminates in the results of the two elections of 2004 and 2009. In 2005, the national political parties supported the Telangana case and in late 2009 almost all state political parties and the Union Government accepted the proposition. Thereafter, as a result of agitation, a Committee was appointed to re-examine the issue and its report was published. This resulted in further controversy. The history of the Telangana movement may be seen as an unsuccessful exercise in integration of regions with different history, disparities in economic development, elites with varying capacities and conflicting goals. The common language has not been able to unite the two regions even after 54 years.