The Communist Party of India (Marxist) on Thursday accused the Congress-led Central and Andhra Pradesh governments of mishandling the Telangana issue and observed that the division of the State had serious ramifications for the structure of the Constitution.
Soon after the Congress Working Committee’s decision on Telangana, the Gorkha Janmukti Morcha called for a three-day bandh in the Darjeeling hill areas of West Bengal in support of their demand of a separate Gorkhaland.
Similarly, a call for Bodoland was also issued. “Such calls for creation of newer States on the basis of various identities has serious consequences not only for the federal content and structure of the Constitution, but also in unleashing potentially disruptive tensions in the country,” an editorial in the latest edition of People’s Democracy , CPI(M) mouthpiece, said.
Therefore, the editorial reasoned, while the current process of the formation of Telangana was on, it was of utmost necessity that people must maintain peace and tranquillity and shun the proclivity to succumb to provocation.
At the same time, the Central and State governments had the responsibility of maintaining peace and normality, it noted.
After years of prevarication, the Congress Working Committee had adopted a unanimous resolution to carve out Telangana from Andhra Pradesh, the editorial said, but reminded that much was left to be done to translate the decision to reality. “The Congress’s prevarication on the issue of Telangana is nothing new. More than four decades ago [from 1968 onwards] after a violent agitation that saw large-scale loss of property with over 300 lives lost in police firing, an agreement was reached for ensuring the development of the Telangana region and eliminating its relative economic backwardness,” the editorial pointed out.
