The Seemandhra Settlers can Never Belong to Hyderabad

The city of Hyderabad is known for its tolerant attitude and composite culture. This is a culture that is a result of the interactions and amalgamations of many peoples, languages and their ways of living. Hyderabad has a history of more than 400 years, and is popularly referred to as the “ganga-jumna tehzeeb”, whose literal translation means an amalgamation of all cultures.

For nearly 350 years from the time Sultan Muhammad Quli swam across the river Musi to meet his beloved Bhagmati who he later married and named Hyder Mahal, and founded the city of Hyderabad as a token of his love, the city was nurtured by all who came the Hindus and Muslims, Armenians, Anglo-Indians, Parsis, Shias from Uttar Pradesh and Sikhs and Punjab. While it was the administrative skills of the North Indians that made Hyderabad the most well governed of all princely states. It was the genius of Ali Nawaz Jung, an engineer in the Nizam’s Government who prepared a comprehensive water resources development plan under which several medium sized irrigation projects were undertaken, notable among them being Pocharam, Dindi, Palair, Wyra, Manair and anicuts at Ghanpur on Manjira and Khanapur on Godavari. These water reservoirs were till the 1950’s supplying ample amount of water to the Telangana region.

Since the 1950’s, the city of Hyderabad has seen a reversal of fortune, with those coming to the city from the Seema and Andhra regions, coming to pillage and the city and its people of their prosperity and livelihood. From a life of abundance the people of Hyderabad were reduced to paupers in their own home.

For these people, Hyderabad was the proverbial el dorado, they came they pillaged and continue to plunder. Industries set up by the Nizam to fuel the growth of the region were systematically run down by successive Andhra and Rayalseema regimes, and the lands belonging to these industries sold for their real estate value. Prime examples of this are the Azam Jahi Mills and the Nizam Sugar Factory. Not only did this deprive the state of its revenues but also caused the loss of livelihood to families of over 15,000 workers in Azam Jahi Mills and 10,000 workers in Nizam Sugar Factory.

At the root of this are the returns on investment to be got from Real estate. This story is repeated in the development of the Greater Hyderabad region, large tracts of land were acquired from the Natives, under threat of Government acquisition. Fearing their lands will be acquired by the Government for paltry sums, the Natives sold their lands to these settlers at throw away rates, and once this acquisition was completed the Government notice was annulled. This daylight robbery was a well thought out and executed with the collusion of the Seema Andhra led political regime in the State, the Government Officers and the businessmen.

These carpet baggers from Seema and Andhra made their pile of money by grasping and selling Hyderabad’s lands and invested the money in their own districts. Had there not been a slump in the real estate market, these people would have sold off their ill acquired lands and scooted back to their own districts. It is precisely because of this attitude of pillage and run why these Andhra and Seema settlers can never belong to Hyderabad and Telangana.

Jai Telangana. Jai Hind