'వేరు రాష్ట్రం దేశప్రయోజనాలకు శ్రేయస్కరం కాదు'-నలమోతు చక్రవర్తి

Andhra State was the first linguistic state that came into existence after India's independence. When the Nizam of Hyderabad in 1947 started toying with the idea of becoming an independent ruler, Nehru ordered the Indian Army into Hyderabad and merged the territory into the Republic of India.

The Hyderabad state was then made up of Kannada, Marathi and Telugu speaking regions. To decide how Indian states should be constituted, Nehru appointed the States Reorganisation Commission. The Commission recommended the merger of Telugu speaking Nizam region with the Andhra state, but recommended a waiting period of 5 years before the merger, to allay some of the concerns expressed by a handful of Congress party leaders. When a resolution for merger was placed in the Hyderabad assembly, 2/3rd of the legislators from Nizam ruled Telugu region favoured an immediate merger. Eventually, after a great deal of deliberation, Nehru's government agreed to constitute all non-Hindi speaking states of India along linguistic lines.

Pandora's box

Breaking this national model of linguistic states will open a pandora's box for similar movements across several linguistic states of India. This could potentially destabilise the nation. Succumbing to the demand for division of Andhra Pradesh will add fuel to movements for Bodoland out of Assam, Kongu Nadu out of Tamilnadu, Tulu Nadu out of Karnataka, Vidarbha out of Maharashtra and Gorkhaland out of West Bengal.

{ The intensified Telangana movement has spurred new life into similar demands in Assam. After the All Bodo Students Union (Absu) made a fresh call for a movement for the separate state of Bodoland, the All Koch Rajbongshi Students Union (AKRSU) has also renewed its Kamatapur demand.Link1

"If the UPA-II government declares Telangana as a separate state, we will raise the pitch for Bodoland" chief of the Bodoland People's Front (BPF) Link 2  Link3 }

Unlike the creation of states like Chhattisgarh, Jharkhand or Uttarakhand, division of Andhra Pradesh is far more complex.

The capital city of Hyderabad is a major source of revenue. According to a clarification given in the Assembly in 2008 by the then Finance Minister Rosaiah, 37% of the state's revenues come from Hyderabad alone. Andhra Pradesh state budget is well over one lakh crore rupees. In a divided state, Hyderabad city would fall in the Telangana region. As a result, Coastal Andhra and Rayalaseema will claim a stake in Hyderabad's revenues. They will argue that they too have contributed to the growth of the capital. An amicable solution to this thorny problem is almost impossible.

Capital contention

If Andhra Pradesh is divided, there will be a bitter battle among Rayalaseema, Coastal Andhra and Uttara Andhra regions to have the state capital in their own regions. Rayalaseema will insist on having Kurnool as the capital, whereas Coastal Andhra will insist on having Vijayawada or Guntur as the capital and while Uttara Andhra will insist on making the port city of Visakhapatnam as the capital of the newly minted state. This battle for capital will no doubt turn into an intractable mess and may lead to violent movements for further division of the state into Rayalaseema, Uttara Andhra and Coastal Andhra.

Hyderabad city has millions of Telugu people that came from all parts of the state. Vitriol used by leaders like K Chandrasekhar Rao, with statements such as "Tongues will be cut if anybody demands UT status for Hyderabad" or threats of "civil war" or slogans such as "Telangana wale jago, Andhra wale bhago", have instilled fear among the populace.

There are several other intractable issues on the economic front. For example, two of the major power and irrigation projects in the state, Nagarjuna Sagar and Srisailam are situated right on the border of Telangana and Coastal Andhra. Add to this mix the disputes that will arise over allocation of river waters to the newly formed states. Problems such as these will make the division of Andhra Pradesh a far more serious matter.

It is clear that the Maoists are in favour of dividing Andhra Pradesh. In fact, it can be argued that they are the ones who sowed the seeds for the current separatist movement. Years before KCR dreamt of starting the movement for a separate state, the Naxal's North Telangana Special Zonal Committee (NTSZC) in 1997 had passed a resolution favouring the formation of Telangana. During this session, detailed strategies about how to build the movement for a separate state were plotted. Significantly, many of these tactics are currently being employed by the separatists. A smaller, weaker Telangana state could potentially turn into another Maoist hotbed like Chattisgarh and play into Naxals’ dream of creating a Maoist corridor of Telangana, Bastar (Chattisgarh), South Orissa, Jharkhand and West Bengal. This is a matter of grave national security.

Not too late

For too long the Congress, BJP, TDP and other smaller parties used the issue of Telangana for their own short term political gains. Andhra Pradesh today is reaping the follies of these myopic positions. The time has come for all political parties to put the interests of the nation ahead of their political expediencies.

The time has come for the central and state governments to unequivocally stand against not only the division of Andhra Pradesh state but also against division of all linguistic states. Our country has more important priorities at this juncture. If our leaders intend to achieve the double-digit GDP growth and if they are serious about competing with other emerging economies, separatist movements such as the one in Andhra Pradesh should be nipped in the bud. Thankfully, it is not yet too late. 

-Nalamotu Chakravarthy, Visalandhra Mahasabha
Published in Tribune on July 11th