Soumitra Bose
New Delhi (The Hawk): “Out Telugukar” rent the sky all throughout the Tamil Nadu state. Its almost all of a sudden, there is a mammoth opposition to the Telugukars or Andhrites-Telengana masses settled in Tamil Nadu since ages. The opposition, rivalry to them relates to the Tamil-originals of the state are being denied of their “fundamental rights of minting money in their own state as the Telugukars are keeping the bulk of “Tamil Nadu money” with them, fully centralized, investing them in AP or Telengana and outrightly depriving the Tamilians in Tamil Nadu of their rightful dues. Their opposition to them have happened thrice before but they were quelled. But this time the same rebellion against them is brewing in to no-holds-barred, confides insiders in the state’s almost all districts.
There were 3 waves of Telugu immigration into TN.
The first happened in the Nayak era - the Nayakars were of Telugu origin and though they fully absorbed into Tamil culture, language and traditions over time, not everyone who came with them did. These are the source of the Reddys and Naidus who are often found as the large landowners in TN villages.
The second was during the British era - when the Madras presidency was better governed and less prone to swinging wildly at the whims and fancies of their ruler compared to the Nizam’s Hyderabad and they offered more administrative jobs for Hindus (especially Brahmins). These people mostly settled with government or “company” jobs in TN and reached more of upper-middle class status within a generation. Many of these were Brahmins and Kshatriyas because the British preferred to have the former in administrative jobs and the latter in policing professions.
The third was in the 1970s and 80s, and this was confined more to Chennai than to all of TN - an lot of money was being made in Andhra, but the state was not fit for investment under the Congress government of the later 70s (4–5 CMs in a 5 year term) or under NTR (who had no experience and had allowed all manner of corrupt elements in his party). Madras offered a great place of invest with a vibrant movie industry serving all of South India, a bustling port, growing manufacturing center and a government that could make things happen. Telugu money came largely into real-state and financing areas (and was a big factor in the growth of Chennai through the 80s and early 90s) and along with the money, people came as well. Again, these were people who were rich in Andhra Pradesh before they came to TN, so naturally they fitted in the economically better off segment of society.
