Skip to main content

From stalemate to reconciliation (in AP) - 2

(to be read in continuation of the 1st part written below)

I would like to discuss each of the 4 possible scenarios & try to argue from the perspective of Middle-class on both sides. Its impossible to take into account every section, as any change of any dimension is bound to create problems for those who've enjoyed the status-quo. Due to the very dimension of this problem its bound to affect many! But I've restricted myself to middle-classes on both sides.(For eg. few telangana people near Hyd suburbs don't like this idea as it might cause slump in their real estate business, does this make this movement any less authentic?)

Initially I argued that since common man in AP is the scapegoat, people of Telangana must not ask for separate state as they will eventually be misled by politicians. For precisely the same argument that common man is usually made bakra I have changed my stance now. In huge states, prominent politicians are not answerable to every part of their state. Hence, it makes sense to liberate regions as politicians are more locally answerable. (within reasonable limits.....I'll soon try to make a case with some examples on what I mean by this.)

In huge states, people of one particular region don't get satisfied, because of the highly skewed nature of the number game. Wishes of people don't get adequately represented in the form of Governing party because of the inherent complexities of the system. For the problems of 1947 our answer of linguistic states has been immensely successful.
Now, we have different problems to face, which we need to face with newer solutions & the application of same old formula is not going to work.

As to why Telangana movement is so persistent I would like to add my personal observation (with no offence intended to anyone). I've been to Goa many times & the people out there are very European in their thinking. Mature, slow & steady. Yet, I heard that they quite vehemently opposed their merger with Maharashtra & fought for independent status. So, this is quite an emotional issue & there is no need to be very surprised at this.

1.) Issue is resolved/suppressed (like 1969) & AP continues to be united.

Well, this is to grossly underestimate the strong sentiment prevalent here in Telangana(TG) region. I once jocularly asked my Telangana friend what if businessmen/politicians buy out all leaders who're agitating? He said grimly that if anybody betrays TG cause, they might never be able to set his/her foot in TG region again.

For a vast middle class its become impossible to buy home at affordable prices due to inflated real-estate. What is that prosperity that doesn't reach the majority? Most TG people complain that Hyderabad has become more of "outsiders' city" & they themselves are unable to enjoy the fruits of prosperity of Hyd.

To a middle class person from Andhra, I still come across people who often complaints that they need to come all the way to Hyd to make the best possible living within AP. For a middle-class Andhra guy with some talent there is absolutely no way that he can earn his best within Andhra. He has to migrate to other Metros & if wishes to enjoy Telugu atmosphere he has to minimum migrate atleast to Hyd. Contrast this with Tamil Nadu (I pursued my engg in TN, & hence can claim reasonable authenticity) . One needn't come to Chennai to be at his peak earnings, within marginal adjustments he can be at Coimbatore & these days also at Trichy & Madurai. Development is relatively more balanced there.

This is a golden opportunity to move out & build up a new Capital for Andhra region.

2.) Telangana state granted with Hyderabad going Chandigarh way. Union Territory (UT)+ Joint Capital

This is certainly the most ridiculous idea. How will Andhra representatives come to another State, make their decisions in a foreign land, & come back to implement the same. The capital of any region has to be within its territory. This will only create additional burden on Hyd whose infrastructure is hardly able to support the city's increasing growth. Anyway, what we presently know as Hyd is well into the neighboring districts. So, this is ruled out for reasons of impracticality.

Comments

All-time Hits

The Controversial Caste System of Hinduism

Imagine concepts like feudal system, slavery, capitalistic exploitation and anti-Semitism being used to define the core of Christianity! Christians will be outraged at this inappropriate mixing of the core universal values of Christians and societal & historical aspects which merely existed in a Christian world. Now this raises the question – why is caste system defined as the core of Hinduism? Especially as “caste” itself is a western construct. Sounds irrelevant? Okay. Now imagine concepts like slave-trade, war on infidels, brutal subjugation of masses, temple destruction, and forceful conversions marking the core of Islam. It is considered sensible to first understand what the core scriptures speak about the religion and its universal values. The ills of the community & its societal aspects are differentiated from its core philosophy. Now, this brings us to the most interesting question – why is Caste System (caste based on birth) propagated to be the def

Chetan Bhagat : His Literary Style and Criticism

Chetan Bhagat’s (CB) recent column created a furore, chiefly because of his audacity to speak for Muslim community and what many people conflate with his support for Narendra Modi’s Prime Ministerial ambitions.   But what interested me most - and what this post would focus on - is questioning of his literary merit (or lack of it). Many journalists ridicule CB’s style of writing and his oversimplistic portrayals of characters sans nuance or sophistication. But I suspect this has more to do with the fact that his readers alone far outnumber the combined readers of many journalists - a point that many don’t appear capable of digesting. No takers for layman’s language! When Tulsidas rewrote Ramayana in Avadhi (a local contemporary dialect then), many conservative sections of society came down heavily upon him for defiling the sanctity of a much revered epic (originally written in Sanskrit). When Quran was first translated in Urdu (by Shah Abdul Qadir in 1798), it faced int

The concept of Dharma in Ramayana

The concept of Dharma is not adequately understood by Hindus themselves, not to mention others. Dharma is not a set of do’s and don’t’s or a simplistic evaluation of good and bad. It requires considerable intellectual exertion to even begin understanding Dharma, let alone mastering its use. Is Dharma Translatable? Few words of a language cannot be faithfully translated into another without injuring its meaning, context & spirit. English translations of Dharma are blurred and yield words like religion, sense of righteousness, discrimination between good and bad, morals and ethics or that which is lawful. All these fall short of fully grasping the essence of Dharma. Every language has an ecosystem of words, categories and grammar which allow a user to stitch words together to maximum effect such that meaning permeates the text without necessarily being explicitly explained at each point. Sanskrit words such dharma, karma, sloka, mantra, guru etc., now incorporated in Eng

Trending Now