Lie #5: Nehru was against Telangana’s merger with Andhra.
Jawaharlal Nehru was never against the formation of Visalandhra, contrary to the propaganda by the separatists. Nehru was initially against splitting the Hyderabad State, which consisted of Telugu, Kannada, and Marathi speaking areas, since he thought the State represented his idea of unity in diversity.
However, when the principle of carving out states on linguistic basis was accepted, he was very vocal in supporting the demand for creation of Visalandhra by merging Andhra state and the Telugu-speaking regions of the Hyderabad state. In the Selected Works of Jawaharlal Nehru that has transcript of Nehru’s speech given in Nizamabad public meeting, he said the following:
“This decision has been arrived at after prolonged discussions with both sides and great care
has been taken to see that feelings on either side are not exacerbated. The people of
Andhra and Telangana have to lead their lives and progress as parts of the larger entity,
India. Therefore, petty arguments and tensions will lead nowhere. I hope all of you will
accept this new proposal wholeheartedly and put it into practice. I want that you should
become a part of greater Andhra and benefit by it.”
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