By: J R Janumpalli
As long as Congress was on the back foot on Telangana, BJP was very vociferous in the support of Telangana state. Now as Congress party has come forward on to the front foot to drive Telangana state home, BJP is backtracking and making equivocal statements.
Though the BJP national executive is repeating the same statements of support, there is a clear change in the tone and tenor of the statements.We all know how Legislatures are being run in the country. We know the motivated animosity of Seemandhra legislators to stall Parliament to scuttle T-Bill, since they had failed in their all unconstitutional shenanigans outside the Parliament. BJP know fully well that all Seemandhra MPs unitedly will stall the proceedings in both the houses. Actually they are doing it continuously from 5th February. BJP do not want those MPs to be suspended by UPA to take Telangana Bill forward.They want to score some brownie points on UPA for its failure to control their own members on the floor of the Parliament. It is a clear case of proverbial ‘Shalya Saaradhyam’.
Besides, BJP has put a wrong person at the helm of Telangana Bill.BJP executive should have known that Venkayya Naidu, an andhraphile like anyseemandhra leader,is hardly a choice to work dispassionately for Telangana Bill. As KCR euphemistically says ‘All of those born in Lanka are always the demons’, holds good for Naidu — the developments that are taking place in the last few days and their deleterious effect on T-Bill amply proves this. He and CB Naidu who was the chief wrecker of December 2009 Telangana Declaration are a vicious combination of Andhra chauvinism. They are working in tandem to scuttle the T-Bill this time. The curious liking of Modi for CBN and V Naidu working with him for the nebulous BJP in Seemandhra have brought these duo together to scheme for the downfall of T-Bill.As we see they have gone in to overdrive taking advantage of the ambiguity of BJP high command. The unsettling effects of it are there to see.They both together have created an impression that Seemandhra is the region which is getting the raw deal in bifurcation of the state.
BJP has reneged from its position of unconditional support to T-Bill to conditional support of equal justice or addressing the superfluous concerns of Seemandhra.The T-Bill is already loaded heavily against Telangana.There is a demand for amendments for many provisions in the Bill which are affecting the interests of Telangana state. But, this hyper activity of Naidu duo had pushed these demands to back burner and brought to the fore unreasonable concerns of Seemandhras like Bhadrachalam division and revenue sharing of Hyderabad etc. as part of their political gamesmanship.These demands are actually decoys to derail T-Bill. Congress party which has allowed itself to be pushed in to a tight corner is now trying to concede some of these things to get support of BJP.Things have come to such pass that in the gamesmanship between Congress and BJP, the fate of T-Bill is hanging in balance and it is sending wrong signals to Telangana youth who are at their tethers end. In the last few days because of this BJP ambivalence 4 Telangana youth have committed suicide. Telangana population is becoming restive and are being led in to despair.
Why this unending and cruel trial for Telangana people at the fag end of this Parliament? Are the trials and tribulations of these people since 9 December 2009 not enough? Knowing fully well the satanic behavior of Seemandhra politicians in regard to Telangana, BJP allowing them to play this kind of havoc is eroding its credibility in Telangana. Whole nation knows by this time that CBN is the most crooked politician in the country and always creates political muck to thrive on it. He had always sabotaged his alliance partners in his elections. It is very puzzling for Modi developing a penchant for alliance with him. As for Venkaiah Naidu, except for his glib talk he had never won any election for himself or for BJP in Seemandhra or elsewhere. It is Telangana which has sustained BJP vis-à-vis MIM in Andhra Pradesh in the last 50 years. Even today there is a substantial presence of BJP in the region. Besides, in Telangana the party has many capable leaders and good cadre. Local BJP leaders painstakingly as part of TJAC have cultivated support for BJP in the last four years. Where as in Seemandhra except some ‘armchair’ leaders, the BJP presence is insignificant. The thinking of Modi to ride on the shoulders of TDP cadre in Seemandhra will not cut much ice, if we know the predilections of Seemandhra educated middle class electorate. They are mostly swayed by party and caste considerations, unlike in Telangana.Now the Samaikyandhra syndrome is added to it. Thus it is unlikely for BJP to make any big headway in Seemandhra. This Modi’s liking for CBN can boomerang on it in Telangana, making the adage ‘losing one bird in hand in the greed of getting two birds in the bush’ true.
Telangana Bill is not an ordinary Bill where political parties play their gamesmanship. It is a very poignant 6 decades long suffering with laying down of hundreds of lives for political freedom.BJP was championing the cause without any reservation during the last 4 years of this present episode of the struggle. The unholy alliance of CB Naidu and V Naidu at the behest of BJP national leadership and their poisonous potion brewed for Telangana is creating a situation where all the good will earned during the last 4 years for BJP by the Telangana BJP leadership is vanishing away.
The luncheon meeting of PM with BJP national leadership on 12th February has appeared to have sorted out some ambivalence of BJP on Telangana Bill. But, its reluctance to condemn the atrocious behavior of seemandhra MPs in Loksabha on 13th February and its volte-face on T-Bill thereon has brought its uncertainty on Telangana to the fore again. Looks like the angling of Naidu duo is still acting on BJP, even to risk its hard earned presence in Telangana.The abdominal behavior of seemandhra MPs in the Parliament, which is implicitly supported by CBN should have made them to realize their mistake of falling to the guiles of Naidus. But on the contrary they were trying to use the incidence against UPA and Telangana.But; it is too obvious and will be a big blot on its credibility.
The BJP national executive should realize this and act fast. They should drop this shambling ‘Shalya Saradhyam’ initiated by the Naidu duo and revert back to their unequivocal stand vociferously stated by Sushma Swaraj and Rajnath Singh. And see that the T-Bill is passed in Parliament with amendments to address the concerns of Telangana. It will not only regain its ground in Telangana and also restore its credibility elsewhere in India where ever it matters. Otherwise it will be a ‘harakiri‘ in Telangana.