The Srikrishna Committee appointed to look into the demand for a separate Telengana state had submitted a “secret” second report to the Union home ministry suggesting ways and means to ensure that there is no division of Andhra Pradesh.
The secret note has gone into minute details of what needs to be done to ensure that a Telengana state is not formed, although in its public report the Committee did not rule in favour of any one option.
The Andhra Pradesh High Court has recently decided that the report should be made public. In this secret report the Srikrishna Committee has made several “secret” recommendations for the “management” of the media, the political leaders of both the ruling party and the Opposition, as well as the security forces in the state.
Going far beyond its brief the Srikrishna Committee submitted one report for public consumption and a second supplementary report where it has gone into the ownership pattern of the state electronic and print media maintaining that since the “main editors/resident and sub editors” are “Seemandhra people”, “media management assumes critical importance to ensure that only the reality is projected and no unnecessary hype is created.”
It goes on to say that “the editorial opinions, the banner headlines, the regional content, the district editions need to be managed to be realistic and should give only due coverage to the separate Telengana agitations.”
The secret note identifies two Channels, Raj News and HMTv as the only two of the 13 television channels in the state as supporting a separate Telengana state. The “beat journalists” are singled out by the Committee for fuelling passions in the state on this issue.
The secret report with the Union home ministry also speaks of the need for unity among the leaders of the ruling party in the state. Noting the need for a “a strong and firm political leadership” and referring to an earlier discussion with the Union Home and Finance Minister, the report suggests the need for action to “soften the TRS to the extent possible. It goes on to state that “the Congress high command must sensitize its own MPs and MLAs and educate them about the wisdom for arriving at an acceptable and workable solution.” The note, basically suggests, that representatives of Telengana should be appointed in top key positions, that the ruling party and the opposition should be brought on the same page, the TRS should be “softened” and that legislators from the Congress should not extend covert/overt support to the agitation.
The Srikrishna Committee’s secret note maintains that a separate state of Telengana, if formed, would be an epicenter for Maoist violence and communal violence. It has said about Muslims…”there is a certain sense of mutual suspicion between two communities…if communal passions become an additional factor in an atmosphere where unemployment, social unrest, etc exist, it may give rise to birth of militant, Jihadi elements…”It goes on to add “…Telangana has a large number of Muslim pockets and to counter Muslim influence, Hindu fundamentalists may compete with them and try to polarize the Hindu population…..”
In the secret report the Committee seems to contradict its own position in the public report favouring a merger of Rayalseema with Telangana. It maintains, “since the BJP has a strong presence, it may try to consolidate in Telangana area and further extend its base. AIMIM may try to expand in Rayalseema regions resulting in birth of militant communalism in certain pockets.”
Significantly the Committee wants “an appropriate plan of deployment grid of police force (both central and state) with full technical support” to be immediately drawn up. In its view “the trouble creators in the three regions must be identified in advance and suitable action plan prepared. ” The Committee note makes it clear that in meetings with the Chief Secretary and top police officials both sides had discussed, “the kind of equipment and weaponry” that should be used, and that this should not “cause fatal injuries but at the same time be effective enough to bring the agitationists quickly under control.” No mention was made by the Committee of those, largely students, who had committed suicide during the agitation. The Court has observed that “if the committee has suggested use of arsenal of lesser degree it is not because there is any pity or sympathy towards the agitators, obviously it is to avoid the wrath of the human rights agencies.”
The High Court said that the “only basis for making it secret appears to be that such ideas do not occur to jurists and social scientists and they are not said in public.” It noted that the “withholding of the note from the public is arbitary, unreasonable and unconstitutional..”
Seema Mustafa