Published Jun 04, 2026 | 3:59 PM ⚊ Updated Jun 04, 2026 | 4:31 PM
Andhra Pradesh DyCM and Jana Sena Party chief Pawan Kalyan. Credit: facebook.com/PawanKalyan
Synopsis: Pawan Kalyan’s remarks and the controversy they have sparked have reopened questions about Telangana identity and Andhra-Telangana relations. It is another sign of the BJP’s aim to sow poisonous, divisive politics in the state.
Only when a challenge arises does one’s strength become evident. Only when questioned does the truth come out. Only in the absence of something do we realise its value.
Even matters that have been stated, discussed, and established many times acquire fullness only when reiterated again and again. What Telangana is, what the nature of Telangana’s social life is, how Telangana’s identity should be understood, and to whom Telangana belongs—these are all questions that Telangana society has answered repeatedly. Yet the moment has arisen once again to restate them.
When a political leader from a neighbouring state asks, in the very heart of Hyderabad, “Is Telangana your father’s jagir?”, there is no option but for Telangana society to rise to the occasion again and respond. That question is not merely his; it is part of the conspiratorial designs of the Sangh Parivar to sow poisonous, divisive politics within Telangana society.
It is part of the Bharatiya Janata Party’s pre-planned strategy for the forthcoming GHMC (Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation) elections. It is Amit Shah’s question emerging through the mouth of Pawan Kalyan. It is a question made possible by the weakness of a state government that behaves openly as a Congress government but covertly as a Sangh government, as a government subservient to Amit Shah.
It is also necessary to see how all this began, how far it has come, and how a trivial spark turned into a storm.
In Andhra Pradesh today, the Telugu Desam Party and the Jana Sena Party are partners in the BJP-led NDA government. Though the YSR Congress Party appears to be in opposition, many have long argued that it too operates under the shadow of the NDA. Whether due to fear of corruption cases or other reasons, Jagan has not crossed the line drawn by Amit Shah.
Political analyst Prof K Nageshwar reiterated this widely acknowledged reality during a May 19 discussion on 99TV. He added further details: when Nadendla Manohar and Pawan Kalyan met Amit Shah, Pawan Kalyan reportedly urged that Jagan be immediately arrested and jailed. Amit Shah is said to have replied, “Jagan is our permanent ally; Chandrababu is only a temporary ally. Do not take such an aggressive stance against Jagan.”
Nageshwar stated that Pawan Kalyan later repeated this in a Jana Sena core committee meeting and even asked Nadendla Manohar to recount Amit Shah’s words. Nageshwar reiterated the same on another platform the following day.
From 21–22 May, a storm erupted over these remarks. Whether the quoted conversation was accurate or not, it is common knowledge that Jagan remains aligned with Amit Shah and is treated as a “permanent ally.” If this open secret were to be exposed with evidence, it would be the YSRCP that would suffer the most reputational damage. Naturally, one would have expected them to be angry. Yet neither the party nor Jagan responded.
Significantly, the BJP and the TDP too did not react. Only Pawan Kalyan and Nadendla Manohar condemned the remarks and challenged Nageshwar to reveal his source. Perhaps to protect that source, Nageshwar withdrew his statements. The matter should have ended there.
Instead, the real issue—that there is effectively no opposition in Andhra Pradesh, and that even the opposition is a pawn in Amit Shah’s pocket—never entered the discussion. The debate devolved into whether Nageshwar was right or wrong to reveal this open secret, leading to greater commotion. Jana Sena’s lower-level leaders filed cases against Prof. Nageshwar and 99TV in multiple police stations—Indrapalem, Kakinada, Bandar, Sarpavaram, and elsewhere.
Pawan Kalyan himself questioned, “Why should Telangana people speak about Andhra Pradesh politics?”—a line echoed repeatedly by his party leaders. Each added their own level of abuse, insults, and vulgarity, targeting Nageshwar personally. Social media and YouTube channels seized the opportunity not only to attack Nageshwar but also to spew hatred against Telangana. Not wanting to be left behind, TDP and BJP leaders joined in, displaying their own political culture. One TDP state-level leader went so far as to say, “Where is the word Telangana? I searched the dictionary; it does not exist,” insulting the entire Telangana society.
Also Read: Pawan Kalyan would do well to bother about Andhra. He’s a non-entity in Telangana
The controversy escalated further.
On May 26, reports emerged that Andhra Pradesh police were heading to Hyderabad to arrest Nageshwar in connection with FIRs filed in multiple stations. Telangana police reached Nageshwar’s residence, stating they were there to ensure that police from a neighbouring state did not arrest a citizen of Telangana without due permission. Andhra police never actually arrived, but television channels and YouTube platforms—adept at manufacturing storms out of thin air—spread exaggerated, distorted, and even fabricated narratives.
Amid this, the Telangana Kranti Dal organised a round table on May 27 to discuss the attacks on Nageshwar and, more importantly, the broader attacks on Telangana society and culture by certain Andhra-based individuals and media outlets. Emotions ran high, and not everyone at the meeting spoke with restraint.
In response, Telangana Jana Sena held a press conference on May 28, where they indiscriminately abused senior journalist Pasam Yadagiri and other speakers and journalists from the round table, branding them as leftists. In retaliation, families of Telangana martyrs held a press meet criticising Pawan Kalyan and the past and present conduct of Telangana Jana Sena.
As tensions rose, Pawan Kalyan announced that he would hold a “Telangana Reconstruction Resolve” meeting in Hyderabad on June 2, Telangana Formation Day.
This was the same individual who had opposed Telangana’s formation and claimed to have fasted for eleven days, and who had once attributed the drying of coconut trees in Konaseema to the “evil eye” of Telangana.
Naturally, Telangana society strongly opposed his proposed meeting. Sensing the anger, the government denied permission. Claiming victimhood, Pawan Kalyan instead held a press conference at his residence.
What he said there further inflamed Telangana society. Having lived here for twelve years, with entire families settled here, earning hundreds of crores from the Telangana market through films, he now lamented, “Will you not allow us to come? Will you not allow us to hold meetings?”—and then had the gall to ask Telangana people, “Is it your father’s jagir?” Such a remark by someone from another region about the land and people of this region is deeply objectionable.
The very use of the term “jagir” is inappropriate. In feudal times, jagirs were estates where landlords extracted taxes by oppressing peasants and tenants to serve the king. To call a place someone’s “jagir” implies absolute, despotic ownership. Today, jagirs and jagirdars no longer exist; invoking such a term is anachronistic and mischievous.
Telangana has never accepted being anyone’s jagir. Throughout history, it has resisted, opposed, and overthrown such feudal systems. One cannot expect such depth of understanding from a self-proclaimed “unapologetic Sanatani” and an illiterate man who boasts of having read lakhs of books.
Even if he merely meant “personal property,” then yes—Telangana belongs to its sons of the soil. It belongs to those whose blood and sweat have turned its soil fertile, who have produced wealth through labour, who have respected and merged with this land. Anyone who seeks to encroach, occupy, or dominate must be resisted and driven away—this has always been the aspiration of Telangana’s people. From Turrebaz Khan’s attack on the Residency to 2 June, 2014, the entire modern history of Telangana reflects this aspiration. Success may not have been complete; encroachments may still continue. But those who attempt such encroachments certainly have no right to ask, “Is it your father’s jagir?”
What is even more significant is that not only past encroachments but also strategies of future domination—particularly the sinister designs of Amit Shah—are now being articulated through Pawan Kalyan. His repeated references to Pakistan, his claim that “Pakistanis and urban Naxals are allowed meetings but not me”, his disparaging remarks about Telangana’s cultural symbols—especially a revered cultural warrior like Gaddar—all clearly indicate that these are not merely Pawan Kalyan’s words or Jana Sena’s position, but the voice of Amit Shah and the RSS seeking to swallow Telangana.
Another ironic aspect is Pawan Kalyan’s own statement that when “I cannot even find my footing in Andhra Pradesh; how can I become Chief Minister in Telangana?” In that, at least, he has spoken the truth about himself. First find your footing in your own state—that alone would be a significant achievement.
Also Read | As monsoon session of Parliament approaches, Chandrababu Naidu pushes for delimitation — at least in Andhra
(Edited by Rajesh Kumar)
