Watch: 10 years of Telangana: Remembering the Million March that created a new State

Serish Nanisetti recalls the events of March 10, 2011 when the Million March was held in Hyderabad, which eventually led to the formation of Telangana State three years later

June 2 marks a decade of formation of the separate Telangana state. A state that was carved out of the erstwhile Andhra Pradesh with Hyderabad as its capital. The formation of the state was the result of near seven decade struggle for a separate state.

March 10, 2011 was a Thursday when the Million March announced by Telangana Joint Action Committee was to take place on the Tank Bund.

The Andhra Pradesh police threw a security dragnet on the Tank Bund and the Osmania University campus. But the outcome was something else. CPI-ML (New Democracy) leaders and students entered the promenade through unguarded of the Tank Bund where they assembled in the guise of marriage ceremony in Ambedkar Bhavan. The Osmania University students broke through the gates to reach the Tank Bund. The mass of people destroyed some of the statues that were installed during the time of Chief Minister N.T. Rama Rao.

That moment of iconoclasm changed the trajectory of the separate Telangana movement. And the state was formed within three years. Now, the skyline of the area has changed. The granite statue of Buddha is dwarfed by the brass statue of Ambedkar. The state Secretariat with 78,000 square metre office space has replaced the older building. There is a new Martyrs’ Memorial which looks like a flaming lamp. 

This transformed skyline is reflective of the new Telangana which is at war with its own history. How the past is written by the present government holds the key how the future of Telangana is shaped over the next few decades.

Presentation: Serish Nanisetti

Video: Nagara Gopal