BNN provides English-language US and world news, analysis and opinion from all over the Internet. We strive for high standards, ethical behavior, and the presentation of multiple responsible points of view.
|
Get More Traffic For Your Blog! Blog Explosion brings hundreds of interested visitors to your blog - without costing you a cent. BNN News Archive Page |
Tuesday, August 22, 2006
TRS Ministers quit UPA Government - Telangana Needs BJP, TRS and Vijayashanthi to Unite OffStumped For All Things Right of Center, Bringing a Right of Centre Reality Check to Indian Politics, News Media Reporting and Opinion through Blogs and Podcasts. --- Union Labour Minister K Chandrasekhar Rao and Union Minister of State for Rural Development, A Narendra have quit the Union government. Both ministers, belonging to the Telangana Rashtra Samiti, submitted their resignation to the Prime Minister Manmohan Singh's Office on Tuesday evening. The TRS is upset with the UPA and with the Congress in particular, for not pushing the Bill for a separate state of Telangana. The Telangana issue has been festering since the 2004 Lok Sabha elections. The BJP which fought the 2004 elections with Chandrababu Naidu's Telugu Desam Party, TDP, had been silent on the Telangana issue but has now changed tack to openly support it. Vijayashanthi the stormy petrel and angry young woman of the South Indian Film Industry has left the BJP to launch her own movement in support of Telangana. The question is what is the underlying motivation for this move by the TRS and where does the political movement for a separate state of Telangana go from here ? To answer these questions, first a bit of background. The Telangana region comprising of a few districts in Western and Central Andhra has traditionally lagged in economic development on account of its geography. It has also been the hotbed of Naxalite activities who have had a sympathetic base of support from the rural masses given the highly fuedal nature of life which has barely changed since Independence. While the demand for a separate state of Telangana has been on and off over the years, the 2004 lok sabha elections were a turning point when KCR quit the Telugu Desam to form a political party the TRS dedicated purely to the cause of a separate Telangana State. KCR got a boost with the firebrand BJP veteran A. Narendra quitting the BJP to join him after having been snubbed over the years by the Vajpayee NDA Government from a ministerial slot. The full import of the 2004 Lok Sabha elections to the demand for a separate Telangana state can be only understood by looking at the voter turnouts in Telangana Lok Sabha Constituencies. Offstumped has analyzed the voting patterns and the results say it all. First Medak which elected A. Narendra had an overall turnout of 72% and between Narendra and the official BJP candidate they polled 87% of the votes. Adilabad had an overall turnout of 73% and the TRS candidate polled 50% of the votes. Warangal the citadel of Telangana and Naxalite movements had a whopping 76% turnout. The other were in the high 70s as well. What you had in Telangana was a highly motivated electorate which for the first time saw a serious political push for a separate state of Telangana. The TRS, KCR, Narendra acquired their high visibility political profiles on this promise. With the Y.S. Rajashekar Reddy Sonia Gandhi Congress sitting on the fence on Telangana and the Left parties which support the UPA Government opposed to it, the issue became a dormant volcano waiting to errupt. Much water has flown under the TRS UPA bridge since the 2004 elections. Naidu who has been ardently opposing Telangna for fear of further splintering his TDP snapped all semblance of ties with the BJP. A BJP free of TDP encumbrances has once again come out openly in support of Telangana calling the Congress' bluff. The Congress predicament with Telangana is manifold. Part of it has to with the politics within the state party with YSR fearing loss of control if a parallel power center were to emerge within the party. Then there is also the Muslim factor with the MIM and other muslim leaders opposing the move for telangana for a variety of political reasons. The communists lack of support for Telangana is kind of baffling as the Naxalites were firmly in favor of it. The reasons for the Prakash Karat, Sitaram Yechury lead CPI-M to oppose statehood for Telangana is very easily understandable. It puts a spoke in the CPI-M's grandiose plans for a 3rd front of motley regional parties. A look at all the new states formed in recent times says it all. Goa and Delhi have pretty much had back to back Congress BJP governments with the regional parties on the sidelines. Jharkhand weakened Laloo Yadav's RJD in Bihar while pretty much reducing the RJD and the JMM to the sidelines in Jharkhand. Chattisgarh and Uttaranchal as well are pretty much a BJP, Congress affair with no role for either the Bahujan Samaj Party or the Samajwadi Party. In fact smaller states are a death knell to these one man, one woman show regional parties. Hence the vehment opposition from the CPI-M and the BSP, SP, RJD and of course Chandrababu Naidu's TDP to Telangana. In fact Offstumped had called for the BJP to base its strategy for the upcoming Uttar Pradesh assembly elections on the plank of smaller states. This has the potential to take the wind of the sails of Mayawati and Mulayam Singh Yadav while actually offering some hope to the people of UP. A trifurcation of UP could be in the Congress' interests as well holding out new hopes of a renewal. It is time the two principal national parties Congress and the BJP made common cause on the formation of smaller states. Offstumped has always been in favor of smaller states. Smaller states make for better delivery of public services, greater accountability and greater opportunities and access to opportunities. A separate state of Telangana holds the potential for delivering on all of the above to provide the people of Telangana that much needed boost and confidence to realize their dreams and to eliminate the despair that has been exploited by Naxalism. Predictably there have been violent protests and considerable consternation within the rest of Andhra Pradesh on this issue. Specifically around the status of the twin cities of Hyderabad and Secunderabad if such a division were to occur. An important factor to be considered here for Andhra Pradesh is that a separate state of Telangana holds the promise for development and uplift of Tier 2 cities in both the Andhra and Telangana regions. The practice of concentrating the business and political capitals in the same cities has resulted in lop-sided development of Tier 2 urban centers through out India. Taking a leaf from the United States if Andhra and Telangana were to set an example by choosing Tier 2 cities like Vijayawada and Warangal as respective political capitals it would not just boost economic development in these cities but would completely neutralize the Hyderabad debate. Hyderabad could become a Union Territory like Chandigarh with equal access to Andhra and Telangana. Offstumped Bottomline: Linguistic division of states has resulted in administratively inefficient units. The emotive concept of linguistic basis for states is an idea past its sell by date. Economic development and Migration across the country is rendering language irrelvant. Offstumped endorses the demand for a separate state of Telangana on the basis of economic development and administrative efficiency. A separate state of Telangana has the potential to also counter the Naxalite threat. It will require TRS, BJP and Vijayashanthi to come together to apply the political pressure on the Congress to make this happen. Blogger News Network is advertiser-supported, and your visits to our advertisers help BNN to meet its expenses. Help keep us afloat! posted by Yossarin at 1:15 PM |
Subscribe to BNN and get a daily bulletin of all our news postings. Interested in writing for BNN? Want information on our news service? Contact The Editor Writing for BNN BNN Editorial Policies Previous Posts
|
4 Comments:
Good to know your views on Telangana. However the question of Hyderabad is much bigger.Each time some investment was made between Andhra, Rayalseema and Telangana, the Telangana share went to Hyderabad. So if you see there is only one university in Telangana minus Hyderabad. Telanganas investment was all polarized in Hyderabad devoiding the rest of the region. In a way Hyderabad was developed at the stake of Telangana and therefore should be a part of Telangana.
Andhras will always have access to it. Hyderabad is cosmopolitan now and is accessible to every Indian. But for historical reasons Telangana has a right to the taxes.
A New India Happening
It is great time for Neo Indians.
Wait!
But who are these Neo Indians?
Simple. The Neo Indians are all of them who do not believe in the old notions of caste, language and religion. No. No. This no long talk of the politicians. It is the new reality that has taken shape in India since its independence in 1947.
It is a new class of people who have migrated from various parts of the country and settled elsewhere for a living and who have built their lives and fortunes through hard work, entrepreneurship and intellectual capital. These are the same people that make the likes of Bill Gates and Bill Clinton visit a country like India (mind you, for economic reasons and not for political ones).
It is also the set of Indians who may have stayed at the same place but whose mind-set has become more universal and who put development and economic progress before everything else.
This is a New India that was never there before. And it is an India that has lived its secular commitment by not talking but by living in migrant lands and also intermarrying across regions, languages, castes and religions.
It is a New India that has only development on its agenda and does not shout it from stages but actually works long hours to make it happening. It is an India that does not look down upon the children of a Telugu and a Punjabi.
It is a new India happening across the nation (of which one could include the children of Sonia Gandhi and Rajiv Gandhi; the children of Aamir Khan and Reena; the list you know could go on. I guess the point is made.)
But then where exactly is this New India you could ask?
You will see it in Hyderabad. The waves have already started. The situation is already falling in place. It is time ripe to acknowledge a new history.
With the call for a separate Telangana and the possibility of a separate Andhra, the possibility of a New India being formed with the two districts of Hyderabad and Ranga Reddy merging together is today the shape of the future.
Is there a doubt in that. I think none.
This is a new kind of history being formed that no one can fail to notice. This is a new kind of India where the old notions of caste, language and religion have no place.
This will also be an opportunity for all political parties to prove that their vision of this kind of India is actually real and that they really support it. It is also an opportunity for our great institutions like the Supreme Court to step-in and move a sectarian-free India forward.
The waves can already be seen. It is just a matter of time that ripples are heard.
The New Hyderabad (that is what the new combine of Hyderabad and the Ranga Reddy district will be called) will be an example of this kind of New India. It will stand as a shining example of a forward looking India for the rest of the world.
It will also underline the fact that new history is formed at every turn of change and sticking to old history is just damaging to growth.
But you could ask, is such a small state like New Hyderabad really possible?
Nice question. And the best way to answer that would be with facts. I hate vagueness.
1) New Hyderabad will have an area of 7710 sq.km and a population of more than 70 lakhs.
2) Now compare this with Sikkim which has an area of 7096 sq.km and a population of around 5 lakhs.
3) Also compare this with Goa which has an area of 3702 sq.km and a population of around 13 lakhs
4) Here comes the shocker. Compare this with Singapore which has an area of 633 sq.km and a population of 35 lakhs.
Now if I could ask, what makes you think that a New Hyderabad is not going to happen (unless of course you would want it to happen like Instant Coffee).
The case is there. The situations are happening. New Hyderabad is a history in the making.
hough the above paper discusses economy of a sovereign state. The argument also holds good for a new political state like New Hyderabad within the sovereign state of India.
So let there be three states.
1) Telangana with (Warangal as most likely capital)
2) Andhra with (Vizaq as most likely capital)
3) New Hyderabad (with Hyderabad as capital)
Check this link:
http://separatehyderabad.rediffblogs.com/
The idea that smaller states offer better public services and better
efficiencies is not factual.
Every state must be a UNIT first ,a seperate geographical or common
emotional interests for togetherness. Splitting an existing state can
never satisfy those conditions;further it will encourage more
divisions.Any new state must be economically viable;otherwise it
will look towards the union of states in a continued dependency.That
means the remaining states should come together to help .
In my opinion only an independent body can assess the necessity of
dividing existing states.
Post a Comment
Links to this post:
Create a Link
<< Home