A Rebuttal to Visalandhra Goebbels Propaganda Compiled by Konatham Dileep Sujai K Amar Nath K Soonya Published By Telangana Vision - TDF Washington DC Telangana Development Forum - USA - India A Rebuttal to Visalandhra Goebbels Propaganda Published By Telangana Vision - TDF Washington DC Telangana Development Forum - USA - India Copies : 1000 Contribution : Rs. 150/- For Copies : Disha Pustaka Kendram, Chikkadapally, Hyderabad Photo on cover : A sea of humanity @Telangana March held on September 30th 2012. www : A Pdf copy of this book can be downloaded from www.MissionTelangana.com Layout & Cover ankush Nallakunta, Hyderabad - 44. Ph : 040-27663211, 9912929078 Printing : Charita Impressions Azamabad, Hyderabad - 44. CopyLeft! Any part of this publication can be freely reproduced, stored, copied and distributed to any sane individual, living anywhere on earth. This work is merely a compilation of meticulous research done by some committed individuals. Acknowledgements We would like to express our gratitude to Telangana activists, who have done meticulous research to back the Telangana statehood demand. This book is merely a compilation of many facts that were unearthed by them in last sixty years. Our sincere thanks to all the authors, journalists, historians & researchers, whose work has been extensively quoted in this book. We would also like to thank Sri Vijaykrishna Chatla, Sri Jagadeesh Bondugula, Sri N. Venugopal, Sri Janardhan Janumpalli, Sri G. Narender Reddy, Sri Sunkari Thirmal Reddy who have extended their help in bringing out this book. Last but not the least, we would also like to thank Upendar at Ankush Graphics and Bal Reddy at Charita Impressions. Contents Introduction 7 Answers to VMS lies 11 - 98 Annexures 101 - 111 6 A Rebuttal to Visalandhra Goebbels Propaganda Poisonous propaganda on Telangana aspirations "If you repeat a lie often enough, it becomes the truth. " - Joseph Goebbels, Minister of Propaganda in Nazi Germany In the third paragraph of the 'Introduction' to the book 'Refuting An Agitation', Dr Parakala Prabhakar, General Secretary, Visalandhra Mahasabha (VMS) wrote: "The separatists began their agitation with the claim that Telangana region has been neglected, that it was backward, and that it was exploited." This is a blatant lie. Telangana people did not start their agitation with the claim of being discriminated. The discrimination in a united state only intensified the agitation. Telangana's aspirations for a separate administrative unit began in early 1950s - much before Andhra Pradesh was formed. The merger with Andhra was severely opposed by Telangana people. Sadly, anti-Telangana forces want to rewrite history to suit their Goebbels propaganda. The people of Telangana used the most appropriate forum to voice their statehood aspirations - The States Reorganization Commission (Fazal Ali Commission) in 1955. The Commission recognized the genuine aspirations of Telangana people. It recommended formation of Telangana state. But, hectic lobbying by Andhra leadership resulted in a forced merger of Telangana with Andhra state to create Andhra Pradesh in 1956. Andhra State, which had separated from Madras state on October 1st 1953, was steeped in several problems such as lack of a proper capital city (Kurnool, a small town was their capital city), and a deficit budget. Andhra leaders thought that a merger with Telangana would solve their capital city problem and financial woes. Telangana leadership resisted that merger tooth and nail. The Congress leadership, including the then Prime Minister Jawahar Lal Nehru mediated a conditional merger - based on a 'Gentleman's Agreement'. This agreement provided several safeguards in education, employment and political power to Telangana region. But, even before the ink on the signatures dried, Andhra leaders violated the agreement. Telangana people, who came on to the streets demanding Telangana state in 1955 - a full one year before Andhra Pradesh was formed - are still on the streets even today. The statehood movement intensified in 1969, when agreements were broken, pacts were dishonored and the region was discriminated in recruitments, budget allocations and irrigation. A Rebuttal to Visalandhra Goebbels Propaganda 7 The popular peoples' movement of 1969 was crushed with brute force. About 369 people were gunned down and that phase of movement was suppressed. The current phase of movement, which started in early 1990s, reached a crescendo in December 2009. The December 9th statement of Indian government that "the process of formation of Telangana state would be initiated" is a culmination of 6 decades long peoples' struggle. The grievances of Telangana in a unified Andhra Pradesh state are not mere complaints by Telangana people, but have been vindicated by several government committees and commissions. (Please refer to Annexure - 1 for more information) The discrimination meted out to Telangana region was recorded by the highest accounting authority - the CAG, and the highest judicial authority - Supreme Court Justice. At least two Chief Ministers (who hail from Andhra region) have issued Government Orders to correct injustices done to Telangana in public employment. Kasu Brahmananda Reddy, Chief Minister hailing from Andhra, had accepted on the floor of Assembly that surplus funds from Telangana were spent on Andhra region. K. Rosaiah, the then Chief Minister of AP, accepted in state Assembly that the revenue receipts from Telangana region are higher than Andhra region, where as the expenditure is more in Andhra region than Telangana. The surprising aspect about Visalandhra Mahasabha's latest book is that it denies several historical facts that are universally accepted. It tries to peddle several half-truths as facts and at times lies shamelessly about even well documented facts. The book is another shoddy attempt by the anti-Telangana lobby to show the Telangana movement in poor light. Some of the 'lies' that Visalandhra Mahasabha has listed in their book, were never actually uttered by any Telangana leader. When the media confronted Visalandhra Mahasabha about the source of such 'lies', the Visalandhra Mahasabha leadership childishly stated that that these were taken from the arguments and discussions they had on online forums and television talk shows. We would like to clarify that the movement is not answerable to every argument that some school kid makes on some online forum. That said, in the following pages, you will notice how Visalandhra Mahasabha folks, in their mad rush to counter Telangana aspirations, have ended lying a thousand times. The fact that Parakala Prabhakar, the General Secretary of Visalandhra Mahasabha, was with pro- Telangana political parties BJP and PRP, until recent past, speaks volumes about how reliable he and his book is. Parakala Prabhakar was with Bharatiya Janata Party when it passed the Kakinada Resolution favoring formation of Telangana in 1998. He continued in that party for several years after that resolution, but did not utter a single word against Telangana. He quit BJP only citing other reasons, but not the Telangana issue. Parakala Prabhakar then contested the MLC election in 2007 as an independent candidate and lost miserably. 8 A Rebuttal to Visalandhra Goebbels Propaganda In 2008, he joined film star Chiranjeevi's Praja Rajyam Party (PRP) and served as the official spokesperson of the party. It is a widely known fact that PRP supported Telangana state formation unequivocally. Here is an extract from a news that appered in The Hindu newspaper on 16th Oct 2008: On separate Telangana, he (Parakala Prabhakar) said no party other than Praja Rajyam had clarity on the issue. "We want the State to be divided like brothers in a family. We respect the 'atma gouravam' and 'atma abhimanam' of the Telangana people and we said we will never come in the way if separation is necessary," he said. Again, Parakala Prabhakar never opposed the formation of Telangana while he was in PRP. True to his nature, Parakala left PRP only after being denied a party ticket. He was thrown into political oblivion post his PRP stint. In a desperate last ditch attempt, he is now trying to gain some name and fame by bad mouthing the Telangana peoples' movement. Parakala Prabhakar keeps challenging on TV debates that if we give him some time, he would convince any Telangana activist and turn them into a united Andhra Pradesh supporter. We keep wondering if he is unable to get that much needed time to convince his wife Smt Nirmala Sitaraman - who as the national spokesperson for BJP, is actively supporting the Telangana statehood demand. The other major partner in Visalandhra Mahasabha, is an NRI named Nalamotu Chakravarthy. Almost a full decade after the current phase of Telangana movement intensified, Nalamotu woke up from his deep slumber and suddenly remembered his "roots". He penned an English book named "My Telugu Roots", to tell why the Telugus should stay in one state. The utter hollowness of Nalamotu's argument can be understood when we know that he himself had left Andhra Pradesh long back, in search of greener pastures. What's even more hilarious is that Nalamotu can't speak or write in proper Telugu. He had hired a professional translator to translate his English book into Telugu. The fact that his book sold about 60 copies (by his own admission) speaks volumes about how much sense Nalamotu Chakravarthy's book made to the people of Andhra Pradesh. Visalandhra Mahasabha is just a propaganda organization funded by vested interests, who have a lot to lose once Telangana state is formed. These include Andhra politicians, businessmen and power brokers, who have accumulated wealth by illegally grabbing Telangana resources. We would like to reiterate that no movement can be sustained for six long decades on lies. Telangana movement is a just demand voiced by 3.5 crore Telanganites. In 1953, India's First Prime Minister Jawahar Lal Nehru had dismissed the idea of Visalandhra (Andhra Pradesh) as an idea bearing expansionist imperialism. The idea of Visalandhra died the moment Andhra leaders violated the Gentleman's agreement.