Fanning the Telangana fire
Politicians from the Telangana region will surely disagree but it looks like the movement for a separate state has not only been hijacked but reduced to a student agitation that seems to have become more and more violent.
Leaders among the agitators, primarily students from Osmania University, want the state to be carved up right away without due processes and the niceties of consultation. Even in the face of stiff opposition from Andhra and Rayalaseema regions, which are part of the larger Andhra Pradesh.
To a large extent, the impatience of the student community in Hyderabad and politicians from Telangana is understandable. After all, it looked at one point that the Centre was pretty keen on setting in motion the process of splitting the state. On top of that, there seemed to be a consensus among all major political parties in the state.
If you take that particular situation as the reference point, forming Telangana seemed a done deal. But then, there is always a huge chasm between political intent and practice and that is what has landed the entire issue in a bloody mess. Bloody, because there has been enough violence turning Hyderabad into a police fortress. Gory, because students are bent upon depressingly extreme steps like self-immolation as if that is an answer to all state problems.
It would have been utterly childish to expect everyone to easily accept the formation of a committee, headed by justice Srikrishna, to examine the case for breaking up Andhra Pradesh. Whatever be the specifics of the terms of reference for the five-member committee, the question that has to be answered first is whether the state ought to be split because a large chunk of people in a particular region want that. Rest of it is mere detail.
Given the fact that the committee is expected to give its report by the end of the year, it was easy for the Joint Action Committee, now spearheading the movement, to give up the path of agitation and wait out a few months. But then, what if the committee makes recommendations that do not suit it? What if it suggests making Hyderabad capital for both the states and what if it says that there is really no case for splitting the state? It is simpler to reject the formation of the committee itself or the terms of reference rather than argue against its findings later. That way you stick to your one-point agenda.
More important than what the committee might come up with by the end of the year, it is the suspicion that the Centre and other major political parties — the Congress and the TDP in particular — are dithering in creating Telangana that has kept the agitation going and gaining intensity.
That might make the JAC and the supporters of separation quite gleeful. However, the collateral damage Hyderabad and the state have suffered in the past few months because of the agitation is pretty severe and might set the state back a decade or two.
From the time Chandrababu Naidu became chief minister, Andhra Pradesh has bent backwards to showcase to the world that it is an investor friendly state. He and his successor, YS Rajashekhara Reddy, did everything they could to entice industrialists to set shop in Andhra by offering a congenial environment. That has vanished and Hyderabad has taken a huge knock on its reputation.
Such a collateral damage to reputation is not a new lesson. West Bengal provided that some three decades ago. As the left parties gained ascendance, there was a flight of industries and it took that state quite a while to recover from that. Even that was short lived and lasted until the Tatas were forced to abandon the small car project in the state, this time on account of an equally obdurate Trinamool Congress. It would not be surprising if Hyderabad were to meet similar fate.
Surely those in the forefront of the agitation would be quite aware of this but are probably helpless because the political agenda has shrouded everything else for the present. Splitting large states is not a big deal. It is not an easy process as was evident in Madhya Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh and Bihar when they were broken up. But there was no violence of the kind one sees in Hyderabad, more or less on a daily basis.
A state that takes shape under such circumstances cannot inspire lasting confidence and the first thing that the leadership ought to consider is to tone down its rhetoric, appear reasonable and keep the movement peaceful. Having waited so long, it may as well wait for the committee appointed by the centre to give its report.
Patience may be unrewarding quite often, but it is a much better option than self-immolation
source: dnaindia
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