The passage of the Telangana bill in the Indian Parliament on Tuesday for division of Andhra Pradesh elicited mixed response from Indian expatriates in the Kingdom.

While most of the expats from Andhra Pradesh welcomed the move to create a new Telangana state, a few were opposed to it.

There are over 250,000 Indian expatriates from Telangana in the Kingdom, community members claimed.

“Nothing can give us more pleasure than a separate state for Telangana people, for which over a 1,000 youth sacrificed their lives by committing suicide,” said Melluva Mallaih, who hails from Karimnagar district of Telangana region and works in the Eastern Province.

Mallaih’s voice choked while speaking about the development in India since his only son, 27-year-old Mahesh, ended his life by immolating himself in public in support of the demand for a separate state last year. Community activist Mohammed Mozzam Ali Ifteqar said: “Telangana was looted for six decades by successive rulers from Andhra region, which resulted in the massive migration to Saudi Arabia and other Gulf countries from Telangana region in search of employment while Andhra migrants occupied jobs in Hyderabad and in other parts of Telangana.”

Stating that the rich Hyderabadi culture and heritage was destroyed systematically by Andhra rulers who also victimized the Muslim community, Mozzam Ali said of the 400,000 people from Andhra Pradesh living in the Kingdom, 250,000 were from Telangana region.

Mastan Shaikh, president of Telugu Association of Jeddah (TAJ), who hails from Guntur in coastal Andhra Pradesh, said: “There is no point on insisting for united Andhra Pradesh when the entire Telangana region is rooting for a separate state. There is no logic in Andhra region demanding a united state when Telangana doesn’t want it.” He felt that bifurcation of the state will have no impact on the Indian community irrespective of whether they are from Telangana or Andhra.

Indian cultural activist Jamal Quadri said: “We are happy that Hyderabad will remain in Telangana.”

P. Venu Madhav, president of Telugu Association in Riyadh, welcomed the creation of a new state. R. Radha Krishna, a Telugu community worker in the Eastern Province, opposed the formation of the new state.