Southern States - Andhra Pradesh-Hyderabad   

Sitting perpetually on a powder keg

By J.S. Ifthekhar

Hyderabad Dec. 7. Hyderabad is among the few sensitive cities in the country that perpetually sit on a powder keg. After the violence that followed the integration of Hyderabad State with the Indian Union in 1948, the first major communal flare up occurred during March 1978 within a month of M. Chenna Reddy becoming the Chief Minister.

Trouble sparked off after the alleged rape of Rameeza Bee by police and the murder of her husband, Ahmed Hussain. Police had to open fire at 11 places in a single day and the old city was placed under curfew for 50 days in three bouts. From then on curfew became a regular feature in Hyderabad.

After a gap of six years the city witnessed communal violence during September 1984 when the Ganesh festival was celebrated amidst a political crisis triggered by Nadendla Bhaskara Rao toppling the democratically elected NTR Government. For the first time the entire twin cities of Hyderabad and Secunderabad were placed under curfew.

For the next six years the city remained tension-free. Communal trouble raised its ugly head again in 1990 with the return of Chenna Reddy as Chief Minister. Many saw a direct link between the Congress Government and communal violence.

Hyderabad saw the worst mayhem ever with armed mobs roaming freely, burning, looting and killing people at will. In just two days -- December 7 and 8 -- the toll rose to 52. The situation became so hopeless that the Army moved in after 42 years. The riots cost the Chief Minister his job.

The city remained relatively calm under the Telugu Desam dispensation during the next five years although NTR did have an understanding with the Majlis-e-Ittehadul-Muslimeen and the Bharatiya Janata Party.

Political pundits feel Congress has to take much of the blame for communalisation of politics. After the integration of Hyderabad with the Indian Union, it started consolidating its hegemony by wooing the Muslim community. Later it was the turn of both the Congress and the Telugu Desam to have electoral adjustments with the Majlis which emerged as the sole spokesman of the Muslims in the State capital.

The ascendancy of Majlis gave rise to polarisation of vote banks. The organisation of centralised Ganesh procession since 1978, as a show of solidarity of Hindus, also led to many communal skirmishes. The delimitation of constituency boundaries in 1956, 1966 and 1976 further polarised the electorate into communal halves, making the parties woo them on communal lines.

Surprisingly, the intensity of violence in the city after the Ayodhya tragedy was less, but trouble spread in towns and villages around Hyderabad.

Barring incidents of stone pelting and slogan shouting on December 6 every year, there have been no major incidents of violence during the last 11years of the Ayodhya incident in the State capital. It is only this year that trouble erupted forcing the authorities to impose curfew.

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