Photo: A police checkpost at Mudimyala, Chevella to stop Telangana activists
By Sujai Karampuri
If there is one thing that is common in the entire saga of Telangana history, it is one word – betrayal. Time and again, we have been betrayed – by our own leaders, by Seemandhra leaders and by New Delhi. To an observer, it sounds incredulous that this population in this region falls for bullshit again and again. In the last two three years, Telangana people have been misled, bamboozled and hoodwinked so many times that we can easily be rated as the most naïve, foolish and dumb idiots on the planet to believe in such cock and bull stories again and again.
On 9th December 2009, we almost believed that we got separate statehood. No, it didn’t happen. But we always believed that the separate state is around the corner. Then came another lame excuse called Srikrishna Committee where entire Telangana stood in beeline to make their presentation (including this author), then came another excuse called state elections, and so on. The list of excuses for holding off the decision on Telangana can easily make up a new book on politics rivaling those of Machiavelli.
Another thing that is common to entire population of Telangana, including its political leaders is another word – hope. Yes, the reason we are fooled and betrayed each time is because we continue to hope that we will be ‘granted’ the statehood. We continue to believe that statement made on 9th December 2009 by Home Minister of India will be honored.
We need to wake up and tell ourselves this hard reality. We will never be granted the statehood. Like the many promises made in Gentlemen’s Agreement of 1956, like the Supreme Court decisions of 1972, like the Six-point formula, and like score other commission reports and recommendations, the Home Minister’s statement of 9th December 2009 is another lie which will never be honored.
In the last ten days, I see various reports in the media, indicating positive signs for Telangana, like the reports I have seen so many times in the last three years. The reports say that it is for real this time. But then I recall so many previous occasions when it was for ‘real’. But that reality never transpired. Time and again, New Delhi cheated us, by ‘leaking’ these reports into the media, to keep us subdued, warm, cajoled, and convinced, that Telangana is around the corner, that we just need to be little more patient, that it is a gargantuan task to take this kind of decision. They made it appear that it is such a complex thing that not even Gods themselves could resolve it. But when it comes to FDI decision in retail, Nuclear policy, or Diesel price hike, they just do it in a day whether their own allies like it or not. So why dither on Telangana? That’s because the answer is simple. New Delhi is NOT ready to carve out a separate statehood for Telangana people. They care a zilch for us. They are not keen on taking a decision on this issue because they are not going to lose either way.
My dear friends of Telangana: listen to this carefully. The new state of Telangana will never be granted by anyone. It has to be grabbed. It has to be grabbed when the entire opposition, including those within our region, those in Seemandhra, and those in New Delhi, stand united AGAINST the cause of Telangana. It has to be grabbed NOT when it is politically conducive for them to grant Telangana, but when Telangana rises up to say, ‘we are not going to play your games anymore. We are not going to dance your tunes anymore. We are not going to lay low to be bulldozed’.
Telangana has to be achieved at our terms, at our behest, when we are in control, when we are ready to steamroll and bulldoze. And that my dear friends is ‘Telangana March’ which starts on 30 Sep 2012, but has no end date.
So, when should the Telangana March terminate? It should terminate when New Delhi makes an unequivocal and unambiguous decision to form the new state of Telangana, by sending its top leaders to the heart of Telangana, that is Hyderabad, where they stand amidst the Telangana people to convey the decision. Till then, the March is on.
Till then, Telangana people will stay put in Hyderabad, and celebrate their culture, sing their favorite songs, and dance to its tunes, and will not move from there. It is like an extended jatara, a long picnic. Let there be no turning back. Let there be no winding down. Let it be a major showdown of solidarity of people of Telangana. Let it continue till we attain Telangana. We will not get another chance like this.
Let it be the ‘aakhri dakkha, Telangana pakkha’.