Telengan Quagmire

It is unfortunate that Andhra Pradesh has been caught in an unprecedented turmoil for quite some time. The mindless acts of some politicians – who at first raised the sub-nationalism to such a height that now going back to the status quo ante becomes virtually impossible before reaching an acceptable solution without hurting one or the other section of the people of the state- are responsible for this predicament. Apparently, the state is vertically divided into pro-Telengana and pro-United Andhra. The crux of the matter is that the vivisection of Andhra Pradesh has become unavoidable in view of the sub-nationalism already injected into the minds of the people of the Telengana region. Due to the lopsided development of the region, they somehow have nurse a perceived notion that the people from the Andhra region have been cornering their legitimate benefits and monopolizing the developmental work for the Andhra region. While TRS naturally and incessantly advocated for formation of Telengana – which is the very raison de tre of its political relevance, the mainstream political parties refrained from taking a firm and principled stand on the issue fearing voter backlash in the Telengana region of the state. This double-speak has encouraged the pro-Telenganites to take on the issue by its horn. After the far from satisfactory performance in the 2009 General Elections, the TRS chief was nearly politically down in the state. He has now used the Gandhian strategy of Fast unto death to score political brownie points in his political do-or-die situation. Not only is the Congress Party caught in the political quagmire, other parties are equally, if not more, at loss of any firm political stand in a classic case of Indian double-speak. The sooner the issue is resolved before it assumes an alarming proportion, the better it will be for all the parties concerned in the matter.