Abstract
Telangana became a separate state in 2014 with a lot of sacrifices from women The article provides a brief histography and revolves around those women of Telangana, who actively participated in different political and social movements of Telangana or India as a whole.
Introduction
In terms of gender roles, modern Indian movements can be classified into two categories. One that was purely of women who fought against patriarchal values and vision, and the second one is embedded to those kinds of movements predominantly influenced by men but have had the presence of women too. In the first category, we can put few major movements such as communist-led Food Campaigns of the 1940s, Chipko, the Anti-alcohol and Anti-price rise movements of the nineteenth century. The anti-arrack movement of 1992 in Telangana can also be considered in this category. And those which were primarily dominated by males, but women’s participation at large scale were Nationalist Movement, Tebhaga Movement and Telangana Movements (Kumar, 1993). It clearly shows that almost in all the movements, the role of women was crucial, and women exhibited their strength in various ways in different movements. When we look into the political struggles of Telangana in different periods, we find that the role of women have been a major one; they were huge in number, not much lesser than men’s participation. It would either have been the struggle against Nizam’s rule, British rule or against the Indian State itself; in all the struggles, their contribution is immemorial. For instance, in any movement or struggle, there is a need for ideological backup, and education is the medium of shaping and spreading ideology. Women understood its importance, and few socially and politically active women built schools and other kinds of educational and social organizations for girls and women, such as Mahila-Sangham, Anjuman-e-Qawateen, which was founded by Begum Tayeba Bilgrami of which Begum Sugra was the secretary. In Hyderabad, Begum Humayun Mirza opened two schools for the girls in 1919 (Volga et al., 2001). It is of note that despite the Anti-Arrack movement, the rest of the movements in Telangana were mainly male dominated, but the role and sacrifice of women was huge. However, it can be stated that the movements stayed for a long period or succeeded due to direct or indirect involvement of women in the movements. It is crystal clear in the following movements discussed:
Telangana Movement
The resistance of people against the suppression of feudal princely state, Hyderabad, tells the glorious story of the past. Women were instrumental in spreading and continuing the movement. Hyderabad was the largest princely state and was under the rule of the Nizam. The struggle was against the autocratic and arbitrary rule of the Nizam and his Razakars and against the Zamindari system, which was inhumanly suppressing the people’s rights and life, and notably in the course of time, it sparked on against Nehruian regime’s bureaucracy. Here, it is important to state that this movement was basically led by the progressive communist ideologies. During the struggle, the party annexed many villages and managed to control bonded labour, low agricultural wages and vetti (forced labour and exactions) and other forms of exploitation. Initially, struggle started on the grounds of cultural and lingual issues, but it later covered all the aspects of social and economic life. Women set up mahilasangham throughout Andhra and organized meetings and conferences at different places. In 1910, the All Andhra Women Conference was organized in Guntur, and it was presided over by Pulugurthi Lakshmi Narasamamba, who raised the issue of women’s vocational education in order to solve the livelihood issues. In the course of struggle, several women had been killed, raped, molested and imprisoned. They were the worst victims of the brutal tortures and atrocities committed by the Razakars, Nizam and Nehru’s police and military (Sundaraiyya, 1972). When legendry leader of the Gond—Komuram Bhim—was killed by the Nizam’s police in 1940 over the issue of forest rights of tribals in Adilabad, his wife Som Bai fought, while she had an infant in her lap. Similarly, a pregnant Lambadi peasant women were killed in order to save their land from landlords (Sundaraiyya, 1972). Chityala Ailamma, Pramilatai, Brij Rani Gaur, Manikonda Suryavathi, Dayani Priyamvada, S. Suguamma Regalla Acchamamba and other several women sacrificed their lives in the Telangana Movement (Lalita et al., 1989). Another woman—Ramulamma—belonged to Nalgonda and joined the party along with her husband in 1946, but due to some illness, her husband left her in 1948, while she remained in the party for long. Similarly, after independence, people felt that they did not receive their share of development, while in the name of development, their resources were being plundered by the state’s officials. Landlords, moneylenders and forest officials made their lives miserable. The Girijan people, specifically women, suffered adversely. Their source of livelihood and survival had been curtailed and damaged. This increased the discontent among the Girijans. The role of communist party was also instrumental in this struggle. A mishap in which Girijan people were killed turned this movement into an armed struggle in which women too offered their strong leadership. Few women from plain areas such as Panchadi Nirmala, Choudhary Sampoornammu, Puli Ramanamma, Medavarapu Ramsita and Tamadu Chandramma fought for their rights along with Girijan women. For the sake of women’s issue, several women’s organizations were established in the decade of the 1970s in Telangana region such as Stree Shakti Sangathan, Feminst Study Circle, Dowry Death Investigation Committee and others (Lalita et al., 1989; Volga et al., 2001).
Contribution in Indian National Movement
In the Indian national movement despite the great contribution of Sarojini Naidu, numerous other women fought fiercely in the region. There is a long series of women who actively participated in the movement and were imprisoned and beaten by the British police. Sarojini Naidu, Durgabai Deshmukh and many other women led the major events of movements. For instance, in 1923, Congress Conference of Kakinada, barely 15 years old, Durgabai recruited hundreds of women from all over the state. She worked hard for the success of the Indian National Congress, but since she was so young, she could not directly participate in the Indian National Congress. One can easily evaluate her influence in the movement as, many times when Gandhi gave speeches, she translated his speeches. The deeds and sacrifice of Duvvuri Subbamma, Ponakakanakamma and Unnava Lakshmi Baiyamma broke the stereotype against women. In 1922, a separate wing of Congress Committee for Women had been established, and it brilliantly promulgated the use of Khadi. An important member of the committee, Subhamma, was the first lady who was sent to jail with rigorous punishment. A special conference was organized for women while Gandhi and Kasturba came to Hyderabad in the year 1929. On the appeal of Gandhi, women greatly followed the boycott of foreign goods’ and accepted Swadeshi, and following this, a committee was set up under the leadership of Padmaja Naidu. During Salt Satyagraha in 1930, Gandhi was not interested in the participation of women in the Dandi March; however, Sarojini Naidu took part, and after the arrest of Gandhi, she managed a good leadership. Inspired by Naidu, many women in Andhra made salt and got arrested and suffered from lathi charge. In 1938, during the Satyagraha movement, Vande Matram became the cause of turmoil in Hyderabad. Students and women breached the ban of Nizam’s rule over this soulful patriotic song, and many progressive Muslim women too took part in this movement and chanted the slogan with soulful bravery. In the movement of 1942, many women from Telangana propagated the idea of nationalist movement and hoisted flags. Gyan Kumari Heda, Padmaja Naidu, Brijrani, Vimla Devi Melkote, Sumitra Prasad and Sangam Lakshmi Bai were some of them. Jamnunisha Baji and Rajiya Begum were the Muslim women who actively participated in national movement. According to Baji, there was more admiration for Nehru rather than for Gandhi at that time. When Subhas Chandra Bose was removed from the party, women were very annoyed and sad. In 1925, an organization called Andhra Sadhvi Sangham was set up by Nadimpalli Sundarama, Goteti Manikyamba and T. Varalaksh Mamma and Godavri. Women were very vocal on some of the decisions of the Congress, for instance, few women’s organizations criticized national leaders as there was some confusion and difference of opinion on the Swaraj issue among them (Volga et al., 2001).
In Dalit Movement
The incident of Karamchhedu in 1985 is a landmark in Dalit movement and that drew attention to Dalit issues in the national sphere. It happened only due to the strong stand taken by the women. This incidence caused the formation of Dalit Mahasabha and other major organizations. The movement started over the issue of use of pond’s water.A few upper-caste men strictly prevented Dalits from using ponds that led to violence in the region. In this conflict, seven Dalit people were, killed and many women were raped. A woman Suvartha refused to kneel down before the upper-caste people, and her initiative strengthened the Dalits and mobilized them to start a strong movement against caste atrocities (Volga et al., 2001).
Anti-arrack Movement
The movement, of utmost importance took place during the decade of 1990s. Thousands of women were associated with it. Initially, it started from a remote village of Nellore, but after a while, it spread across the state. It was a pure women’s movement and presented the strength of rural women. For the first time, this movement brought the issue of domestic violence and alcoholism to the larger public sphere and drew attention of academia and policy makers to contemplate the issue seriously. This was led by, particularly, rural women (Volga et al., 2001).
Conclusion
Struggles and sacrifices of the women explicitly manifest that the willingness and strength of the women were not lesser than men in the political and social domain. However, stereotypes and perception about women were a part of these progressive movements also. Even during the Telangana struggle and national movement, the traits of patriarchy were in practices within the party and organizational structure. Women had the double responsibility of family and political activities contrary to males who had the single responsibility of only party work; however, their contribution were considered as of lesser importance, while during the movement, the presence of women created a trust among the villagers and made a favourable situation for the party members. In the absence of women, there has been minimal probability of growing any movement; however patriarchy and discrimination at every step remained women at the periphery of the society. For instance, when Telangana movement was called off, women were asked to go back to their family to take care of their home, which was difficult for them. They had expected a new justifiable world, but they were again compelled to the same patriarchal undemocratic society. Pioneers of the movement such as Brij Rani, Kondapalli Kotesqwaramma and few others questioned over the party’s decision and party members’ internal patriarchy and other caste and class biasness (Lalita et al., 1989). It is also claimed that the hegemony of upper caste persisted throughout the period of Telangana armed struggle and Naxalite movement in Telangana (Illaiah, 2004).
A successful democracy requires an equal participation in decision-making processes. To empower women in society, an equal participation is essential, and the solution lies in multi-tiered reservation system at all stages (Kannabiran, 2006). The entry of women into politics can change the policies, vision and structure of institutions and society. It is also necessary to overcome the patriarchal and undemocratic orientations within democratic institutions, which seem to be extensively practised in contemporary age of Indian politics.
Footnotes
Declaration of Conflicting Interests
The authors declared no potential conflicts of interest with respect to the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article.
Funding
The authors received no financial support for the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article.