In Praise of ‘T’ Agitation
- పరకాల ప్రభాకర్, విశాలాంధ్ర మహాసభ సభ్యులు
Communication manufactures perceptions. Effective communication manufactures perceptions that are far more biting than reality. In their most potent form they can, in fact, replace reality and obfuscate one’s reasoning faculty. The ongoing Telangana agitation offers a formidable example of effective use of political communication. It is in the deployment of a well-designed communication strategy that the present agitation differs from the earlier one. It is the sophisticated use of communication that gave depth to the present stir.It is improbable that no one from the region is opposed to the agitation. Yet one hardly hears dissenting voices in public forums. That is the power of the communication strategy. It is successful in casting a spell: That anyone who is not in favour of a separate statehood for Telangana is an enemy of Telangana. The biggest success of the communication strategy is that the popular mind is unable to decouple demand for separate statehood and love for Telangana.
The agitation’s communication strategy went on to circulate that it was the most backward region in the state. Voluminous authentic data to the contrary is still unable to dispel the myth. There is another interesting spin. Left-wing poets and popular balladeers of the region wrote heart-rending lyrics narrating the inhuman treatment of the common people by the landlords of Telangana. Every ill in the Telangana region was blamed on the class enemy. But now, all of a sudden, these litterateurs want everyone to believe that the misery was because of the exploitation by people from the other two regions of the state. The spin is working. It is powerful enough.
Communication can give new meaning and unexpected connotation to centuries old words. ‘Andhra’ was always used as a word indicating the language, and the people who spoke the language. Telugu and Andhra were until recently used interchangeably. Under the Nizam ‘Andhra Mahasabha’ fought for the protection of Telugu language and the people who spoke it. In the erstwhile Hyderabad state, Telugu people were treated as second class citizens because they did not speak Urdu. Hyderabad state had Kannada, Marathi and Telugu speaking areas. The area where Telugu was spoken came to be known as ‘Telangana’ (literally meaning ‘a land where Telugu is spoken’). The anti-Nizam struggle was spearheaded by Andhra Mahasabha. In the former Hyderabad state Srikrishnadeva Raya Andhra Bhasha Nilayam was established as the repository of telugu culture and literature. Madapati Huanumantha Rao who was one of the pioneers of this cultural and political movement was lionized as ‘Andhra Pitamaha’. Potana, who hailed from this region wrote ‘Srimad Andhra Mahabhagavatam’. But today the agitation’s powerful propaganda has succeeded in showing ‘Andhra’ and ‘Telangana’ as not just two terms describing telugu cultural and linguistic identity, but as representing two inimical regional-cultural groups. The idiom and accent Telugu gained in the erstwhile Nizam region due to strong influence of Urdu is now shown as a linguistic distinction that separates the people of the region. This spin is accomplished in a very short time by the agitators.
Historically Telugu people have lived under single political authority for centuries. Sometimes they were scattered across different political units but only to quickly come together. The recent such episode was under the Nizam. He ruled over what are now the Coastal and Rayalasema regions till the end of eighteenth century. He then lost them to the British. The formation of Andhra Pradesh in the mid twentieth century was only a reunification of Telugu people who, for a brief spell of less than two centuries, were under the British and the Nizam. But the agitation’s compelling propaganda has successfully created an impression that Telangana has historically nothing to do with the rest of the Telugu speaking areas and people.
A spin’s life is short. Any competent communication strategist knows it. Therefore, a new one should come out before an old one expires. Continuously. Without a gap. When the spin on economy to show backwardness and exploitation wore out, another spin on history, then on language and culture were ready. And as these are tapering off, another one on self-rule is readied. Notwithstanding thousands of Sarpanches, over a hundred MLAs, more than a dozen MPs elected by the people of Telangana, and as many Ministers from the region, through their communication strategy the agitators are trying to make people believe that somebody else is ruling them. This is in Telangana which gave the country one of its finest rulers of India in P V Narasimha Rao.
A communication strategy is successful if it achieves the goal before the spell it casts is broken. The jury is still out on the Telangana agitation’s communication strategy. But there can be no two opinions on its strength and competence. It is, indeed, an interesting case study.
Communication can give new meaning and unexpected connotation to centuries old words. ‘Andhra’ was always used as a word indicating the language, and the people who spoke the language. Telugu and Andhra were until recently used interchangeably. Under the Nizam ‘Andhra Mahasabha’ fought for the protection of Telugu language and the people who spoke it. In the erstwhile Hyderabad state, Telugu people were treated as second class citizens because they did not speak Urdu. Hyderabad state had Kannada, Marathi and Telugu speaking areas. The area where Telugu was spoken came to be known as ‘Telangana’ (literally meaning ‘a land where Telugu is spoken’). The anti-Nizam struggle was spearheaded by Andhra Mahasabha. In the former Hyderabad state Srikrishnadeva Raya Andhra Bhasha Nilayam was established as the repository of telugu culture and literature. Madapati Huanumantha Rao who was one of the pioneers of this cultural and political movement was lionized as ‘Andhra Pitamaha’. Potana, who hailed from this region wrote ‘Srimad Andhra Mahabhagavatam’. But today the agitation’s powerful propaganda has succeeded in showing ‘Andhra’ and ‘Telangana’ as not just two terms describing telugu cultural and linguistic identity, but as representing two inimical regional-cultural groups. The idiom and accent Telugu gained in the erstwhile Nizam region due to strong influence of Urdu is now shown as a linguistic distinction that separates the people of the region. This spin is accomplished in a very short time by the agitators.
Historically Telugu people have lived under single political authority for centuries. Sometimes they were scattered across different political units but only to quickly come together. The recent such episode was under the Nizam. He ruled over what are now the Coastal and Rayalasema regions till the end of eighteenth century. He then lost them to the British. The formation of Andhra Pradesh in the mid twentieth century was only a reunification of Telugu people who, for a brief spell of less than two centuries, were under the British and the Nizam. But the agitation’s compelling propaganda has successfully created an impression that Telangana has historically nothing to do with the rest of the Telugu speaking areas and people.
A spin’s life is short. Any competent communication strategist knows it. Therefore, a new one should come out before an old one expires. Continuously. Without a gap. When the spin on economy to show backwardness and exploitation wore out, another spin on history, then on language and culture were ready. And as these are tapering off, another one on self-rule is readied. Notwithstanding thousands of Sarpanches, over a hundred MLAs, more than a dozen MPs elected by the people of Telangana, and as many Ministers from the region, through their communication strategy the agitators are trying to make people believe that somebody else is ruling them. This is in Telangana which gave the country one of its finest rulers of India in P V Narasimha Rao.
A communication strategy is successful if it achieves the goal before the spell it casts is broken. The jury is still out on the Telangana agitation’s communication strategy. But there can be no two opinions on its strength and competence. It is, indeed, an interesting case study.
http://parakala.org/2011/05/02/in-praise-of-t-agitation/
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