The Smaller,The Better - Andhras Telangana crisis revives the national debate on statehood demands (By Kingshuk Nag)

It is that part of the year when there are celebrations all round.But in Hyderabad plans for the new year have been downscaled this year and an air of uncertainty prevails.Will 2011 usher in increased violence Will this lead to prolonged closure of schools and colleges Will the investment scenario be marred These are the questions being asked by the man on the street,professionals and top honchos alike. The apprehensions have been fuelled by the prospects of the report of the committee,led by former Supreme Court judge B N Srikrishna,that will submit its recommendations on December 31.It is public knowledge that the report will not contain concrete recommendations but will merely chart out alternative solutions for the Telangana tango.But what is causing concern is that the K Chandrasekhar Rao-led Telangana Rashtra Samiti (TRS) after holding its horses is all set to take to the streets to press for its demand for a separate state with renewed vigour.Though the Telangana members of the Congress have been playing safe till now,they too are expected to join agitations.

The Andhra Pradesh government,led by a chief minister who is stridently anti-Telangana,has already requisitioned additional central forces to quell anticipated violence and the director general of police hinting at strong police action is on record saying that peace will not be allowed to be broken.This is expected to lead to a faceoff and,to complicate matters,trouble can break out in the Andhra area of the state where the general sentiment is against the creation of Telangana.With Maoists waiting on the wings to jump in and extreme right Hindu elements also ready to fish in troubled waters,expectations are that there will be a merry mess.Unless the Centre steps in fast with a workable political solution.But the hamhanded way the central government has dealt with Telangana issues in the past does not inspire much faith in its ability to do so.

In a way the central government is responsible for the mess in the state.On December 9,2009,swayed by intelligence reports that lakhs of Telangana agitators were preparing to gherao the legislative assembly and medical reports that a fasting Chandrasekhar Rao could slip into a coma,the home minister hurriedly announced that the process of creating a separate Telangana would be initiated immediately.This exceeded the expectations of even the most optimistic proponents of a separate state.But strident opposition from the non-Telangana part of Andhra Pradesh and also the realisation that the intelligence reports were not accurate made the central government take a U-turn barely a fortnight later.

Shortly thereafter,the Srikrishna committee was set up.The wily Chandrasekhar Rao kept mum,working silently with other groups to deepen the separatist sentiment.Eleven months later,sentiments are so strong that it will now be more difficult for any government to deal with the matter.The TRS chief now says the agitations will reach a crescendo in February even as counter forces are readying themselves in Andhra region.

In the face of such opposing demands,is a rational solution possible Anybody who has knowledge of the argument against Telangana knows that the people of Andhra are not opposed intractably to the creation of a new state but to the inclusion of Hyderabad in that entity.Their argument is that Hyderabad has been raised to the status of a global city not because of the enterprise of people of Telangana but as a result of hardcore investments in business and the social sector by the settlers from Andhra region.So they should be allowed to have a say in how Hyderabad is run.But Hyderabad is the heart of Telangana and historically precedes the formation of Andhra Pradesh.Thus there can be no question of Telangana sans Hyderabad,especially because the rest of Telangana is very backward.

So how to reconcile these contradictory demands Some suggest that Hyderabad should be made into a Union territory,serving as the capital of both Telangana and Andhra.But this is akin to a situation where two brothers are fighting for their share in the house bequeathed to them and a mediator comes along and occupies the drawing room permanently. A better solution would be to take a leaf out of Hong Kongs book.When the British left Hong Kong in 1997 after 150 years of occupation,there was apprehension about its future as a global financial centre.To allay such doubts,the Chinese created a special administrative region of Hong Kong,incorporating it into their country but allowing it to run as before.One system,two countries they called it,and the model has run successfully.A similar dispensation can be created in Hyderabad letting it be part of Telangana,yet providing it with a separate city government which can have representation from the local population of Andhra origin.

Many argue that the creation of Telangana will generate pressure to create many other states like Vidarbha and knock down the linguistic basis (other than Hindi-speaking states) on which India was reorganised in 1956.But the counter-argument is that the Republic of India is now over 60 years old and therefore the time may be ripe to look at alternative structures of governance and usher in a Second Republic.Since small is beautiful,having many more states could be part of the Second Republic idea.

Scene at Osmania University: State of the disunion





(source-toi)