There was an interview last night on Telugu TV news channel of some girls of a college who were fasting and fighting for Samaikya Andhra. The reporter asked a series of questions to the girls and their teacher. He asked, ‘what are you fighting for?’ A girl answered, ‘for Samaikya Andhra’. He asked why. She replied, because kalasi unte kaladu sukham (which means ‘if we stay together then we are happy’).
When the reporter asked the other girl, she said, ‘we want Samaikya Andhra, we don’t want Telangana’. (What she meant was she doesn’t want separate Telangana.) The reporter said, ‘but people of Telangana are asking for a separate state, so that means you are anti-Telangana?’ to which said, ‘we want to live together under Samaikya Andhra’.
All the girls repeated the same sentences. When probed further they could not answer his questions. One girl even suggested she will fast till death. [You have to understand that this brainwashing of students by leaders and teachers is not unique to Andhra. Even Telangana regularly resorts to this and it is unfortunate.]
After this the teacher was asked the questions. She responded, ‘Varu Swarthaparulu, Memu Niswarthaparulam’. Meaning they are selfish people, we are unselfish people. She went on to add, ‘They are behaving like British who used Divide and Rule’. ‘They’ refer to Telangana people.
Divide and Rule
Many Andhra protestors who are fasting now are standing or sitting next to a statue of Potti Sriramulu while people around them chant Samaikya Andhra. When asked, they say they are against separation, against divide and rule. They tell you with a haughty attitude that they stand for integration, for united Andhra.
But the irony cannot be missed.
Potti Sriramulu is the epitome of division. He divided Madras State to carve out Andhra State. His death spurred the First SRC which divided the nation along linguistic lines. In fact, he can be credited with biggest ‘break up’ of this country. If ever, he should be a hero for ‘division of the country’ not for integration of the country.
United we stand Divided we Fall
Lack of historical knowledge can result in naïve people coming out onto streets blurting out clichés like United we Stand, Divided we Fall. If someone is fasting you would expect little stronger reasons than those clichés.
Someone should tell the Andhra protestors that their Andhra leaders have asked for a separate state whenever they wanted to. Their biggest icon, Potti Sriramulu, stands for division of states, not unification of states, and their chant that we should ‘stay united and not divide’ standing next to his status doesn’t make sense.
In 1973, guided only by one selfish motive, to overturn the guarantees given to Telangana people, Andhra leaders have demanded for a separate state under the slogan ‘Jai Andhra’ holding the center for ransom. They succeeded in overturning the Supreme Court ruling that protected interests of Telangana people. Today, when they chant ‘United we Stand, Divided we fall’ we can’t help but only admire their Machiavellian strategies.
So the slogan should change to:
United when Andhra wants to, Divided when Andhra wants to, and Damn Telangana!
Corollary: Because of this issue, Telangana politicians are more united than ever before. So are Andhra and Rayalaseema politicians. Their unity is cutting across political parties. We should celebrate that we are uniting our politicians under one common cause, may be, two commons causes. That should still count as unity ;-)
Sujai,
ReplyDeleteI may dare to disagree with you in this regard. Potti Sriramulu's agitation may have brought the division of Madras State but it resulted in a state whose majority people exclusively speak telugu. I suppose the andhra peoples's agitation with glorifying that great man is only may be an effort to identify with one state for telugu people. I don't think we need to scrutinize this aspect beyond that.
But this cerainly reveals our failure in correctly educating our people with genuine historical facts. I think most of these leaders who ae actually fighting for samikhyandra themselves do not correctly know the histrical facts or may be they kust don't care about that. Ofcourse we can guess with close approximation that these people are more interested in safeguarding their property and businesses in hyderabad(I am pointing towards Andhra politicans and not the students here)
Your feedback would be appreciated
Sravan:
ReplyDeletePotti Sriramulu, no doubt is a great man, and no disrespect to him in anyway. In many ways, I strongly believe that what happened because of him was the best thing for India (though some people do not agree with that).
Formation of states along linguistic lines was a pragmatic things that saved India from breaking up right away. And the credit should go to Potti Sriramulu for paving the way.
I write about this on some of my posts on this blog.
While Marathwada and Karnataka regions of Nizam willingly joined their linguistic brothers, Telangana did not. They should have respected that.
Just because now we have decided to group states on language basis does not mean, we can't have two states speaking two languages.
Potti Sriramulu, according to me, has done great service - break India along pragmatic lines, and which, according to me is a good thing. But why stop that in time and freeze it?
Why can't we break up now? Would Potti Sriramulu agree to that? Wouldn't he agree that a state has a right to break up (because he championed it)?
What I am saying is they are using the wrong idol for the wrong cause. If ever, one should use Potti Sriramulu as an example for breaking up a state, not unifying it.
Its like using Gandhi to wage a war.
Sujai,
ReplyDeleteActually, far from criticizing the students I really felt profound sympathy for them for not knowing the exact truth. I think abstract thinking should be a part of our curriculum in schools.
I only intended to give a counter argument but not against your intentions.
Ofcourse we can guess with close approximation that these people are more interested in safeguarding their property and businesses in hyderabad(I am pointing towards Andhra politicans and not the students here)
ReplyDeleteYour feedback would be appreciated
I believe there is a huge dichotomy in Telangana and Andhra on this issue.
It is in the amount of information ordinary people know.
Just take a look at the number of folklore songs created in the last ten years in Telangana. They talk about all the issues we talk on these blogs. That message goes straight to common people of Telangana.
While most Telangana people, even those in villages can spell out the reasons why we need Telangana, most Andhra people cannot mutter more than few cliches why they need Samaikya Andhra.
That's what I was saying. While Telangana was preparing itself for a new state the last ten years, Andhra people were just ignoring it.
Even a small boy in a small village in Telangana gives few reasons why we need Telangana. It has reached that level.
When Andhra people protest, I think they protest out of innocence, not out of malice. They are genuinely feeling sad that their state is breaking up.
And they genuinely believe that it is the product of few politicians. They don't realize at all that so many Telangana people are getting geared for a new state. Each of those rallies of 2004 were attended by lakhs of people. It started to reach common people in villages.
Folk songs and pamphlets were created, not by politicians, but common people. It is a people's movement.
Gaddar, who is a popular figure for Telangana people has spoken in loud words for a separate Telangana (though he is a communist).
Everyone know he is not a politician, and many people in villages get the message when he says something.
Just take a look at the number of folklore songs created in the last ten years in Telangana. They talk about all the issues we talk on these blogs. That message goes straight to common people of Telangana
ReplyDeleteI think that is how the hope was kept alive in the telangana people since several decades.
When Andhra people protest, I think they protest out of innocence, not out of malice. They are genuinely feeling sad that their state is breaking up.
Ironically most of them sympathize with the innocence and ignorance of telangana people(I felt that was genuine most of the times).
Probably their delibarate ignorance of keepig up with the facts of telangana and its peoples aspiration.Moreover poor reprentation of facts in history text books have helped in creating such a notion.
Sravan:
ReplyDeleteWe have another issue why we are not able to connect to Andhra people.
Its almost like we are accusing them of certain crimes (which we are) and they never thought they have committed those crimes.
We disagree there.
It requires a great degree of maturity to admit that their people have actually discriminated, marginalized and dominated us in the last twenty years.
You will rarely see someone from Andhra saying, yes, we did not implement those GOs, we did not recognize those presidential orders and so many recommendations and reports.
Nobody says, yes, we admit.
That's where the argument stops because they are not able to see our side at all.
It is much easier to believe that we are naive people, who have no mind of our own, who will follow cunning politicians.
It is convenient to believe that rather than know the truth.
Sorry few typos in the previous comments. Like instead of sixty years I said twenty years and so on.
ReplyDeleteIts almost like we are accusing them of certain crimes (which we are) and they never thought they have committed those crimes.
ReplyDeleteYes it is true that a great degree of maturity is needed to accept certain kind of facts(especially those that give unconscious sense of guilt for what they think they have earned).
But atleast if separated they have a chance to prove that wrong. At times I feel may be they do not even want to accept their conscience.
The development scenario of Telangana is very depressing. There is not even a single sector in which this region has not been ignored. We would, however, like to bring to your notice only a few areas to underscore the gravity of the situation.
ReplyDeleteEDUCATION
The literacy rate in Telangana is 37% as against 46% in Coastal Andhra, 45% in Rayalaseema and 72% in the Capital City.
Enrollment of students at the school level in Telangana is 30% instead of 40%, based on the size of population. Over 75% of the expenditure on government and government-aided colleges is incurred in the other two regions.
Out of 21 Universities and University level Institutions funded either by the State or the Central Government, 3 are located in Coastal Andhra, 7 in Rayalaseema, 10 in the Capital city and just one in the entire Telangana region.
IRRIGATION
69% percent of catchments area of river Krishna and 79% percent of catchments area of river Godavari are in the Telangana, and Telangana region gets less than 15% of the river waters.
The Coastal Andhra has usurped 80% of assured waters of Krishna allocated to the State by the Bachawat Tribunal. 90% of surplus waters, yet to be allocated, are reserved for the Rayalaseema, denying the Telangana its rightful share.
The Godavari waters have already been harnessed to irrigate more than 12 lakh acres in Coastal Andhra while the corresponding figure for Telangana is 4 lakh acres. The proposed Polavaram Project on Godavari is to serve the Coastal Andhra region is planned to be six times larger than the proposed Ichampalli Project to serve the backward Telangana region.
The net area under tank irrigation in the Telangana region had declined by 76% between 1956 and 1998. The Telangana farmers mostly depend on well irrigation. The farmers of Coastal Andhra get cheap canal water subsidized by the State, while the Telangana farmers are forced to pay higher electric pump bills.
AGRICULTURE
The net cultivated area in the Telangana region has decreased by 22% during the period 1956 and 1998, while it has increased by 4.25% in Coastal Andhra region.
40% of the cultivated area in the State is in the Telangana region, and the institutional credit available to the Telangana farmers is far less. They get 18%, 23% and 28% of the total credit provided by the District Cooperative Central Banks (short-term), the A.P. Cooperative Central Bank (long-term) and the Scheduled Commercial Banks.
Inadequate Institutional credit is forcing the Telangana farmers to fall into the debt trap laid by the private moneylenders, leading to an unprecedented number of suicides during the last five years.
INDUSTRIES
ReplyDeleteNo major industry worth its name has been setup in any of the districts of the Telangana region as compared to the establishment of several industries in Visakapatnam, Vijayawada, Kakinada, Nellore, Tirupati, and Cuddapah.
Quite a few major industries established in the Telangana region during the rule of Nizams are being closed one after the other by the successive governments. Important among the closed industries are Azamjahi Mills (Warangal), Sir Silk Factory (Sirpur), Antargaon Spinning Mills (Adilabad), DBR Mills, and Allwyn Factory. Further the famous Nizam Sugar Factory (Nizamabad) is on the verge of closure.
EMPLOYEMENT
There are about 15 lakh jobs in the government and government-funded offices and establishments. Based on the size of population, 40% of these jobs, i.e. 6 lakhs, should have been filled in by the Telangana job seekers. But the total number of jobs now occupied by them is less than 2 lakhs.
The State Government issued orders as back as in the year 1984 to remove all the non-locals appointed and to appoint only Telangana locals against the vacancies created. Besides not implementing these orders, further recruitment of non-locals in the Telangana region is going on.
FINANCES
The contribution of Telangana region to the State’s Exchequer has all along been around 43%. But the expenditure incurred on the development of this region has never been more than 25%.
The lower per capita income of the Telangana region enabled the State Government to get higher allocation of funds from the successive Finance Commissions. But the benefit of such higher allocation of funds never materialized for the Telangana region.
More than 80% of loans taken from the World Bank and other International and National agencies are being spent for the development of Coastal Andhra and Rayalaseema. But the burden of repayment of these loans and interest on them is being borne by the people of Telangana to the extent of 40 to 43%.
A cumulative effect of these and similar factors, over the years, has been the diversion of thousands of crores of rupees meant for the development of Telangana region, for the development of other regions.
The situation in other sectors is equally, if not more, alarming. The Drinking water is a major issue for the Telangana region. The people mostly depend on bore-wells for their drinking water and are inflicted with fluorosis. The fluorides in the drinking water cause permanent disfigurement, brain damage and there is no cure for it.
Telangana is rich with resources. Telangana people are asking: Use Telangana resources for the development of Telangana region for the betterment of Telangana people
THIS IS AN EXCERPT FROM http://www.telangana.org/Appeal.asp
Sujai
ReplyDeleteSorry few typos in the previous comments. Like instead of sixty years I said twenty years and so on.
Its OK. i do the same several times.
Sujai,
ReplyDeleteI remember, you said that people of Andhra and Rayalaseema are more safer in Hyderabad than Tamils in Bangalore and Mumbai. I want to tell you two incidents happened in hyderabad, ofcourse one happened to my collegue. Last night, when he was in way to his home from office at 8:30 PM, he called an auto from an auto stand. The driver refused to come since my collegue speaks in East Godavari slang and two other druken drivers came near him and shouted at him to say "Jai Telangana" and came nearer to them. He scared and returned back to office. This is very small incident as compared to the civil war going to happen in near future. And you might have seen how TRS workers are attacking the film actors.
Why Telugu people should fight like this and destroying our own properties? Is this really required? We want to be as India and Pakistan after division? Already Andhra Pradesh has lost all its pride.
Also one more comment on this blog: Do you think the movements running in Telangana are real and came from the public? Do students of Osmania university knows clearly what they are doing? This is not particular to one place, everywhere stupid politicians are running these and business people are standing behind.
As per me, there are two solutions for this problem. First is the second SRC and another is, govt should declare Telangana to be given after 10 years, so that all Andhra and Rayalaseema people will leave Hyderabad.
Pavan,
ReplyDeleteWhy this happened for the first time to your friend? WHy such things never came into notice during the 10 Days telangana people were agitating?
It is the actions of samaikhyandhra activists and the utter disregard for the genuine wishes of telangana people and not letting them go at their free will that is erupting such kind of resentment from telangana people.
It i better to separate on froendly terms and such a fierce kind of resistance from andhra to disregard the telangana people's wishes would be disastrous for both sides. I am sorry for your friend. But it is the right time we separate out, or else this animosity against each other will increase rather than help form an united state.
govt should declare Telangana to be given after 10 years, so that all Andhra and Rayalaseema people will leave Hyderabad.
ReplyDeleteThe better option is immediately pass resolution in parliament and separate both states for 10 years and then hold a referendum if they still like to stay separate or unite again.
Pavan Sudheer:
ReplyDeletetwo other druken drivers came near him and shouted at him to say "Jai Telangana"
It’s unfortunate. We apologize on behalf of those Telangana people - but I am not sure that would help.
This is very small incident as compared to the civil war going to happen in near future.
However, please keep this in mind. Everyone in Telangana is clear on one thing. The only reason P Chidambaram changed his stance on Telangana today is because of Andhra-Rayalaseema people and politicians. The Andhra politicians first promised and showed readiness to grant statehood to Telangana and then betrayed them. They even included this in their election manifestos. The Andhra people came out onto streets to force the Center into delaying Telangana formation.
Most of us, even the most reasonable, literate and rational of Telangana, hold Andhra politicians and people responsible for what happened today.
Why Telugu people should fight like this and destroying our own properties?
Why Andhra people are bent on denying us our right to form our own state?
Is this really required?
Ask yourself, is this really required that Andhras should have gone onto streets to deny Telangana their statehood?
We want to be as India and Pakistan after division?
Ask yourself this question, why all this parade on streets, fasts, resignations, and flight from Vijayawada to Hyderabad antics? Do you want to create India/Pakistan situation in Hyderabad?
Ask yourself this, did those drunk Telangana people ever come and ask any Andhra people to chant ‘Jai Telangana’ before this? So why are they doing that now? They believe they can get away with it in the current charged atmosphere.
Already Andhra Pradesh has lost all its pride.
Telangana lost its pride on 1st November 1956 when Andhras started to flout each and every point of Gentlemen’s Agreement starting from day the state was formed.
Also one more comment on this blog: Do you think the movements running in Telangana are real and came from the public?
You have absolutely no idea what’s happening in interiors of Telangana. People are in the driver seat, politicians of Telangana are only reacting.
As per me, there are two solutions for this problem. First is the second SRC and another is, govt should declare Telangana to be given after 10 years, so that all Andhra and Rayalaseema people will leave Hyderabad.
Both the solutions are not acceptable to people of Telangana. We will never believe any more promises.
Sravan,
ReplyDeleteWhy this happened for the first time to your friend? WHy such things never came into notice during the 10 Days telangana people were agitating? It is the actions of samaikhyandhra activists and the utter disregard for the genuine wishes of telangana people and not letting them go at their free will that is erupting such kind of resentment from telangana people.
Very dissappointed seeing the above. I thought only politicians are talking like this. Yes, I agree we need to seperate out.
Pavan Sudheer Rampalli:
ReplyDeleteVery dissappointed seeing the above. I thought only politicians are talking like this. Yes, I agree we need to seperate out.
You have to excuse us today. We are not in a good mood. Indian democracy has betrayed us once again. It proved to us that a majority can suppress a minority into submission.
Today for the first time I think an agitation to facillitate tyranny was given the lead against the needful.
ReplyDeleteSuppose if labor party and Conservative parties, back then united for just one cause, to deny independent India.....
I dont think anybody needs to imagine....I am already feeling it.
Indeed the majority wins. Brutal majority...
Dear sravan, idler, yogijp and sujai,
ReplyDeleteCan you people post your GPG public keys?
Thanks
Sujai,
ReplyDeleteNo problem! I knew that you are not in a good mood. I guessed this after seeing your reply. I know about you as I worked under you and watching your blogs from past one year. I wish your dream will come true.
The basic problem with Human beings is that once you give him a human being a small piece of cake, He will ask the whole PIE.
ReplyDeleteI believe all the major problems that India has had over the past 60 years is the cause of only one man - a weakling called Jawaharlal Nehru.
Being English educated and staying abroad in youth the man never understood the thinking among Indians.
He is the cause of major issues in India till today:-
1. Starting with partition he asked the Muslims to remain back in India when they were ready to leave to Pakistan. Had he allowed them to go to Pakistan and complete transfer of population had taken place most of the communal issues seen today would have been solved.
2. He ruined our economy by following Socialism. While Europe and Japan were enjoying breathtaking Economic Miracles by adopting Capitalism, Nehru adopted Socialism which left the country desperately poor. This was also continued by his daughter.
3. THIRD MAJOR mistake he did and which is the cause of all the TELANGANA movement is the Formation of STATES reorganization committee to divide India according to Linguistic Lines.
I dont really know who Potti Sriramulu was but I certainly believe that he has done a major disservice to the nation.
That he fasted and that Nehru buckled under pressure like he always did is causing major problems to India till today.
Had Nehru had the guts he should have caught hold of that Potti thing and put him in Jail and made him eat.
Nehru did not do that and the guy fasted and died. After that he again buckled under pressure and agreed for division of India under Linguistic Lines......
The greatest misfortune for India was the Sardar Vallabhai patel died a premature death.
He was the only nationalistic "IRON MAN" among the hordes of traitors.
Had Sardar been alive he would have taken care of that Potti types of pieces of shits.
And people like KCR would have pissed in his pants hearing his name.
Only God can save our great nation.
Pavan Sudheer Rampalli
ReplyDeleteIts waste of time to write on this blog which is biased completely 100 percent towards Telangana and are not ready to listen or understand other side.
They reject everything from supreme court order to constitution of this country which banned certain unconstitutional acts.
There is a study done by Professor Nirupam Bajpai of earth institute on this you can check on this, of cource all Telangana people will reject this since objectivity is not a matter.
I have seen a video of TRS chief yesterday in response to Mohan babu. KCR points out that when a person from Andhra tells him that he is fearful to come to Hyderabad. KCR says that if he does good work then he should be good, if he does langa panulu then he must be afraid.
Now Is KCR god of andhra people in Hyderabad who is deciding what is good done by Andhra people and what langa panulu Andhra People?
Who appointed him to Judge andhra people did Nizam appoint him or god himself?
If this was china. There would be peace by this time. I see how they are dealing with uigar SEPERATISTS.
Sravan, Thanks for being a voice of sanity and clearing up regarding Potti Sriramulu. Politicians need villains and do these all the time, but we dont have to.
ReplyDeleteSujai said: "You have to excuse us today. We are not in a good mood. Indian democracy has betrayed us once again. It proved to us that a majority can suppress a minority into submission."
Dont worry dear, its going to be a new tamasha from tomorrow with new resignations, fasts, strikes from the other side. May be, the center will dissolve the assembly. And people will watch news channels for entertainment as many others are suffering.
@Blueshift
ReplyDelete"If this was china. There would be peace by this time. I see how they are dealing with uigar SEPERATISTS."
Now you showed your face i.e. Andhra/Seemas are no different from chinese. Then definitely you are on the wrong side of the world opinion and need to be counted in that minority, which supports chinese way of brutal governance.
Great to know that you are a chinese admirer. So according to you, the Lama should have been sent back to China. No further analogies permitted. You are a BUTT OF RIDICULE (BOR), because at one point you quote some professor or earth institute researcher; while contradicting the verdict of the Nobel prize committee that awarded Nobel peace prize on Lama. As said earlier, no extrapolation of analogies.
@sravan, Idler, yogijp and sujai:
neither of you have replied on my previous comment. If no one is interested, then Sujai do remove my previous post.
Thanks
Sujai,
ReplyDeleteI am not a supporter of separate Telengana but don't worry some other option will open up to develop the region.
I already told you that you cannot compare formation of Chattisgarh or Jharkhand with formation of Telengana. The regions opting out there were not taking out the capital city with them. So this is a completely different case. But you never know, Central Govt might support separate Telengana after it comes up with a plan.
But I urge all Telengana and AP supporting intellectuals to with a plan to make sure that all regions in the state grow evenly.
I hope the developed brethren take care of their undeveloped ones.
This comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDelete