New Delhi, January 07: When Justice B N Srikrishna spoke to the press a week ago ahead of submitting his committee’s Telangana report to the Union government, the former Supreme Court judge’s comments on it were replete with metaphors of child-birth. On Thursday, when the two-volume 461-page material was made public, it was clear that the five-member panel favoured a united Andhra Pradesh along with a statutory regional council for socio-economic and political empowerment of Telangana as the “most workable option” — that is, provided the government is able to handle the “highly charged emotions deftly, tactfully and firmly”.
However, taking into account the long history of highly emotive demand for separate Telangana because of neglect in implementation of key decisions of Gentlemen’s agreement, the panel as also suggested the bifurcation of Andhra Pradesh into Telangana and Seemandhra (Rayalaseema and coastal Andhra) as per existing boundaries with Hyderabad as capital of Telangana and a new capital for Seemandhra, as the second best option — having some merit.
Even so, recommending “timely action to satisfy people’s emotions and sentiments”, the report says it considers “unity is in the best interest of all the three regions” as internal partitions would not be conducive to sustainable solutions to the issues at hand. The Telangana issue can be addressed, “through the establishment of a statutory and empowered Telangana Regional Council with adequate transfer of fund, functions and functionaries”.
It says conceding the creation of separate Telangana will satisfy a large majority of people from the region, but warns the government to brace up for serious problems. The last workable option suggests bifurcation of AP into Seemandhra and Telangana with enlarged Hyderabad metropolis as a separate UT.A Congress MLA from Telangana, on condition of anonymity, said given the surcharged atmosphere in the light of announcement made by Union Home Minister P Chidambaram on Dec 9, 2009 in favour of a separate Telangana, anything less than that is going to split the Congress and create an unprecedented backlash in the State. “The situation is either give Telangana or face backlash, coupled with a mid-term poll,” he said.
Another reason that has allowed pro-Telangana people to raise the stakes is the report’s own analysis of why the fifth option of a separate Telangana with Hyderabad as its capital needs to be considered.
Making a case for the option, the report says, “The grievances of the people of Telangana, such as non-implementation of some of the key decisions included in the Gentleman’s Agreement (1956), certain amount of neglect in implementation of water and irrigation schemes, inadequate provision for education infrastructure, and the undue delay in the implementation of the Presidential Order on public employment, have contributed to the felt psyche of discrimination and domination, with the issue attaining an emotional pitch.” “Given the troubled past, it would be very difficult to bring people around to agree to the option of a Unified Andhra even though the report gives a plethora of reasons for it besides enlisting constitutional provision for socio-economic and political security for Telangana,” sources said.
There is a feeling within the government that sentiment unleashed after bifurcating Telangana would be easier to tackle than the backlash that may come its way if it lets the State remain united.
However, bifurcation is riddled problems, the main being the question of Hyderabad where the stakes of people belonging to Rayalaseema and coastal Andhra besides people from other regions and corporates are too high.
Besides taking a political call, the government is expected to seriously consider the separate Telangana option in the light of implications on internal security that the Srikrishna report has given in a separate cover to the home ministry.
–Agencies