Telangana is on a short fuse. A restive Andhra Pradesh is reminding the central government that time is running out.
Sadly, no bomb disposal expert was in sight on a day the state shut down, unless you call the goofy Ghulam Nabi Azad one (He is now being mocked everywhere for saying homosexuality is a disease). In the absence of a sage voice in Delhi or Hyderabad, you can expect politicians of all colours to confuse and confound you in the coming days. Telangana is an emotive issue, and not just for those demanding statehood.
After agreeing to concede statehood for Telangana in 2009, Delhi is now dithering. Home Minister P Chidambaram, who announced he would initiate the process to form a new state that year, is talking about a consultative process again. That's not going to go down well with Telangana proponents. Andhra Pradesh is now ruled by the Congress, a party beseiged by dissent from within and without. It cannot pretend that all is well and carry on.
In 2009, Delhi announced a commission to examine the statehood demand. Headed by Justice Srikrishna, the commission got down to work quickly. It submitted its report in December 2010, suggesting various ways to solve the problem. The commission recognised the ground reality that the demand for statehood enjoys popular support. The centre has little excuse to put off action on Telangana.
Health Minister Azad, whom a Telangana delegation met on Tuseday, isn't committing to much. He said statehood was a "sensitive and complex issue", prompting a joke on Twitter that he had perhaps mixed up his speeches, and ended up saying about Telangana what he ought to have been saying about homosexuality.
What's Telangana all about? The northern part of the state feels it is dominated by politicians from the southern and coastal regions of the Telugu country. The 10 districts of Telangana became a part of Andhra Pradesh in 1956, when states were reorganised throughout India. It seems there were many sceptics even then, with prime minister Jawaharlal Nehru openly expressing doubts about the marriage.
In the last five decades, Telangana leaders allege, their region has been discriminated against, with non-Telangana districts cornering all resources. The bandh that began on Tuesday (5 July) revives the demand for a separate state. Andhra Pradesh has shut down almost completely, and the bandh continues on Wednesday.
AP reports: "The demand for a new Telangana state gained strength in late 2009 when veteran politician K. Chandrasekhara Rao began a hunger strike. After 11 days, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh's government agreed to split the state, but little action has been taken since then."
Thankfully, there hasn't been much violence, although Osmania University, hub of Telangana activism, has been tense since Tuesday morning. Police lobbed teargas shells and dispersed students supporting the Telangana shutdown.
Both the centre and the state government are under intense pressure as legislators are resigning in huge numbers.
As The Telegraph writes, it's a battle of nerves. At last count, 100 MLAs had resigned from the Andhra Pradesh assembly. That could trigger a constitutional crisis, forcing the imposition of president's rule. That's not such a bad idea, according to K T Rama Rao, leader of the Telangana movement, and son of Telangana Rashtriya Samiti leader K Chandrashekhar Rao, whose hunger strike in 2009 swung the balance in favour of a separate state. Just before Punjab was split to enable the formation of Haryana, president's rule was in force.
Hyderabad is the bone of contention among Telangana proponents and opponents. Who should get the city? That question will be at the centre of much discussion in the coming days, if the central government moves as it should.
Delhi needs to act quickly, and deploy the right people, if it is serious about controlling the Telangana fire from spreading.
