How student leaders were the driving force behind Telangana

[caption id=“attachment_996349” align=“alignleft” width=“380”]  The students’ movement has turned violent at times. PTI[/caption] by DVL Padma Priya There is a palpable, yet cautious excitement among the Telangana student leaders in Hyderabad. With reports doing the rounds that the announcement of the new state is all but inevitable, these leaders who have been in forefront of the student movement are planning their next moves. The student movement of Telangana has proven to be a force to reckon with. A quick flashback of events reveals that the Telangana movement was bolstered with the active participation of students way back in 1969. Since then, students have proven to be an asset to spread the movement across the 10 districts of Telangana and making it a people’s movement. And in 2009, it was the students’ call of Chalo Assembly which forced the TRS leader K Chandrasekhar Rao to continue with his hunger strike demanding a separate state. What started as a political move soon turned into a full fledged movement. For Krishank M, a PhD scholar from Osmania University and the National Spokesperson for the Osmania University Joint Action Committee (OUJAC), the movement is a perfect example of a people’s movement turning political. “No one can deny the students’ struggle for this movement and if the state is formed. But the entire credit can’t be given to just us, but also those student leaders who paved the way for the movement right from 1957. However, we can’t simply claim that it was all our doing. We were able to take this forward only because the people were proactive too,” he said. For Krishnank and other student leaders, the movement is no longer one that is just about identity or water, but also about opportunities. “If you look back, you will realise that in 2009, the issue raked up once again during the allocation of SI posts. For us students, 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,” Krishank said. While the political parties remain divided about the Telangana formation because of many reasons, many student leaders say that OUJAC and Telangana Student Joint Action Committee (TSJAC) have worked together in a secular fashion towards their goal- a sustained movement for Telangana. “We have fought alongside Akhila Bharatiya Vidya Parishad (ABVP), (the student wing of BJP) and Muslim leaders. Right from the mandal levels, our student leaders have joined hands irrespective of caste or religion and ensure that the movement spread far and wide,” he said. Retd Prof Keshav Rao Jadhav, popularly known as Mr Telangana, says that the student movement has always been a prominent part of Telangana movement since 1957 given they were most affected by disrcimination. “What is the point of having a degree in commerce or PhD if you can’t get a government job? If you go to the AP Secretariat, you will realise that most of the employees there are from the Seema-Andhra region. Does this mean that those from Telangana can’t even work as Class IV employees?” he asked. Having been part of the Telangana struggle since 1950’s, Jadhav believes nothing less than a new state will remove the sense of discrimination that those from the Telangana region feel. “Those from Telangana are ridiculed for their language, their culture and they are further discriminated against by denying opportunities which are rightfully theirs,” he said. [caption id=“attachment_996353” align=“alignleft” width=“380”]  The students’ movement for the new state has also driven the political movement. PTI[/caption] Mandala Bhaskar, a PhD research scholar and chairman of Telangana Students Joint Action Committee (TSJAC) believes students have invested in the movement in the hope of social justice. “Most of the students who are part of this movement are first generation students, i.e, they are the first ones from their family to even enter a school or college- a clear cut sign of how terrible the situation is in Telangana,” he says. Sai Prasad, another prominent student leader of OUJAC says that if Telangana state is announced and carved, the students have to be given due credit. “Congress and Telangana Rashtra Samiti (TRS) can’t take the credit entirely for the success of the movement. They have to acknowledge the students who have consistently supported and taken the movement forward. If you ask me 80 % of the movement was a student led people movement and only 20% was political,” he said. There are also students who have given up their careers for the cause of Telangana. “I was placed in TCS right after I completed my engineering and it was at the same time when the movement began again. Hailing from Adilabad, I know how much discrimination exists and so I decided to forego the job and become part of the movement full time,” says Rajesh M (name changed). Leaders in the TRS also believe that the moment was largely successful because of the sustained student movement. “In 2009, KCR had almost given up his fast and that’s when agitated students gave the call for Chalo Assembly and took the movement forward. More than what the TRS did, it was the efforts of the students which ensured that the pressure continued to remain on the State and Central government and there is no way of denying that their’s has been the most crucial role” said a leader from the TRS who did not want to be named. How social media helped garner support Interestingly, it was the use of social media which seems to have helped the student movement. “We have reached out to a larger number of students from different universities thanks to Facebook and Youtube. While media has been supportive, it was however the constant updates on social media which enabled us to garner support,” OUJAC’s Krishank said. “I could rope in around 500 people to carry out a silent protest in 2010 just by posting a status on Facebook,” he said. Krishank said social media helped those in urban areas like Hyderabad and Warangal understand the movement better but more importantly helped understand the pulse of the people. “We would get comments saying that the course of our movement was going in the right or wrong direction and this helped us understand better of what the youngsters were looking for. Also, there were instances when the full story would not go out regarding an incident, so we used social media to tell the whole story,” he said. YouTube seems to have been a popular medium, with many uploading videos from rallies and protests to garner support. So what next if Telangana is formed?  For now, the student leaders are waiting with bated breath for the final verdict on Telangana but they’re also planning their next course of action. Sai Prasad says many student leaders plan to come together and form a political party. “Whether the State is formed or not, we will be contesting in the coming elections to safeguard the interests of the people we have been fighting for and to ensure that the movement stays alive till State is carved,” he said. Many student leaders who have been the face of the movement in different parts of Telangana are already being offered tickets from political parties like BJP and TRS, but others like Sai Prasad want to fight it out alone.