Indian elections through Pakistani eyes: From Bangalore to Hyderabad

A Pakistani travels through India as the world’s biggest democracy votes in the national elections. Follow his journey to know what happens and all the people that he meets on the way. Day 4: From Bangalore to Hyderabad

Hyderabad was the capital of the largest princely state of the same name that was ruled by Muslim monarchs for centuries. After its inclusion into India, its Maratha, Kannada and Telugu speaking areas were separated and merged with the states of Maharashtra, Karnataka and Andhra Pradesh respectively. The city of Hyderabad served as the capital of Andhra Pradesh. The four century old monument, Char Minar, has become a symbol of Hyderabad. It is situated in the middle of an extremely crowded market with narrow lanes that are typical to all older parts of our cities. The old parts of the city are still dominantly inhabited by Muslims.

Many Muslims in Hyderabad have assimilated themselves into the communally mixed society and politics of Andhra Pradesh but some stick to maintaining a separate and distinct identity. The older parts of the city that are dominantly inhabited by Muslims generally vote for Majilis-i-Ittehadul Muslameen. In the provincial assembly elections of 2009, the party was successful on seven of the eight city constituencies that it had contested. The party is generally considered as an ally of Congress.

More minars in the city of Char Minar: Development has been the top demand of the people from their election candidates every where. In fact one of the major criteria the electors tend to use to assess the parties and their candidates is how much will they be supportive of developing their constituencies. And in all the places in India, I have been to, development invariably means concrete structures, flyovers, underpasses, bus lanes etc and I also saw one or more mega projects underway at all of these places. In the social circles, there are debates both for and against this approach towards development and there are stories of massive frauds and embezzlements. I am alien to neither this definition of development nor to the debates surrounding it, so I can equally participate in all of these

The state of Andhra Pradesh will be split into two, Telanaga and Andhra, on June 2, 2014. The legal measures and administrative planning has already been completed. Telengana consists of the Telugu speaking parts of the former princely state of Hyderabad. It only had hesitantly accepted its merger with Telugu speaking parts of Madras state when India redrew its internal boundaries in 1950s. It has been accusing the Andhra of exploiting its resources and denying it due share in the 'development pie'.

River water sharing has been contentious within the state of Andhra Pradesh. Almost two-third of the catchment area of the regions two large rivers, Krishna and Godavari, lies in the Deccan plateau region of Telangana while it only gets a fifth from the canal irrigation system. The rest goes to the coastal regions of Seemandhra. The farmers of the Telangana region have struggled for over half century along side its salaried middle class to get the region the status of a separate state.

Most Muslims in Hyderabad insist on maintaining a distinct identity and one very visible expression of this, you can't miss noticing in Hyderabad, is women in black burqas and they are not a minority here, I saw more black burqas in Hyderabad than I could ever see in Lahore or Karachi. The communities vigilantly guards its women and inter-religion relations among young women and men are not only discouraged but violations often face violent reactions as well. ************************************************** The other important symbol of identity for Muslims in Andhra Pradesh is Urdu. It was once the dominant language of governance and education in the state but as the generalised governance system of India replaced the princely rule in 1948, Urdu lost its status. The efforts for resurrecting it by the Muslim community organizations get a boost every time, they feel the need to assert their distinct identity.

Habibuddin, in picture above, teaches Urdu at Abid Ali Khan Educational Trust, in Hyderabad that has taught the language to over six hundred thousand boys and girls in past 20 years through its three short courses.

Hyderabad is the hub of Indian IT industry with global corporations like Facebook, Google, Microsoft and others making it their second home. IT is the biggest source of employment here and there are thousands and thousands of institutes here that offer the young job seekers trainings in various IT related skills and knowledge. The catchment area do these institutions not only includes residents of Hyderabad but its surroundings and other parts of this and the nearby states. Hyderabad's phenomenal economic growth over past decade has created new imbalances and gave more twists to its politics. It invited a massive influx of professionals from other states raising the issue of local and non-local beneficiaries. It also sharpened further the contentious issue of economic disparity among people of Telangana and Andhra. The public sector jobs have a reserved quota for lower castes but the same does not apply to the private sector. This has increased the pressure on the limited public sector to be more judicious in offering employment to the lower castes.

"Our cities can't do without the lower castes such as scavengers. The civic authorities are unable to meet the new challenges and the whole system thus tends to sustain the caste divide," said a Bahujan activist as we discussed the reasons behind the continued abject poverty despite the city making strides on the economic front.

Hyderabad has historically been a hub of trade in pearls and large diamonds. The last Muslim monarch, Sir Osman Ali Khan, of the princely state of Hyderabad was considered the richest man of the world in his time. His collection of gold and diamonds was worth half a billion pounds. The stories of the wealth of the ruler of the largest princely state of India, who was also known as Nizam of Hyderabad, sound like the ones from Alif Laila. Nizam's glory is all gone now but it has definitely left some mark on Hyderabadi aesthetics. All the public statues here are painted golden unlike other places where they stand in black, greys or at the most in copper red. During a meeting at a local tuck shop, the host ordered the waiter 'golden' for all the friends. I amusingly waited to discover only to discover that it meant milk tea (doodh patti) rich in flavour and colour! You can easily call Hyderabad 'the biryani capital of India'. Every friend of yours knowing that you are in the city will suggest you to not miss the opportunity to dine at one or the biryani joint. The most frequently recommended one, however, proved to be a disappointment for me - rice were well done, it wasn't too spicy but the quality of meat was low and the raita was too runny.

. What I missed the most, however, was the aroma that makes you utter 'wow'. The place is very popular and has the biggest share in Hyderabad's big deg of biryani. The security arrangement at the restaurant was amazingly detailed with walk through gates, patting and separate search cabin for women. Friends told me that the business has been receiving threats for various reasons. Coming from Bangalore, it was strange for me as there I had visited a minister who was meeting public without any security around. Maybe Hyderabad is too cautious of its culinary heritage