United Andhra Pradesh...Falls Apart !

The last few days have been some kind of a roller coaster ride for the people of Andhra Pradesh, especially those from Hyderabad. Mr. KCR's fast unto death for separate Telangana has stirred up a hornet's nest. The separate Telangana stir was going on full throttle and its repercussions were being felt elsewhere in faraway Rayalseema when the state BJP leader Ms. K. Shanta Reddy(does anybody know her anyway ??) called for a dialogue for a separate Rayalseema state. The BJP's call for such a dialogue is outrageous. At a time when enough heartache has been caused due to the ongoing separate Telangana agitation, its rather surprising that the BJP had the temerity to make such a mindless call. The statement by Ms. Shanta Reddy that, demands for separate statehood are the handiwork of unemployed politicians, is itself a self reflecting one. At this moment there isn't any party in the AP other than the BJP whose leaders are unemployed. Probably she was trying to find some means of employment for her poor party men. But we don't see that happening in the near future even if the state is trifurcated, as the BJP has no base whatsoever in any regions of Andhra Pradesh. The only time the party managed to find some employment was when they tied up with the TDP, something which proved too costly for Mr. Chandra Babu Naidu as he came out battered and bruised from the alliance having lost his credibility as well as votes and most importantly having lost something he cherished the most i.e. Power.

Many a times these politicians cite non development and backwardness as excuses for demanding separate statehood. But who is actually responsible for such backwardness ? Is it not the responsibility of the elected representatives to look after the development of their respective constituencies ? The only discernible reason why certain areas are lagging behind in development, is the corrupt practices of these politicians, whose hunger for power and money overrides all other considerations. Unfortunately our elected representatives are also the biggest hoarders and money launderers we would ever find(Remember Madhu Koda ??). No surprises then that Mr. Rajiv Gandhi once famously said that only 16 paise out of every 1 rupee sanctioned by the government reaches its desired destination. No small observation this, coming from a former Prime Minister himself. What it means is that a staggering 84% is gobbled up by the middlemen that includes ministers, MLAs and the bureaucracy.

While we may not forgive our next door neighbour for even minor trespasses, we often seem to forget and forgive our politicians, who by now have turned into habitual offenders. The problem with we Indians is that we adore our politicians as much as we love to hate them. Time and again we grant them power, and time and again we are taken for granted. This eventually results in building up of resentment among the people which makes them further vulnerable to the mind games being played by the politicians. The unscrupulous politician again exploits this vulnerability to the hilt and to his favour and the end result is that we have worthless people like Mr. KCR turning into overnight messiahs.

For Mr. KCR there appears to be some kind of a magic wand that would transform Telangana from a backward region into a modern day Rome once the bifurcation takes place. Even the resource rich state, the not so newly created state of Jharkhand that was craved out of Bihar, hasn't seen any ground breaking development since its creation, so one wonders how that is going to happen for Telangana(if created) sans any resources. One wonders why Mr. KCR never bothered to raise the Telangana issue when he was the speaker during his TDP days. His love for Telangana seems to have trebled only after he was kicked out of the TDP by Mr. Chandra Babu Naidu. Probably in this game of one upmanship with Mr. Naidu he has gone a bit too far, so much so that an entire state is on the verge of collapse.

Student unions have always acted as instruments of terror in the hands of politicians. The reason ? They get easily worked up and once provoked and unleashed, they are like an exploding oil well, always difficult to control. In this respect Mr. KCR is playing with fire, literally. Using the student community for political causes is a devilish ploy. Students, the future of this country, indulging in unlawful activities completely by themselves is something very unfathomable. There is more to it than what meets the eye.

It appears as if sowing seeds of hatred is the easiest way for the Indian politicians to attain political gratification. When a Telugu speaking Telanganite can't stand a Telugu speaking Andhrite or vice versa then why blame a certain Marathi speaking Raj Thackeray for whipping up regional sentiments against Hindi speaking North Indians. Both KCR and Raj Thackeray are proponents of hate filled divisive politics and one gets the feeling that India will be better off without these thugs in white robes. People like KCR and Raj Thackery are hell bent on shredding to pieces, India's proud history of 'unity in diversity', and the common man is playing into their hands by towing their line blindly. We always seem to forget the age old saying that "United We Stand, Divided We Fall".