No place for communal politics in Telangana

Prof. Bhangya Bhukya University of Hyderabad Email: bbhangya@gmail.com After the last general election, Bharatiya Janatha Party and its mother organisations (RSS, VHP, etc.) are eyeing Telangana. A spurious propaganda is in circulation that BJP going to make a dent in Telangana very soon, at least by next assembly elections. Considering the large Muslim population in the state, BJP must be thinking that it would be easy to polarise the voters on communal basis. One has to understand its week-long programme to celebrate September 17th as part of this political agenda.
It appears that they did not learn anything from their Kerala experience in the last elections, where there is presence of large Muslim and Christian population and a strong trend of left political tradition. Telangana also has a similar social composition and strong left political leaning from the days of the armed peasant struggle. So it is possible that BJP would receive same response in Telangana that they received in Kerala. Importantly Telangana has an altogether different historical tradition from the beginning of the civilisation. The Telangana society is founded on the fabrics of heterodox culture that opposed the north Indian cultural and political imperialism all through the history.
Heterodox environment of Telangana The heterodox environment of Telangana which is characterised as upland plateau with sandy soils and rocky landscapes did not allow the formation of imperial politics in the region. It had its own political system which is rooted in self-determinism and non-imperialist ethos. The first north India imperialism came to Deccan in form of Mauryas. Before the emergence of Satavana dynasty, the Mauryan Empire ruled some parts of Deccan. However, we have very scanty evidence not only on their conquest of Deccan but also on the nature of their rule in this part of India. Whether the Mauryans ruled Deccan directly or had a symbolic sway over it leaving power with the local rulers. We do not have any evidence of Mauryan rule in Telangana. Similar is the case with the Gangat Valley Gupta imperialism. The Gupta rulers conquered some kingdoms in the Deccan, but they could not merge them into their empire. They left these kingdoms with their respective rulers and asked them to accept symbolic suzerainty of Gupta Imperialism.
Historical facts The Sultans and Mughals also miserably failed to expand their empires in Deccan. The Delhi Sultan after the conquest of Kakatiyas could hold their sway over the Deccan only for about 24 years that is from 1323 to 1347. The Deccan Sultans, in collaboration with local Hindu chiefs, challenged the Delhi imperialism and liberated Deccan by forming Bahmani Sultanate in the region. A similar politics was also repeated when the Mughal emperors conquered Golkonda in 1687. After 1707, the Mughal rule was negligible in Deccan and thrown out of the region completely with the formation of Asaf Jahi dynasty in 1724. Deccan was also largely free from the British Imperialism.