Where Are the Battle Lines?

Parakala.org : It is necessary, and often rewarding, to see through the screaming headlines of newspapers and beyond the chasing scrolls and hurried sound bytes on the TV channels.

Any uncritical consumption of news about the goings on in Andhra Pradesh leads one to form an impression that the battle is between the people of Telangana region and the rest of the state. It gives an impression that the entire population of Telangana region wants a separate state; and the people of the other two regions – Coastal districts and Rayalaseema – want the state to stay united.

But that is far from truth.

There are lakhs and lakhs of people in the Nizam region who want the state to stay united. They are a significantly large section in the region. In fact it is a majority, albeit a silent one. They are not convinced about the separatist claims. They don’t agree with the separatists’ goals. They strongly disagree with the methods the separatists use to air their demands.

But they are silent.

To understand and interpret silence as endorsement of an opposing view is wrong. And to read noise and loudness as strength of a point of view is a blunder.

Integrationists in the Nizam region are silent because they feel intimidated. The separatists are menacing.

They are silent because they are not organised. And the separatists are well organised.

They are silent because their energies are absorbed in the travails of making a living. The separatist agitators are free from the chores of earning a living.

However, there are many voices of unity in the Nizam region who refuse to be intimidated. They speak. They write. And they are not afraid of standing up and be counted.

But their voices are drowned in the separatists’ cacophony. Their writings are crowded out by the separatist vitriol.

But they are there. They are clear. They are dignified. And they are bold.

There are separatists in the Coastal districts and in Rayalaseema. Some prominent political leaders in those areas have cut their teeth in public life during the 1972 separate Andhra agitation. They still cling to those notions.

Others have joined this group. These people feel that division of the state brings in thousands of crores of rupees as investment. It creates lakhs of jobs. Towns and cities like Vizag, Vijayawada, Kurnool, Kakinada etc will witness a boom. Property values there will shoot up. There is a consistent propaganda on these lines. It is, indeed, gaining ground.

While voices of unity in the Coastal and Rayalaseema regions are louder, voices of separation are subdued. But they do exist.

In the Nizam region voices of separatists are louder while voices of unity are muted. But they exist.

Separatist demand exists in Coastal and Rayalaseema districts. Less noticed, though.

Desire for unity exists in the Nizam region. Less acknowledged, though.

Demand for unity exists in both the Nizam region as well as in the Coastal and Rayalaseema regions. Likewise demand for division exists in Coastal and Rayalaseema regions along with the Nizam region.

The battle lines in Andhra Pradesh, therefore, are drawn not between Telangana and the rest of the state.

They are drawn between those who want the state to be united and those who want it to be divided.

The clash is between two differing visions about the future of Telugu people. About two differing narratives about their past. And about two differing ideas about their present.

We oppose the separatist vision. We fight against the separatist narrative. And we disagree with the separatist idea.

We fight against separatism in every region of the state. In every town and village. And in every street.

More importantly, we fight against it in every mind.