No State

Vasu Reddy From Chicago
vasureddy@aol.com

Andhra Pradesh has become a no state for its people and the Telugu speaking community. For several years the state (if it remains one state by tomorrow) has been so focused on separation, and has completely ignored the bond between the people of the state, and definitely the needs of the people of the state. Since the accidental death of YSR in 2009, the state has not been able to hold together and live together, and also do anything positive for all the people of Andhra Pradesh. If and whenever the separation of the state becomes a reality, there will be much to look back and wonder about the same people of the state and their life and history from the time Telugu people and their heritage can be traced back to. Telugu people simply don't even see anything with the same context and seem to detest each other. No brotherhood, no friendship, no kinship and no nothing seems to have been in place, except hatred.

Even people who have lived away from AP for a generation or more have the same feelings are the people who live in the state at this time, simply don't see anything in the same light. We don't agree on anything, just make us two states and let us be separated. There is no pride nor self respect that belongs to the Telugu people, just simple animosity between the regions. Let us be two states and that's it. We have to wonder if these are the same people who moved across the districts of the state for generations and married with in the state and have relatives all over the state. For some reason or the other the division has become more important part of life rather than kinship and development.

Politicians and political parties have not been helping the cause of either an united state nor two separate states. They constantly fuel the flames of division and for several years have kept the people fuming at each other; just brother against brother. The differences of people and their history is real to some extent, and much of the rhetoric is made up by the politicians, while ignoring the real needs of the people of all of the Andhra Pradesh as it stands. In the years of agitation students, workers and families have lost life, property and more than anything else dignity of the state and their well being.

We have had no functional state and we are pushing for two states from here. Years of agitation and inaction have cost the state its premier status as an IT hub and an entertainment center, along with Hyderabad as a great tourist attraction. While keeping the ideology and aspirations of all of the Andhra people, it is also sad that the few choice politicians have been able to destroy the growth and infrastructure of the state. Outside of the destruction of the systems and progress, the destruction of brotherhood and friendship has added a great deal of stress to the people of the entire state.

The center has little to gain by the actions it has taken and is about to take, as politicians who represent the ruling government are no longer inside the house to even participate in the separation debate. They are either fighting with each other or the latest events show that they are still capable of fist fights and gassing each other, outside of uncomplimentary language which is in abundance when it they see any kind of media coverage. The people's representatives have really lost it in representing the people, they simply cannot tolerate each other, nor conduct their business without abusing others. In the case of INC the latest is that most of the abuse if directed at their own party and their own leadership.

At the end of all these commotion and hoopla we might end up splitting Andhra Pradesh, and more so splitting the people of the state and their wonderful integration of language and traditions and drawing lines to further political causes, but we may end up with no state. We have to look forward to more uncertainty and unplanned future for the states, and more loss of opportunity for all of its people. All is simply because the center never really is in understanding or appreciation of the needs of the people. India is full of historical blunders in reference to mapping of its states and its initiatives on how to deal with its own people and its neighbors. The state of Andhra Pradesh and its future is one more page in the Indian book of blunders.