Emotions driven by economics and politics !

Do you remember the concept “elastic fatigue” taught in the high school Physics? This principle can be explained to a layman as “don’t stretch anything until it breaks!” It cannot just be applied to materials science but to economics, politics, psychology, human relations or any other field. Now, I feel, Telangana issue has reached a fatigue state. Here, by fatigue, I mean a very critical and extreme condition. Nothing offensive about it!!!!

I do not want to propose any solutions in this blog because I do not think I can. I am just presenting my own feelings, doubts and also views expressed by some Non-Telugu friends.

To start with , the colonial rulers always concentrated on the coastal areas and developed them more. So the coastal districts of Andhra Pradesh got good deal of attention from the days of British Raj. The present Telangana region was a part of “Nizam state” and so was untouched by the British. The Rayalaseema region bordering Tamilnadu and Karnataka, along with Bellary district of Karnataka was actually “ceded” by the Nizam to the British. Regions ruled by different rulers naturally have different cultural, social, economic and political conditions. Even after the formation of Andhra Pradesh (state for the Telugu speaking people of Madras and Nizam states) cultural differences, economic and social disparities between different regions were very much visible. These differences did provide politicians ample opportunities to play with the people’s sentiments and rouse their emotions from time to time.

More than a month back, I was in Secunderabad. We live close to Osmania University (OU) and one day, a large group of nearly 500-1000 students was doing protest in support of TRS president KCR’s fast unto death by blocking the roads near the OU. Till that time, I watched public supporting Telangana only on TV. First time, I saw so many people, students in particular, coming onto the streets in support of the cause. The next day was declared as Bandh and protestors damaged petrol pumps, shops, private vehicles and public transport vehicles near OU. Then I understood, Telangana problem was not just an election or political issue. It boiled down to a seriously emotional issue at individual level too. After Chidambaram’s flip-flopping on the issue, politicians made sure that emotions of public went to the peak through out the state and life became paralyzed for 2 weeks. I think now the situation is little better than earlier but definitely not good.

I cannot say if I am for or against the formation of new state. After following the happenings during this month from a distance (right now, I’m in United States), so many questions cropped up in my mind for which I could not get definite answers.

• First and foremost, does the central government has some plan to bring the emotions of people down and restore normality in Andhra Pradesh without talking about separation?
• Was any scientific study done about the development of Telangana region vis-à-vis Andhra region that can provide strength to the argument of forming a separate Telangana state?
• If this issue is put on the backburner for the time being, by promising things like special packages and autonomy to Telangana, what is the guarantee that it does not crop up again?
• When Andhra Pradesh is not going to be separated, the development of all regions on comparable scale is possible only under the leadership of people, for whom politics is a religion rather than a profession. Does India, especially Andhra Pradesh, have any leader like that?
• Jharkhand example shows that incapable leadership and frequent change of governments decelerate the development of small and backward states and also becomes the reason for the rise of extremism. Is it not important to keep these points in mind before demanding for separate statehood to Telangana?
• The general observation is that Telangana movement (as well as United Andhra Pradesh movement) has already slipped from the hands of politicians to the hands of students. It is very easy to arouse the emotions of students and make them violent. If central government concedes to the demand for the formation of separate Telangana state now, does this case not set a trend of demanding smaller states by following violent methods?
• Right from 1950s, government concentrated more on the development of Hyderabad city than the other parts of the state. If Hyderabad becomes a part of newly formed state, will it not be tough to develop another city in the Andhra region?
• Do the supporters of United Andhra Pradesh think about all districts of Telangana or for them Telangana is just Hyderabad? If Hyderabad will be made a common capital or Union Territory, will that be acceptable?
• No common man will be so rich as Lagadapati Rajagopal or YS Jagan or KCR family or Chiranjeevi or Chandrababu Naidu who allegedly own property worth crores in Hyderabad and its surrounding areas. Just to protect their businesses and interests, these people are just complicating the issue. When academicians, teachers and government officials on both the sides are also falling prey to the tactics of these politicians (read businessmen) and losing the rationality of their thought, who else the can public bank upon for initiating a meaningful dialogue to ease the tensions prevailing?
• Andhra Pradesh state was totally paralyzed in the month of December. Lot of damage was done to public and private property, along with the loss of many lives. Productivity reached a low point and state is moving towards financial crisis. Is it not high time for public to shed differences, control their emotions and put an end to this stalemate?
  
• And now coming to the other end, if Telangana will be formed and Hyderabad is going to be the capital, why should people from other areas worry? When people from Andhra Pradesh are buying property in Bangalore, Pune or even in United States, what is the problem of doing the same in Hyderabad? After all, it will be an integral part of India.
• Does the general public migrated to Hyderabad from Andhra region have some problem in being called as “Telanganaites” in case Hyderabad becomes part of Telangana?
• Does the general public of Telangana have any issues in living together with people migrated from Andhra region?

As told earlier, I do not have answers to these questions and I know many of us do not. If we answer all these questions, some answers may contradict the others. To make the choice of the best possible combination of answers, the situation demands rationality of thought and a clear vision for future, which our leadership hardly possesses. All they have are vested political and economic interests that can spoil the economy of the state and finally the country too. That’s why I said in the beginning, the issue reached the limit of “elastic fatigue”.

P.S: I was born and brought up in Andhra region of Andhra Pradesh. Though I work in Bangalore, I own a house in Secunderabad (which comes under Telangana) along with my brother, and now my parents live there. Moreover, I worked with a few Non Governmental Organizations in interior Telangana for more than 2 years. So I do not consider myself outsider to either Andhra region or Telangana region.