6th Telangana Formation Day: A quick look at the history of India's youngest state

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Every year on June 2 is observed as Telangana Formation Day as this is the day when the Telangana state was officially formed. The Government of India declared this historic day for the Telangana, the youngest state in India in 2014. Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Tuesday took to Twitter and congratulated Telangana for attaining statehood. 

"Greetings to the people of Telangana on their Statehood Day. People from this state are excelling in a wide range of sectors. This state is making valuable contributions to the growth trajectory of India. I pray for the progress and prosperity of the people of Telangana," he tweeted. 

Last year, Hyderabad city was all decked up with festive lighting ready to celebrate the day. Unfortunately, this year there would be no such grand celebrations due to the COVID-19 outbreak. the state also awards its citizens for exemplary contribution in various fields like science, art, and literature but this year this event too will remain affected due to coronavirus outbreak.

This day signifies the sustained Telangana Movement history through the years for a separate state. 

Here's a quick look at the history of India's Youngest State: 

• In 1953 the States Reorganisation Committee was appointed to prepare for the creation of states on linguistic lines. After going through the recommendations of the SRC, the then Home Minister Pandit Govind Ballabh Pant decided to merge Andhra state and Telangana to form Andhra Pradesh state on 1 November 1956 after providing safeguards to Telangana in the form of Gentleman’s agreement.
• The period between 1969 and 1973 was marked by two political kranti namely ‘Jai Telangana’ and ‘Jai Andhra’ movements. Social tensions arose due to the influx of people from the Coastal Andhra region.
• Protests started with the hunger strike of a student from Khammam district for the implementation of safeguards promised during the creation of Andhra Pradesh. The movement slowly manifested into a demand for a separate Telangana.
• In 1997, the state unit of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) passed a resolution seeking a separate Telangana. In 2000, Congress party MLAs from the Telangana region who supported a separate Telangana state formed the Telangana Congress Legislators Forum and submitted a memorandum to their president Sonia Gandhi requesting to support the Telangana state.
• A new party called Telangana Rashtra Samithi (TRS), led by Kalvakuntla Chandrashekar Rao (KCR), was formed in April 2001 with the single-point agenda of creating a separate Telangana state with Hyderabad as its capital.
• The now Chief Minister and the then Telangana movement leader and TRS president K Chandrashekhar Rao’s fast-unto-death from November 29 to December 9, 2009, changed India’s political map with the creation of Telangana State.

• In 2001, the Congress Working Committee sent a resolution to the NDA government for constituting a second SRC to look into the Telangana state demand. This was rejected by then union home minister L K Advani citing that smaller states were neither viable nor conducive to the integrity of the country.
• In April 2002, Advani wrote a letter to MP A Narendra rejecting a proposal to create Telangana state explaining that “regional disparities in economic development could be tackled through planning and efficient use of available resources”. He said that the NDA government, therefore, does “not propose the creation of a separate state of Telangana”.
• However, in 2012, Advani said that if their then-partner TDP cooperated during NDA tenure, a separate state of Telangana could have been created.
• On 9 December 2009, the then Union Minister of Home Affairs P Chidambaram announced that the Indian government would start the process of forming a separate Telangana state, pending the introduction and passage of a separation resolution in the Andhra Pradesh assembly.
• This resulted in protests across both Andhra and Rayalseema. Students, workers, lawyers, and various organisations in the regions launched the Samaikyandhra Movement demanding that the state be kept united. MLAs from these regions also submitted their resignations in protest seeking a reversal of the home minister’s statement.
• On 23 December, keeping in view the reactions of people of other regions, the Government of India announced that no action on Telangana will be taken until a consensus is reached by all parties and groups in the state.
• A Joint Action Committee (also known as JAC or TJAC) comprising political and non-political groups was formed to lead the demand for separate Telangana with Osmania University professor M Kodandaram as its convenor. On 3 February, the government appointed a five-member committee headed by Justice Sri Krishna to look into the issue.