The Power of Democracy

Moments of collective action-and sometimes individual courage-that changed the political landscape for the better

- RAJMOHAN GANDHI

Linguistic Struggles

Linguistic states had been pledged by the Indian National Congress from 1917, yet it took Potti Sriramulu’s death from fasting in December 1952 for that promise to bear fruit. Born in Nellore into a trading-caste family, Sriramulu had embraced prison in the 1930s and 1940s as a satyagrahi and also campaigned for Dalit rights. After this loved figure fasted for 58 days and died, a separate state for the Telugu speakers of what was still a British-era Madras Presidency became unstoppable. Andhra emerged in 1953, and other internal boundaries too were fruitfully redrawn. Karnataka and Kerala appeared in the south, Maharashtra and Gujarat in the west, Punjab, Haryana and Himachal in the north. Citizens could now converse with officials in their own language!

Northeast Nationalism

Although the Northeast’s cease­less stirs for autonomy, which started along with India’s Inde­pendence, have not been friction­free, the recovery of pride by the region’s varied communities has been inspir­ ing. Because of their struggles, the Assamese, Bodos, Garos, Khasis, Mizos, Meiteis, Nagas and Tripuris (to name but a few of the Northeast’s ethnicities in alphabetical order) have stamped their intellectual gifts on the consciousness of countless people in India and the world.

Dalit Rights