In combined Andhra Pradesh, the frequent change of Chief Ministers by the central Congress leadership and the imposition of leaders from above created a bad taste. There was a feeling that the Andhra Pradesh leadership was not getting respect from the national Congress leadership. This was perceived as an insult to the pride of the Telugu people. N T Rama Rao (NTR), popular film actor, chose to take up this cause. He began the Telugu Desam Party (TDP) on his 60th birthday in 1982. He said that the TDP stood for the honour and self respect of the Telugu speaking people (Teluguvari atma gauravam). He argued that the State could not be treated as a lower office of the Congress party. Equally important were his promise of some very important welfare measures for the poor including midday meal scheme in government schools, sale of rice at Rs 2 per Kg to the poor and liquor prohibition. These populist measures helped the TDP to sweep the 1982 elections. However, he was surreptitiously dismissed by the Governor in 1984 when he was away in the United States for a surgery. The Governor appointed N Bhaskar Rao, who had defected from the TDP to the Congress. On his return, NTR challenged the action of the Governor and proved that he had the support of majority of the MLAs. After a month of campaigning, the central government appointed a new Governor who reappointed NTR as the Chief Minister of Andhra Pradesh. In this struggle, against arbitrary dismissal, NTR was supported by several parties holding power in States like CPI (M), DMK, SAD and National Conference among others.
A similar but much stronger demand for autonomy was also taking place in Assom. In Assom, besides Assamese, Bengali was also a major spoken language. From British times’, Bengalis occupied the lower and middle rungs of the administration in the State. The Assamese speaking people felt that the Bengali officialdom did not treat them as equals but as second-class citizens. To make matters worse, there was a lot of migration from across the border from Bangladesh. Whenever there was any political instability or natural calamity in the neighbouring country, thousands of people moved into the state creating huge discomfort for