Andhra Pradesh was created on November 1,1956, leading to the process of creation of linguistic states across India. Even at the time of forming Andhra Pradesh there was opposition from Telangana acolytes to the formation of a mega Telugu state that resulted in the first T movement in 1969-70. Although the creation of three new states of Chhattisgarh, Jharkhand and Uttaranchal gave a new impetus to the T movement after it remained buried for thirty years, in some senses the Government of Indias sudden announcement on December 9,2009 set the ball rolling. HM P Chidambaram, walking out of Delhis South Block late on this wintry night, stopped before waiting newspersons and announced that the process for creation of Telangana would begin.He emphasized that this was the decision of GOI and his voice suggested an immediate urgency towards kick-starting the process.What prompted GOIs decision is not clear;perhaps the fear that the fasting Telangana Rashtra Samiti (TRS) K Chandrasekhar Raos life was ebbing out,impelled it into action;his death would have infl amed passions in the state in a manner that nobody could douse.Perhaps there were intelligence reports that a chalo assembly march planned by the party next day would bring lakhs of residents of neighbouring districts into Hyderabad leading to a spiral of violence and leaving the situation out of control.Whatever might have been the truth, the announcement was unexpected leading in moments to a dazzle of colours and crackers lighting up the night skies of Hyderabad followed by night-long festivities. But the anti-climax was as sudden as the climax.Protests mounted from next day onwards in Andhra and Rayalaseema region the two parts which form Andhra Pradesh along with Telangana.Life came to a standstill as road transport,train operations and even bank ATMs stopped.Worse still,public representatives from Andhra and Rayalaseema went in droves to the state legislative assembly and Lok Sabha and began submitting their resignation letters.They would quit their public offices than be part of the process of Telangana,they signalled. Rattled by the state of affairs,HM Chidambaram went back on his words on December 23 and said that the consensus reflected by political parties on the basis of which the state assembly would pass a resolution for creation of Telangana had broken down.So fresh consultations were required.The GOI was caught in a jam: to take a decision in government is a helluva job,to reverse it another. A few abortive consultations later,the home ministry decided to set up a committee chaired by a high-powered chairman and other expert members who would hold consultations and come up with recommendations.The committee was chaired by retired Supreme Court judge B N Srikrishna.It was given time till December 31,2010,to come up with their take.The public of Andhra Pradesh,Telangana and rest of the state accorded great respect to the committee turning up in huge numbers to tender evidence and offer other facts.But the recommendations of the committee were a damp squib. It stuck to its deadline but came up with no concrete recomm-endations other than charting out what was obvious.However there was a twist: the committee added a secret chapter to its report (that was not made public but eventually wend its way into public domain).Difficult to imagine,it suggested that the government manage public opinion through the press and public representatives to prevent creation of Telangana. If anything was left to test the patience of T acolytes then this revelation led to the bursting of the dam.Since the beginning of 2011,Telangana and Hyderabad,which lies at the centre of the region,has been convulsed by agitations.There was a 42-day strike by government employees that ended last month but brought economic activities,including coal and power production,to a new low.The impact of this power shortage was felt across south India with cut downs ranging from Pune to Chennai and even up to Kottayam.Schools and colleges came to a grinding halt and inter-state borders remained unmanned.There was no one to collect taxes and police officers wondered which court they would produce their accused before because the lower court staff was not working. Officials of the forest and excise department were seen sloganeering in uniform for Telangana. Every story has two sides. The people of Andhra region who came to Hyderabad and settled in search of their destiny now fi nd themselves at the cross roads.The second generation of these settlers knows no other place than Hyderabad as their home.They built their homes and businesses here and invested their emotions here.In the good old days before the states of India were reorganized,Telugus did not have a separate home land;they were part of Madras Presidency and ran to Madras city (now Chennai ) for education, jobs and setting up busin-esses. But a separate Telugu homeland did not come with Madras city because the Tamils would not part with it: at this point the Andhras started looking at Hyderabad which had been amalgamated into India after the Nizam had been deposed.This region was also part of the original Telugu heartland,albeit things had radically altered in the 650 years ever since forces of the Delhi sultanate came to conquer the region.A new Dakhni culture that synthesized the original Telugu and other local elements like tribal traditions and north Indian components,spawned an entirely new culture.So the Telugus from Andhra got what they thought was a new Telugu homeland but it was not to be because their long lost cousins had changed in their attitudes and worldviews. The modern Indian state is a successor of British Indian states : it follows the governance practices started by British. So when Andhra Pradesh was given a modern administrative system it employed officials imported from Madras.This put the locals at a disadvantage because Nizams state language was Urdu and even the largest university in the region OU used Urdu as medium of instruction. Very few people knew English. All the business opportunities were also cornered by settlers from Andhra,not the least because they had come up under a rudimentary capitalist system with irrigation,railways etc.The Nizams land,although rich in tradition and heritage, was low on entrepreneurship. So all benefi ts were cornered by the settlers much to the discomfiture of locals.The fact that there are more seats in the state assembly and Lok Sabha from coastal Andhra/Rayalaseema than Telangana makes this dominance even more stronger. The inequities have grown in the last twelve years ironically even as Hyderabad powered its way to become a globally recognized technology centre with investments from the whos who of Silicon Valley.The original locals feel that they have been left out of the development matrix that has changed the city from that of biryanis and kebabs to that of high rises,back offi ces and software.It will be a pity if the growth impetus of Hyderabad is lost because of the T-hiatus.The prolonged impasse is bound to result in a loss for Hyderabad and India.The sixty-four dollar question is: how does one find a way out of this impasse What is the way for an amicable solution acceptable to all  A MILLION MUTINIES: The vandalised statue of Sir Arthur Cotton overlooks Hussainsagar on a serene oercast evening =========================================
| ||
No comments:
Post a Comment