By J R Janumpalli
Usually there will be agitations by people for coming out of bondage. But in Andhra there is an attempt by people for keeping Telangana in bondage.
This is an enigmatic ethos and unethical by any standard. This crude attempt of andhra politicians to stop the formation of Telangana State will not succeed. Because, as never before, four crore people of Telangana are demanding for Telangana State in one voice. About 1000 people had laid down their lives for it.Now; there is a total mobilization of people in ‘Sakala Janula Samme’, in an indefinite strike. In the past several times, people of Telangana raised the voice of Telangana for freedom from the yoke of andhras.
Every time, the Congress Party has thwarted the attempt with the connivance of andhras. This time it is different, for, every Telanganite knows the answer to the question why they are demanding for the restoration of their earlier state. They also know why the earlier attempts have failed. They have on their fingertips all the details of ‘organized exploitation’ of Telangana by andhras.They can reel off how many times agreements and safeguards have been violated; how many educational seats; how many cusecs of irrigation water; how many thousands of jobs; how many lakhs of acres of Telangana land; how many Telangana industries; how many lives of their youth, they have lost. They can also recount how their language, culture, art and history are rode roughshod by andhras. How they have supported Telangana in different elections and ditched it after the elections. They know much more than this.
The present long drawn struggle has made it possible, for the people to ponder and peep in to the details of the grand thievery perpetrated by these andhras. Though andhras have proved to be Nehru’s ‘Natkhat bridegroom’ and much more, Telangana is not an ‘innocent bride’ any more. Telangana has now become politically wise and fighting for freedom from these neo-colonialists. The andhra’s oppression is so widespread it, has become part of the present day folklore of Telangana. Today, Telangana folk singers have all the answers in a couple of songs for all the absurd questions raised by Andhra chauvinists on Telangana demand, if they have the nerve to hear them.
The Telangana is an unending struggle since formation of Andhra Pradesh. Several agitations have occurred during the last half century. Several agreements original and duplicate were signed and broken by andhras. Hundreds of violations of rights of Telangana people and plundering of their resources are clearly brought out in to the open. The present ‘Telangana Struggle’ is continuing for more than one decade. Yet there is no change in the perception of the problems of Telangana people by andhras.
Why? What ails these Andhras?
We are living in a democratic society in Independent India. There should be sanctity for democratically signed agreements and safe guards. Governments and institutions should be accountable for violations of these agreements.
Hundreds of injustices done to Telangana in the areas of Employment, Education, Irrigation Water, Power, in fact in every walk of life in Telangana, are very clearly brought out for the verification of everybody who have eyes, ears, mind to see, to hear and to comprehend. The statistics in verification of these facts are also presented everywhere.
We are living in a democratic set-up. The legislators, people and students of Andhra area are supposed to see, and understand these facts and appreciate the problems of Telangana people. But, they never do it. As their wont, they completely turn a blind eye to these hard facts, with their Andhra prejudice.
They are not willing to recognize the injustices to Telangana people and ungraciously call this more than half a century long struggle as the handiwork of unemployed political leaders.
In a democracy the people’s representatives should believe in consultations and discussions to find solutions for the problems. Here andhras never hold any discussions what so ever on the grievances of Telangana. On the other hand, they make about turn on the resolutions already made like in the case of 7, December 2009, and on section f14 etc., They try to brow beat aggrieved Telangana people and coerce them to be in the vexed ‘Samaikyandhra’, against their will by using every trick in the book of dictatorial politics.
The students anywhere in the world are dynamic, liberal, and progressive in their thought and behavior. They will be in the vanguard of supporting democratic aspirations of people. They show the way to their elders in liberal thought, when the latter try to suppress the democratic rights of others. But in andhra they are diametrically opposite to these noble ideas. Like their elders, they also seem to have been bitten by ‘andhra bug’. They simply oppose whatever Telangana students do. They never have the basic decency of at least condoling the deaths of hundreds of students in Telangana. They indulge in the undemocratic protests, without looking in to the demands of Telangana students dispassionately.
The academicians in andhra JAC also are not able to see all the gory details of ‘Organized exploitation of Telangana’ available for anybody to see. They simply provide knee-jerk reactions to Telangana JAC, even imitating it in its methods.
Even Andhra NRIs having the benefit of higher education and living in most democratic environs like ‘USA’ are also suffering with the same Andhra chauvinism.
The political braggarts like Rayapati, Kavuri,T G Venkatesh, Shailajanath, etal, do not know what they are saying in their rabble rousing speeches, except opposing everything Telangana and espousing the vexed ‘samaikyandhra’.
The scheming politicians like CBN and JP and slimy characters like Gade and JC, do not see any merit in the suffering of Telangana people and their struggle for separate state for the last 54 years. Death of about a thousand young men is a very small matter for these callous gentlemen. Almost every andhra legislator supports this un-ethical campaign against Telangana, making mockery of democracy.
Mr.Rosiah, a senior politician like him could have brought the warring groups together and paved the way for amicable settlement of the inevitable separation of the state, in a statesman like fashion. But instead, he played the role of ‘abhinava Dhritharashtra’, overtly expressing insincere impartiality and covertly instigating his ‘all andhra administration’ to queer the pitch for Telanaganites and presided over the raging ‘Mahabharata’.The present CM, a green horn, continued it and bringing it to a climactic phase.
Why these people behave like this, defying all logic, common sense and democratic values? What ails them? Is it a characteristic feature of this ethnic group? Or is this ‘prejudice of jaundice’, an inheritance from their peers like NSReddy, KBreddy, Dr.KLRao, Tata Rao, NTR etal,or the arrogance of Political numbers ad money bags? May be all of it. When will they eschew this political perfidy and graduate to democratic governance? In a democratic set up this cannot succeed forever. Cornering and insulting people suffering with grievous injustices with brute political and police force will be very unwise and fraught with great danger, particularly when whole Telangana has realized the entire gamut of injustices meted out to them. This ‘andhra’ government may realize this very soon.
By now everybody knows that, the root cause of Telangana imbroglio is the post-haste merger of Andhra state with Telangana, at the instance of andhras.The 54 year history of united state has revealed the inequalities, inconsistencies and downright violations of agreements of the merger. Thanks to decade old present Telangana struggle in general and the period of post Chidambaram announcement in particular, all the gory details of andhra’s organized exploitation are in the open. Some Andhra intellectuals like Dr.Vijaya Kumar and M V Ramana Reddy have also agreed to the injustices done to Telangana in the united state. Some separate andhra activists, Bahujana samaj leaders, writers and poets of andhra also have supported the genuine demand of Telangana people. But, they are a small minority.
The major political parties like Congress and TDP in the state are playing political brinkmanship of worst type in this matter. They have one time or other have approved Telangana State in their alliances, election manifestos, letters to committees, all party resolutions etc., but, after the announcement of Chidambaram, when formation of Telangana State was looming large, they went berserk with treason and started to exhibit most reprehensible behavior in a democracy. They have blackmailed Central government to appoint the infamous, Shree Krishna Committee to stymie the formation of separate state.
During the study of this specious committee the utterances and behavior of andhra political leaders on Telangana struggle, make democrats hang their heads in shame. Even a court of law had to give orders to initiate criminal action against some andhra ministers in this regard.Governor; CM and DGP have taken cudgels on behalf of andhras and unleashed police brutalities against students with the draconian intensions of suppressing the struggle. They have brought thousands of central forces in to Telangana.Yet; the struggle has grown from strength to strength, to the chagrin of andhra politicians. Then they tried the most undemocratic act of hijacking the committee report and appear to have succeeded in it. The committee report turned out to be a conglomeration of half truths and downright lies.
Although andhra legislators with the connivance of some members of the committee tried to exterminate Telangana state formation, they could not fully succeed in it.Theycould only complicate and create some confusion on some issues. Most of its incoherent list of options sounded like a wish list of andhra legislators. At the outset, it appears that the report was doctored and drafted by andhras with the complicity of some members. But the enormity of desire of 4 crore people might have scared Sri Krishna in the end and he had hastily negatived the first 4 options, the wish list of andhras and have added 5th and 6th options.
The 6th option appears to be added once again at the behest of andhras in the end to complicate the issue. If it is not so and if we think all the 6 options were the considered opinions of the committee, where was the necessity of negating the options after writing down them. If they did not find favor of the committee they could have discussed it in the report and negatived in the the body of the report itself. If the 6th option is the No.1 option why it was kept at no.6. It would have been placed at no.1.It looks like it is added in the end as an afterthought to queer the pitch for Telangana again. But as the truth will have it the 5th option alone emerged as the only feasible option. As if it is not enough to show andhra treachery, they have added a secret 8th chapter, to micromanage political parties, media and terrorize Telangana people. The andhra’s bribing of Shree Krishna Committee, is a classic example of their notorious murky politics. It proves that, if there is need they can even corrupt ‘Parama Pitha Brahma’.
Despite overwhelming, support for Telangana State they continue to drumbeat their specious reasons for ‘samaikyandhra’. All of their phony reasons to be in the united state are proved to be hollow. But, they want to stop state demerger by their political numbers and their unholy influence with Congress High command bought with the money bags plundered from Telangana.Telangana people have demonstrated with all kinds of protests under the Sun; 30 lakh Telangana people have congregated at ‘Mahagarjana’; Students braved ‘Jallianwallah’ like repressions; Lawyers, Journalists, Doctors, Engineers, Employees all sections of people from cities, towns and villages are on peaceful war path in ‘Sakalajanula Samme’. They will never rest till they achieve their State.
If andhra politicians cannot see this and still, stick to their arrogance with ‘head in the sand attitude’, they will never succeed this time. This time, Telangana people have come in to a real do or die mindset. The people of andhra should accept the reality graciously. The students of andhra area should see reason and support their counterparts in Telangana, as opponents of oppression. Though a handful of intellectuals from Andhra area have supported the demand, majority are silent. They, as torch bearers of the civil society, should come out and support legitimate aspirations of Telangana people. The common people in Andhra who have nothing to lose and no palpable reason to oppose should support the honorable demand of Telangana people without coming under the influence of their corrupt politicians.
The whole world is watching the intransigence of Indian Central government on the formation of Telangana state. All of India is also observing the political arrogance of andhras, causing indefinite agony to Telangana people in opposing the demerger of state. Andhra politicians should abandon their political coercion of Telangana people and agree to amicable division of state. Otherwise history will not treat them kindly. If they want to oppose it with their brutish political strength, it will boomerang on them. It is time for andhra people to realize the futility of stopping Telangana state formation. If they want to be called democratic and living in a civilized democratic world, they should know how to honor their compatriots’ legitimate rights graciously. They should try to emulate honesty and egalitarian outlook of their handful number of intellectuals like Dr.Vijaya Kumar and MVRamana Reddy.The democratic feelings of people like Rafi(separate andhra), Ramesh (journalist), the poets of ‘Kavadi Kundalu from Ongole’etc.,,They should eschew this unholy political imperialism in democracy. Otherwise their democratic credentials are under severe test and the history will treat them very harshly. At least they should be worried about the honor of andhra people as an ethnic group. So, andhras! For God’s sake, please be democratic and gracious.