Living in what i have considered a rather remote part of Andhra Pradesh - Nagalapuram Mandal, i have been keenly watching this Telangana Political drama play out over the last decade but more closely the past few years. Certainly i have been intrigued by the absolute unabashed pursuit of political gain by the powers that be. I have been ruminating over this for a considerable amount of time and some questions that keep coming back to haunt me arise from the lame reasoning provided. The questions are - what is development? If Telangana has been consciously shunned and is undeveloped then is the rest of Andhra developed? I want to share my perceptions on this - as a citizen of this country without any political affiliations or compulsions.
As i see it, the tangle is getting more complicated with each passing day. The latest twist to the tale arising out of the "all party meeting" called by the Central Government. What is weird about this latest call is that the central government wants all the parties to send them a letter indicating their stance before they come for a meeting. This to me appears to be cheap politicking -- certainly with Digvijay Singh kind of people being there even before the PM or HM sees the letter i am sure the press would have a copy. And then the whole thing will be reduced to a Tamasha by the some sections of the media. The bifurcation of Andhra Pradesh is riddled with many issues and stumbling blocks, and the prevailing atmosphere in both regions of the state is not conducive for such a communication between political entities. Since they would be more keen on the vote bank rather than the real issues. Political representatives of all parties concerned and eminent individuals representing both regions must first set aside their narrow political motives and discuss the issues facing Andhra threadbare and within closed doors before letting it all go public. Knee jerk reactions or merely posturing for the gallery is not going to bring about much needed serious understanding of the situation and sensible, long-lasting solutions to the issues facing all of Andhra today.
Like i said right at the start, i am still clueless on the reasons for this bifurcation. The initial reasons clearly ascribed serious motive to destroy Telangana by the erstwhile politicians. With the agitators for a separate Telangana claiming that they were willfully cheated by the rest of Andhra and were neglected on purpose. This in itself seems to be a blatant conspiracy theory. However given that the politicians of the Telangana region over time saw it beneficial for their political aspirations, this idea only found a way to get more deeply ingrained in the minds of people in this belt. I truly believe that if only these people could visit the rest of Andhra they can see for themselves the reality and truth. Anyway much water has flown under the bridge and one cannot expect a time machine to go back. And the reality is that now irrespective of their age whether 8 years or 80 years the people of Telangana have been so riled up by the politicians they really seems to believe this dysfunctional story. I really wonder whether there can be such large scale apathy towards a region willfully implemented by "all" chief ministers and of "all" political parties so consistently.
The more i watch the politicians of India today i am at a loss for words. There is also a strong inclination to believe that they no longer care for real facts or even look into them based on their consistent yelling and screaming behaviour. Many a times they appear more dramatic and cause more pandemonium than make sense or sound reasonable. The shouting TV matches with the loudest, most vociferous and violent ones subduing the sober, saner voices is a clear sample. The part that most worries me is that no serious debate has occurred in the state assembly or public forums on this issue.
The central Government appointed Shri.SriKrishna committee headed by a single judge Shri.SriKrisha was expected to get to the bottom of this muddle and submit a report. He has spent many months touring the entire state, meeting a host of eminent individuals from across the spectrum and had finally submitted a report to the Government. This report has so far not been discussed at length in any public forum by the concerned authorities.
I understand that the crux of the matter is that this report completely demolishes the myth that Telangana was willfully ignored and also the myth that it is the most backward of all regions and all other political propaganda in its entirety. Not only that, Shri.Srikrishna goes on to add that there are infact regions in other parts of Andhra, which are more backward and underdeveloped .
I am sure this must have been quite unexpected for the Separatist Telangana politicians. They started crying wolf and based their division request on "Atma gouravam" and their "Mano bhavam". This "Mano bhavam" to begin with was brought about by spreading lies and infusing hatred and separatist feelings in the hearts of Telangana people, now the request is that since we have already made up our minds, our sentiments must be respected and so the division must happen....essentially " tear & throw the srikrishna report in the dustbin" - in popular parlance.
This Mano bhavam - or the finer-sentiments of the people, was fuelled by every politician worth his/ her salt over the last 10 to 12 years. First it was the pure selfish interests of KCR and his wanting to prove a point and create space for himself and his family in the political arena, after he was miffed with Chandra Babu Naidu for not giving him a ministerial berth. It was followed by the then opposition leader YS Rajashekar Reddy in 2004, wanting to dethrone TDP and reinstate congress back to power after a gap of two terms, aligned with TRS - floated by KCR promising a separate telangana. Five years later it was Chandra Babu Naidu's turn to join the bandwagon and align with TRS, in his desperate bid to recapture power and then after YSR died in a copter crash, it was Jagan reddy's turn to accept the sentiments of the telangana and accept the division if telangana people so desired it. So every party, including the communists have taken one stand or the other based on their political alignments. The fact of the matter is none of these politicians ever thought, that this division will really happen. They all believed, that nobody will be foolish enough to venture into such a mess. But all of them underestimated the ways of the congress party and their unabashedly shameless lusty zeal for power.
And then, out of the blue, when most politicians were gearing up for elections both in state and center, just 6 months-away, at a time when it was least expected, came the CWC resolution, announcing the 10 northen districts including Hyderabad to be part of Telangana and the rest to remain as Andhra Pradesh. This announcement sent shock waves to almost the entire spectrum of people of Rayalaseema and coastal districts. Almost for about 24 hours, nobody knew how to react to this. The arrogance and audacity with which the congress party's central leadership had taken this decision is appalling to me. As if it is just a cake that they are cutting with complete disregard to the welfare of the people of one of the most prosperous and influential states in independent India. The party that was ruling for the last 10 years both at the center and the state suddenly found this opportune moment to react. So was commissioning the Shri.Srikrishna committee just a joke?
It is at this time, when the common people, didn't know what to do or how to express their voice, and were looking for somebody to show some leadership, that the government employees unions stepped in...although, their initial reaction was to protect the employees interests, within hours, they seem to have realised, it is larger than themselves, larger than their jobs, larger than their families... It is about every section of the society and their aspirations and their burning hearts. This struggle by AP government employees unions was so hugely successful because the common people, students, shop keepers, even rickshaw pullers, people from every walk of life, found their sentiments reflected and represented in the Samaikya Andhra struggle that Shri.Ashoka Babu and other leaders of the employees unions waged. The success despite minimum to nil coverage in national media.
In the history of independent India, such a large scale struggle, for such a long period, with no political class leading from the front, is unheard of. Lakhs and lakhs of people poured out on the streets all over Rayalaseema and coastal Andhra right from Kakinada to Kalahasti from Vijayanagaram to Chandragiri. The entire state just stood still for 70 days. Nothing moved, except digvijaya singing his diatribes and sushil Kumar shinde continuing his barrage of careless statements. I wonder what it takes to be so arrogant and completely out of tune with reality. They refused to even acknowledge that there is a struggle going on in Andhra Pradesh and they refused to even listen to any of the agitating members. Instead, they were issuing veiled threats about invoking tesmaa and esmaa and asking the employees unions on how long they can continue to strike and that it will not make any difference to their decision. The unions have stood their ground, sacrificed their salaries, sacrificed their own and their family interests, for the welfare of the state. If not for those unions, in my view, telangana would have been formed and done with by now. If the process is getting delayed, or there is even a possibility of it being re-looked at, it is because of the AP Goverment employees unions. Whether the final outcome is Samaikya Andhrapradesh or Samanyayam, the credit will only go to the unions. We, as a state, owe this one to them.
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