By: Amarnath K
Irrespective of the whatever agendas the Congressmen, Communists had in their fight against the Nizam in Nizam’s dominion and in the subsequent Hyderabad State, the path Telangana took since the liberation is unfailingly that of a colony. For decades now, in face of such utter regard to the aspirations of the people of Telangana, it is time the truth has to be spoken unambiguously and treated as such. Over the decades, the protagonists of Telangana movement maintained that their fight is against the Andhra plutocrats and not against the commoners in Andhra. Some even went ahead and said that the commoners in Andhra would not care if the State is de-merged. The events of the last 50 days must have shown them that there are no commoners left in Andhra! All of them have become stakeholders in the ruling elite, be in Govt employees, businessmen, artists and even labor. To the de-merger, Everyone says No. The fruits of bossing over this colony are so tempting for them that it needs more than a sense of justice and fair play in them to take Telangana agitation in its present sugarcoated words seriously. That is why truth, not diplomacy matter now. That is why I see a ray of hope when Prof. Kodandram says we wont accept Hyderabad as a joint capital. And that is what the ruling Congressmen from Telangana should be saying and acting upon. The message the Andhras should get is that Telanganas wont flinch for their unscrupulous behavior. That Telangana wont again, surrender.
Photo: A statue of Tanguturi Prakasham in front of AP Bhavan, New Delhi, Prakasham was the first Chief Minister of Andhra state formed in 1953. Where as Andhra Pradesh was formed in 1956 by merging Telangana with Andhra state.
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When visiting the AP Bhavan in Delhi, I am sure every person from Telangana would wonder, as to why he/she is welcomed by the statue of first Andhra Chief Minister Tanguturi Prakasam’s. Ideally, Burgula Ramakrishna Rao’s statue too should have been there, that is if the merger between Andhra and Telangana were that of equals. It is not and the Andhras were always clear about it, that this is not a merger but an acquisition. So they put up the statue of their first Chief Minister. Also, they keep harping on Potti Sriramulu as the ‘father’ of AP, knowing all too well the history of Andhra and AP. And our naive politicians keep telling them history lessons, repeatedly. The fact is that they think AP is just a continuation of Andhra state that Potti Sriramulu is associated with, with a few districts added to it, just like Maharashtra and Karnataka added a few from Hyderabad State! They occupied Telangana and they seriously think they replaced the Nizam and his elite as the new age rulers and act in the same vein. Did we not see leader after leader berating Sonia Gandhi on how she is tearing down the Andhra empire her mother-in-law helped Andhras continue to rule despite the 1969 uprising? That is how Andhras see it, like a property matter between them and Delhi rulers! Andhras are the regional satraps given charge over the Telangana subjects by Delhi rulers! In this whole debate, Telangana’s own voice does not figure anywhere.
And the Telangana politicians have been mincing words calling a spade a spade, burdened by what they think is propriety. When a particular senior Telugu actor settled in Hyderabad enacted a real life drama in front of media sometime ago in a dispute with TRS partymen, he remarked ‘Hyderabad was the city of Muslims before the Andhras arrived here and that if they (Andhras) are forced out of state, they would hand it over back to Muslims and go!’ Now, how clearer can it get?
Meek challenge to these claims all these years, to some extent, is understandable, with the tyranny of majority the Andhras have handy, in the legislature and their successful Andhra-Seema collaboration. But I believe this situation our politicians (especially in Congress and TDP with Andhra leadership in the state) have been in, will change if they seize the opportunity provided by the CWC resolution to assert the Telangana identity. One such way is to immediately demand for demerging the PCC making Telangana politicians independent of pulls and pressures of Andhra leaders, especially in granting tickets during election. That would also cut down the chances they have to do horse-trading with Telangana legislators, especially from Hyderabad, in the event of a dispute over Hyderabad in future.
The bottom-line is that Telangana has to be assertive NOW and reclaim its freedom to really get liberated. Sept 17 every year is a reminder for that and more so this year with the direct challenge being mounted onto Hyderabad. There is nothing to be expected from TDP on this front and TRS has its own limitations in Delhi. It is up to the Congressmen to stand up and take the colonial rulers head-on and push for the continuation of the process triggered with CWC resolution. The Andhras maybe on street shouting and opposing bitterly but if TJAC continues on the same line on Hyderabad resolutely, those masses on the other side would get the message. But the duty of handling the Andhra political rulers who are obese with accumulated power, right from the days of Madras presidency, rests clearly on the shoulders of Telangana Congressmen.
India has long stopped working based on its ideals. The ruthless ruling elite in Delhi is not cowed down by agitations. Only pragmatism during some windows of opportunity, like the CWC resolution (or the BJP’s political necessity for MPs in south) supported by the agitations and logical argument would get things done. That is how Andhra rulers sustained their rule all these years and that is what they are banking on even now. It is time leadership of Telangana learn and tackle them.