Agitations and political crises are not new to Andhra Pradesh, India's first linguistic state. The state was born as a result of an agitation, resulting in the first fast-unto-death that ended in a death, and its very existence has been challenged by repeated agitations. The more recent phase of separatism in the Telangana region has its origins in the unwillingness of the state's leadership to address the roots of an earlier agitation.

This book is a compilation of essays, speeches and an official note prepared by someone who has been intimately associated with the state's development from its very formation and, more importantly, played a key role in trying to address the problem of Telangana's grievances when they were first articulated in the late 1960s. Without taking sides on the question of the state's future, this book examines dispassionately the basis of the persistent sentiment of neglect in Telangana and examines the social, political, economic and emotional foundations of Andhra Pradesh's statehood.