By: Sujai Karampuri
The entire Seemandhra political objection to the current decision on Telangana has been that ‘the concerns and demands of Seemandhras have not been addressed’. However, till today, there has been no clear announcement from any section of Seemandhra on what those concerns and demands are.
For example, today on a newschannel, when the APNGOs were asked the question, ‘what are you demands and concerns?’ they all responded, that they may have some concerns, but they are not going to spell it out, because they have only demand – that is United Andhra Pradesh.
When asked if they would express their concerns and demands to GoM that is constituted by the Union Government, they emphatically said they would not. Because they believe GoM is not empowered to address their concerns and demands. One of them said that there is no use talking to GoM because none of them are from Andhra region.
Instead, they said that they have only one demand – that is United Andhra Pradesh, and that they presented this demand to their Chief Minister, Kiran Kumar Reddy. They expect the CM to give an assurance that the state will not be bifurcated no matter what. They propose to go ahead with agitations till they get clear decision that state will not be bifurcated.
The situation in Andhra Pradesh is quite intractable. Seemandhras refuse to spell out their demands or concerns and refuse to accept anything less than rolling back the decision on Telangana, while constantly complaining that New Delhi is not listening to their concerns and demands. And they warn that they will continue to agitate till the end.
Naidu in New Delhi is not spelling what the concerns and demands are of Seemandhras. YSRCP does not spell out. The leaders and activists of Seemandhras refuse to spell them. The people on the streets talk in extremely vague terms, like ‘we won’t get water, we won’t get food, we won’t get jobs’, but they do not articulate what they actually seek from the government, other than the usual slogan, ‘kalasi unte kaladu sukham’ (we will be happy if we live together).
We have reached a state of irreconcilable impasse. During the last seventy days of Samaikyandhra agitations, none of the Seemandhra leaders or activists wanted to speak to their counterparts in Telangana, or to anyone from State or Central Government. They refused to speak to Anthony Committee citing that it is not a government-appointed committee but a Congress Party committee. Now that GoM is being appointed by the Central Government, they refuse to talk to them either.
Seemandhras are taking an untenable and extremely unreasonable position. It’s like a suicide bomber blackmailing a judge to roll back his verdict – otherwise he will blow himself up to kill others around him.
It should become clear and apparent to all pundits across the nation, that this is how it has been for people of Telangana for most of the last sixty years. Refusing to yield, refusing to discuss the issues of Telangana people, but at the same time suppressing the voice of Telangana using the tyranny of majority.
When two parties refuse to come to an agreement based on negotiations, and when they reach a state of irreconcilable impasse as is the case with Andhra Pradesh, there is no way out, but for an impartial arbiter to take a decision and impose it upon the two parties. That is what the current Indian Government is doing – it has taken the decision to divide the state. Now, it has to impose it onto Andhra Pradesh.