Almost all the state capitals in the country with the exception of a few like Chandigarh and Gandhinagar are old cities which have evolved into their role for historical reasons. The people of Seemandhra, thanks to the realpolitik of the Congress party, have a truncated state but not a capital. They have the dubious distinction of losing their capital city twice in less than a century, once in the 1950s to their Tamil cousins after building the city of Madras for over a hundred years or more and now Hyderabad to their Telangana brethren, after elevating a medieval town into a world-class city.
Today they are people robbed of their capital and derided as “settlers” in what was their capital for more than half-a-century. Yet there is a silver lining to this double misfortune. Here is an opportunity for them to build themselves a new capital, a smart city that would reflect their history and culture.
This would be possible only if they bear in mind that a capital is more than a collection of buildings and that it draws on both history and emotion.
We may recall that when the Madras Presidency entrusted the responsibility of establishing a university in the Telugu-speaking districts to C.R. Reddy, an eminent educationist and a towering public persona, he found the Telugu politicians divided on regional lines — the Ceded Districts (now Rayalaseema) and the Coastal Andhra group. The former, which included the four districts of Bellary, Anantapur, Cuddapah and Kurnool (Chittoor district was yet to be carved out), was more vociferous demanding that the university be located in one of their districts and not be called “Andhra” university as the name would identify it with the coastal districts.
C.R. Reddy could allay their apprehensions and persuade them to fall in line. He not only located the university in Visakhapatnam, a place he admired — he called it a “city of destiny” — but ensured that the name he chose for the university, “Andhra University”, was retained. The fact that he was from Chittoor and was going to be the founding vice-chancellor allayed the fears of the Ceded Districts politicians.
The leaders of the Ceded Districts those days nurtured ambitions for a separate state that included Kolar which was largely Telugu-speaking then. At a meeting in 1937, at the residence of Kasinadhuni Nageswara Rao, Sri Bagh, they agreed to throw in their lot with Andhra leaders to work for a separate state for Telugu-speaking on the terms laid down in what is now called the “Sri Bagh Agreement”. This agreement, also called a gentlemen’s agreement, stipulated that whenever a separate state comprising the Telugu-speaking areas was formed, the capital would be in the Ceded Districts and the high court in the Andhra districts.
This is obviously the reason why Kurnool was chosen as the capital of Andhra and Guntur as the seat of high court. There was a similar agreement between Andhra and Telangana leaders later in 1956 promising a regional council for Telangana and the office of deputy chief minister in case the chief minister was from Andhra districts.
In the recent agitation for Telangana, one constant refrain was that the later gentlemen’s agreement was violated in the combined state. In the light of this, it is for the wise politicians of Seemandhra to remember that there is an earlier gentlemen’s agreement that should also be honoured.
It should also be remembered that the capital of the Andhra state was in Kurnool at the time of integration of Telangana with Andhra. As Telangana has now broken away, the capital should revert to Kurnool.
If that is not possible for whatever reasons, a consensual solution should be found keeping recent history in mind. There is a feeling that the Rayalaseema districts, which lost the capital once, must not lose it again.
Vested interests seem to be making efforts to take the capital to the Guntur-Vijayawada region which is already overcrowded and slum-ridden.
Locating the capital in this region is bound to destroy fertile agricu-ltural lands and would further strain the drainage which has already reached choking levels. Krishna and
Godavari deltas are a precious heritage of our state and cannot be squandered on land-devouring development of any kind, let alone the capital. Let us also remember that avaricious land-cornering by specul-ators around the twin cities of Hyderabad and Secunderabad, contributed in no small measure to the recent Telangana agitation. They must not be allowed to have their way again.
The coast in any case is already developed and is bound to develop further with increased sea and shore-based activities. Minor and major ports, fishing harbours, brackish-water fish and shrimp ponds, coconut groves, sea-side resorts and a host of other commercial activities will bring in its wake better infrastructure.
The chief minister of Andhra Pradesh (it is cruel to call it the residuary state) has gone on record to say that a new capital would need an investment of Rs 4-5 lakh crore. Even if half that amount is spent, it should be spent wisely and well. An investment of such magnitude should go into an area which needs to be developed, not a place which is already developed and prosperous. Capital-building can boost development in a relatively less developed region as the example of Hyderabad has clearly demonstrated.
Seemandhra would, therefore, do well to locate the capital away from the coast, in an area where there is substantial government land available. Acquiring private land — land compensation laws being what they are — is something the new state cannot afford, given its lean finances.
A well-meaning government, therefore, would locate the capital in an area that is not fit for agriculture. It should also be a place where the coastal and Rayalaseema districts meet, a place where everyone can feel at home. The argument that the new capital shall be close to a river belongs to the times when water could not be moved. Conveying water over a hundred kilometre is not a problem these days. Is not Hyderabad getting its water from 150 km away?
The accursed Telugu people are already split between Telangana and Seemandhra. One only hopes they will not be further split over the issue of the new capital.
The writer is chairman, Telugu Praja Vedika, Hyderabad
