Dear Jagan
Today is the third day of your fast. I hope you are doing well.
Reorganizing of states is usually messy. I remember how the division of Punjab into three states had inflamed passions that lasted over two decades. Recent examples have been less virulent but the process has never been easy. Passions take over and one or the other side always becomes a victim in the court of public opinion.
Unfortunately, Jagan you are on the wrong side of both history and logic.
Prior to independence, we were quite a cut-and-paste job with hundreds of princely states and directly controlled areas. Sardar Patel did a magnificent job of putting it all together but did not live long enough to rationalize the state set-up. That was left to the States-Reorganization Committee set up in 1953.
By the end of the process in 1956, we had 14 large unwieldy states created more for coherence than for effective governance. This is why in the last 6 decades the number of states has doubled with demands for more.
With the exception of Jharkhand carved out of Bihar, all the original as well as carved-out states have all done well. Even in the case of Jharkhand, there has been partial success.; after all, unburdened with Jharkhand, at least Bihar has done well. And as is well known, the problems of Jharkhand have to do with its leadership and not the idea of bifurcation.
The truth is that most of our original states were far too large and diverse and it takes no great wisdom to see that smaller states can be better governed.
Andhra Pradesh is currently the thirteenth largest country in the world. It is bigger than any country in Europe and equivalent to California, Texas and Florida, the three most populated states of the USA put together. And as diverse. The population of Greater Hyderabad alone is more than the population of 38 of the USA’s 50 states.
This is a great statistic for power-point presentations but in the day-to-day life of the common man it means a government that is light-years away. And if in over 6 decades we still have huge swathes of areas seemingly untouched by development, it is so because the government is busy elsewhere.
Better governance is one important rationale for smaller more compact states. There is another equally, if not more important.
Let us revert to the example of the USA.
With the exception of California and Texas, no state has a weightage of over 5% in the electoral college that elects the President. In India, 7 of our states enjoy a weightage of over 5% seats in Parliament including UP which is close to a criminal 15%. While in the US the electoral college is a once in four year issue, in our country, it translates into day-to-day political blackmail of the central government. That may suit you and your colleagues in the business of power-broking but certainly does not suit the country as a whole.
Whichever way you look at it, bifurcation will happen. It is your turn today but in the next few years states like UP, Tamil Nadu West Bengal and Maharashtra will all be further sub-divided.
As a popular leader of the erstwhile Andhra Pradesh you could actually be looking at winning over both the states. But by siding so blatantly with one of the two states, you are needlessly burning your bridges. The longer you keep up this pressure on the government to rescind their decision, the deeper will be the mistrust between people of Telengana and you. Sooner rather than later you will repent this beginner’s greed.
Finally, Jagan, why lament the loss of what was never yours.
Inclusion of Telengana in Andhra Pradesh was a creation of convenience at a time when cohesion rather than governability was the key national requirement. While they shared a language, historically and culturally the two regions were different. Those differences have not disappeared since. Which is why the protests against the bifurcation are confined only to the Seemandhra region not to Telengana. No harm in understanding this reality and moving on.
If you really, genuinely and deeply believe your rhetoric, by all means continue your fast. And be prepared to starve yourself. But if you are faking it as all politicians do, find a face-saver and start the journey to 2014 again.
Remember Singapore is two-thirds the size of Greater Hyderabad. And the entire world talks about it. Size is not everything.
Regards
Preet K S Bedi
[We stumbled upon this post on the Facebook page of Preet K S Bedi, noted adman, who lives in New Delhi. We’ve reproduced it with his permission.]
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