Warangal, December 17: Mahagarjana today was a gathering of diehards. While there was much anticipation about the contents of the Srikrishna Committee report — due on Dec. 31 — the youthful crowd at the pink festival here today was vocal in what they expect from the panel: T and nothing else. A development package, perhaps? Not enough.
No one in the Mahagarjana crowd wanted to settle for anything less than a separate state. No glorious package of goodies seemed to hold any attraction to them. Some of the more exuberant members of the crowd that Express spoke to said that if Srikrishna and Co recommended a development package, it would only stoke the movement further.
They argued that people of the region have repeatedly sent across a message that what they want is a separate state, not only a developed region. The July byelections unequivocally proved that.
M Rajeswari from Bikkanur in Nizamabad district said: “We have been at the receiving end. Several promises have been made but none were kept. The Srikrishna panel cannot ignore public opinion and deliver a verdict against a separate state.” She says anything short of Telangana and any tinkering with the core demand — UT status for Hyderabad or a development package — would only trigger the demand for Telangana with renewed force.
R Muralidhar Reddy from Devarakadra in Mahaboobnagar district said a development package is no solution to the problem of Telangana. “We want to decide our own fate, having seen how we have been discriminated against since 1956. Take the recent rain havoc.
Telangana districts too suffered. But who’s talking about it?’’ Muslim members of the Mahagarjana crowd were just as vociferous. Md Sultan Ahmed from Vikarabad in Ranga Reddy district said: ‘’In the past we were offered several such packages. There was a feeling that the minorities were not very keen on separate statehood. If the rulers try to deceive us with another offer of a package, we are not ready to be taken for a ride again.’’ Miner K Raja Rao from Illendu in Khammam district was vocal in rejecting packages of any kind. “These packages won’t trick us. All of us want Telangana and nothing else. Every Telangana organisation and every party is demanding a separate state. At this juncture if any attempt is made to silence the movement with offers of a package, there will be a revolt.’’
–Agencies