Battle for Bhadrachalam

Battle for Bhadrachalam

AM Khan Yazdani ( Danny)

It is another Ram Mandir controversy after Ayodhya. This time the dispute is not between Nirmohi Akhara, and the Muslim Central Board of Wakf. It is between the leaders of Telangana and Seemandhra over Bhadrachalam division of Khammam district. Leaders of the both regions have set on to battle it out for the temple town Bhadrachalam considered as the second famous Lord Rama Kshetra after Ayodhya in India.

Over excited with the Congress Working Committee’s decision at the end of the July this year to form a separate Telangana state, Ramireddy Venkata Reddy,  minister from Khammam district,  has ignited the controversy by stating that Bhadrachalam revenue division will be included in the emerging Telangana state.

Robustly committed to single point programme of keeping the state united the Seemandhra legislatures both MPs and MLAs have ignored the statement of Venkata Reddy at the beginning. Subsequently they have changed their mind set and started paying attention towards Bhadrachalam division as the Delhi sent strong signals that the division of Andhrapradesh and formation of Telangana state is imminent.

Khammam is one of the few districts in the Telangana region that were formed after the fall of princely state of Nizam in 1948.  Six taluks of the erstwhile larger Warangal district viz., Khammam,  Madhira, Yellandu,  Paloncha,  Kothagudem and Burgampadu were carved out as a new district with Khammam as its headquarters on 1 October 1953.  After formation of Andhrapradesh in 1956,  Bhadrachalam Revenue Division consisting of Bhadrachalam,  Nuguru and Venkatapuram Taluks of East Godavari district and part of Coastal Andhra region were merged into Khammam  in November 1959 for  administrative viability. Subsequently, Aswaraopet taluq of West Godavari district was also attached to Khammam district.  The unity of diversity in its formation is being reflected in the demography of Khammam district. It has dual character;  partly Telangana and partly Seemandhra.

Every political demand can exists and operate only in a specific time and space. And it will lose its fillip once the time or space under goes any changes. The champion of Telangana cause and TRS chief K Chandrasekhara Rao has set specific time and space to his demand for the formation of a new state. While the space for his demand is Telangana region of erstwhile Nizam princely state, the bench mark for the time frame is 1^st November 1956, the formation day of Andhrapradesh.  As the title of the Jeffrey Archer's first novel, Not a Penny More, Not a Penny Less goes Telangana demand also rigidly stands for  ‘not a day after not a day before’.   

In his endeavour to justify the demand for Telangana state, KCR is unfairly  and frequently emphasizing that they are not demanding for the division of Andhrapradesh but for the de-merger of two states namely Andhra and Telangana that were merged in 1956. This is a false theory because Telangana never existed as a separate state ever before. One day before the formation of Andhrapradesh there was Andhra state on one side and Hyderabad state on the other side. The Telangana –Hyderabad region was the integral part of Hyderabad state along with Maratha- Hyderabad and Kannada-Hyderabad regions. As the Andhrapradesh state has been already formed by that time. KCR and his supporters neither move forward the bench mark date for division.

Enthusiastic thinkers like Gadiyaram Srivatsa has a decade ago, demanded for a ‘Greater Telangana’ state that consists of Telangana, Maratha and Kannada regions of erstwhile Hyderabad state. But the idea failed to garner the required fillip as the time and space were utterly changed.

            Notwithstanding the present day controversy, Bhadrachalama has its own glory in the pages of history. The area was under Kakatiyas till it went into the hands of Delhi Sultanate during the first quarter of the 14^th century.   Further the area was conquered by  Bahamani Kingdom and then by  Qutb Shahi dynasty of Golconda until the Mughal emperor Aurangzeb conquered the Deccan in 1687.  

During the regime of the eighth and last ruler of the Qutb Shahi dynasty, Abul  Hasan Qutb Shah popularly known as Tana Shah, the Tahasildar for the Palvancha Paragana, Kancherla Gopanna ,  popularly known as Bhakta Ramadasu,  has   constructed the  famous temple for Lord Sri Rama at Bhadrachalam  in the third quarter of 17^th century.