Centre goes back on Telangana promise, 2-day bandh begins, CM fears Prez rule
New Delhi/Hyderabad, Dec. 23: The Centre on Wednesday night put the process of statehood on the back burner, triggering off violence in the Telangana region and state capital Hyderabad.
Effectively burying the Telangana statehood proposal, the Union home minister, Mr P. Chidambaram, said in New Delhi: “After the (December 9) statement (on Telangana statehood), the situation in Andhra Pradesh has altered. A large number of political parties are divided on the issue. There is a need to hold wide-ranging consultations with all political parties and groups in the state. The government of India will take steps to involve all concerned in the process.”
Hundreds of students immediately rushed out on to the roads leading to Osmania University campus and attacked private vehicles and RTC buses by the dozen.
The fallout had the state Cabinet readying itself for President’s Rule. At an informal meeting, some ministers expressed fears that the Centre might take the extreme step of imposing President’s Rule if the coastal and Rayalaseema leaders did not withdraw their resignations or Telangana elected representatives take the path of resignations.
Though the Chief Minister did not mention the word President’s Rule, he said he would agree with the ministers’
apprehensions that the situation might go out of the state’s control.
Explaining the reasons behind the Cabinet trying to put an united face, a senior minister from Telangana said the Centre would be left with no option but to impose the President’s Rule if Congress was still a divided house.
The fear of losing ministership and Assembly being put in suspended animation are said to have forced the Cabinet to stand by the Chief Minister. “We told the Chief Minister that they would cooperate with him in controlling agitations in any part of the state,” a senior minister from coastal region said. It was decided in the meeting that ministers
or leaders from coastal regions would not claim any victory.
The agriculture minister, Mr N. Raghuveera Reddy, termed the statement as responsible move to bring normality in the state.
The Union home minister, Mr P. Chidambaram, made the Centre’s stand clear after the issue festered for 13 days, eliciting sharp reactions from people and political parties across AP.
Mr Chidambaram had said on December 9 that the “process of formation of the state of Telangana would be initiated. A resolution of the formation of the new state will be moved in the Andhra Pradesh Assembly.”
Mr Chidambaram made the statement at a press conference here on Wednesday night but did not take any questions from the media.
“At a meeting of all political parties convened by the Chief Minister of Andhra Pradesh on December 7, 2009, a consensus emerged on the question of formation of a separate state of Telangana. A statement was made on behalf of the Central government on December 9, 2009 on receipt of the minutes of the meeting.”
“However, after the statement, the situation in Andhra Pradesh has altered. A large number of political parties are divided on the issue. There is a need to hold wide-ranging consultations with all political parties and groups in the state. The government of India will take steps to involve all concerned in the process,” Mr Chidambaram said.
The statement added: “Meanwhile, it is necessary that peace and harmony are restored in Andhra Pradesh and the state government is allowed to focus on governance and development. The Central government appeals to the people of the different regions of Andhra Pradesh, and to all political parties and students, to withdraw their agitation and maintain peace, harmony and brotherhood.”
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Dear Telanganites, following are some best non co-operation ways that Telangana movement should be carried out to make sure Telangana happens without any further delay and no one hijacks the agenda. 1. Pen down by all govt offices in Telangana; 2. Mass no payments for any govt services (utilities, road, rail transport and education institutions). Please keep the money to deposit it to the Telangana govt as and when formed. No need to do any Bandhs and impact any of the economic activity, just focus on govt and only govt. Please do not resort to any sort of violence.
The idea of denying Hyderabad to the people of Telangana is a dangerous one. It will create bitterness among the local people and endanger the livelihood and property of the "settlers". This mischevous idea must be nipped in the bud. We are Bengalis having migarated to Hyderabad many generations ago. So, we understand the typical psyche of Hyderabad and the popular mood of the people of Telangana.
Though I share your concern about the emotional bond developed by people of Andhra to Hyderabad with equal measure I urge you to empathise the feelings of the local people. If a settler with a few years of stay in Hyderabad could nourish such strong emotions, what about the emotions of the people of Telangana? What is the meaning of Telangana without Hyderabad ? To them Telangana is Hyderabad and Hyderabad is Telangana. You have referred about shifting of capital from Kurnool to Hyderabad.
I think you must be properly briefed over this issue; and I am at 83 years of age, is eminently qualified to do so. When I visited Kurnool in 1953 I found Mr Narasimham the legendary ICS officer was working under the tents with his secretariat. Literally the entire secretariat was working in the camps. Hyderabad was chosen as the capital because the penurious Andhra Leadership could ill afford to spend money for building expensive infrastructure. After all ready made infrasturcture was available in Hyderabad!
By the way, what do you mean by "snatching away" Hyderabad ? This comment is in bad taste. I noticed some andhrites pretending that Hyderabad was built by them. This is a historic lie. The Andhra leadership could not even add a single railway station to the city of Hyderabad... leave alone building the infrastructure. All the imposing structures of this beautiful city are built prior to the merger.
You have raised the issue of "identity" in your comment. I think formation of Telangana will promote the Telugu identity. Telugu people of Orissa, Maharashtra, Karnataka and Tamil Nadu, Telangana, and Andhra will henceforth will call themselves Telugu's instead of identifying themselves with a geographic entity called AP. Thus the pan AP telugu identity will be promoted with the formation of Telangana.
For generations Hyderabad has been a cosmopolitan city. People of all hues have lived and thrived in this city. Lyngdoh, the former Chief Election Commisioner has chosen it as his residence. Marathis, Kannadigas, Bengalis, and even Andrhaites can live and thrive in Hyderabad happily.
Excellent points, but 30 years too late. I would have agreed with all of it had we been living in Soviet Era world. But we live in a the era of globalization and any talk of protectionism must be nipped in the bud. Would you like it if the developed world build walls and say that jobs must stay in those countries? We are one of the primary beneficiaries of globalization and saddens to see people like Bal Thackerey and other advocate to build walls within our own country. In the age of privatization, We must provide freedom to corporations to hire the best talent they can find. We must rely less on government jobs. Private sector is where growth is. If we still keep the number of jobs in government, the eventual disparity of pay between private sector and public sector leads to corruption of public sector which is the root cause of all things wrong with India.
Division of states based on administrative needs for development must be taken but that division must not be based on caste,religion, language.
First of all Mr Rosaiah has to take responsibility for resulting the state in such a disastrous situation. He has to accept his failure and has to get down his throne instead he is very much interested in CM position. If one remembers the situation during 2009 poll, he is nominated owing to his bad health conditions. Now I wonder how he is healthy.
Rosaiah was made CM by Sonia. Do you think he has the right to resign? He only obeys Sonia, so there is no question asking him to step down or take the responsibility to this chaos. Asking Sonia to dethrone him would be the right way.
One has to understand the root cause of backwardness that people are harping on!! Is it really backward? Whom to blame for this backwardness? Going ahead, what happens if they get seperate statehood. Nothing... just nothing... You will not have buying power... It is proved that smaller states cannot muster the budget and Central aid This will significantly improve the position of Tamil Nadu and Karnataka being bigger states. Just think..... it has been proved in last elections that some good things done by YSR have given seats in Telangana region pulling away from TRS... that is hard reality... people want progress... not politics.... after software boom and land boom, all cities adjacent to hyd have improved their value tremendously... unlike KCR statements, there are numerous presence of telangana population in education and software industry... 40 % of indian-american people in US are from telangana. Who is he cheating? It is the advent of ABVP a fit for none organisation has entered and spoiling the studies of students. Can anyone summarise what is the gain they would get by separate Telangana? By all means it is going backwards by 8 years in terms of development. We could already see outflow of summits to Chennai. This could also be intention, a bigger game plan. Somebody said Andhra people are exploiting waters. Who stopped you from tapping it? They are entering AP from Telangana region. Who is sleeping? Who has aided and abetted naxals all these years which has deprived the region of development? Cause every government structure was blown by naxals. It is the politicians who have played with people. Think thru. I am here on this land for the past 30 years, but we have to weigh pros and cons. Why entire Telugu US community has unanimously opted for unified Andhra? Think logically. Students are just mob mentality, they need to be educated a little bit. Wishing everyone a better place, freedom of expression, respect for fundamental rights.
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