Andhra (state)

Andhra - ఆంధ్ర

status	former state
Capital	Kurnool
founding	October 1, 1953
Dissolution / merger	November 1, 1956 ( States Reorganization Act : merging with the Telangana region from Hyderabad to the state of Andhra Pradesh )
surface	168,220 km²
Residents	20.9 million
Population density	124 inhabitants / km²
languages	Telugu
governor	Chandulal Madhavlal Trivedi
Location of Andhra in India (1953)

Andhra ( Telugu : ఆంధ్ర Āndhra [ ˈɑːndʰrʌ ]) was a short-lived state in India . It originated in 1953 from the northern parts of the state of Madras and merged in 1956 with the Telangana region of the former state of Hyderabad to form the state of Andhra Pradesh . After Telangana became its own state in 2014, the current state of Andhra Pradesh is again largely congruent with the former state of Andhra. The capital of Andhras was Kurnool .

history

prehistory

The Andhras area came under British rule in the late 18th century and was incorporated into the Madras Presidency , one of the administrative units of British India . The Madras Presidency was an ethnically and linguistically inhomogeneous area: While Tamil was mainly spoken in its southern part, Telugu was the predominant language in the Andhra region, which made up its northern part . As early as the British colonial era, efforts began in the 1920s to remove the Telugu-speaking areas from Madras. After India became independent in 1947, the state of the same name emerged from the Madras presidency. After Indian independence, the demands for a Telugu-speaking state of Andhra became louder. In particular, the affiliation of the city of Madras (today Chennai), in which besides a Tamil majority a larger minority of Telugus lived, developed into a point of contention. The Andhra agitation reached its climax with the death of Potti Sriramulus , who died on December 16, 1952 in Madras after a hunger strike lasting almost two months . On December 19th, Indian Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru approved the establishment of the state of Andhra. On October 1, 1953, Andhra was finally founded from the eleven Telugu-speaking districts in the northern part of the state of Madras. Madras City nevertheless remained in the state of the same name, from which today's Tamil Nadu emerged . The Bellary district came to the state of Mysore , later Karnataka , because of its predominantly Kannada- speaking population .

Formation of Andhra from parts of Madras:
             Madras border before 1953 Andhra (from 1953) Mysore before 1953 Bellary district (1953 to Mysore) Madras after 1953




Due to the changed borders, the parliamentary representation of the states concerned had to be reorganized. Andhra received a parliament of 140 members who were elected in individual constituencies and was divided into 28 constituencies for the Lok Sabha . The parliament of Madras was reduced from 375 to 230 members and the number of constituencies for the Lok Sabha from 75 to 46. The parliament of Mysore received 5 additional members (104 instead of 99) and an additional constituency for the Lok Sabha (12 instead of 11). In the Rajya Sabha , the "Council of States", the following new seating arrangements resulted: Andhra 12 MPs and Madras 18 (instead of the previous 27). The incumbent MPs who had previously been elected in constituencies in the state of Madras (in the elections to the Parliament of Madras in 1951 and in the Indian parliamentary elections 1951-1952 ), kept their offices, only that they were now assigned to the new states or parliaments .

Developments from 1953 to 1955

In the newly formed parliament of Andhra with 140 members, the Congress Party (INC) members and the Communists ( CPI ) formed the largest groups with 40 and 41 members respectively. T. Prakasam left the Praja Socialist Party , to which he had previously belonged, founded his own party, the Praja Party , with 10 other MPs , and formed a coalition government under him as Chief Minister , in which the Congress Party and other smaller parties were represented. This government was subsequently plagued by repeated political crises. At first there were conflicts between the southern Rayalaseema region and the coastal region ( Circars ) over the location of the capital of the new state. As a result of this conflict, the Krishikar Lok Party (KLP) left the government and joined the opposition. The second major controversy that ultimately contributed significantly to the overthrow of the government was the dispute over prohibition . The Congress Party had - still under the influence of Gandhi - committed to a "policy of abstinence", which was also valid in the state of Madras at the time of the breakaway of Andhras, but was not particularly popular with the population. When Andhra was formed, lawyers also pointed out that the new state urgently needed income and should therefore lift the alcohol ban and introduce an alcohol tax. A commission set up by the Andhras government recommended the lifting of prohibition in its report of February 22, 1954. This was justified with the fact that the ban had previously been ineffective. However, the government refused to act on the recommendations of the commission. The alcohol ban was unpopular and therefore in Andhra because there many people working as palm wine -Zapfer ( toddy tapper had taken). There were mass riots and mass actions of civil disobedience against the alcohol ban. Another point of discontent was the lack of land reform. On November 6, 1954, the government was finally narrowly defeated in a vote of no confidence in parliament with 68 votes to 69. The state was then placed under president's rule , ie direct control of the central government, on November 15, 1954 , and a new election was announced for February 1955.

General election 1955

In the parliamentary elections from 11th to 16th In February 1955 a coalition ( United Congress Front , UCF) consisting of the Congress Party, Krishikar Lok Party and Praja Party faced the communists. The UCF continued to pursue the goal of prohibition, but promised to improve the social grievances it caused. The CPI spoke out in favor of lifting prohibition. Both sides pledged land reform. Ultimately, the Congress Party won the vast majority of the constituency seats, but the Communist Party also did relatively well, receiving almost a third of the votes, but only 15 constituency seats (7.7%) , disadvantaged by the relative majority vote . The second strongest party by mandate was the Krishikar Lok Party (KLP). The election was by some Western observers partly as a rivalry between two box interpreted, on the one hand the caste of Kamma , who dominated the Communist Party and the KLP, and the caste of Reddy , who provided the local leadership of the Congress party. After the election, Bezawada Gopala Reddy (INC) became the new Chief Minister and formed a government of the Congress Party.

Results of the parliamentary election in Andhra in 1955

Political party	Abbreviation	be right		Seats
		number	in %	number	in %
Congress party	INC	3,394,109	39.35%	119	60.7%
Communist Party	CPI	2,685,251	31.13%	15th	7.7%
Krishikar Lok Party	KLP	625,827	7.26%	22nd	11.2%
Praja Socialist Party	PSP	481,666	5.58%	13	6.6%
Praja party	PP	240,884	2.79%	5	2.6%
Bharatiya Jana Sangh	BJS	8218	0.10%	0	0.0%
Independent	Independent	1,188,887	13.78%	22nd	11.2%
total		8,624,842	100.00%	196	100.0%

resolution

The founding of Andhra was the first step towards a reorganization of the states of India according to linguistic criteria. Three years later this was finally carried out by the States Reorganization Act . As a result of the reorganization, Andhra united on November 1, 1956 with the Telugu-speaking parts of the former state of Hyderabad , the Telangana region , to form the state of Andhra Pradesh with the capital Hyderabad . All Telugu-speaking areas were now united in one state. In 1960 there was a minor correction of the boundary between Andhra Pradesh and Madras. On June 2, 2014, Telangana split off from Andhra Pradesh after decades of agitation. The area of ​​the remaining Andhra Pradesh thus largely corresponds to that of the former state of Andhra.

literature

• BPR Vithal: A State in Periodic Crises. Andhra Pradesh. Hyderabad 2010.
• AR Venkatachalapathy: "'Madras Manade'. How Chennai Remained with Tamil Nadu". In: AR Venkatachalapathy (ed.): Chennai not Madras. Perspectives on the City. Mumbai 2006, pp. 9-18.

Individual evidence

1. ^ ^{A b} Andhra State Act, 1953 Complete Act - Bare Act. LegalCrystal.com, accessed September 7, 2015 . 
2. ^ ^{A b} Reorganization of States: The approach and arrangements. (pdf) The Economic Weekly, October 15, 1995, accessed October 8, 2015 . 
3. ^ ^{A b} Marshall Windmiller: The Andhra Election . In: Institute of Pacific Relations (Ed.): Far Eastern Survey . tape 24 , no. 4 , April 1955, p. 57-64 , JSTOR : 3023971 (English).
4. ↑ Blessed S. Harrison: Caste and the Andhra Communists . In: American Political Science Association (Ed.): The American Political Science Review . tape 50 , no. 2 , June 1956, p. 378-404 , JSTOR : 1951675 (English).
5. ^ Election Results - Full Statistical Reports. Indian Election Commission, accessed on April 23, 2017 (English, election results of all Indian elections to the Lok Sabha and the parliaments of the states since independence).