Opinion - Editorials   

Stirring the Telangana pot

The decision of the Telangana Rashtra Samithi (TRS) chief, K. Chandrasekhara Rao, and another party leader, A. Narendra, to resign from the Union Cabinet and pull out of the United Progressive Alliance (UPA) was inevitable. Since July 2005, when the TRS withdrew its Ministers from the Andhra Pradesh Government, the pressure has been on the Union Ministers to quit. While neither the Congress nor the Bharatiya Janata Party has ever taken a clear, unequivocal stand on the demand for constituting Telangana as a separate State, the UPA as an alliance remains divided on the issue. A special sub-committee headed by Defence Minister Pranab Mukherjee could not come to any consensus on the question. The Left parties, especially the CPI(M), have opposed the formation of a separate State while recognising the special problems of the Telangana region and the need for special provisions and measures. For its part, the Congress has let it be known that it is opposed to seeking the Bharatiya Janata Party's support in Parliament to push through the required legislation. Last month, the TRS announced an August 15 deadline for the Congress and the Government to take a final decision on its Statehood demand. Since the deadline could not be met, the TRS, which has five members in the Lok Sabha, had no option but to leave the Cabinet and the alliance. Mr. Rao's fast-unto-death at Jantar Mantar, demanding Statehood for Telangana, is backed by a TRS agitation in Andhra Pradesh.

The movement for a separate State of Telangana, first spurred on by support given by the States Reorganisation Commission in 1953, took off in the late 1960s, more than a decade after the constitution of the enlarged State of Andhra Pradesh. In 1969, a spontaneous movement took a new turn when Congress legislators from the Telangana region joined it and Dr. Channa Reddy launched his Telangana Praja Samithi in a short-lived political revolt. A realist, he merged his outfit with the Congress in 1971, went on seven years later to become Chief Minister of A.P., and give up the separate Telangana demand. In another political era, Mr. Rao broke out of the Telugu Desam Party to found the TRS, which struck a deal with the Congress for the 2004 Assembly and Lok Sabha elections in Andhra Pradesh. The TRS did not fare too well in these contests but its senior partner swept the polls. The Telangana region is badly in need of a development thrust. What is clear from election results is that its people do not want to break away from south India's largest State. The constructive way of resolving the issue is to work harder to overcome regional imbalances, strengthen federalism at every level, and perhaps craft a regional autonomy structure for Telangana within the State, by amending the Constitution if necessary. The Rajasekhara Reddy Government, which enjoys solid popular support across the State, has a real opportunity to break away from the beaten track so far as Telangana is concerned.

Printer friendly page  
Send this article to Friends by E-Mail

Stories in this Section

Stirring the Telangana pot
Israel comes off second best
Are Asians facing a witch-hunt in mid-air?
The empire strikes back
The undiminished popularity of A.Q. Khan
Degeneration of modern nations into tribalism
Corrections and Clarifications
Telangana issue
`No' to amendment
Unfortunate
Vande Mataram row
A shame!
A great loss

Copyright © 2006, The Hindu. Republication or redissemination of the contents of this screen are expressly prohibited without the written consent of The Hindu