When the British left, the Telugu-speaking people found themselves divided, split between the sprawling, Tamil-dominated Madras State and the Nizam’s Hyderabad. The call for a separate Andhra had been raised since the 1910s, but Jawaharlal Nehru was deeply wary of carving the young nation along linguistic lines so soon after Partition, and C. Rajagopalachari, who governed Madras, was firmly opposed. Both made it clear that even if a Telugu state came, the great city of Madras would never be part of it. An earlier fast, by Swami Sitaram in 1951, had drawn only a hollow promise. Sreeramulu decided to stake his own life on the outcome.
