The fight for Telengana is not new. The first demand for Telengana was made by Marri Chenna Reddy in 1969 but was suppressed by the Congress. After numerous other demands for Telengana, before 2004 elections, Congress befriended Telengana Rashtriya Samiti (TRS) and promised Telengana to them. After winning the elections, Congress denied. In 2006, TRS withdrew their support from the Congress but it didn’t make any difference. The third turnaround came before the 2009 elections, when Congress once again promised and denied the state of Telengana to TRS.
By the end of 2009 when TRS chief K Chandra Shekhar Rao (KCR) realised that Congress is not going to give Telengana any more. He went on fast (have I mentioned, fasts these days are funny?). The scared Congress accepted their demand and denied (again, for the 5th time) because of issues with their own MPs from Andhra. So, Telengana is an issue created and aired by Congress for political motives. Was BJP watching with a bag of popcorn? No they made their stand clear and said that they are in favour of Telengana.
Now the question is- “after all of this, should the state of Telengana be formed?” If you take Jharkhand’s example, it’s a straight ‘no’. If you take Chhatisgarh’s example, it’s a ‘yes’. Does a separate state help? Will the Andhra MPs of Congress revolt? Well, Laalu claimed that he will allow Bihar’s division only over his dead body. Well, Bihar was divided and Laalu is still alive and kicking. He still supports Congress.
I personally don’t like the idea of division. But, democracy is all about majority and public opinion. Public of the area wants Telengana. If a stable new state helps the people living there, then why not?
सौरभ राय | Sourav Roy 