India: Construction and Consolidation of the Telangana Identity | H Srikanth

The Economic and Political Weekly, Vol - XLVIII No. 45-46, November 16, 2013

Construction and Consolidation of the Telangana Identity
by H Srikanth
(H Srikanth (hskant@gmail.com) is with the North-Eastern Hill University, Shillong)

The movement for a separate Telangana state has been hailed by many intellectuals as a democratic struggle of the people of a region against political domination and economic exploitation. The central government’s decision to create a new state is seen as an official recognition of the people’s aspiration for identity and self-rule. Interrogating such perceptions, this article examines the process by which a Telangana identity has been constructed and throws light on different factors that contributed to it. The Telangana identity is built partly on fact, and partly on half-truths, prejudices, and false hopes. Apart from intellectuals, the resurrection of the regional identity has been facilitated by the opportunism of political parties, in particular, the unjustifi able inaction of the left.

http://www.epw.in/perspectives/construction-and-consolidation-telangana-identity.html