1969 Telangana Agitation was a political movement for the statehood for Telangana region. The first person to raise the issue of Telangana happened in 1968 during October or November timeframe. A hunger strike was being carried on by a person named Ravindranath on 1969/January/08 in Khammam near the Railway Station. He was on an indefinite fast and his prime demand was to implement Telangana safeguards. One other demand was his insistence on implementation of the Gentleman's agreement. It is a major event in Telangana movement. In the indiscriminate police firing, 369 Telangana students were killed.
On 22 December 1953, the States Reorganisation Commission was appointed to prepare for the creation of states on linguistic lines. The commission, due to public demand, recommended disintegration of Hyderabad state and to merge Marathi speaking region with Bombay state and Kannada speaking region with Mysore state. The States Reorganisation Commission (SRC) discussed the pros and cons of a merger between Telugu speaking Telangana region of Hyderabad state and Andhra state. Para of369 the SRC report said "The creation of Vishalandhra is an ideal to which numerous individuals and public bodies, both in Andhra and Telangana, have been passionately attached over a long period of time, and unless there are strong reasons to the contrary, this sentiment is entitled to consideration".Discussing the case of Telangana, para 389 of the SRC report said "One of the principal causes of opposition of Vishalandhra also seems to be the apprehension felt by the educationally backward people of Telangana that they may be swamped and exploited by the more advanced people of the coastal areas." In its final analysis SRC recommended against the immediate merger. In para 389 it said "After taking all these factors into consideration we have come to the conclusions that it will be in the interests of Andhra as well as Telangana, if for the present, the Telangana area is to constitute into a separate State, which may be known as the Hyderabad State with provision for its unification with Andhra after the general elections likely to be held in or about 1961 if by a two-thirds majority the legislature of the residuary Hyderabad State expresses itself in favor of such unification."
After going through the recommendations of the SRC, the then Home Minister Pandit Govind Ballabh Pant decided to merge Andhra state and Telangana to form Andhra Pradesh state on 1 November 1956 after providing safeguards to Telangana in the form of Gentlemen's agreement.
January–April 1969
In the years after the formation of Andhra Pradesh state, people of Telangana expressed dissatisfaction over how the agreements and guarantees were implemented. Discontent intensified in January, when the guarantees that had been agreed on were supposed to lapse. All the Andhra employees who migrated to capital city in 1956 will be considered 'local' in 1969 after 12 years of residence per mulki rules. Student agitation for the continuation of the agreement began at Palvancha in Khammam district and spread to other parts of the region. One section of students (which appeared dominant) wanted a separate state of Telangana while the other wanted implementation of safeguards.
On 19 January, an all party accord was reached to ensure the proper implementation of Telangana safeguards. Accord's main points were All non-Telangana employees holding posts reserved for Telangana locals will be transferred immediately Telangana surpluses will be used for Telangana development Appeal to Telangana students to call off agitation.
On 23 January, protests turned violent when a crowd of about 1000 agitators tried to set fire to a Sub-Inspector's residence. This resulted in police firing in which 17 people were injured who were admitted to various hospitals. Meanwhile, certain Andhra employees challenged the transfer orders promised by the all party accord, by filing a petition in the AP high court. On 29 January, Army was called in by the government to maintain law & order as the Agitation quickly turned violent. In February, Mulki rules (local jobs for local people), as promised in Gentleman's agreement, were declared by high court as void but this judgement was stayed by divisional bench of high court. Quoting statistics of development in Telangana area over the last 12 years, the chief minister maintained the state of the Andhra Pradesh was "irreversible" and made an appeal to people to help maintain unity & integrity. Protests continued in March, and a bundh turned violent when protestors burnt buses.