CCSAP Report - Ministry of Home Affairs

celebrated by four or five mandals, are highlighted as Telugu culture and are
perpetuated through the school syllabus. But Telangana festivals (like
Bathukamma and Bonalu), which are celebrated in all ten districts of Telangana,
are not mentioned in text books”. 41
7.15.07 Films and Media: In their representations before the Committee,
Telanganites have pointed out that the media, which is dominated by the other
regions unfailingly represents them in a poor light lowering their self esteem and
making them feel like second class citizens in their own state. Hence, the
demand for Telangana in the current phase of the agitation is being presented as
a demand for self-rule to protect its cultural identity, self-respect, and to escape
the “yoke” of Andhra-Seema regions.
7.15.08 Many representations have sought to highlight that “the
entertainment industry has been used as a means to ridicule Telangana culture.
Films and television channels use Telangana dialect to portray criminal or comical
characters. Telangana leaders and their language are projected as laughing
stocks in most films and programmes”. They claim that although the film industry
has been located in Hyderabad and subsidies given on land and infrastructure,
the local people are discriminated against and not given any employment
opportunities in the film industry; people employed, from light boys to
technicians, are all from coastal Andhra.
7.15.09 Non-observance of Independence (or Liberation) Day:
During the course of the present agitation, Telangana people brought up the
41 Kancha Ilaiah, a well known writer on various social issues in relation to deprived communities, has argued that the
culture showcased and taught in school books is that of the upper castes; and that lower castes do not share this cultural
world which has no intrinsic connection with their world. He bisects the regional perspective by the caste perspective. See,
for instance, his book “Why I am not a Hindu?” : A Sudra critique of Hindutva philosophy, culture and political economy
(Calcutta: Samya, 1996)
399