Photo: Telangana JAC and political leaders releasing black balloons into air protesting PM Manmohan’s visit
By: J R Janumpalli
Manmohan Singh, our Prime minister, has created another record of sorts when he hopped in to his special plane, stepped down in Begampet airport and jumped in to a waiting helicopter to go to ‘Biodiversity Summit’, then reversed the mode and returned to Delhi. Hyderabad city was turned in to a police garrison during his visit. Telangana journalists were not allowed in to the conference hall to cover PM’s program. Telangana MPs were also not allowed to the conference. It is said that even Telangana ministers were not permitted to meet the PM to present a memorandum. TRS, TJAC activists were either taken in to preventive custody or arrested to prevent them from making a peaceful democratic protest to PM on non-implementation of Telangana State declaration.
It was Seemandhra hegemony all over the city of Hyderabad. They have made Telangana people as persona non grata in their own city. The irony is that, the PM has to use this Police cover to come to an international conference in Hyderabad city, which is known for its cosmopolitan outlook. As a matter of fact Telangana people, though they were in a position to mar the ‘Biodiversity Summit’, they have tacitly allowed the Summit to run its course as a prestige to Hyderabad city and also appreciating the concerns of bio diversity worldwide.
But the visit of Prime Minister Singh was something different. Manmohan Singh’s attitude in this episode of Telangana Movement is a particularly heart rending experience for Telangana people. After all, the declaration of the initiation of Telangana State formation on 9, December 2009 in Parliament, was a decision taken by his own government. But in a matter of few days he made a U-turn on it and handed over the matter to Congress party. While Congress Party and the ‘coterie’ were playing most bizarre political gamesmanship on it during the last 3 years, he was ineffectually blowing hot and cold from the sidelines. He was making all kinds of incongruous statements without any qualms of conscience.
On one hand, he was asking to create a peaceful atmosphere, appreciating peaceful conduct of Telangana struggle, assuring to address the problem and requesting to with draw strikes. But, on the other hand he was also besmirching the struggle with statements like ‘fire and frying pan’, ‘unanimity of opinion’ ‘not an easy problem’etc. In addition he had enabled running the State government by proxy from the Center and helped turn Telangana in to a ‘Police Raj’ to suppress Telangana movement. Earlier Telangana people were treated as second class citizens under a cloak, but now because of the license of the Central government, it is in the open in letter and spirit, with all holds unbarred. The 8th chapter of Sri Krishna Committee is being implemented under its active supervision.
That is the duplicity of the attitude of the PM on Telangana. His abandoning his own government’s declaration in the Parliament and launching a draconian governance on Telangana region is adding an insult to the grievous injury sustained by Telangana who has lost about 1000 of its youth because of this betrayal.In such circumstances the visit of Prime minister to Hyderabad cannot go without raising the hackles of its people. The Prime Minster knows this and the misdemeanor of his unedifying act of stalling the declaration. Hence this’ hop, step and jump’ visit and the dragnet of police.
If he had come in a normal way there would have been some peaceful protest. But now, the PM’s unusual plane hopping and draconian treatment of Telangana people will show him and his governance in a bad light, especially in the presence of International media in Hyderabad. Both the PM and the CM have overlooked all this in their unholy haste of making the visit to Summit. Their lack of confidence to face Telangana people and excessive use of Police force explain their derelictions. This undemocratic behavior also brings in to focus how in Telangana region the fundamental rights are abrogated deliberately as a quid pro quo for asking Telangana state.
Before Telangana March, congress party enacted a drama of consultations, as they were doing earlier whenever they come near to a Parliamentary session, elections in some states or some such event. Now that the Parliamentary session was over and the Bio diversity Summit started without a problem, they are again showing their fangs of venom. In addition, the ensuing elections in Gujarat and HP are another chance to our Andhra congress dealers to make their contributions to the congress election kitty as they were doing it earlier, regularly to stall Telangana issue and taking it towards 2014.
The bottom line is that the discussions with the Congress are a farce and they are only delaying tactics in a phased manner to take us to the political backwoods of 2014 general elections. Our counter to this should be to force the government to take a decision without further delay. This is possible only if we can make, all The T-Congress elected representatives (Ministers, MPs, and MLAs & MLCs) as a group come to the side of Telangana and challenge both State and Central governments. Or, to pull these ‘millstones around our neck’ from their positions and throw them on the way side, to surge ahead towards our goal unimpeded. Let us concentrate to marshal all our forces to do this, and this alone. If not it is certain that we are on our way to 2014.