Vasu Reddy from Chicago
The irony of the current state is that AP was created with the sacrifice of many, and mainly associates with Potti Sriramulu and his self sacrifice. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Potti_Sreeramulu. Since the formation of AP in 1953 until it was split in 2014, the state has had a remarkable and fractured history with its capital inHyderabad
This past week is a
very hard week to comprehend for all citizens of AP. For more than two years after procrastination
and postponement, the BJP government at the center declared they will not grant
special status to AP, but will provide a package to build the infrastructure to
help meet the requirements of the newly formed (now more than 2 years)
state. The center announced at midnight
just on the eve of the weekend, that there is no way that it can announce the
special status for AP. Modi has been in
office for 2 years and this parliament under the INC rule had declared the
grant of special status to AP, and (once again while Modi is somewhere else in
the world) the announcement for all to hear, nothing for AP.
In October 2015, I
had written on the same issue and aptly named my weekly column, “Orphan State
The current AP
political leadership, and its opposition parties and for a fact all people of
AP; all did not believe the words “special status being considered by the
center”. It was a known fact that AP had
no consideration and the so called “special status” was nothing but a
whitewash. But the state’s current CM
and the minister’s at the center kept the discussion alive with the simply
consideration in their vocabulary.
Now we have the
word that the center will not be granting a special status, what do we do? With every aspect of the bifurcation of the
state into Telangana and AP (it is really residual AP) already implemented,
there is little room for reversing the two year old decision of the INC to
split the state. And as far as the farce
of the “special status” has come to an end, now the reality of having nothing
has set in for the people of AP. The
politicians knew about it, but all of a sudden the have become vocal, but none
too harsh on Modi in raising their minimal voice.
All of a sudden the
politicians in power have to find a way to weasel out of their promise of the
special status. Those who did not
support the government all of a sudden have found voice to harp about the
obvious, and pin down the backtracking by TDP/BJP. In reality outside of bickering and mud
slinging there is little that the state can do to change anything.
We as Indians have
notorious attitude about stalling public life (much to destroy whatever we can
find), and throw the government and public services into a protest
(bandh). Since the time of Mahatma,
protesting (everything) has become a way of life for Indians. But the problem is that seldom in recent
times the blockades and hunger strikes have been successful in yielding
anything, except create inconvenience to the public. The government never gets inconvenienced, but
public suffers the blockades and destruction that has become a part of it.
What options do
people of AP have to protest the decision not to grant the special status to
their state? Politically nothing as the
current state government supports the center, and it is toothless.
As the local and
central elections are almost 3 years away, and the ruling party has a majority
to govern, very little political pressure is on the parties in power to change
anything. Students, workers, and
personnel will simply loose their opportunities that are already limited in the
Indian economy. Voting the current
government out in the next election is definitely an option, but it is three
years away. What will happen to the
state until then? Even if people vote
the current parties out of power, what is the guarantee that the state will be
granted a special status, and if it takes five or ten years, what is the
benefit that is derived?
While the situation
is a political opportunity for the opposition in the next election (and to
create ruckus until then), it is the people of the state who have lost the
opportunity of development in their new state.
The current
government and the opposition parties can certainly follow the path of Mahatma
in civil disobedience and hunger strike.
The recent efforts by Anna Hazare, with various efforts, only got him
the Gandhian tag, but very little tangible results. The major issue the people of AP have is the
current leader Naidu seems incapable of taking a stance against the center.
The irony of the current state is that AP was created with the sacrifice of many, and mainly associates with Potti Sriramulu and his self sacrifice. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Potti_Sreeramulu. Since the formation of AP in 1953 until it was split in 2014, the state has had a remarkable and fractured history with its capital in
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