By: Konatham Dileep
Telangana statehood movement has thoroughly exposed how some pseudo-intellectuals are worse than opportunist politicians. The most classic case is that of Nagabhairava Jayaprakash Narayana, who seems to have completely succumbed to the ‘primordial loyalties’ that he often loves to talk about.
Speaking at the Seventh Anniversary meeting of Lok Satta – his dying political party – Nagabhairava Jayaprakash Narayana repeated the same old lies to show the Telangana statehood movement in poor light.
In fact I was so bored by his lies and half-truths, that I thought hard before even penning this reply. But I thought I will limit myself to three major issues that he used to comment sarcastically on Telangana movement:
Nagabhairava Jayaprakash Narayana: Telanganites are thinking that Andhra people will leave this region once Telangana state is formed. They think they can occupy lands of Andhra people. But that is not possible since every citizen of this country has right to buy and hold property anywhere in India.
My Answer:
This is nothing but smear campaign on Telanganites. No person in Telangana is waiting to take over properties of Andhrites. And no Telanganite has ever asked any Andhrite to leave this region.
Since Nagabhairava seems to have little historic context about Telangana, let me remind him that Telangana is not like any other place in India. Telangana leaders of the 1950s were visionary enough to understand that once merger happens, Andhra hegemony classes would devour Telangana lands within no time. During merger with Andhra, our leaders have ensured that sale of agricultural land in Telangana is monitored by Regional Committee. A clause to this effect was incorporated in Gentleman’s Agreement too.
But Andhra leaders have flouted all rules and have acquired large tracts of land in Telangana. What’s more, when Regional Committee started enlisting the violations of Andhrites, they have lobbied hard and ensured that the Regional Committee was abolished altogether.
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Nagabhairava Jayaprakash Narayana: Telangana leaders are promising three acres of land to each landless person in Telangana state. From where will they bring the land? Will they produce land?
My Answer: Telangana movement leadership has promised land to the landless as a step towards social justice.
The undemocratic and anti-people nature of NJP stands exposed by his opposition to the idea of land distribution to the landless.
Telangana Peasant Armed Struggle is the precursor to land reforms initiative in Andhra Pradesh. During that struggle, lakhs of acres of land was redistributed to the landless. The Hyderabad Tenancy and Agricultural Land Act enacted in 1950 gave property rights to about 6 lakh tenant farmers.
Land distribution has happened several times in AP state and an estimated 6 lakh acres of land has been distributed in the state. The current policy of AP govt envisages giving each family either 2.5 acres of wet land or 5 acres of dry land.
If current AP govt itself has one such policy, then why does NJP think the promise of 3 acres land to the landless in Telangana is absurd?
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Nagabhairava Jayaprakash Narayana: “They say every person who passes 10th standard would be given a job once Telangana is formed. From where are they going to get so many jobs?”
My answer: It looks like the NJP doesn’t like anything remotely related to the welfare of people. Otherwise how can we understand this silly nitpicking on welfare promises made by Telangana politicians?
We do not see anything wrong in a political party promising employment for every employable person in Telangana. If NJP has a problem with even such welfare promises, then there is something fundamentally wrong with his mindset.