N. Chandrababu Naidu remains incommunicado
The apprehension of widespread trouble caused by a likely sense of outrage over the Srikrishna Committee's report finally turned out to be a bit of an anti-climax since the recommendations were not totally unexpected.
Over the past two months, the committee members had been openly saying that their report would satisfy the aspirations of people of all the regions and dropping subtle hints that they would suggest a set of viable options. How far the report will satisfy the aspirations remains to be seen as the situation unfolds, but the committee has given a set of six clear-cut options.
What was slightly surprising was the guarded response of the Telangana Rashtra Samithi (TRS) president K. Chandrasekhar Rao to the report. He said that the positive aspects of the Srikrishna Committee report should become the ground for creation of a separate State. He was apparently referring to the committee's observation that the demand for Telangana was per se not unjustified and that a separate Telangana State was economically viable.
Although the committee favoured united Andhra Pradesh as the “best way forward”, the Telangana protagonists took consolation from the fact that it described bifurcation of the State with Hyderabad as the capital of Telangana as the second best option.
This meant that separate Telangana was still on the Centre's table.
In fact, by giving multiple options, the Srikrishna Committee had left it to the Centre to choose one of them. For the same reason, leaders and students in the coastal Andhra region remained subdued as they realised that the committee's report was not the last word on keeping the State united. Whether their optimism is justified remains to be seen since Union Home Minister P. Chidambaram has lobbed the ball back into the court of political parties of the State by saying that it was up to them to arrive at a consensus on the recommendations.
Barring pitched battles between students and police in Osmania University campus, there were no major disturbances in Telangana. Indeed, the whole region remained tense as Telangana activists organised road-blocks, burnt copies of the report and effigies of the Srikrishna Committee, attacked the Congress office in Warangal and damaged two buses in Nalgonda district. Most of these protests were directed against the Congress leadership.
In coastal Andhra region, there were no overt celebrations, barring one outside the Congress office in Vijayawada. Leaders in this region wanted the Centre to take an unequivocal stand on keeping the State united.
At the end of the day, the Congress and TDP leaders from Telangana and Andhra remained as divided as ever. Quite interestingly, Telugu Desam Party president N. Chandrababu Naidu, who is facing an internal crisis over this issue, remained incommunicado on Thursday as did Praja Rajyam president K. Chiranjeevi.
Keywords: Telangana issue, Srikrishna Committee, Osmania University
Comments:
The political parties are facing an exposure of their selfish policies and hence are remaining silent. Mr.K C Rao cannot condemn the report and has to see it in a proper light.The data used and the logic behind the conclusions are too straight forward and cannot be pooh poohed by the politicians who now stand exposed. A well thought out report based on a lot of data painstakingly collected and fully comprehended and logically concluded. Politicians should think about the good of the State and not their own benefits when deciding on the best option.I have questioned many a layman on this subject and they all feel that this demand is motivated by the ambitions of a few led by Mr.K Chandresekhar Rao.If option 5 is implemented a large number of industries, business houses (including MNCs) will leave the state as they do not trust governance by self seeking politicians who have very recently demonstrated that they are interested in what they can get from a portfolio rather than what they can do for the common man. The recent scams have proved that politicians decide on their own benefits rather than the good of the people who vote for them. This will reduce Hyderabad's progress as an up and coming metro city. Moreover a lot of capital investment is required to set up a new state.Last but not the least,the Maoists may take advantage of the situation and again try to make inroads into the state.I sincerely pray that the wisdom shown by the report is understood by the politicians and the agitators who should accept it and implement it faithfully.
Political problems have to be addressed and solved politically. Bifurcation of a State cannot be decided on by the State concerned. Such a decision will be that of the Indian parliament.If,as the report says the Union Home Minister P. Chidambaram has "lobbed the ball back into the court of political parties of the State to arrive at a consensus" on the bifurcation issue based on the various solution options suggested by the Srikrishna Committee, the Central government is clearly trying to avoid its responsibility. It is the political skill of the UPA government which is on test here. Whatever options the committee has suggested were all known to to all political parties in Andra Pradesh. If the evolution of a consensus on this issue were possible without the Central government's political mediation, the matter would not have gone to an expert committee in the first place.