Re: Telangana Tempest: Sid Harth
chhotemianinshallah
Proshun Chakraborty, TNN 22 December 2009, 05:13am IST
NAGPUR: Most Hindi-speaking people of Nagpur unequivocally support
formation of separate Vidarbha saying that it would change the face of
the otherwise backward region. However, many believe that the
political movement to achieve this end is not an honest one. They say
that this cause has been hijacked by politicians to serve their
purpose.
Basant Shukla, railway activist, said it would be welcome if Vidarbha
state were created. "People will benefit if there are more states
since the funds from Centre will go directly to people. Also, states
will compete against each other for betterment and the ministers will
be more accessible. Smaller states is a good idea for India and will
strengthen the centre."
He claimed that the region had all the necessary physical
infrastructure to be a state including a readymade capital in Nagpur.
The centre would not have to give money for it. "We have Vidhan
Bhavan, High Court, Secretariat buildings, Central Railway's
divisional offices, and good educational institutions," he said. About
lack of development, he said only a handful Vidarbha MLAs got
ministerial berths and that too insignificant ones, hence they could
not bring funds for the region.
Rachana Singh, principal Saint Ursula School, admitted that the state
government had neglected Vidarbha region a lot in terms of industries
and all round development. Even though the public representatives of
Vidarbha were contributing a lot, they could not stand up to powerful
politicians of Western Maharashtra. So, Western Maharashtra has grown
beautifully.
Shailendra Sharma, a government employee, backed the statehood demand
and claimed that the Vidarbha movement was a mass movement going back
many decades. It was beyond political parties and their agendas. The
sentiment was deep and most administrators, bureaucrats, government
employees, school teachers, professors, bankers, and intellectuals,
scientists supported the idea, he added.
M Poonam, a lady entrepreneur, said that separate state would not
develop the region. She asked how would Vidarbha survive if carved out
from Maharashtra? "Farmers are already committing suicide, Naxalites
are killing people, half of Vidarbha is either forest or drought
affected farmlands. Only big city is Nagpur. Similarly, major income
source is mining and transportation from Nagpur hub, which would not
be enough for any state to run. Moreover, state government spends more
money on Vidarbha than the revenue collected from the region. Sole
income from mining business is not going to support population of
Vidarbha," she said.
"I admit that the region is not getting enough attention from the
state government. Separation is not any solution it will just further
increase expenditure and reduce resources. Only proper lobbying and
unity of Vidarbha MLAs could bring benefits to the region," Poonam
added.
...and I am Sid Harth
chhotemianinshallah
December 23rd, 2009
DC Correspondent
New Delhi/Hyderabad: The government is set to initiate a process of
discussion on the bifurcation of Andhra Pradesh following a series of
incidents of violence and high-voltage protests.
The government is reported to have worked out a formula, which it is
expected to explain in the statement that is expected later tonight.
The contents of the statement is expected to be as follows: "Union
Home Minister announced the initiation of the process of separate
Telangana and passing of such a resolution in the Assembly. However,
most of the parties which promosed to support such a resolution found
themselves divided over the move with the result that no such
resolution could be moved in the Assembly. The altered situation calls
for discussion with all concerned. The government of India will take
necessary steps to achieve this and appeals to all parties and people
to restore peace and normalcy in the state to enable the process."
http://www.deccanchronicle.com/hyderabad/centres-consult-parties-t-939
chhotemianinshallah
December 23rd, 2009
By Our Correspondent
ANANTAPUR, Dec. 22: Telugu Desam leader K. Yerrannaidu criticised the
Chief Minister, Mr K. Rosaiah, for his partiality to some regions in
the state. He visited the five Telugu Desam leaders who were on fast
for nine days and made them withdraw their protest by offering lemon
juice in the Anantapur government hospital on Tuesday.
Speaking on the occasion, Mr Yerrannaidu said that the Chief Minister
was up-dated about the health of the TRS president, Mr K.
Chandrasekhar Rao, though he was in Delhi, but was not responding to
the fasts lau-nched by MLAs, MPs and MLCs in the Andhra and
Rayalaseema regions.
He condemned the apathetic attitude of the Central government though
Rayalaseema and Andhra had become battle zones with the midnight
announcement about Telangana state formation.
He demanded that Central ministers and MPs tender mass resignations
and assured that the TD would not field candidates against those who
resigned.
He said that TD would intensify the movement in a different manner
from Wednesday.
http://www.deccanchronicle.com/anantapur/rosaiah-biased-says-yerran-769
Sid Harth
Rajesh Kumar Pandey, TNN 22 December 2009, 10:30pm IST
DUMKA: The demand for a separate statehood for Santhal Pargana gained
momentum on the 154th foundation day of the region on Tuesday.
The Gram Pradhan Majhi Sangathan, the district-level body of the
traditional local self-government resolved to launch an agitation to
press for the demand to bifurcate Jharkhand for creating Santhal
Pargana as a separate state. It appealed to the common people to
support the issue in light of the continuous neglect of the region and
its indigenous people.
Hundreds of gram pradhans (village heads) from different parts of
Santhal Pargana had gathered at the Yagya Maidan here to mark the
foundation day of the region. The village heads were unanimous in
their demand, stating that the region remained deprived from its share
of benefits due to the discriminatory attitude of the subsequent Union
and state governments.
In a press release, the Sangathan said that the traditional system of
pradhani (village headship) was accorded legal status during the
regime of the British government in the year 1856 which was further
strengthened in 1872 by providing additional authority to the local
village bodies.
However, the increasing administrative interference after the
independence of the country left the traditional self-rule bodies
helpless in resolving local issues despite the constitutional
authority vested in them in terms of settling disputes by exercising
judicial powers.
Bhim Prasad Mandal, the president of the district chapter of the
organization, said that administrative indifference towards
decentralizing power by recognizing the village bodies was mainly
motivated by vested interests as a result of which, the socio-economic
self-dependence of the Santhal Pargana villages had hit roadblock. He
recalled that even the Father of the Nation, Mahatma Gandhi, was in
favour of economic independence for the region.
The patron of the organization and former MLA, Mohril Murmu, said this
is high time the village heads and other stakeholders stood for the
restorations of the self-rule system in a united way as the natives of
the Santhal Pargana have even been barred from basic requirements of
their livelihood.
The foundation day of Santhal Pargana was also organized at the S P
College here by the "Sido Kanhu Gota Bharot Hul Baisi", a tribal
organization.
SKMU vice chancellor Victor Tigga, pro-vice chancellor Pramodini
Hansdak and former deputy chief minister Stephen Marandi were among
the distinguished guests on the occasion.
Sid Harth
IANS 23 December 2009, 10:08pm IST
HYDERABAD: Alleging that the central government had betrayed the
people of Telangana region, the Telangana Rashtra Samiti (TRS)
Wednesday called for a 48-hour shutdown in the region and said all MPs
and legislators irrespective of party affiliation would quit enmasse.
An angry TRS chief K. Chandrasekhara Rao told reporters that the
government had put the Telangana issue on the backburner. "People of
Telangana have been once again betrayed. The statement has no clarity
and no time frame," he said.
"How long will it take for the formation of Telangana state. Another
50 years? How many more people have to die," he asked.
The TRS president, who was accompanied by leaders of the Congress and
Praja Rajyam Party (PRP) legislators, appealed to the people,
especially the youth and students to be peaceful during protests.
KCR, as Rao is popularly known, also announced that all public
representatives from village level bodies to the parliament from the
region would quit enmasse. "We all will come under one banner and line
up to submit our resignations," he said.
KCR said the Joint Action Committee of all parties and groups fighting
for Telangana state would be formed Thursday to decide the future
course of action.
He warned the state government against adopting double standards while
dealing with protests in Telangana and other regions.
"Even before Mr. Chidambaram (home minister) made the statement,
police imposed prohibitory orders in Telangana districts but in other
regions there were no such orders and every party was allowed to
protest in the manner they liked," he said.
"Rosaiah should withdraw these orders otherwise you will face a
volatile situation. You will have no moral authority to continue as
your government will be reduced to minority after we submit our
resignations," he said.
The central government softened its stance on the formation of
separate Telangana state Wednesday with Chidambaram stressing that
there was need to hold wide-ranging consultations with all political
parties in Andhra Pradesh to reach a consensus on the issue.
The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) also called for a shutdown in
Telangana, comprising Hyderabad and nine other districts, on Thursday.
Student groups in various districts have also called for a shutdown.
Tension prevailed around Osmania University campus as students came
out on streets raising slogans against the government. They damaged 10
buses and shopkeepers downed shutters in Tarnaka area near the
campus.
Students of Nizam colleges and activists of Akhila Bharatiya Vidyarthi
Parishad (ABVP) also began protests in different parts of Hyderabad.
ABVP has called for closure of all educational institutions in the
region. As tension mounted, state-owned Road Transport Corporation
(RTC) stopped bus services in some areas.
Even before Chidambaram made the statement, pro-Telangana students
clashed with the police in Warangal town and laid siege to the offices
of the Congress and Telugu Desam Party (TDP).
Raising slogans of "Jai Telangana", students of Kakatiya University
clashed with police deployed on the university campus. They demanded
that all the legislators, irrespective of their political
affiliations, resign.
Sid Harth
TIMES NEWS NETWORK & AGENCIES
23 December 2009, 07:35pm IST
NEW DELHI: Appearing to put the Telangana issue on the backburner, the
Centre said tonight that the situation in Andhra Pradesh has "altered"
since the announcement on creation of a separate state.
Wide-ranging consultations would now be held with all political
parties and groups in the state, Union Home Minister P Chidambaram
said in a statement, adding that the Centre will take "steps to
involve all concerned in the process".
Recalling his December nine statement in which he had announced that
the process of forming Telangana would be initiated, he said that
since then the situation in Andhra Pradesh has altered and that "a
large number of political parties are divided on the issue".
Capping a fortnight of intense campaign by MPs of Telangana and non-
Telangana regions, Chidambaram called a press conference at short
notice and read out a four paragraph statement but took no questions.
He said the Centre made the statement on December nine on receipt of
minutes of a meeting of all political parties convened by Chief
Minister K Rosaiah in which a "consensus" emerged on the formation of
a separate state of Telangana.
Chidambaram said, meanwhile, it is necessary that peace and harmony
are restored in Andhra Pradesh and the state government is allowed to
focus on governance and development.
"The Central government appeals to the people of the different regions
of Andhra Pradesh and to all political parties and students to
withdraw their agitations and maintain peace, harmony and
brotherhood," he said.
The indication of Chidambaram's statement came after a meeting of
Union Ministers Pranab Mukherjee, Chidambaram, A K Antony, M Veerappa
Moily and Political Secretary to Congress President Ahmed Patel.
A statement was prepared and the draft was taken to Congress President
Sonia Gandhi. Later, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh gave final touches
and Chidambaram made it public.
The December nine statement was made at the height of the fast-unto-
death protest launched by TRS President K Chandrashekhar Rao who
withdrew the agitation on the 11th day.
Ever since, MPs and MLAs of Coastal Andhra and Rayalseema region
protested vehemently and carried out a campaign with almost daily
meetings with central leaders and ministers demanding a statement that
the creation of Telangana would not be initiated without a consensus.
Reflecting the regional divide in the state, MPs and MLAs cutting
across party lines in Telangana region also mounted a counter-campaign
urging the Centre not to backtrack and warned of severe
repercussions.
The period was also marked by violence in non-Telangana regions
against the bifurcation proposal.
The state Cabinet was divided on regional lines and over 135 MLAs
belonging Congress, TDP and Praja Rajyam quit their membership of the
Assembly. Some MPs of Congress and TDP also resigned. But none of
these resignations have been accepted.
On Monday, a delgation of non-Telangana MPs met the Prime Minister and
said later that he had assured them that government would come out
with a statement to "make everything in order" in the state.
...and I am Sid harth
Sid Harth
PTI 23 December 2009, 09:42pm IST
HYDERABAD: In an angry reaction to Centre's backtracking on Telangana
issue, TRS chief K Chandrasekhar Rao tonight announced that MPs, MLAs
and other elected representatives of the region will submit their
resignations and a 48-hour bandh tomorrow.
"Chidambaram statement amounts to putting the Telangana issue on the
backbruner. We have been betrayed once again by the state of the Home
Minister.
"There is no clarity or time frame fixed. In the name of consensus
will they take 150 years? How much time they are going to take (for
creating Telangana)?" he told a press conference at the residence of
Congress leader Jana Reddy and flanked by leaders from other
parties.
chhotemianinshallah
AP on the boil after stall sign
G.S. RADHAKRISHNA AND SANJAY K. JHA
Telangana supporters attack buses in Hyderabad on Wednesday night.
(PTI)
Dec. 23: Andhra Pradesh was on the edge tonight after the Centre
stressed on “the need for wide-ranging consultations” on Telangana,
which created an impression that statehood was being put on the
backburner, triggered calls for a 48-hour bandh and prompted vandalism
in some parts.
Around 2,000 students poured out from Hyderabad’s Osmania University —
a source of youth power that sustained the current movement for
statehood — and targeted vehicles and shut down ATM kiosks after Union
home minister P. Chidambaram read out a statement in Delhi.
Infuriated, Telangana spearhead K. Chandrasekhar Rao called the two-
day bandh in the 10-district Telangana region and faxed his
resignation as MP to the Lok Sabha Speaker.
A chain of resignation letters followed from MLAs representing the
Telangana region but cutting across party lines. By Wednesday
midnight, the number of the quit letters stood at 57, out of which 24
are from the Congress.
Earlier, 137 anti-Telangana MLAs had sent similar letters, the fate of
which is yet to be decided, which means 194 members or 65 per cent of
the 295-member House have put in their papers till now.
Prohibitory orders have been clamped in Hyderabad and two other
districts in the Telangana region. Sporadic sectarian attacks on
property were also reported in some areas.
The statement by Chidambaram did not have any explicit indication of a
rollback of the December 9 midnight announcement about initiating the
process for Telangana. But the odour of a delay hung heavy over the
statement which pointed out that the consensus “situation” in Andhra
Pradesh had “altered”.
“At a meeting of all political parties convened by the chief minister
of Andhra Pradesh on December 7, 2009, a consensus emerged on the
question of formation of a separate state of Telangana. A statement
was made on behalf of the central government on December 9, 2009, on
receipt of the minutes of the meeting. However, after the statement,
the situation in Andhra Pradesh has altered.”
Chidambaram added: “A large number of political parties are divided on
the issue. There is a need to hold wide-ranging consultations with all
political parties and groups in the state. The Government of India
will take steps to involve all concerned in the process.”
The home minister also appealed to the “people of the different
regions of Andhra Pradesh and to all political parties and students to
withdraw their agitation and maintain peace, harmony and
brotherhood”.
Some Congress leaders insisted that nothing had changed but another
said: “The entire process is now dependent on consensus. The Centre,
by legitimising the altered stands of political parties, has shown its
willingness to change its stance.”
He added that the Centre appeared to have compounded the “December 9
mistake” through the fresh statement and should have avoided saying
anything except appealing for peace.
However, under intense pressure from pro- and anti-Telangana lobbies,
the Congress appeared to have settled for a tightrope walk that
statehood supporters are refusing to buy.
The statement was drawn up after a meeting of Pranab Mukherjee,
Chidambaram, A.K. Antony, M. Veerappa Moily and Ahmed Patel. PTI
reported that the draft was taken to Congress president Sonia Gandhi
and Prime Minister Manmohan Singh. After final touches by Singh,
Chidambaram made the statement public.
http://www.telegraphindia.com/1091224/jsp/frontpage/story_11903647.jsp
chhotemianinshallah
Hyderabad, Dec 23
Tension prevailed in Andhra Pradesh's Telangana region as protests
broke out at several places against the central government's "u-turn"
on the issue of separate statehood for the region.
The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has called for a shutdown in
Telangana, comprising Hyderabad and nine other districts, on
Thursday.
Student groups in various districts have also called for a shutdown.
Tension prevailed around Osmania University campus as students came
out on streets raising slogans against the government.
They also damaged 10 buses. Shopkeepers downed shutters in Tarnaka
area near the campus.
Students of Nizam colleges and activists of Akhila Bharatiya Vidyarthi
Parishad (ABVP) also began protests in different parts of Hyderabad.
ABVP has called for closure of all educational institutions in the
region. As tension mounted, state-owned Road Transport Corporation
(RTC) stopped bus services in some areas.
Long queues were seen at petrol bunks here as motorists resorted to
panic buying.
Police went on high alert, especially in Hyderabad, as the state
government warned that it would deal firmly with those taking law into
their hands.
Protests were also reported from Warangal and Nalgonda districts.
Police also imposed prohibitory orders in some districts.
Even before Chidambaram made the statement, pro-Telangana students
clashed with the police in Warangal town and laid siege to the offices
of the Congress and Telugu Desam Party (TDP).
Raising slogans of "Jai Telangana", students of Kakatiya University
clashed with police deployed on the university campus. They demanded
that all the legislators, irrespective of their political
affiliations, resign.
Last updated on Dec 23rd, 2009 at 21:55 pm IST--IANS
http://www.prokerala.com/news/articles/a102544.html
chhotemianinshallah
New Delhi, Dec 23
The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) Wednesday described Home Minister P.
Chidambaram's latest statement on Telangana as "ridiculous" and
slammed the government for its inability to handle the crisis.
Shifting from his Dec 9 statement in favour of a separate Telangana
state, Chidambaram said Wednesday evening that the situation in Andhra
Pradesh had changed and political parties were divided on the issue.
"It is a ridiculous announcement," BJP spokesman Prakash Javadekar
said here.
He said the government did not know how to deal with the crisis.
Javadekar said the government had decided on their own Dec 9 to
initiate the process to create a separate Telangana.
"Today they have realised that no consensus was there," he told
reporters.
Chidambaram said in his statement that the government would take steps
to involve all concerned in the process of talks.
"The central government appeals to all people of Andhra Pradesh and to
all political parties and students to withdraw their agitation and
maintain peace, harmony and brotherhood," adding that the state
government should be allowed to focus on governance.
Last updated on Dec 23rd, 2009 at 21:03 pm IST--IANS
http://www.prokerala.com/news/articles/a102536.html
chhotemianinshallah
New Delhi, Dec 23 (IANS) The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) Wednesday
described Home Minister P. Chidambaram’s latest statement on Telangana
as ‘ridiculous’ and slammed the government for its inability to handle
the crisis.
Shifting from his Dec 9 statement in favour of a separate Telangana
state, Chidambaram said Wednesday evening that the situation in Andhra
Pradesh had changed and political parties were divided on the issue.
‘It is a ridiculous announcement,’ BJP spokesman Prakash Javadekar
said here.
He said the government did not know how to deal with the crisis.
Javadekar said the government had decided on their own Dec 9 to
initiate the process to create a separate Telangana.
‘Today they have realised that no consensus was there,’ he told
reporters.
Chidambaram said in his statement that the government would take steps
to involve all concerned in the process of talks.
‘The central government appeals to all people of Andhra Pradesh and to
all political parties and students to withdraw their agitation and
maintain peace, harmony and brotherhood,’ adding that the state
government should be allowed to focus on governance.
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http://trak.in/news/chidambarams-telangana-statement-ridiculous-bjp/39975/
chhotemianinshallah
2009/12/24
Hyderabad, Dec 24 (IANS) There seems to be no end to the political
turmoil, en masse resignations and agitations in Andhra Pradesh over
the issue of a separate Telangana state.
After the centre made the latest statement Wednesday evening which is
being seen as a ‘u-turn’ on the issue of granting statehood, the scene
of agitation shifted again to the backward region comprising Hyderabad
and nine other districts.
It was on Nov 29 that the five-decade-old problem heated up when
Telangana Rashtra Samiti (TRS) chief K. Chandrasekhara Rao was
arrested by the police ahead of his fast unto death to achieve a
Telangana state.
He continued his fast in jail and hospital for 11 days while Telangana
was boiling with mass protests and violence. Rao’s deteriorating
condition and the explosive situation in the region forced the centre
to announce at midnight on Dec 9 that the process for forming a
Telangana state would be initiated.
The next day saw en masse resignations by legislators from coastal
Andhra and Rayalaseema regions cutting across party lines to protest
the centre’s move to bifurcate the state. Mass protests, shutdowns,
hunger strikes, road and rail blockades began in 13 districts of the
two regions from Dec 11 even as Telangana was celebrating Home
Minister P. Chidambaram’s announcement.
Thirteen days of protests paralysed normal life and the government was
forced to alter the statement. On the evening of Dec 23, Chidambaram
made the latest statement stressing the need to hold wide ranging
consultations over the issue in view of the altered situation in the
state.
No sooner had Chidambaram finished his statement, protesters were on
the streets in Hyderabad and the rest of Telangana – burning buses and
government offices. Rising above political affiliations, MPs and
legislators started submitting resignations. The 48-hour shutdown
Thursday called by them has brought the focus back on the region even
as protests ceased in coastal Andhra and Rayalaseema.
http://trak.in/news/scene-of-agitation-shifts-back-to-telangana/40016/
chhotemianinshallah
2009/12/24
Hyderabad, Dec 24 (IANS) Congress party MPs from the Telangana region
Thursday decided to resign to protest the central government’s move to
put on hold the process for forming a Telangana state.
Congress MP Madhu Yashki Goud from Nizamabad and his colleague Ponnam
Prabhakar from Karimnagar said they had decided to quit respecting the
sentiments of the people of the region.
All party MPs from the region would be holding a meeting at the
residence of Nalgonda MP G. Sukhender Reddy in New Delhi. They would
decide whether to submit their resignations to Congress president
Sonia Gandhi or Lok Sabha Speaker Meira Kumar.
Goud alleged that MPs, including central ministers from coastal Andhra
and Rayalaseema regions, defied the party’s decision on the Telangana
issue and resorted to blackmail tactics.
He blamed the group loyal to Kadapa MP Y.S. Jaganmohan Reddy for
creating the crisis.
‘The same people who earlier tried to blackmail the party are
responsible for this situation,’ he said referring to Jaganmohan
Reddy’s attempts to become chief minister after his father Y.S.
Rajasekhara Reddy’s death in a helicopter crash.
The Nizamabad MP alleged that K.V.P. Ramachandra Rao, Rajya Sabha
member and close aide of the late chief minister, was behind the en
mass resignations of the legislators from Andhra and Rayalaseema after
the Dec 9 statement by the centre to initiate the process of forming a
Telangana state.
The Telangana region has 17 members in the Lok Sabha. They include 12
of the Congress party, two each of Telugu Desam party and Telangana
Rashtra Samiti and one of Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen (MIM).
Both the TRS MPs, including party chief K. Chandrasekhara Rao, have
already sent their resignations to the Lok Sabha speaker.
http://trak.in/news/congress-mps-from-telangana-to-quit/40009/
chhotemianinshallah
2009/12/24
Hyderabad, Dec 24 (IANS) Normal life Thursday came to a grinding halt
in parts of Hyderabad and nine other districts of the Telangana region
as a 48-hour shutdown was called by the Telangana Rashtra Samiti (TRS)
and other groups.
State-owned Road Transport Corporation (RTC) suspended all bus
services while private vehicles also went off the roads following
violence in parts of Hyderabad and several towns late Wednesday.
Shops, business establishments, petrol bunks, cinema theatres and all
educational institutions remained closed in response to the shutdown
call to protest the centre’s latest statement on the issue of a
separate Telangana state.
Tension prevailed in the region as police made preventive arrests and
imposed prohibitory orders banning the assembly of five or more
people. Police and paramilitary forces were deployed in huge numbers
to prevent violence.
Students and workers of various parties came on the streets across the
region soon after Home Minister P. Chidambaram made the announcement
in New Delhi Wednesday evening. In his statement, the minister said
the situation had changed in the state and political parties were
divided on the issue.
Alleging that the centre had betrayed the people of Telangana, they
set buses, trucks and government offices on fire. The protesters
torched 20 buses and trucks including four in Hyderabad even as TRS
president K. Chandrasekhara Rao and Congress party leaders appealed
for peaceful protests.
Protests again broke out at Osmania University, which was the nerve
centre of an 11-day agitation early this month. The protesters set
afire Jamia Osmania railway station near the campus.
RTC officials said protesters damaged 150 buses in the region. A post
office in Medak district and a government office in Nizamabad district
were set afire. A branch of Andhra Bank in Karimnagar district was
also attacked.
As the violence spread, the authorities switched off electricity in
some districts of north Telangana. There were also reports of
authorities snapping cable television broadcasts in some areas to
contain the violence.
http://trak.in/news/shutdown-paralyses-life-in-telangana-region/40012/
chhotemianinshallah
STAFF WRITER 16:26 HRS IST
Hyderabad, Dec 24 (PTI) The second day of the bandh call for tomorrow
on the Telangana issue stands withdrawn in view of Christmas, a joint
action committee of Telangana leaders announced today.
A decision to this effect was taken at a meeting of the newly formed
Telangana Political Joint Action Committee consisting of leaders of
TRS, Congress, BJP and Praja Rajyam Party from the Telangana region.
"There will be no bandh tomorrow. The 48-hour bandh has been withdrawn
in view of Christmas following an appeal made by a Christian
organisation," TRS chief K Chandrasekhar Rao told reporters here after
the meeting. .
http://www.ptinews.com/news/438935_Bandh-call-for-tomorrow-on-Telangana-issue-withdrawn
Sid Harth
IANS 24 December 2009, 06:09pm IST
RANCHI: With the Jharkhand Mukti Morcha (JMM) emerging as kingmaker
with 18 seats, both the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and Congress are
exploring the possibility of forming the next Jharkhand government
with the JMM, but are finding it hard to accept the terms of Shibu
Soren.
The BJP has now said it is not in the race of government formation and
has adopted a wait and watch policy.
BJP Lok Sabha MP and former chief minister Arjun Munda said: "We are
not in the race for government formation." Asked about the possibility
in the future, he said: "In future we will study the options."
The JMM has made it clear it would support only those who support
Shibu Soren as chief minister.
Shibu Soren was busy holding meetings in hometown Bokaro with party
leaders about formation of the next government in the state. His son
Hemant Soren also attended the meetings. Leaders of both the Congress
and BJP are in touch with Shibu Soren.
"The picture will be clear in two to three days," said Hemant Soren
who has also been elected to the assembly.
Jharkhand BJP president Raghubar Das and former chief minister Arjun
Munda are camping in Ranchi and holding meetings to discuss all the
possibilities.
"We have apprised the central party leaders about the situation and
the possibilities of government formation. We are weighing the options
with the JMM and All Jharkhand Students Union (AJSU)," a BJP leader
said.
The Congress is also trying to come out with a formula which could be
acceptable to both the Jharkhand Vikas Morcha-Prajatantrik (JVM-P),
with which it fought the elections, and the JMM. Congress leaders are
trying to convince Shibu Soren to accept their party leader as chief
minister.
"On two occasions we made Shibu Soren chief minister and now it is the
turn of the JMM to support a Congress-led government," said union Food
Processing Minister and Congress MP Subodh Kant Sahay to reporters.
The Congress, seems to have taken lessons from the past as it is
charged with installing Shibu Soren as chief minister after the 2005
assembly polls despite not having majority and later installing Madhu
Koda as chief minister in September 2006.
"We are not in a hurry. We are weighing the options for a stable and
corruption-free government. What is the harm if a few more days are
spent in forming a secular government which will work for the
development of the state," Shailesh Sinha, Jharkhand Congress general
secretary, said.
The JVM-P has made it clear it will not accept the dictates of Shibu
Soren. "Soren's statement that he will be king and not kingmaker is
ridiculous. The JVM-P will not be part of the government if the JMM
joins it. The JVM-P will extend outside support if the JMM is part of
the government," Praveen Singh, general secretary JVM-P, said.
"The Congress and JVM-P legislators will elect their leader and
initiate the process of government formation. The JVM-P will hold a
meeting of party legislators in the evening or on Friday," he said,
adding: "We are not in haste to form a government."
The AJSU, which has won five seats, has said that it would support a
stable government. The AJSU would play an important role in forming
the next government.
In the Jharkhand assembly polls, the Congress and JVM-P have together
bagged 25 seats, while the National Democratic Alliance has got 20
seats. The JMM has 18, Rashtriya Janata Dal 5 and others have 13.
The NDA and JMM together have 38 seats, three less than the majority
mark.
Sid Harth
PTI 24 December 2009, 06:35pm IST
NEW DELHI: Seeking to justify its action of putting on hold the
creation of a Telangana state, the government said "one-sided"
decision cannot be taken as consensus was required on the issue and
expressed confidence that people will "accept it" after some time.
( Watch Video )
"Any important decision is taken with everybody's consent, after
consultations with everybody. And this is what was felt by the
government over the last few days that it is not possible at times to
implement a one-sided decision all of a sudden," Information and
Broadcasting Minister Ambika Soni told reporters here.
She was responding when asked why the process of creation of Telangana
has been put on hold.
Citing the situation in Andhra Pradesh, Soni said the Centre wants to
take any decision "after proper consensus building".
The Centre last night announced that situation in Andhra Pradesh had
"altered" since the decision on creation of Telangana, putting the
issue on the backburner.
On the adverse reaction by pro-Telangana groups, Soni said "slowly and
after some time, people will accept it (the decision)."
She, however, said the matter was not discussed in the Cabinet
meeting.
Home minister P Chidambaram last night said wide- ranging
consultations were required with all political parties and groups in
the state and that the Centre will take "steps to involve all
concerned in the process".
Sid Harth
IANS 24 December 2009, 05:56pm IST
HYDERABAD: Telangana Rashtra Samiti (TRS) chief K. Chandrasekhara Rao
Thursday warned that any dilly dallying on the formation of Telangana
state from Andhra Pradesh would spark a fire "which even the military
will not be able to control". ( Watch Video )
He appealed to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh not to drag the issue
further and declare a Telangana state as early as possible.
Addressing a meeting of the Joint Action Committee (JAC) formed by all
political parties and groups fighting for Telangana, KCR said that
people were not afraid of any tactics by the government to suppress
the movement.
"Telangana has a history of sacrifices. The people of the region will
not be afraid of laying down their lives," said KCR, who has resigned
as MP to protest the central government's move to put on hold the
process of formation of Telangana.
"I want to appeal to the prime minister to start the process of
formation of Telangana state as early as possible. If there is
democracy and constitution, this just and legitimate demand of the
people should be accepted," he added.
Referring to reports that 4,000 personnel of paramilitary forces were
being airlifted from Punjab and Delhi to Telangana region, the TRS
chief said "even 400,000 forces can't stop the Telangana movement".
"Nowhere in the world has the use of force suppressed peoples'
movement," he said.
KCR also criticized the Rosaiah government of Andhra Pradesh for
snapping electricity and cable television connections in parts of
Telangana, saying Rosaiah himself would lose power as all the
legislators from the region would pressurise the assembly speaker to
accept their resignations.
Sid Harth
IANS 24 December 2009, 06:55pm IST
HYDERABAD: The situation in Osmania University, witnessing violent
protests for formation of Telangana state, is "very very volatile", a
police official said Thursday.
"The situation in Osmania University is very very volatile. We don't
know what turn it will take the next moment," said Inspector General
of Police A.R. Anuradha.
Police have appealed to parents of the students staying in university
hostels to call them back home.
"The students are not understanding the seriousness of the situation.
For them it is a game but this is not a game. The situation can take
any turn," she told reporters as the tension continued on the campus.
During the day, students clashed with the police and even roughed up
Telugu Desam Party (TDP) legislators visiting the campus to meet them
and damaged their vehicles.
Anuradha said police did not intervene as the situation could have
taken a serious turn. The police also asked outsiders not to enter the
campus.
On the demands of the students that police should withdraw from the
campus, she said police would withdraw the moment it has confidence
that students will be peaceful.
The police officer assured the students that police would not
intervene if students organise peaceful meetings within the campus.
She also warned students that even if some of them indulge in
violence, cases would be booked against all the members of the crowd.
The officer said several policemen were injured in the incidents at
Osmania University and Nizam College in Hyderabad.
She said the disturbances were "very large" during the shutdown in
Hyderabad and nine other districts of Telangana region. The protesters
damaged 42 public and 78 private properties.
Since Wednesday night, the protesters set afire 18 buses including 12
buses of state-owned Road Transport Corporation. They also damaged 68
buses.
The protesters staged agitations at 329 places, set up road blockades
at 72 places and train blockade at 12 places. A total of 436 people
were arrested in the region
Sid Harth
streets, MPs, MLAs resign
PTI 24 December 2009, 12:13pm IST
NEW DELHI/HYDERABAD: MPs and MLAs from Telangana, cutting across party
lines, resigned from their seats in protest against the Centre's
decision to put the issue of separate statehood on hold. ( Watch
Video )
Eleven Congress members of the Lok Sabha met in New Delhi this morning
and decided to submit their resignation to party president Sonia
Gandhi in protest against the Centre's decision last night on the
issue.
Meanwhile, normal life was paralysed across Telangana region of Andhra
Pradesh as the 48-hour bandh called by TRS and other parties to
protest the Centre's decision to hold further consultations on the
statehood issue began with violence breaking out at some places.
( Watch Video )
The shutdown call had an immediate impact as students and other
Telangana supporters came on to the streets and resorted to stone
pelting on buses and shops in Hyderabad and other Telangana
districts.
Violence broke out in Hyderabad, Warangal and other places in the
region within hours of the Centre's announcement as police resorted to
baton-charge to disperse angry crowds of protesters.
In the state capital, several petrol pumps were shutdown soon after
TRS President K Chandrasekhar Rao and other Telangana leaders gave the
bandh call. Long queues were witnessed at the few petrol stations that
remained open.
Andhra Pradesh State Road Transport Corporation (APSRTC) suspended
services in the city and other Telangana districts. A large number of
commuters were stranded in Hyderabad as the city buses run by APSRTC
remained off the roads.
Incidents of buses and other vehicles being burnt were reported from
several places in the city since late last night after the shutdown
began.
Centre on Wednesday night said there was a need to hold wide ranging
consultations on the Telangana issue with all political parties and
groups in the state.
chhotemianinshallah
PTI Thursday, December 24, 2009 13:25 IST
New Delhi: Congress today said there was no need for any precipitate
action on the part of its MPs in view of the home minister's
announcement on Telangana.
"Only wide consultations have been called for that alone will ensure
an abiding result acceptable to all sections", party spokesman
Abhishek Singhvi said.
His comments came against the backdrop of 11 party MPs deciding to
resign in protest against the Centre's statement last night on the
issue.
Chidambaram's statement yesterday said there was need for wide ranging
discussions on the Telangana issue as the situation in Andhra Pradesh
has altered since his December 9 statement.
The MPs, who met at Andhra Bhavan here, felt that the word
consultations in Chidambaram's statement has created a perception
among the people of Telangana that the issue of formation of separate
state may take a longer time.
chhotemianinshallah
PTI Thursday, December 24, 2009 12:04 IST
Hyderabad: Newly-elected mayor of Hyderabad Karthika Reddy is facing
pressure to resign in support of a separate Telangana state.
A group of pro-Telangana activists staged a demonstration near her
residence here this morning demanding her immediate resignation.
The Congress Corporator was elected to the post on December 4 after
last month's election to the Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation
(GHMC).
http://www.dnaindia.com/india/report_hyderabad-mayor-s-resignation-demanded_1327000
chhotemianinshallah
Mahesh Rangarajan
Thursday, December 24, 2009 20:56 IST
There is little doubt that the Congress is in a bind over Telangana.
Its own rank and file and leadership in Andhra Pradesh are divided
mostly on sub-regional and caste lines.
Whether or not you favour or oppose the break up of the state depends
on where you hail from. It also depends on who you are, with class
affiliation and caste playing a key role in determining attitude.
Only a few days ago, the dramatic announcement by the Union Home
Minister P Chidambaram had seemed to herald a new dawn for proponents
of small states in general.
In Telangana itself, it led to the end of the fast of K Chandra
Shekhar Rao, a one-time Congress ally turned opponent. Within hours,
the script went awry as legislators and Members of Parliament from the
rest of the state resigned en masse.
A political consensus had seemed near-complete last May when even the
chief regional party led by N Chandrababu Naidu agreed on the need to
create Telengana. That was not months but many light years ago. Naidu
has done a smart about turn.
Chiranjeevi, a Kapu from the coastal region, has followed suit.More
ominously for the Congress, the late chief minister's son, Jagan has
come out openly for retaining a unified Andhra Pradesh.
For a party like the Congress, highly centralised and personalised as
it is, these are events with no recent precedent. True in 1969, the
party underwent a great divide but there were issues of principle,
ideology and leadership at the pan Indian level at stake. Now, there
seems to be near anarchy in its ranks in a state that reaffirmed its
role as bastion just last summer.
Andhra Pradesh's problems can be traced to the iron grip of Y
Rajasekhara Reddy on the state machinery, the party structure and the
polity as a whole. He was a firm opponent of the idea of Telengana and
said so in the later round of the campaign in May 2009.
More seriously, he broke the hold of the coastal Reddys and the Kammas
on the print media and the television networks using government
patronage to help his son's fledgling media venture. Close links with
a host of regional business interests was balanced with proper poor
programmes such as low cost rice and health care.
The vacuum after his death was all too real. It took as long as three
months for the Congress to convene its legislators and affirm K
Rosaiah as chief minister.
Even the choice of the former finance minister, a political
lightweight from a merchant community, indicates that the national
leadership did not want a new strong man in place in Hyderabad. The
consequences of this strategy are all too evident.New Delhi couldn't
anticipate theresistance to Telengana.
It is true that the protests are backed by strong business interests.
Since the formation of a unified Telugu-speaking state, it was the
coast that spawned many of India's new capitalists, including the GMR
and GVK groups.
Harish Damodaran, the chronicler of business houses in post 1947
India, showed how key families in this region saw the transition from
farm to factory. Both Chandrababu and YSR indicated the yearning to
power in yet another region: Rayalseema.
In the past the Congress, especially under Indira Gandhi, had leaders
with a keen sense of the Telugu society. The state gave India its
first ever Dalit chief minister, D Sanjeeviah, and its first southern
prime minister, PV Narasimha Rao. More crucially, it stood by the
Congress when it faced national routs, as in 1977 and 1989. Five years
ago, it was the spring board for national power after eight long years
in the wilderness.
Such depth of insight was crucial with respect to the Telengana
challenge, which is by no means new. In 1969, mass protests on scale
far larger than today cut off rail links of north with south India.
The key leader Dr M Channa Reddy had mass support but soon found his
place in the Congress platform, going on to serve as steel minister at
the Centre and chief minister in the state. Accommodation within a
unified state was easier if a man from the disaffected region was at
the helm or close to the top.
But much has changed in these past four decades. No one can predict
which way the dice will roll when it comes to identities and borders.
It is a measure of the short-sightedness of the governing coalition in
New Delhi that it did not think through the implications of its
announcement on Telengana.
First, it did precious little to prepare the ground for the inevitable
in Andhra Pradesh. Second, and more seriously, it does not still seem
to have realised that with 33 Lok Sabha MPs anything that happens in
the state has consequences for the Congress at a national level.
Beyond party politics, a new States Reorganisation Commission seems a
logical response. But for that the government has to come up with a
long term response.
The writer is a commentator on political affairs
http://www.dnaindia.com/opinion/main-article_caught-napping_1327172
chhotemianinshallah
TNN 25 December 2009, 04:09am IST
NEW DELHI: The Centre on Thursday hinted at setting up a second States
Reorganisation Commission to settle the plethora of demands for new
states.
Though coming from top sources in the form of loud thinking -- the
option of second SRC may be a trial balloon to test waters -- it may
still inflame the passions in Telangana given the scepticism after the
second statement issued by home minister P Chidambaram on Wednesday.
The low acceptability of SRC among Telangana proponents was evident
when it evoked a firm rebuff from Congress MPs from the region on
Thursday. They were lobbying the Congress leadership that Wednesday's
statement should not in any way go back on the commitment made in the
December 9 statement.
The option of 2nd SRC is aimed to examine the viability of pending
demands for statehood, which received a renewed push after Centre's
announcement on December 9 to initiate the process of creating
Telangana.
Sources in the government said the second states' panel after
independence could explore these demands in detail and could be asked
to give its recommendations within a time-frame. Its terms of
reference could be decided by a Group of Ministers.
Sources said the option, which was at a nascent stage, was to soothe
the frayed nerves against bifurcation of Andhra Pradesh.
The idea of SRC seems the only way out to settle the myriad demands
for new states coming from different corners -- from Gorkhaland to
Vidarbha and UP.
If the 2nd SRC is finally constituted, it would mark another step in
the direction of redrawing the political map of India after the
submission of the first SRC report in 1955.
The report had led to the formation of the southern states on the
basis of language while Gujarat was carved out from Maharashtra.
Sources said if 2nd SRC was set up, it would be expected to look
thoroughly into the legitimacy of demands for new states like
Vidarbha, Gorkhaland, Telengana, Harit Pradesh, Bundelkhand and
others.
That it may be an attempt to buy time on Andhra Pradesh's division is
not ruled out. Referring to the current crisis in AP when protests
erupted in Rayalaseema and Coastal regions against the December 9
announcement of home minister P Chidambaram, a senior official
indicated the Centre would look to buy time on the issue which has a
tendency to become an emotive issue with consequences for law and
order.
"If such an authority is set up, the process may be time consuming as
pleas and counter-pleas of various groups which either oppose or
favour a separate state are to be heard. Besides, the members of SRC
would visit each of the region whose demands would be taken up for
consideration," the official said. The delay would help lower the
temperature in AP politics.
Meanwhile, the home ministry on Thursday rushed 1,150 additional
paramilitary personnel to Andhra Pradesh in the wake of the 48-hour
bandh called by the TRS in Telangana region. "Ten companies of the
CRPF were airlifted from Delhi as well as from Jalandhar and
Chandigarh to be sent to Hyderabad," a senior official said. With
this, the total strength of central forces in the state will increase
from 28 companies to 38 companies, comprising about 4,000 men.
chhotemianinshallah
Staff Reporter
BHUBANESWAR: Hundreds of people from western Orissa here on Wednesday
staged a demonstration demanding separate Koshal State by carving out
11 districts and one sub-division from Orissa.
Encouraged by Union government’s approval to separate Telangana State
recently, agitators under the banner of Koshal Kranti Dal (KKD)
submitted a memorandum addressing the Governor in support of a
separate State.
“Economically, Koshal region has richest deposit of minerals like
coal, bauxite, mica, iron ore, lime, phosphorous, manganese and has
potential rivers including Mahanadi, Tel, Suktel, Ong, Indravati and
vast hydro electricity ability,” said KDD president Pramod Mishra
here. He said the region was endowed with richest forest wealth and
Gandhamardan mountain.
Thursday, Dec 24, 2009
ePaper | Mobile/PDA Version
http://www.hindu.com/2009/12/24/stories/2009122451400300.htm
chhotemianinshallah
Indo-Asian News Service
Hyderabad, December 25, 2009
First Published: 12:12 IST(25/12/2009)
Last Updated: 12:21 IST(25/12/2009)
The Telangana region remained relatively peaceful on Friday though
protests continued for the second consecutive day against the central
government's move to put on hold the process of forming a separate
state.
The all-party Joint Action Committee (JAC) withdrew its shutdown call
in view of Christmas and most parts of Hyderabad and the nine other
districts of the region were limping back to normalcy.
A group of students at Osmania University here and at Kakatiya
University in Warangal, however, continued their fast-unto-death,
demanding that the central government immediately initiate the process
for forming a separate Telangana state.
Additional forces, including paramilitary forces, airlifted from other
states were deployed at Osmania University and other parts of
Hyderabad and the region to maintain law and order.
Shops and business establishments re-opened in the state capital but
most petrol stations remained closed. The state-owned Road Transport
Corporation (RTC) partially restored bus services here and in other
parts of Telangana.
The region was rocked by violent protests on Thursday, the first day
of the 48-hour shutdown called by the JAC. It, however, decided not to
enforce shutdown Friday following an appeal by Christian groups.
RTC authorities said bus services had been restored only on those
routes in the region where police had assured them protection. The bus
services from Hyderabad to Vijayawada and other cities in coastal
Andhra and Rayalaseema remained suspended.
Protesters had burnt at least 15 RTC buses and damaged around 60 since
Wednesday evening when union Home Minister P. Chidambaram stressed the
need to hold consultations with all political parties on the Telangana
issue following 13 days of protests in the other two regions of Andhra
Pradesh.
People in coastal Andhra and Rayalaseema have been agitating against
the central government's Dec 9 announcement on initiating the process
for forming a Telangana state.
South Central Railway officials said trains were running as scheduled
as there were no reports of train blockades since Thursday night.
But coal production in state-owned Singareni Colleries came to a
standstill as the workers went on strike demanding a Telangana state.
The employees struck work in all the coal mines spread over the four
districts of Karimnagar, Warangal, Khammam and Adilabad.
Telangana Rashtra Samiti chief K. Chandrasekhara Rao, whose hunger
strike forced New Delhi to agree to break up Andhra Pradesh, has
resigned from the Lok Sabha to press for his demand for Telangana.
As many as 64 legislators across the spectrum from Telangana had
Thursday submitted their resignations to the Andhra Pradesh assembly
speaker. Pressure is mounting on the remaining legislators from the
region to also quit.
Telangana has 119 legislators in 294-member assembly.
rajiv mangrulkar2:25 am
there are reports in media about governor n.d. tiwari's flings of sex
scandles in raj bhavan amidst the political crisis of telangana.
let the jac/trs/kcr first attend and theexpose and address this n.d.
tiwari sexplosive issue being in constitutional position of repute.
state separation can wait for the timebeing?
Kunal2:13 am
I don't think, creating a separate state is going to help out.
Politicians for their personal benefits and for gaining importance in
the media are demanding for a separate state. But creating a separate
state means a lot of monetary burden to the economy as well as to the
state exchequer. A.P. should remain as unified Andhra Pradesh only,
instead of a separate Telangana. Due to this, foreign investments will
neither come in A.P.nor in Telangana. Progress of Hyderabad a Cyber
capital would be hampered. This would be benefitted by other
neighbouring states like Maharashtra, karnataka and Tamilnadu. They
will get a pie while people in A.P, and Telangana would be busy
fighting with one another.
rajiv mangrulkar2:06 am
there is no need for jac and no point in unending protest. state
separation is not a simple and giveaway thing as a birth day gift to
kcr/trs. since the kcr and all mla's and mp's resigned from assembly
and parliament. let us wait for its acceptance and once for all
closure of the trs /kcr non-issue in public for long term peace and
prosperity to nation and a.p.in particular.
kcr and his jac cannot provide telangana. it involves 2/3 majority
voting and consensus both at assembly and parliament level. the
jac,kcr,trs and all its members instead of protest in public , can go
to delhi and sort of the mess in constitutionally/legally acceptable
way.
VENKAT HYDARABADI2:03 am
WE WANT A UNITED ANDHRA PRDESH
Sriram1:31 am
I am an ex servicemen and always stood for the nation , where i stay
is peacful and builder who is from andhra has been exploting the
socity for 20yrs, i went to the different fourms and lastly to the
courts and so on. But on a whole the locals so called telengana
persons helped in protecting him, who has currpted the people. But now
the same people who enjoyed all the benfit from the builder , are
saying JAI TELANGANA what a crap it is . My wife who is from andhra ,
has fought against the wrong doing of the builder. We were harassed
and threatened. May god bless this country , we have lost the facts ,
people can be from any where but you cannot stop the oppurnist from
existence.
JAI HIND
Mohan1:22 am
There are lot of benefits with Bifurcation for the both the regions.
Jobs, Infrastructure, focus would be given to every remote area.
Lagadapati and others does not need this. They want to protect and
develop themselves more staying in Hyderabad. Still they can do with
the new state. But they feel the new telangana govt would investigate
their irregular business formations and put them behind the bars.
And now lets come with new Idea, 'Greater Hyderabad' as a new state
and rest of AP as other state. The same idiots like lagadapati and
jagan will overjoy and will not oppose anything. They dont belong to
people of AP, they are for themselves.
Anirudh1:14 am
I forgot to mention, the artcle was in Indian Express.
Anirudh1:12 am
Sivaramkrishna: In continuation, as far as we are concerned, smaller
states means better governance. If you have time, read Bibek Debroy's
recent article(he is an economist), which makes a case for 45 states!
It is argued that this itself could propel growth of the country!
Anirudh1:09 am
Shall I say a few things about Rajagopal? This helps you in taking a
call on this fellow. He is the richest MP of the country! He made all
his money in his own life time. How? Is he Narayanamurthy or some path-
breaking entrepreneur? No, he is too smart for so much toil! Let me
just say all his ventures are related to STATE-SPENDING.(You should
infer the rest) Now he wants "United" bullshit because, he has a multi-
million first real estate venture going on in Hyderabad. Second,and
more important,his life ambition is to become CM of AP. That appears
to be crashing. That's why all mad acts in front of 24/7 channels.
Coming to KCR, he has given up union cabinet post,parliament seat(many
times) and withstood 100 lures of YSR! A 56-year old demand arising
out of a forcible merger is his cause. First SRC recommended against
the merger, first PM of India said divorce can happen any time, if the
marriage is not working out etc. There are many reasons for the
demand.
sivaramkrishna@gmal,com12:39 am
can any body clarify why kcr wants telangana and rajgopal wants united
ap
RamanaDec 24
when the centre has agreed to initiate the process of telangana, why
should so call our brothers of Andhra, don't want us to prosper and
want to rule on us by bribing Core Committee and change its mood for
formation of telangana, now they are ready to accept resignations of
telangana leaders and plan to bring in rastrapathi palana, why didn't
it took decision when andhra leaders were playing trick, we got
independence may be a bit late but we do think we are Indians, then
why should Indian government make us slaves to andhra people
chhotemianinshallah
Samar Halarnkar, Hindustan Times
December 24, 2009
First Published: 21:22 IST(24/12/2009)
Last Updated: 21:26 IST(24/12/2009)
For a man who runs a coffee estate in the sylvan hills of Kodagu in
south Karnataka, Raj Subbiah surprises visitors with an ability to
banter in 16 languages. I heard evidence of Konkani, Kannada, Tamil,
Marathi, Hindi, Bhojpuri and English.
A compact, mustachioed man, Subbiah was educated at the Bijapur
Military School, Karnataka; St Xavier’s College, Mumbai; and Benares
Hindu University, Uttar Pradesh. After discarding his life as a
management consultant, Subbiah, now in his late 50s, lives alone on
his coffee estate in Kodagu, or Coorg to use its anglicised name, with
five dogs.
I was recently in Kodagu after a gap of nearly 20 years, and I enjoyed
meeting returnees like Subbiah. They embody the talent, wanderlust —
and endearing quirkiness — of the Kodavas, a
people given to good living, tradition and independence.
Kodagu has given India two army chiefs, including the late Field
Marshal Kodandera Madappa Cariappa, the first army chief of
independent India (a year before he took charge, one of his officers
was a Colonel Ayub Khan, later Field Marshal and President of
Pakistan), several hockey players and model/actors.
Ever since India’s great economic explosion, many Kodavas streamed
into the corporate sector, especially the tech heartland of Bangalore.
In 24 hours, I met employees from Cisco, 3M and TCS.
With a literacy rate that hovers near 80 per cent, Kodavas do very
well when they leave their homeland. This tiny district is as large as
the National Capital Territory of Delhi. Only, Delhi has about 15.5
million more people than Kodagu’s half a million.
As the demand for Telangana threatens to split Andhra Pradesh and
revive other dormant movements like Gorkhaland and Bundelkhand, it’s
interesting to note there were no more than stray whispers from
Kodagu, where infrequent attempts to resurrect an old sub-national
identity have died from lack of popular support.
Earlier this month, P.T. Bopanna, a former colleague from Bangalore,
released a book that he edited: The Rise and fall of the Coorg state.
He explores the circumstances that led to what he believes was the
“unpopular” amalgamation of the independent state of Coorg with Mysore
state (now Karnataka) in 1956.
For decades, the question of statehood — Bopanna argues for autonomy —
has been kept alive only on the fringes of the
Kodava imagination. There have been no rebels, no agitations and no
violence. Indeed, the demands are more like suggestions, like this one
I found on a blog (run out of West Asia, not Kodagu):
“If Telangana in Andhra Pradesh can be carved as a new state, why not
statehood for Kodagu? It is no secret that successive state
governments have ignored our district for 50 years now. Pathetic
infrastructure and no vision to develop Kodagu as well (sic).
Participate in the discussion … It can be a healthy discussion between
people for and those against statehood for Kodagu. We can make our
case heard in our own sweet way.”
I like the our-own-sweet-way bit. It’s very Kodava.
So, statehood isn’t a popular demand, though I agree with the
blogger’s point about pathetic infrastructure. The roads were among
the worst I’ve recently encountered and at odds with its sprawling
coffee, pepper and cardamom plantations, its red-tiled bungalows and
rush of cars and SUVs.
This prosperity, the strong hold of education, and the ability to
adapt its generations to the changing country beyond, are big reasons
why India hasn’t heard of a Kodavaland. States like Nagaland and
Mizoram boast of equally strong, if not stronger, education, but no
other land in India so strongly combines economic well-being with
education.
If it were to be a matter of identity alone, Kodava culture is
indisputably distinct from mainstream Karnataka. Kodava Hindu
marriages have no priests, there is much liquor, dancing and — my
favourite — wedding feasts boast of a main entrée called the pandhi
curry, a spicy, vinegary pork curry. The men are resplendent in their
turbans and ties. Many sport handlebar moustaches, the effect of a
martial tradition. The women are beautiful and ramrod-erect in their
specially draped Kodava saree.
For all its virtues, Kodagu isn’t all milk and honey.
The downturn and climate change have swept this lush land. The seasons
are changing, coffee prices are depressed, and many Kodava techies
have been laid off. Drinking is a problem. The Kodavas love their
drink, but too many seem to get drunk too fast and too often.
The district’s easy social fabric is showing some evidence of fraying.
The Hindu-first political philosophy of Hindutva, which has strong
roots in neighbouring Mangalore and across Karnataka, appears to be
taking hold among the Kodavas.
Muslims and Christians are widely evident in Kodagu, and though there
are no riots and obvious hate, there are rumblings of “love jihad” (a
term borrowed from neighbouring Kerala, where some young Muslim men
are accused of “luring” Hindu girls into marriage). This month, a
nationwide investigation into the affairs of Thadiyantavide Naseer, a
Keralite who is the main accused in Bangalore’s serial bombings, led
to new suspects in Kodagu.
But as long as Coorg’s returnees keep streaming back, it’s unlikely
the district will become a Gujarat or a Telangana.
“We are like the elephants born in Nagarhole (a neighbouring forest
reserve),” reasoned one slightly sozzled Kodava. “All their lives they
roam, into Tamil Nadu, into Kerala and God knows where else. But they
all return home to die.”
Sea Kay1:07 am
I fully agree with Parmod Dogra. Yes, we very diverse, from Kargil to
Kanya Kumari, from Okha to Hpungan Pass but we clearly and evidently
lack unity in diversity. Whereas the national focus must be on binding
the nation with one common theme and thread, the politicians are, in
pursiung their own wellness and richness agenda, are tearing apart
Bhaarat (by creating more little states, taking us back to pre-Moghul
political set-up) and thereby, weakening our infrastructure. Our
northern neighbour China, on the other side, dares anyone to divide
the country. Our center is weak and easily succumbs to the threat of
fasting at the cost of unity of the country.
KannadigaDec 24
Hey brijesh kalappa,
Many parts of Karnataka or for that matter of India are not well
develoepd! So should that be a reason to secede? What guarantee after
statehood will that part develop? Use common sense! The author is a
Marathi and a congi agent. He does not have balls to write on the more
impending Vidarbha statehood or even have the guts to talk about
merging Sholapur with Karnataka. But writes on a non-existent demand
for coorg statehood! Coorgies are the richest people. What are you
guys doing to develop roads over there? Don't you guys have a
municipal council waiting on the state govt to do it? Shame on your
civic responsibilities or lack of it! Surprising that great army
generals, whom I am very proud of, came from this place......
Beware of any demands like that. Are you witnessing what is happening
in AP? Don;t fall for this political bait by a yellow tabloid!
Brijesh KalappaDec 24
Highly Apt.
Behind the jingoistic views represented here is a fine analysis of a
dismal situation in Coorg.
United_KarnatakaDec 24
I strongly agree with "Kannadiga". Please don't provoke any new
issues. This partiality may not be good for you ...
KannadigaDec 24
Media in india is corrupt to the core and want to start a fire where
there is none! Just because a congress ruled state in on fire, they
want to start one in a BJP ruled one. Coorg is a long forgotten one.
No one is talking about it. But here comes the "paid news"
manufacturers posing as "journalists" in one of the notoriously biased
yellow rags of India coming out with a divisive agenda. If anything
remotely starts a fire because of this HT, you will be held
responsible for any mayhem that follows. We will let Karnataka
Rakshana Vedike be known of who started the fire. Rememebr yo have
offices in Bangalore and so are there your reporters. This Harlankar
is not difficult to spot. Please take this news off of the front page.
Dont let politically motivated articles to adorn your front pages. You
will be the biggest enemy of democracy in India. If all indians start
fighting, we don;t need any external enemies. I advise Harlankr, a
marathi, to focus on Vidarbha!
a mallyDec 24
Agree with Parmod,there is a fine line between maintaining individual
culture and heritage and calling for statehood etc A national identity
must be developed which overides local culture,and looking from afar
there is a common Indian identity that others can see
The differences are also what a few see and they are the ones who
seize it and play on it and try and rule over a divided country
Parmod DograDec 24
All you guys are messed up! There is a different culture, dialect,
practice, food after every 100 miles in every corner of India. We have
to have something in common to be a nation; language, religion etc.
Great nations of past and present are bound by something common. We
continue to be divisive. Have we learned anything that few thousand
English and MUslims were able to enslave us for centuries? There were
only one time nation was united; during independence movement and look
what happened? Shame on you regional fanatics
CLREDDYDec 24
So what is the conclusion? Are Telanganites stupids? You don't
understand the Telangana problem that easily if you don't study from
the roots. In every administrative position there is non-telanganite's
domination. No funds, no jobs, no water, humiliation...etc.Telangana's
situation is quite different. Don't compare it with any thing else as
this problem is unique. You have to compare apples to apples not to
bananas! Try some thing else next time ...
MadhwaDec 24
Silly Marathi trying to ignite a movement where none exist! I am from
Karnataka and Kodavas are as much a part of Kannada culture as the
rest of the kanandigas are! Just shut up and mind your Vidarbha
problem, which will definitely explode soon! Dont try to drive a wedge
between kannadigas. Coorg is where Kaveri originates. The crokked
Tamils tried in vain to ignite separatist passions but kodavas
themselves realized the futility of it all.
Kannadigas will never ever allow any part of Karnataka to secede
including Belagavi. Get it Harlankar? Watch out for Vidarbha! It may
become a reality soon.......
http://www.hindustantimes.com/editorial-views-on/samar/A-letter-from-Coorg/Article1-490211.aspx
chhotemianinshallah
Indo-Asian News Service
Hyderabad, December 25, 2009
First Published: 16:22 IST(25/12/2009)
Last Updated: 19:15 IST(25/12/2009)
The political crisis in Andhra Pradesh over the Telangana issue
deepened further on Friday as all ministers from the region resigned
en masse.
All 13 ministers from Hyderabad and nine other districts of the region
sent their resignations to Congress president Sonia Gandhi.
After a meeting with Chief Minister K Rosaiah at the state
secretariat, Minister for Major Irrigation Ponnala Lakshmaiah told
reporters that they had communicated their decision to the chief
minister and also to state Congress chief D Srinivas.
The ministers sent a joint resignation letter to Sonia Gandhi, saying
that the recent statement by the central government over the Telangana
issue lacked clarity and had led to confusion among people.
"The chief minister requested us to reconsider our decision but we
told them that Telangana is more important for us than the ministerial
posts. The Dec 23 statement has hurt us as the Centre did not specify
any time-frame for formation of Telangana state," Lakshmaiah said.
The ministers also resigned from the assembly amid mounting public
pressure on all legislators and MPs to resign.
Hours before the decision of the ministers, protesters attacked
Lakshmaiah's house in Warangal following rumours that he was reluctant
to quit.
"The statement lacked clarity, created confusion and led to outburst
from all sections of society," another minister J Krishna Rao said.
The ministers also included P Sabita Indra Reddy, who holds the key
portfolio of home.
It was not clear if the ministers would stop discharging their
official duties and they refused to answer questions. Political
observers said if the ministers stay away from discharging their
duties, governance may collapse.
With the resignation of the ministers from Telangana, the strength of
the state cabinet will be reduced to 21.
As many as 64 legislators - cutting across political lines - have so
far submitted their resignations to the assembly speaker. There are
119 members from Telangana in the 294-member assembly.
sreenivas6:25 am
This is the right time to thrash any politician who wears any piece of
cloth around their neck indicating party affiliation. I hated these
guys walking around with bunch of goodas and gun men.I think it is
time to elect PMs and CMS directly by the people, instead od MPs and
MLAs.Look at Jarkhand elections and the barter business. Let the
elected PM and CMs run the govt. with his ministers of choice without
any black mailing and threats from knucleheads who are illetrate and
have no knowledge of economy. Nothing will change if present way of
elections continue.
Anand6:14 am
You have not experienced Indian politics until you you have seen Naidu
in action. He will make even a chameleon run for cover.
Rao6:05 am
I agree 100% with Sarat. All the politicians of the State are caught
in a web of lies. Be that as it may, Telengana is no longer a pie-in-
the-sky.
Sarat5:56 am
A friend of mine from Andhra Pradesh described the State's politicians
as:one moment they are comic, the next schemers. I can't better that
description. Naidu, Chiru and Rosaiah are all unprincipled perverts.
REDDY5:03 am
JAI TELANGANA
JAI TELANGANA5:01 am
Thrashing jarardhan is good.. TDP was playing a foulgame here.. DOUBLE
STANDRDS from them is not good.in andhra everyone across partylines
were fighting n here EXCEPT TDP all have come under one stand.. STUPID
FELLOWS imagining of FUTURE CM from now n ANNOUNCED IDIOTIC
CHANDRABABU'S NAME.. He too should face the same punishment from the
students,, TDP Leaders should come out n speak now.. JAI TELANGANA,,
JAI JAI TELANGANA,,
chacko Mumbai4:37 am
The linguistic reorganisation of the State was not correct step, which
encouraged parochial division and a threat to the unity and integrity
of the nation. Zonal Legislative Assemblies,( South Zone for southern
states like Kerala, Tamil N, Karnataka and Andhra P, West Zone, East
Zone, North Zone and South East Zone ) and the present paraliament for
our Nation should be debated. The present trend for smaller states is
reminiscent of old Princley states which may encourage division ,
disunity and disintegration of the nation.
Anirudh4:35 am
Hey-UA! If this is the way you talk,get ready to pack your
bags,please. It's time to go!
United-Andhra3:32 am
Sonia Gandhi should accept all those resignations and get rid of all
those jokers.
JA3:16 am
Good we dont need them anyway. We will select new and good leaders who
fight for Andhra.
chhotemianinshallah
STAFF WRITER 20:16 HRS IST
Hyderabad, Dec 25 (PTI) Ways to intensify the agitation for Telangana
state, including TRS's call for an indefinite bandh, were today
discussed at a meeting here of leaders from the region.
At the first meeting of the Telangana Joint Action Committee (JAC),
formed yesterday, TRS chief K Chandrasekhar Rao is understood to have
mooted a proposal to fix a deadline for the bifurcation of Andhra
Pradesh.
The closed-door meeting of leaders belonging to TRS and other outfits
decided to continue the movement peacefully, TRS sources said.
Telegu Desam, which had attended the inaugural meeting of the JAC,
stayed away from today's meet in the wake of an attack on a senior
party leader in Osmania university yesterday.
"There is no bandh tomorrow. We appeal to the people to hold peaceful
protests as they deem fit. We will speak to all political parties and
form a committee.
http://www.ptinews.com/news/440701_Telangana-leaders-discuss-ways-to-step-up-agitation
Sid Harth
Agencies
Posted: Friday , Dec 25, 2009 at 1719 hrs
Hyderabad:
The crisis over the Telangana issue deepened further on Friday with
all 13 Andhra ministers from that region faxing a common resignation
letter to Congress chief Sonia Gandhi even as pro-statehood protesters
set ablaze vehicles and indulged in violence in several areas.
The ministers, who said they were resigning from the government on the
statehood issue, met Chief Minister K Rosaiah at the Secretariat here
and informed him about their decision.
Later, P Lakshmaiah, Sabita Reddy, D Sridhar Babu and other ministers
said they have requested the Centre to announce a clear cut time-frame
for formation of a separate Telangana state.
They said Union Home Minister P Chidambaram's statement on December 23
that the situation had altered since the announcement of a separate
state, was "confusing". They also said they would seek an appointment
soon to meet Gandhi.
The situation in Telangana region continued to be tense with a pro-
statehood activists holding protests and setting up road blocks
despite the Telangana Rashtriya Samithi (TRS) withdrawing its second
day of the bandh call today due to Christmas.
The Joint Action Committee of Telangana (JAC) activists allegedly
attacked Civil Supplies Department's godown and burnt vehicles in
Mahabubnagar.
In Warangal city, the Joint Action Committee (JAC) protesters
allegedly pelted stones at the house of Major Irrigation Minister P
Lakshmaiah, who has now sent his resignation with 12 other ministers
to the Congress President.
The police prevented them from entering into the minister's house.
Raising pro-Telangana slogans, hundreds of students took out massive
rallies and later assembled in front of the Kakatiya University in
Warangal and staged a demonstration.
In Adilabad district, pro-Telangana activists also held rallies, set
up road blockades and burnt effigies, while in Karimnagar, agitators
damaged eight trucks besides burning a car and a jeep in
Godavarikhani, police said.
The protesters also set afire a railway signal cabin office near
Raghavapur railway station late last night, police said.
Expressing their support to Telangana movement, workers of Singareni
Colleries abstained from work while some unidentified elements
partially damaged the statue of Indira Gandhi in Pothugal village
under Mustabad police station limits, they said.
Protests also continued in Medak district with activists of different
political parties resorting to road blockades, dharnas and burning of
effigies at several places.
The agitators burnt effigies of noted Telugu actor Mohan Babu, who has
joined the united Andhra Pradesh movement, in Zaheerabad and Kondapaka
areas.
Comments (4) |
Cong in a mess of its own making
By: Gopal | 25-Dec-2009
Absence of a statesmanly leader in the Cong party has lead to the mess
in which the party finds itself in. What we today find in the party is
utter sychophancy of the coteries trying to please Sonia family
members. KCR is striking at a weak Govt in the state. The absence of
assertive leaders like late Sri YSR is bacause the party never
believes in building its cadres to shoulder responsibilities on such
occasions. Right from electing a CM, the decision is left to the party
high command. This has created a lot of vacuum in the leadership of
the state units. The result is what we find in AP today. Lack of clear
cut goals and defining the path to achieve them has left the party
leadership with little time and is always engaged in firefighting. If
creation of Telengana was part of the CMP in 2004, the Cong leadership
is squarely responsible for the mess today. Why no accountability for
the Cong President ?
AP ministers faxing resignation letters to party chief-what a joke
By: k madhukar | 25-Dec-2009
What a Tamasha.State ministers should address their resignation
letters to Chief Minister or to the Governor and not to the head of
political party.These sycophants are addressing it to Sonia Gandhi.
What a farce.
Political Mess
By: BM Rao | 25-Dec-2009
It's a mess created by turncoat politicians of the day.It's saddening
to see knee-jerk-opinions, which find fault with the Govt's action of
conceding the demand, in response to a hunger strike. They fail to
appreciate the back story of 5 years. President spoke of the issue in
parliament in 2004 and sought consensus.And the Govt.announcement, on
9th of this month, was on the basis of such a consensus.The debauchery
of the present day politicians, who changed their opinions post-
facto,is the sole reason for the mess.
Consensus by whom?
By: Prasad | 25-Dec-2009
What do you or your president mean by consensus? Consensus by whom?
Who gave them that authority? In democracies these issues are dealt by
a referendum. People of Telangana should decide. Each eligible voter
shall vote and deicde. Not some idiotic politicians from Telangana or
from Pradesh. I am not from
Sid Harth
Its biggest champion is in poor shape with just 10 seats in the AP
Assembly.
Aditi Phadnis / New Delhi December 12, 2009, 0:15 IST
K Chandrashekhar Rao (KCR) belongs to an intermediate caste called
Velama — corresponding to Jats in North India. Velamas, who were kings
in medieval India, are now rich landlords with a presence in at least
three districts in Telangana — Warangal, Medak and Nizamabad.
Telangana has been backward for centuries. Remember, it never came
under the British but was ruled by the Nizam of Hyderabad who did set
up a few factories and a textile mill in Warangal in collaboration
with the French. However, avenues of employment were few and
exploitation abounded, something that Shyam Benegal has captured
eloquently in his film Ankur.
The most crucial infrastructure element — irrigation system — was
never developed systematically in Telangana, although both the Krishna
and the Godavari flowed through it. By contrast, the coastal Andhra
region aggressively lobbied for and got a garland of canals that took
river waters deep into east and west Godavari districts. The region
became a stronghold of the Communist Party of India and it was here
that armed struggle first came up in India.
In 1956, when Fazal Ali presented his report on the linguistic
reorganisation of states, Telangana first refused to integrate and
then negotiated long and hard on the terms on which it would become a
part of Andhra Pradesh (AP). What Nehru called a “gentleman’s
agreement” was drawn up — Telangana would be recognised as “virtually”
a separate state.
This hasn’t happened 50 years later but the movement for a separate
state continues to simmer. Congress CM M Channa Reddy cynically fanned
the flames of the separate Telangana movement in the late 1960s and
1970s that led to bloody riots, but ensured a permanent stranglehold
of the Congress over AP. When NT Rama Rao founded the TDP, the
Congress found itself turfed out of coastal Andhra but retained its
base in Telangana and Rayalaseema.
KCR saw this and got to work. He set up the TRS in the winter of 2001,
quitting as deputy speaker of the assembly and resigning from the TDP.
In the 2001 local body elections in AP, the TRS took off so strongly
that the TDP got just 10 of the 20 Zilla Parishads. On this, the
Congress quickly struck a deal with the TRS for the Lok Sabha
elections. In the 2004 Lok Sabha and Assembly elections, which the TRS
fought in alliance with the Congress, the party bagged 26 assembly and
five Lok Sabha seats.
He kept petitioning the Congress to give statehood to Telangana. It
hummed and hawed and continued to prevaricate. Finally, KCR pulled out
of the coalition government, resigning from the labour ministership.
He found a new ally in the TDP after it backed the demand for separate
Telangana before the elections earlier this year.
But the mood had changed. The TRS contested 50 of the 119 Assembly
seats in the Telangana region but won only 10. YS Rajasekhara Reddy
(the late Andhra CM) explained this as the vote against bifurcation of
AP.
Meanwhile, there was a revolt in the TRS and 10 of his MLAs quit. KCR
is not an easy man to get on with — while he managed to create a
movement, he had no party. The current round of politics is, however,
not just about KCR. It is around the chief ministership of AP, and the
vacuum of power after YSR Reddy’s death. There is also the question of
what will happen to Hyderabad — whom will this huge, bustling and well-
developed city go to? When KCR withdrew his fast earlier this week,
his supporters went on a rampage and he hurriedly had to resume it.
They had their eye on Hyderabad and its riches, now seemingly within
their sights. Telangana may be a long time coming, but if it comes,
Andhra Pradesh, as we know it today, will be unrecognisable.
http://www.business-standard.com/india/news/aditi-phadnis-testing-times-for-telangana/21/07/379290/
Sid Harth
Manmohan urged to start Telangana process by Monday
N. Rahul
PTI Ministers from Telangana region (from left) J. Geeta Reddy , K.
Suneeta Lakshma Reddy and D.K .Aruna after submitting their
resignation in Hyderabad. TRS chief K. Chandrasekhar Rao on Friday
asked the Prime Minister to announce the commencement of the
constitutional process for Telangana by Monday evening.
Telangana Rashtra Samiti president K. Chandrasekhar Rao on Friday
asked Prime Minister Manmohan Singh to announce commencement of the
constitutional process for the formation of Telangana by Monday
evening, failing which an indefinite bandh would be called from
December 29.
He served this ultimatum at a meeting of the newly formed Telangana
Joint Action Committee (JAC) here, but its leaders felt that a
holistic view, including the likely inconvenience to the public,
should be taken. Moreover, they should elicit the cooperation of the
Telugu Desam Party which had refused to join the JAC after attending
its maiden meeting on Thursday. JAC convener C. Kondaram told The
Hindu that a final decision on the bandh would be taken in a day or
two.
Talking to mediapersons, the TRS president demanded that Chief
Minister K. Rosaiah step down as he had lost moral right to continue
after the resignation of Ministers from Telangana. He accused TDP
president N. Chandrababu Naidu of hatching a conspiracy to set up
obstacles for separate Telangana and for misleading his own partymen
by blaming the TRS for attack on Nagam Janardhan Reddy, a senior MLA,
on Osmania University campus.
Congress MP Madhu Yaskhi, referring to The Hindu’s editorial, “Way out
in Andhra Pradesh,” asked the JAC to engage the newspaper’s editorial
team in a dialogue over its content. He said the struggle for separate
Telangana was not over development or backwardness but it was one for
self-respect. “Our region may be backward but not our thinking,” he
said.
Mr. Rao intervened to say that Editor-in-Chief of The Hindu N. Ram was
his personal friend and regretted the JAC did not have a resource
group to impress upon Editors and the media about the merits of the
agitation. He called for setting up of a group of intellectuals to
talk to Editors by Monday evening.
Meanwhile, in a fresh headache for the Rosaiah Government, all 13
Ministers from the Telangana announced their decision to resign to
exert pressure on the Centre to expedite the process of statehood
within a time frame. Twelve Ministers faxed ‘a joint letter of
resignation’ to AICC president Sonia Gandhi stating that the Centre’s
latest stand virtually putting the statehood on hold had caused
confusion and anguish.
http://beta.thehindu.com/news/national/article70643.ece
Sid Harth
Congress core committee may discuss Telangana issue
J. Balaji
The Hindu Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and Congress chief Sonia
Gandhi during a function in New Delhi. The Congress is working out
various options, including convening its core committee to discuss the
issue. File Photo: Rajeev Bhatt
Even as 13 Ministers from Telangana in Andhra Pradesh faxed their
resignation letters to Congress president Sonia Gandhi on Friday
pressing the statehood demand, and 11 Lok Sabha members remained firm
on their decision to quit, the party is working out various options,
including convening its core committee to discuss the issue.
As Ms. Gandhi is busy with Christmas celebrations and party seniors
Pranab Mukherjee and A.K. Antony are out of Delhi, the meeting is
likely to be held in the next couple of days. At the meeting, a
statement could be drafted to pacify the elected representatives from
the Telangana region, sources said.
Congress representatives from the region have been urging the
government to announce a time frame for forming a Telangana State and
if it is not possible immediately, the consultation process, as
promised by Home Minister P. Chidambaram on Wednesday, should be
started immediately. This, they hope, would bring peace in Telangana.
Peddapalle Lok Sabha member G. Vivekanand said the Centre could go
ahead even without an Assembly resolution and form the State by moving
an appropriate Bill in Parliament. As per the constitutional
requirement, the President could only seek the opinion of the Assembly
and in case the opinion was negative, there would be no bar to the
Centre moving ahead.
“Promises have been given by various governments for the last 50 years
on Telangana. This time we will not rest until we get a firm assurance
and initiation of the process,” he said.
Andhra Congress MPs Forum convener and Karimnagar MP Ponnam Prabhakar
welcomed the statement made by Law Minister M. Veerappa Moily through
The Hindu that the Centre would continue with the process of forming a
Telangana State. “But we want the Centre to announce the time frame.”
A senior Union Minister from Andhra Pradesh asked the Centre to drop
the proposal, if any, to refer the issue to the second States
Reorganisation Commission, as the move would not solve the problem in
the State. Besides, it would open the floodgates for various statehood
demands.
http://beta.thehindu.com/news/national/article70646.ece
chhotemianinshallah
Jug Suraiya Tuesday December 22, 2009, 08:58 PM
Should Pakistan's ISI give a medal to K Chandrasekhara Rao, the spear
leader of the separate Telangana movement? Or to Mayawati who wants a
separate Bundelkhand, and to those who are clamouring for Harit
Pradesh, Vidarbha and Gorkhaland?
The ISI has always wanted to balkanise India, to break it up into
small bits and pieces which can be gobbled up at will, or left to
languish in their fragmented insignificance. Are those who are
agitating for smaller and smaller Indian states willy-nilly doing the
ISI's job for it?
The demand for smaller states is based on the principle that in a true
democracy - which India is supposed to be - there must be grassroots
representation. In other words, the people running the show in any
particular administrative area must be aware of, and sympathetic to,
the needs and aspirations of the general population which inhibits
that area. When, for example, Uttarakhand was hived off from the
cumbersomely large Uttar Pradesh it was argued that an administration
based in distant, and very different, Lucknow, could have little idea
of, and less empathy with, the requirements and desires of the hill
people of Kumaon and Garhwal. A similar rationale is put forward for
Gorkhaland: why should plains-dwelling Bengalis control the lives and
fortunes of the people who live in the tea-rich hills of Darjeeling
and Kalimpong?
It's a forceful argument. And, in the case of Uttarakhand and
Gorkhaland, it does seem to make considerable sense. There are,
however, at least two major problems. The first is that, only too
often, the demand for smaller states is not really based on genuine
concerns about administrative equity but is a disguised excuse for a
land-grab. The moment a new state is formed, a new capital for it has
to be established, together with all the pomp and paraphernalia of
statehood: a new assembly, secretariat, and so on. As a result,
property prices in the newly designated capital shoot up and the land
mafia hits the jackpot yet again.
The more serious objection to ever-smaller states is that such
demands, based on the politics of sub-regional identity, further erode
India's already threatened and fragile unity. It is often said that
Indians tend to be Gujaratis, or Tamils, or Punjabis, or whatever
else, first and Indians second. Rabble-rousers like Bal Thackeray and
his out-Heroding-Herod nephew, Raj, have shown us the dangers of
regional chauvinism, and a sons-of-the-soil policy. If each state, or
sub-state, sprouts its own home-grown version of the Thackerays the
Indian union will soon be a disunion of disparate parts.
The great thing about India has always been what might be called the
great Indian bazaar: the whole country seen as a marketplace, or a
village haat, where people can freely come and go, to buy and sell, to
earn a livelihood, to mingle with each other, and to raise families,
in whatever part of this republic they choose to do so.
That's the paradox. The republic, in order to be a republic, must
accept the principle and practice of regional autonomy. But if the
legitimate demand for regional autonomy shades into narrow
parochialism and exclusivist chauvinism, the republic will be
destroyed. The great Indian bazaar will go bust.
Which is exactly what the Pakistani army and the ISI want. Are those
agitating for smaller states unwittingly falling into the ISI's snare?
Or are their demands justified and, if met, will they buttress the
republic, not break it?
Points that need thinking about, in the rising clamour for smaller
states, and the equally strident outcry against them. Where are we
headed? Towards a more representative rainbow republic? Or towards
what's on top of the ISI wish list: an India that is not Bharat, but
Balkanistan?
http://blogs.timesofindia.indiatimes.com/jugglebandhi/entry/balkanistan-vs-india
chhotemianinshallah
25 Dec 2009, 2307 hrs IST, PTI
HYDERABAD: Declaring that the "battle" for separate Telangana has
begun, TRS president K Chandrasekhar Rao today asked the Centre to
take steps for formation of the separate state immediately.
Claiming there is a "constitutional crisis" in the state in the wake
of the resignations of almost all ministers and MLAs from Telangana,
Rao asked the Centre to initiate the process for the formation of
Telangana.
"In view of the strong demand for Telangana, the central government
should grant the separate state immediately", he told reporters after
the first meeting of the Joint Action Committee comprising leaders
cutting across party lines from Telangana here tonight.
The JAC discussed ways to intensify the agitation for Telangana state
at its first meeting today.
At the closed-door meeting, TRS is understood to have mooted a
proposal to fix a deadline for bifurcation of Andhra Pradesh but there
was no statement on record from the leaders to this effect.
"I once again appeal to the government of India today. The Joint
Action Committee consisting of all the employees, advocates, political
parties and people's organizations of Telangana have come to the
conclusion. We will chalk out our programme. This battle has begun,"
Rao said.
He claimed there was already a constitutional crisis in the state.
"Almost all Telangana ministers have resigned, MLAs have resigned and
Chief Minister K Rosaiah has no moral right to continue as Chief
Minister".
Rao said while the movement for united Andhra Pradesh was
"orchestrated" the agitation for Telangana "has come from the
people".
Telugu Desam Party, which had attended the inaugural meeting of the
JAC, stayed away from today's meet in the wake of an attack on a
senior party leader in Osmania University yesterday.
Chandrasekhar Rao dismissed the allegation by TDP that TRS was behind
the attack on senior TDP leader N Janardhan Reddy at Osmania
University.
"Naidu made the allegation only to stop the TDP leaders from joining
the Telangana agitation", Rao said.
Senior Congress MLA R Damodar Reddy said "we appeal to the people to
hold peaceful protests.
"We will speak to all political parties and form a committee. As per
the recommendations of that committee, we will go ahead with the
agitation," he told reporters.
chhotemianinshallah
25 Dec 2009, 2159 hrs IST, PTI
HYDERABAD: Railways is cancelling 70 passenger and short distance
express trains tomorrow due to large-scale damage to tracks,
signalling equipment and other installations during the bandh in
Telangana region.
"The large-scale damage to tracks, vital signalling equipments and
other installations during yesterday's bandh in Telangana has resulted
in disruption of services and hence 70 trains have been cancelled for
tomorrow," SCR Chief Public Relations Officer Chandrima Roy said here
today.
Passenger/short distance express trains plying on Secunderabad-
Kazipet, Kazipet-Dornakal, Kazipet-Ballarshah, Secunderabad-Mudkhed
and Secunderabad-Mahabubnagar sections, among others, will not be
operated.
"It has been decided not to run these trains as a precautionary
measure. Damage to a single signalling panel causes a loss of more
than Rs one crore. We cannot afford to suffer such losses," Roy said.
"Repair works are underway and it will take some time before things
are set," Roy added.
Sid Harth
Press Trust Of India
Hyderabad, December 26, 2009
First Published: 19:36 IST(26/12/2009)
Last Updated: 20:05 IST(26/12/2009)
Stepping up its campaign, a group of political parties from Telangana
on Saturday set an ultimatum to the Centre asking it to announce a
time-frame by Monday for formation of the separate state, failing
which an indefinite bandh would be enforced from December 29.
Sporadic violence by pro-Telangana activists in the region targeted
TDP as they set on fire the party's office in Karimnagar district and
burnt effigies of TDP leaders in Warangal, Nalgonda and Adilabad
districts.
"We will wait till Monday evening for the Centre's announcement,
failing which there will be an indefinite bandh in the entire region
from Tuesday," Telangana Rashtra Samithi (TRS) Chief K Chandrasekhar
Rao said after a meeting of Joint Action Committee.
The JAC has decided to organise protests in all the villages of
Telangana within a stipulated time.
Sporadic incidents of violence were reported from Karimnagar and Medak
districts of the region even as the bandh call given by JAC was
withdrawn.
Demonstrators set on fire TDP office in Vemulavada town in Karimnagar
district, attacked a government office office in Ramgundam mandal
while students carried out a mock funeral procession of TDP leaders in
Warangal.
TDP responded by enforcing a bandh in Mahabubnagar district condemning
the attack on its leaders, including Politburo member Nagam Janardhan
Reddy, by students and pro-Telangana activists in Osmania University
campus in Hyderabad on Thursday.
chhotemianinshallah
PTI 26 December 2009, 07:16pm IST
HYDERABAD: Stepping up its campaign, a grouping of political parties
from Telangana today set an ultimatum to the Centre asking it to
announce a time-frame by Monday for formation of the separate state,
failing which an indefinite bandh would be enforced from December 29.
Sporadic violence by pro-Telangana activists in the region targeted
TDP as they set on fire the party's office in Karimnagar district and
burnt effigies of TDP leaders in Warangal, Nalgonda and Adilabad
districts.
"We will wait till Monday evening for the Centre's announcement,
failing which there will be an indefinite bandh in the entire region
from Tuesday," Telangana Rashtra Samithi (TRS) Chief K Chandrasekhar
Rao said after a meeting of Joint Action Committee.
The JAC has decided to organise protests in all the villages of
Telangana within a stipulated time.
Sporadic incidents of violence were reported from Karimnagar and Medak
districts of the region even as the bandh call given by JAC was
withdrawn.
Demonstrators set on fire TDP office in Vemulavada town in Karimnagar
district, attacked a government office office in Ramgundam mandal
while students carried out a mock funeral procession of TDP leaders in
Warangal.
TDP responded by enforcing a bandh in Mahabubnagar district condemning
the attack on its leaders, including Politburo member Nagam Janardhan
Reddy, by students and pro-Telangana activists in Osmania University
campus here on Thursday.
chhotemianinshallah
Telangana lava melts teflon
MJ Akbar
Teflon may be synthetic but it is not a negative: It is in great
demand among both cooking utensils and politicians. It might even be
called history’s finest non-violent armour, for it protects your
reputation from stain. If everything greasy simply rolls off the skin,
leaving neither scar nor wound, then you become impervious to
criticism. For politicians it becomes a near-magical coat, since they
need a double-defence mechanism: Safety not only from the Opposition’s
barbs but also from their own mistakes. Even when teflon cracks it
does so without a sound. The world gets to know of the breach long
after it has occurred, leaving you time for repair.
Ronald Reagan used to delight in being called the teflon politician.
Even the Iran-contra scandal bypassed him, while frying half the White
House that reported to him — or maybe he bypassed the scandal. The net
result was the same. He kept on smiling till his last day in office,
his only regret being that he could not get a better successor. But
then, no American President has been overwhelmed by his Vice-
President, so that is not valid evidence in the evaluation of George
Bush the Elder.
Two members of the present Union Government have been blessed with
teflon: Mr Manmohan Singh and Mr P Chidambaram. Mr Singh was born with
it; Mr Chidambaram ordered it at wholesale rates for use in his public
persona. As Finance Minister he concentrated on spreading the good
news and left the bad news to lesser mortals like bureaucrats or even
a permanent demi-god like Mr Montek Singh Ahluwalia. He made all
announcements about recovery and growth. It was brilliant political
strategy.
Since the Home Minister is the de facto chief policeman of the
country, and the police are rarely blessed with good news, Mr
Chidambaram refashioned himself as the homeland security Minister,
raising his challenge to terrorism rather than mere crime. This
clearly affected his mindset. He began to see every problem as an
existential threat to the nation, treating Maoists, for instance, as
terrorists rather than a violent political movement born out of hunger
and the state’s neglect of the poor. Even when he did not express say
so, there always seemed to an “or else!” tagged to every statement he
made. There was always an undercurrent suggestion in his demeanour
that the Home Minister was not quite at home in his Ministry, but
teflon was the great veneer that never let any uncomfortable thought
emerge.
Telangana is the first crack in this teflon, but of course we have not
yet heard the sound of any crack since, as noted, the rupture is
noiseless. The phrase ‘flip-flop’ has been well imagined. The first
flip may be necessary for purposes of either display or convenience,
but a second flip is always a flop, leaving you open to ridicule. The
Home Minister was handed his moment when he announced the formation of
a separate Telangana State on December 9. It was the kind of
opportunity that Prime Ministers reserve for themselves, for new
States are not born each day.
But Mr Manmohan Singh let his junior change the internal map of India.
He might have been too busy: After all, he has been rushing from one
country to another, with nary a day even for Parliament. Or, more
likely, the Prime Minister might have been a better politician than
others think he is. Mr Singh can measure the heat of a hot potato from
a long distance, and Telangana was the hottest potato in a decade. He
left this potato in the mouth of Mr Chidambaram, and its heat melted
the Teflon. Close observers of Delhi’s power plays might have noticed
a Press release that suggested that the statement on the reversal of
the Telangana decision would be made jointly by Ms Sonia Gandhi and Mr
Singh. They did not do anything so rash. The hot potato went back to
Mr Chidambaram. All he could do, once again, was juggle it on his
tongue. Justifications for the second tongue-twister fell flat. Some
over-clever types in Delhi tried to make a scapegoat of the new Andhra
Pradesh Chief Minister K Rosaiah, even though the latter had warned
his high command not to divide the State. All they managed was to
weaken yet another branch on which their authority rested.
The Union Government has sent a message to Andhra Pradesh: Pile on the
pressure, and Delhi will buckle. K Chandrasekhar Rao went on a fast
and got his wish in rather quick time; the rest of Andhra Pradesh
picked up the hint and tweaked its own pressure points, inducing a
back-breaking somersault. It is Telangana’s turn once again to indulge
in rampage-politics.
A question needs to be raised: Why is coastal Andhra Pradesh so
insistent on keeping a region that is so adamant on divorce? It cannot
be a territorial matter since Telangana is not seceding from the
Indian union, and there is no law which says that an Andhra
businessman cannot own a Telangana company or, for that matter,
property in Hyderabad. Language is clearly no longer the most
important glue for States, and if people get convinced that there is
imbalance in development they will demand a better option — and seek
it in their own lifetimes. There is no point offering them gold in
2020 and coal today. It won’t work.
Mr Chandrasekhar Rao surely believes that he is the father of
Telangana, but this child would never have been born without the
mismanagement of New Delhi. This volcano could have smouldered for
many more years without exploding, and perhaps this period could have
been used to redress the economic imbalance. But New Delhi fired the
volcano, and it now has lava on its face.
-- MJ Akbar is Director of Publications of Covert.
http://www.dailypioneer.com/225308/Telangana-lava-melts-teflon.html
chhotemianinshallah
OUR SPECIAL CORRESPONDENT
New Delhi, Dec. 26: The Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh has given a
communal twist to the demand for small states, claiming that Muslims
see a higher possibility of domination if some of these are created.
“Muslims see a great chance of domination in a new Harit Pradesh; they
view it as a throwback to the Nizam days when they speak of Telangana.
These have dangerous dimensions,” warns an editorial in the latest
edition of the Sangh’s weekly journal, Organiser. The editorial is on
the journal’s website; the issue will be published tomorrow.
The article rejects the adoption of “religion and language” as
criteria for carving out new states — although religion has never been
an official criterion for statehood.
Asked to react, Asaduddin Owaisi, Hyderabad MP and leader of the
Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen, said: “We have not publicly stated our
position (on Telangana statehood).”
However, sources said that in the Majlis’s internal discussions, a
view had been expressed that the BJP could gain ground over time in a
Telangana state where Muslims would make up 14 per cent of the
population. In undivided Andhra Pradesh, they are 9.4 per cent.
“The Hindutva mindset is very much prevalent in Telangana although the
BJP might not be strong in the region at the moment,” a source said.
Rashtriya Lok Dal leader and Harit Pradesh statehood spearhead Ajit
Singh dismissed the Sangh’s suggestion. “(Mohan) Bhagwat (the Sangh
chief) endorsed Harit Pradesh in a statement in Agra. In any case, we
are not asking for it on the basis of caste or religion,” he said.
Ironically, at a time the Sangh is trying to appropriate and run it,
the BJP has been the only party, apart from the Telangana Rashtra
Samiti (TRS), to have consistently supported statehood for Telangana.
The BJP has long supported the creation of smaller states and
expresses pride that Uttarakhand (then Uttaranchal), Chhattisgarh and
Jharkhand came into being without controversy during the NDA’s tenure.
The party now backs the demand for Gorkhaland following its alliance
with the Gorkha Janmukti Morcha during the last Lok Sabha elections.
The Organiser editorial grudgingly endorses the idea of linguistic
states. It says that although “unimaginative” to start with, the
states evolved into a “workable model over the years”.
“A certain level of emotive integration and development structure
emerged over a period which brought both political stability and
national integration. This is not the time to rake up fresh
controversies. This is not the way other developed or developing
countries manage their affairs,” it adds.
The editorial uses economic and political arguments to discredit the
case for small states. Its suggested solution is a “strategy for
seamless economic and emotional unity and not more states and more
political loot at the expense of the taxpayer”.
The editorial accuses Sonia Gandhi and Rahul Gandhi of fomenting the
Telangana trouble. “It was Sonia Gandhi’s midnight political harakiri
in offering Telangana to the agitating TRS that has helped sprout such
demands instantaneously from almost all parts of the country by little-
known organisations.”
About TRS president K. Chandrasekhar Rao, it says: “Local politicians
are prone to foment and support the demand as it helps their career
advancement.”
The editorial claims that Rahul’s attempts at nurturing his political
career in Uttar Pradesh by “exploiting the backwardness of Bundelkhand
and eastern Uttar Pradesh” has provoked Mayavati to demand the state’s
trifurcation.
http://www.telegraphindia.com/1091227/jsp/nation/story_11912918.jsp
chhotemianinshallah
STAFF WRITER 14:12 HRS IST
Hyderabad, Dec 27 (PTI) After calling for a separate Telangana state,
BJP Andhra Pradesh unit has now decided to launch a " Jai Andhra"
agitation demanding statehood for Rayalseema and coastal Andhra
region.
The BJP, which is in favour of smaller states, would launch a " Jai
Andhra" agitation under the leadership of party's former MLA and
national executive member Dr K Haribabu from Vijayawada on January 2,
BJP state president and former union minister Bandaru Dattatreya told
pressmen here today.
He said the party was in favour of creation of two states, Telangana
and another comprising Rayalseema and coastal Andhra region.
"The party's policy is very clear and it would undertake agitation as
per its policy", the BJP cheif said.
When asked whether the party would join the Joint Action Committee
formed in support of Telangana state, Dattareya replied
"affirmatively" saying that the agitation should be peaceful.
http://www.ptinews.com/news/442129_BJP-to-launch--Jai-Andhra--agitation
chhotemianinshallah
Agencies
Posted: Sunday , Dec 27, 2009 at 1220 hrs
Hyderabad:
Pro-Telangana protesters have damaged state property at will.
As Andhra Pradesh boils over the Telangana issue, public and private
properties worth over Rs 250 crore were destroyed by protesters in all
the three regions of the state so far, government sources said.
Adding the loss caused to businesses because of the seemingly unending
spate of shutdowns in Telangana, the figure could be a few hundred
crores of rupees more.
Of the total loss to properties, about 80 per cent was caused in
Telangana region alone where people demanding a separate state have
been more "violent," the sources said. As many as 52 public and 28
private properties were burnt while 62 public and 114 private
properties were damaged in the violence that broke out in Telangana
region from November 29 to December 9, after TRS chief K Chandrasekhar
Rao began his indefinite fast demanding separate statehood for
Telanagana.
The agitations supporting a united state recorded 37 public properties
and 11 private properties being burnt and 46 public and 47 private
properties damaged between December 10 and 23, statistics compiled by
the police reveal.
The state-run Andhra Pradesh Road Transport Corporation (APSRTC) bore
the brunt of the strife with 35 buses being burnt and another to 214
damaged. 50 private buses were also damaged and seven were set on fire
by Telangana protesters.
Pro-Telangana groups went on a rampage and damaged as many as 268
buses in the state capital and other districts of Telangana region on
a single day following the Centre's announcement on the statehood
issue on December 23. Besides, over 50 public and over 150 private
properties were also badly burnt or damaged in the second round of
"protests" in Telangana so far.
According to Transport Minister S Vijayarama Raju, APSRTC suffered a
loss of over Rs 110 crore since November 29.
"These are only bare estimates as the destructions are still
continuing in Telangana region," a top ranking bureaucrat said.
The protesters also targeted railway properties causing a loss of
several crores of rupees due to burning of four railway stations and
other damages at various places in all the three regions of Andhra
Pradesh.
The protesters damaged railway signalling panels and equipments
besides burning two bogies and pelting stones on two Express trains.
"Apart from attacks on railway properties in view of bandhs, rail
rokos and demonstrations, railways are also losing particularly due to
non-transportation of goods and parcel which are lying at different
railway stations," a senior official of the South Central Railway
(SCR) said.
The protesters did not spare telephone exchanges, cell phone towers.
They also set fire to optical fibre cables at a BSNL warehouse in
Anantapur causing over Rs 30 lakh loss. The number of persons who
ended their lives demanding
Telangana state was three times higher in the region with 18 persons
resorting to the extreme step while six persons committed suicide in
support of unified Andhra Pradesh.
As many as 82 persons tried to end their lives for Telangana state
while 49 attempted suicide in Andhra and Rayalaseema regions, police
sources said.
Comments (1) |
confiscate
By: srikanth | 27-Dec-2009
Confiscate the property of all the polticians who are involved in the
unruly agitation and pay to government.Put criminal charges on all the
people involved in breaking the buses,etc and hang them in markets and
busy places.
chhotemianinshallah
December 26th, 2009
Secretary, Mr Digvijay Singh, on Sunday said a separate state of
Telangana could be carved out of Andhra Pradesh, only if the State
Assembly first passes a resolution on it.
"I recall that when I was Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister in 2000, a
separate Chhattisgarh was carved out only because the State Assembly
had passed a unanimous resolution on it," said Mr Singh.
It is for the Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister K. Rosaiah to ensure that
such a resolution on Telangana is passed in the State Assembly, he
said.
The Congress leader said the political parties in Andhra Pradesh were
behaving rather strangely when it came to the issue of statehood for
Telangana. Parties like the Telugu Desam and the CPI(M) which were
earlier supporting the formation of Telangana are now backing out, he
said.
"Under such a situation, there is no point in raising any finger at
the Congress on the issue," he added.
Talking about development, Singh said the size of the state did not
matter if steps were taken for the de-centralisation of power as was
envisaged by Mahatma Gandhi and Rajiv Gandhi.
There has been development in Uttarakhand but due to political
instability Jharkhand could not march ahead, he added.
http://www.deccanchronicle.com/international/t-decision-has-be-passed-state-digvijay-002
chhotemianinshallah
December 27th, 2009
PTI
Andhra Pradesh ministers from Telangana region on Sunday left for New
Delhi to mount pressure on the Congress leadership on separate
statehood.
The ministers, who have already sent their joint resignation letter to
party president Sonia Gandhi, will call on her and other leaders to
underline the need for allaying the apprehensions created by the
central government's second statement on Telangana.
Nine of the 13 ministers and MPs from the region left for the national
capital in the hope that the leadership would come out with clarity on
the issue.
Minister for Information and Public Relations Geeta Reddy told
reporters that they would apprise the leadership of the disappointment
following the Dec 23 statement, which is seen as dilution of the
central government's Dec 9 pledge to initiate the process for the
formation of Telangana state.
The second statement laid stress on the need to hold wide ranging
consultations on the issue in view of the differences among various
parts of Andhra Pradesh.
Minister for IT K. Venkat Reddy said they would also urge union
minister S. Jaipal Reddy to join them in mounting pressure on the
leadership.
Eleven of the 12 Congress MPs from Telangana have decided to quit
while Jaipal Reddy is keeping mum.
Cutting across party lines, about 70 out of 119 state legislators from
the region have submitted their resignations to the assembly speaker.
http://www.deccanchronicle.com/national/t-ministers-leave-delhi-021
chhotemianinshallah
27 Dec 2009, 1916 hrs IST, IANS
NEW DELHI: West Bengal Chief Minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee said on
Sunday that Prime Minister Manmohan Singh was going to start a
dialogue with "all stakeholders" and political parties to reach a
consensus on the issue of Telangana.
Bhattacharjee, who was here to attend the politburo meeting of the
Communist Party of India-Marxist (CPI-M), met the prime minister to
know what the government was doing to check the unrest in Andhra
Pradesh.
He said he told the prime minister that any decision on Telangana
would have wide-ranging impact in West Bengal as there are demands for
breaking up the state into smaller states: Gorkhaland, Kamtapur and
Greater Coochbehar.
The chief minister said he "gathered" from the prime minister that his
"government is seriously trying to hold consultations with all parties
in the state as well as at the national level".
He said he would speak to the state's Principal Secretary
(Environment) Madan Lal Meena on his reported telephonic conversation
with Maoist leader Kishenji.
Media reports said Kishenji had a telephonic conversation with Meena
about polluting mines.
Admitting that it was difficult to catch the most wanted Maoist
leader, who has telephonic conversation with "hundreds of journalists
every day", he said the security forces could only identify the mobile
tower to know about the location of Kishenji.
Sid Harth
OUR CORRESPONDENT
Siliguri, Dec. 27: Members of the Gorkha Janmukti Vidyarthi Morcha
today set up blockades at Panchnoi, Sevoke, Teesta Bridge and Rangpo,
bringing traffic to a grinding halt on three national highways that
connect Siliguri to the hills, Sikkim and the Northeast.
The Gorkha Janmukti Morcha’s youth front has threatened to set up more
blockades in the Dooars, to increase the timing from three to four
hours and obstruct trains moving to and from the Northeast from
tomorrow.
Trains passing through Sevoke between 12 noon and 4pm — Jha Jha-
Guwahati Express and Capital Express (Danapur-Kamakshya) — are likely
to be affected if the protesters take to the tracks.
The blockade started at 12 noon at all four points. Except for
Panchnoi, where the block development officer of Matigara Samarjit
Chakrabarty tried to persuade the students to lift the blockade, there
was no intervention from the administration. Even at Panchnoi on NH55,
a kilometre from Darjeeling More in Siliguri, a large police force
whiled away the time for three hours.
“It is not desirable to raise blockades on national highways. We are
holding talks with the Morcha leadership and we are trying to persuade
them to withdraw their agitation programme. We will not resort to any
pressure tactics as that could make the situation worse,” said
Surendra Gupta, the district magistrate of Darjeeling.
Diptendu Saha, who had wanted to visit Darjeeling with his friends for
a few hours, had to return from Darjeeling More. “We are going back to
Calcutta this evening so we cannot afford to wait for the withdrawal,”
he said.
Vidyarthi Morcha general secretary Keshav Raj Pokhrel said the
blockades were meant to send messages to the Centre and the state.
“We want the demand for Gorkhaland to reach the state and the central
governments. From tomorrow, we will organise more blockades in the
Dooars and increase the blockade time. It will be from 12 noon to 4pm.
During these hours, we will also obstruct trains that move to and from
the Northeast,” he said a day after chief secretary Asok Mohan
Chakrabarti warning the Morcha that steps would be taken to enforce
law.
“No national highway can be blocked like this. It will mean violation
of a Supreme Court ruling that calls for maintenance of normal
services on a highway. We will have to take steps to enforce the law,”
he had said in Calcutta yesterday.
At Sevoke, 25km from here, around 800 students squatted on NH31. The
number of protesters was more at Sevoke since it marks the entry to
Siliguri from Dooars, Kalimpong and Sikkim. Here, the vehicles queued
up to 3km on either side of the blockade.
The other two blockades were put up at Teesta Bridge and Rangpo, 35km
and 60km from Siliguri. Both the spots are on NH31A, Sikkim’s only
road connection with the rest of the country. The blockades were
lifted at 3pm at all the places.
http://www.telegraphindia.com/1091228/jsp/frontpage/story_11915205.jsp
chhotemianinshallah
Kunal from Mumbai says:
An important decision was taken by the Government/high command, late
at night just because ‘things were getting out of hand’.
Is there no provision of a President’s rule or military to be called
in if things are volatile in a state? Is it legal to commit suicide
(read fast unto death)? I demand to know, if I will have to restore to
make ‘things go out of hand’ to be heard by the Government?
The Government is asking the Nation to believe that it was ‘forced’ to
take a decision just because a few buses and effigies were burnt,
public property destroyed and a politician was on a fast unto death??
But all of these happen every other day here. Do we know of any other
way of having ourselves heard? Does the Government hear us without
this?
No Mr. politician, at least I – one of the citizen of India, refuse to
buy this! Telangana is just an excuse for your politics and your
political equations. And an encouragement for people to restore to
more fast-unto-deaths and burning more public properties to fulfill
their demands – any demands.
———————————————————————————————————————————-
A Fan of Indic Post from Texas (USA) says:
I am a native of Andhra Pradesh and have now been settled in the USA
for more than a decade. I have not been following much AP politics
lately, but it is quite shocking to see the turnaround. I am not sure
if all this mess would have happened if the YSR, who was supposedly a
strong leader, were still alive. The other sad part is that Congress
has set a bad precedent by agreeing to demands just because of all the
protests and ‘dharanas, ‘fast-unto-death’ etc. As the posts quite
rightly points out, they have should have taken into consideration all
the native politicians of AP before coming to any kind of decision.
This decision is only going create more angst and I fear there will be
more protests and chaos to follow.
I am still hoping against hope that the split does not happen.
———————————————————————————————————————————-
kiran baliyan from Ahmedabad says:
Well said.
But then it is not the first time that our Grand Old Party has left
the most important and vital decisions to the so called ‘High
Command’. It is really unfortunate that we ourselve butcher the novel
idea/system we take so much pride in- ‘Democracy.
The author is very much right in narrating several occasions when
situation was really volatile and with fully justified cause. One of
them was in Western UP when farmers agitated against the Ordinance of
the Central Government which was favouring Sugar Mill owners at the
cost of farmers. It, though that ordinance, fixed a price of Rs 129
per quintal for sugarcane with a clause that if the local state
goverment fixes higher price, the State and not the Mill owners, have
to pay the difference. Farmers were agitated against this and that
they cultivate sugarcane throught the year and are getting just Rs 129
while the Mill owners for just processing, were getting more than Rs
250 (taking into account of 10 Kg sugar per quintal and rate at Rs 35
per Kg.). They stopped the traffic and lot of damaging resulted. Even
collector of a district was almost manhandled. But that all does not
come under ‘abnormal’ conditions.
The way decisions are taken at the High Level, we should stop calling
us a democratic state and benefactor of common people.
———————————————————————————————————————————-
Maniram from Bhopal says:
Yes, I agree with the IndicPost contention that national- and state-
level issues like that of Telangana should be dealt with in a more
democratic manner; and, that a well set constitutional procedure
should be followed in such matters. Surely, decisions on such things
cannot depend on anybody’s (including Madam’s) personal pleasure.
So, once more, our democracy has acted like a 60-year old child. God
knows when it will mature into an adult!
———————————————————————————————————————————-
A reader from Seattle (USA) says:
Great article by THE INDIC POST on the subject and correct
assessment!!.. Thanks.
http://www.indicpost.com/letters/i-am-still-hoping-against-hope-that-the-split-does-not-happen/
chhotemianinshallah
Express News Service
First Published : 28 Dec 2009 04:20:00 AM IST
Last Updated : 28 Dec 2009 10:38:42 AM IST
THE State unit of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has decided to
intensify both the Jai Telangana and Jai Andhra movements to
``expose'' the Congress and main Opposition Telugu Desam Party's (TDP)
double standards on the bifurcation of the State.
The State unit of the party will formally launch its Jai Andhra
movement from Vijayawada tomorrow under the leadership of
vicepresident K Haribabu.
It has also decided to provide free legal aid to all activists in the
two regions taking part in the movements.
The party has established a control room under the chairmanship of
senior advocate Anthony Reddy at the State party headquarters.
The State panel has also decided to organise public meetings at 24
places in the city on December 29 and a ``Torch Rally'' in the city on
January 1. A string of awareness programmes have also been lined up.
Addressing a press conference, State president B Dattatreaya demanded
that the Central Government introduce a bill in Parliament to begin
the process of the formation of Telangana State in accordance with
Article 3 of the Indian Constitution.
Saying that the Congress and Telugu Desam were insincere on Telangana,
he demanded that TDP president N Chandrababu Naidu tender an
unconditional to the people of Telangana. He also urged Union Minister
S Jaipal Reddy to quit the Cabinet and join the movement.
The BJP leader also strongly criticised the police for registering
false cases against students in the region.
He said the police had registered non-bailable cases against about 900
advocates and urged Chief Minister K Rosaiah to direct the department
to withdraw the same.
BJP general secretaries K Laxman and Ch Sambamurthy took part in the
press conference.
chhotemianinshallah
Express News Service
First Published : 28 Dec 2009 04:16:00 AM IST
Last Updated : 28 Dec 2009 10:38:23 AM IST
THE allocation of the lion's share of funds to the Telangana region by
successive governments in violation of the Gentlemen's Agreement of
1956 has made the carving out of a separate Andhra imperative,
maintains “Pratyeka Andhra Sadhana Samithi'' organising secretary
Sunkara Krishna Murthy.
The discrimination had resulted in the neglect of both the coastal and
Rayalaseema regions, he says, and points out that over 58.5 per cent
of irrigation funds were being allocated to Telangana alone.
Voicing concern that the people of Andhra were being treated as
nonlocals and were deprived of employment opportunities in Hyderabad,
he foresees rapid development of Andhra, which has abundant natural
resources, including gas reserves, if it is separated.
Another leader, Pilla Venkateswara Rao, said the Nagarjuna Sagar
project was constructed before the formation of Andhra Pradesh at the
initiative of Jawaharlal Nehru and no major project was taken up in
the region subsequently. Successive governments had strived hard for
the development of the Telangana region only.
He said only a small number of politicians and real estate players
with interests in Hyderabad were clamouring for Samaikyandhra.
Andhra Rastra Samithi leader P Raghava Swamy said the Andhra and
Telangana regions were forcibly merged during the formation of Andhra
Pradesh to bring about a consensus on the selection of chief minister.
Subsequently, whereas both regions should have been developed, no
projects or works worth the name were taken up in the Andhra region.
The Andhra Rashtra Samithi leader said a separate State would witness
the rapid development of the region which was blessed with resources
aplenty, a long coastline and good ports.
Email PrintDelicious Digg Google Facebook Yahoo Reddit Stumble
Comments All the major dams on river krishna like
Srisailam ,Nagarjunsagar and upcoming Pulichintala dams are situated
on borders of proposed telangana and Andhra .srisailam dam left bank
is in mahabubnagar while right bank is in kurnool
district.Nagarjunsagar dam left bank is in nalgonda while right bank
is in guntur similar thing for pulichintala .So no state has absolute
control of the dams in case of partition of state .SO they have to
work together like in tungabhandra dam (andhra and karnataka) and
there is no chance for denial of water to lower parts of state
By sandeep
12/28/2009 12:53:00 PM
http://www.expressbuzz.com/edition/story.aspx?Title=‘Andhra+will+flourish+as+a+separate+State’&artid=cDtVOwxXe78=&SectionID=e7uPP4|pSiw=&MainSectionID=e7uPP4|pSiw=&SectionName=EH8HilNJ2uYAot5nzqumeA==&SEO=Sunkara
Krishna Murthy, Pilla Venkateswara Rao, P
chhotemianinshallah
Express News Service
First Published : 28 Dec 2009 03:45:00 AM IST
HYDERABAD: Praja Rajyam party Political Affairs Committee member K
Vidyadher Rao laments that as the agitations are going on, investments
in the State are going back.
Speaking to reporters here today, he said that already software
companies like Microsoft and Infosys had stopped their expansion plans
in the State and students should think about it. The former minister
wondered whether the government was functioning in the State and
wanted that attacks on properties of people of other regions should be
controlled immediately.
From now on the State Government had to take responsibility for any
loss of life or property, the PRP leader declared and added that with
ongoing agitations people were feeling insecure.
He condemned the attacks on film units and on the production office of
film producer and PRP president Chiranjeevi’s brother-in-law A
Aravind.
http://www.expressbuzz.com/edition/story.aspx?Title=‘Investments+flying+out+of+AP’&artid=72zAwzoQsfA=&SectionID=e7uPP4|pSiw=&MainSectionID=e7uPP4|pSiw=&SectionName=EH8HilNJ2uYAot5nzqumeA==&SEO=Praja
Rajyam party, K Vidyadher Rao, Infosys, A Ar
chhotemianinshallah
Express News Service
First Published : 28 Dec 2009 04:14:00 AM IST
Last Updated : 28 Dec 2009 10:43:01 AM IST
IMMERSING the ashes of Kakani Venkataratnam, an inspirational leader
who died at the peak of the Jai Andhra movement on 25 December 1972,
his fellows took a pledge on the banks of the Krishna in Vijayawada
that they would realise his dream of a separate Andhra.
Yesterday, 37 years later, votaries of Andhra met to commemorate the
death anniversary of Kakani and determined that only separation was
the solution to the present political crisis in the State.
Former home minister Vasantha Nageswara Rao and former Rajya Sabha
member Yelamanchali Sivaji, who played an active part in the agitation
under the late Kakani are once again in the thick of the movement. And
joining them are Congress MP GV Harsha Kumar from Amalapuram in East
Godavari district and several others. They are of the firm view that
“enough is enough''.
Andhra and Telangana should part ways on a cordial note.
“It will be mutually beneficial for the people of Andhra and Telangana
if Andhra Pradesh is bifurcated. The two separate States will
automatically dissolve the long-pending problem of categorisation of
SCs. For a long time, Madiga leaders in the State have been demanding
the same alleging that Malas have taken a big chunk of benefits at the
cost of Madigas under reservations. It is a fact that Madigas
constitute about 90 per cent of the population in the Telangana region
and similarly Malas constitute about 90 per cent in Andhra. Once the
State is bifurcated, the issue of categorisation does not arise,''
says Harsha Kumar.
“With such mutual suspicion and mistrust, how long can the people of
Andhra and Telangana live together? And to what purpose? The Andhra
region will witness unprecedented development on all fronts if it
becomes a separate State. It has advantages of both geography and
resources. The so-called Samaikhya Andhra movement was launched by
vested interests and those who wanted to destabilise the government
for their own selfish reasons. It is not a popular movement,'' he
stresses.
According to Harsha Kumar, the UPA Government did not roll back its
earlier decision on starting the process for the formation of a
separate Telangana.
“The UPA Government is committed to the statement made by Union Home
Minister P Chidambaram on December 9. The latest statement by
Chidambaram on December 23 never said that the government was going
back on its earlier stand. In 1951, Gollapalli Sitarama Sastry (Swamy
Seetharam) opposed the formation of States on a linguistic basis.
Later, in 1952, Potti Sriramulu took the agitation to a high pitch
which led ultimately to the formation of Andhra Pradesh.
“But the Mulki agitation in 1969 and the Jai Andhra riposte of 1972,
have since seen bitterness between the two regions. However, a wide
range of discussions should take place on Hyderabad, as many persons
from Andhra and Rayalaseema have invested crores of rupees. I am ready
to extend my help for a Separate Andhra movement and have expressed my
views to AICC president Sonia Gandhi.'' Harsha Kumar was confident
that a separate statehood for Telangana would be a reality. “I am
ready to take plunge into separate Andhra State agitation, if people
desired so. The separate Andhra region should consist of 11 districts
of the then Andhra State before formation of Andhra Pradesh,'' he said
Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru on December 19, 1953 in the Parliament
announced the formation of states on linguistic basis. Then 11
districts-- Chittoor, Kurnool, Kadapa, Anantapur, Nellore, Guntur,
Krishna, East Godavari, West Godavari, Visakhapatnam and Srikakulam
were part of Andhra State. Later two more districts were added, Harsha
Kumar added.
Former Rajya Sabha member Yelamanchali Sivaji
“It is unfortunate that the State was not bifurcated way back in 1972,
when the Jai Andhra movement was at its peak. Had that happened, a
separate Andhra would have become the most-developed State in the
country by now.
The Vijayawada, Guntur, Tenali and Ibrahimpatan region would have been
a model State capital city in the country, outshining Chennai and
Hyderabad.
“Major infrastructure projects like the Hitech City, IT Hub, film
studios, pharma cities, knowledge parks, international airport and
hotels, RFC -- you name anything that Hyderabad is proud of now -- a
separate Andhra State capital would have had all of them.
“Since 1956, when Andhra Pradesh State was formed, to date, the people
of Andhra and Telangana, though physically integrated, have remained
emotionally aloof. It is futile to go on in such a fashion and it
would be better for the two regions to live happily separately.” “I
still remember all of us who were followers of Kakani Venkataratnam
taking a pledge on the banks of the Krishna in Vijayawada while
immersing his ashes in the river that we would strive for a separate
Andhra State -- the cause for which he gave his life. But nothing
happened.
“Now the time has come for the people of Andhra to seize the
opportunity and, in demanding a State of their own, also boost the
case for Telangana.
We have ample evidence that the economic indicators are brighter in
smaller States.
Chhattisgarh has pulled ahead of Madhya Pradesh, and the case is no
different in respect of Uttaranchal and Jharkhand.
“There are baseless apprehensions over river waters if the State were
bifurcated. People with no knowledge of irrigation are saying
separation would mean denial of water from the Krishna and Godavari by
Telangana which would become the upper riparian State.
“All over Telangana, geography and geology entail lift irrigation
which is far more costly than irrigation through gravity. Take for
example the Devadula Lift Irrigation project. The power to be consumed
by this project is equivalent to the power consumption of all sectors
in all of Guntur district.
“In other words, to irrigate an acre of land for one year under the
lift irrigation scheme will mean an expenditure of Rs 50,000 per acre.
Moreover, when heavy rains lash the catchments areas, the upper States
have no option but to release water downstream. Hence, water denial
scenarios are ultimately baseless.”
All the major dams on river krishna like Srisailam ,Nagarjunsagar and
upcoming Pulichintala dams are situated on borders of proposed
telangana and Andhra .srisailam dam left bank is in mahabubnagar while
right bank is in kurnool district.Nagarjunsagar dam left bank is in
nalgonda while right bank is in guntur similar thing for
pulichintala .So no state has absolute control of the dams in case of
partition of state .SO they have to work together like in tungabhandra
dam (andhra and karnataka) and there is no chance for denial of water
to lower parts of state.
By sandeep
12/28/2009 12:47:00 PM
http://www.expressbuzz.com/edition/story.aspx?Title=Separate+Andhra+rising+from+the+ashes?&artid=w7gnFIFEFJs=&SectionID=e7uPP4|pSiw=&MainSectionID=e7uPP4|pSiw=&SectionName=EH8HilNJ2uYAot5nzqumeA==&SEO=Vasantha
Nageswara Rao, Kakani Venkataratnam, GV H
chhotemianinshallah
Agencies
Posted: Monday , Dec 28, 2009 at 1436 hrs
Updated:Monday , Dec 28, 2009 at 1517 hrs
Hyderabad:
Five students of Osmania University in Hyderabad , who have been
holding an indefinite hunger strike in support of statehood for
Telangana state, were on Monday forcibly shifted to hospital as their
health condition raised concern.
A large number of slogan-shouting students put up stiff resistance as
the police shifted the fasting students to the hospital.
However, the policemen removed the students from the university campus
and admitted them to the Gandhi government hospital.
Earlier, another group of fasting students to the hospital late last
night by the police.
The students of Osmania University, a nerve-centre of the separate
Telangana agitation, called for a massive students convention on
January 3.
Christened ‘Telangana Vidyardhi Maha Garjana’ (Massive roar by
Telangana students), the convention would be attended by three lakh
students from entire Telangana region, the student leaders said on
Sunday.
Comments (1) |
Fasting by students - Appeal to Abdul Kalam
By: N G Varadan | 28-Dec-2009
These students should realise that none of the politicians will care
for their future. They have come to study; their parents have big
dreams; their future is important to the nation. They are all
misguided by politicians. They should be aware of what happened to the
hundreds of people immolated themselves in various agitations.
Politicians visit parents of such innocent people with an air and that
is all.It is a cruelty. My appeal to these students is to realise this
and stop forthwith all their self destroying deeds.If the politicians
are true to their conscience they should not use the students to their
gains. Please persuade the students to stop fasting. Why not a
celebrity like Dr Abdul Kalam do it?
http://www.indianexpress.com/news/telangana-crisis-5-fasting-students-shifted-to-hospital/560607/
Sid Harth
Posted On Monday, December 28, 2009
Agencies
Hyderabad, Dec 28:
Rallies, hunger strikes and demonstrations continued in Telangana
region of Andhra Pradesh on Monday after the Joint Action Committee
(JAC) intensified its agitation, mounting pressure on the Centre for a
separate state.
The all-party JAC, including major parties like TDP and number of
other outfits, had called for protest rallies across the region today
and tomorrow followed by a bandh on December 30 to press for the
Telangana issue.
The JAC held a marathon meeting last night following which the
decision to step up the protests was taken.
Meanwhile tension prevailed at Osmania University in Hyderabad as a
group of students on Monday launched a fast unto death, hours after
some of their colleagues on hunger strike were shifted to a hospital
by the police.
A large number of policemen in riot gear surrounded the Arts College
building on the campus to arrest the students on hunger strike.
Raising slogans of "police go back", the students squatted on the
ground and refused to leave the campus despite the university
authorities closing down all hostels and messes.
Leaders of the Joint Action Committee (JAC) of students had a heated
argument with the police officials and alleged that their peaceful
agitation was being suppressed.
The arrest of students in a late night operation by the police came
hours after students announced their plans to hold a meeting and gave
a call for a 'Chalo Hyderabad' march on January 3.
Hyderabad Police Commissioner B. Prasada Rao, in a statement on Sunday
night, said no permission would be given for 'vidyarthi garjna' or the
intensified agitation planned by the students JAC on January 3 at the
Osmania University.
The JAC has threatened to lay siege to the city with students from
across the region joining the march if the central government failed
to make an announcement for initiating the process for the formation
of Telangana state by January 2.
In an attempt to prevent mobilisation of students, university
authorities also issued an order closing down all hostels and messes
till January 5. The university has already declared holidays.
Police had disrupted the hunger strike camp at the campus around
midnight and shifted 18 students to hospital. The condition of some of
them had deteriorated as the hunger strike had entered the fifth day.
Police used force and arrested about 50 students who tried to resist
shifting of their colleagues to hospital.
http://www.centralchronicle.com/viewnews.asp?articleID=22972
chhotemianinshallah
Struggle for Telangana intensifies
New Delhi/ Hyderabad, Dec 28, DHNS:
Even as Prime Minister Manmohan Singh indicated the Centre’s keenness
to find a solution to the Telangana imbroglio through dialogue and
within the constitutional framework, a section of Andhra Pradesh
ministers stepped up pressure on the Congress high-command on Monday
to announce a time-frame for the new state.
The prime minister was addressing a congregation of Congress leaders
and activists on the occasion of the 125th Foundation Day of the
party.
“Our party’s policies are aimed at uniting the society and the country
and not dividing them. Our party is ready to accommodate every shade
of opinion within the Constitution,” he said, without directly
referring to Telangana.
However, after meeting the Congress top brass on Monday, the pro-
Telangana ministers ruled out withdrawal of their resignation and
insisted on a “categorical time-frame” for creating the new State.
“We want a categorical time-frame for the formation of the separate
State (of Telangana),” Andhra Pradesh Higher Education Minister
Sridhar Babu told journalists here.
Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee had on Sunday asked the pro-
Telangana ministers to withdraw their resignations.
Meanwhile, as part of intensifying the struggle for Telangana, the
all-party Telangana Joint Action Committee (JAC) has called for a
bundh for Wednesday.
The JAC has called for protest rallies on Monday and Tuesday to be
followed by a bundh on Wednesday.
The protests had taken a break of six days partly in deference to
Christmas and Muharrum. Even as protests continued on Monday, the
police arrested six students, who have been on an indefinite fast at
the Osmania University campus for the past five days, as their
condition deteriorated. Tension prevailed as hundreds of students
resisted their removal.
A large number of policemen, including personnel from the Central
Reserve Police Force, were deployed on the campus. In an attempt to
prevent the mobilisation of students, the university authorities have
closed down hostels and messes till January 5.
Hours after the fasting students were removed, more students went on
an indefinite hunger strike.
Meanwhile, the students announced that they would hold a massive
convention called ‘Vidyarthi Garjana’ on January 3 in Hyderabad to
press the Centre to announce the formation of Telangana. However,
Hyderabad police Commissioner B Prasada Rao said the police would not
give permission for such a programme.
The JAC, which has supported the ‘Garjana’, also threatened to lay
siege to the city if the Centre failed to initiate the process for the
formation of Telangana by January 2.
The month-long agitation has cost huge losses to the public exchequer
as also to the private sector. According to official estimates,
property worth Rs 250 crore has been destroyed in all the three
regions of the state with 80 per cent of the losses being incurred in
the Telangana region.
A new target this time were mobile phone towers several of which were
burnt down or brought down.
http://www.deccanherald.com/content/43798/struggle-telangana-intensifies.html
chhotemianinshallah
Cong erases PVN from its history
New Delhi, Dec 28, DHNS:
At 125, Congress has virtually erased the P V Narasimha Rao era from
its ''illustrious history''.
As the party celebrated its 125th anniversary on Monday, president
Sonia Gandhi left no one in doubt that Rao, who as prime minister
between 1991 and 1996 ushered in economic liberalisation – but failed
to save the Babri Masjid from the saffron brigade – has no place in
the history of the party.
Speaking on the occasion of the Congress’ 125th anniversary; Gandhi
recalled the role of the party’s icons in the pre and post
independence era as well as prime ministers it has given to the nation
since 1947 – Jawahar Lal Nehru, Lal Bahadur Shastri, Indira Gandhi and
Rajiv Gandhi.
But the Congress president did not ever mention the name of Rao. She,
however, rather termed the 1991-2004 era, including the first five
years, when Rao headed the Congress government, as “difficult” times
in the history of the party.
“Those were the days when we saw some of the most difficult moments in
our history. Those were the days when the very existence of our party
had come under questions,” said Gandhi, adding: “Nonetheless, we
soldiered on, anchored in our core values, and overcame many
insurmountable odds.”
She was addressing a congregation of the Congress leaders and
activists after laying the foundation of the party’s new central
office – Indira Gandhi Bhavan – at Kotla Road here.
The ceremony also marked the beginning of the year-long celebration of
the party’s 125th anniversary. Prime Minister Manmohan Singh also
addressed the conclave. Despite referring to economic liberalisation
as one of the significant success-stories of Congress governments in
the past, the party president was not ready to give credit for it to
Rao government.
“Rajivji did not stay with us to see his dreams being realised, but we
can see reflections of his thoughts in the party manifesto for 1991
elections. That became the basis for economic policies for the next
five years. These policies gave a new direction and strength to our
economy and our society,” she said.
Singh was finance minister in Rao’s government and is credited with
initiating the path-breaking reforms with the backing of the then PM.
He too said that the economic reforms had helped fight poverty in
India, but did not ever speak about Rao.
http://www.deccanherald.com/content/43792/cong-erases-pvn-its-history.html
chhotemianinshallah
New Delhi, Dec 28 (PTI):
Andhra Pradesh ministers from the Telangana region today ruled out
withdrawal of their resignations until the Congress high command comes
out with a 'categorical time frame' for the formation of a separate
state.
At the same time, the ministers, who have sent a common resignation
letter to Congress chief Sonia Gandhi, said this does not mean
"blackmailing" the party or the government as they were just putting
forward the demands of the people of the region before it.
"We are committed on our resignations. We are sincere in that (on not
withdrawing resignations). We want a categorical time frame for the
formation of a separate state (of Telangana)," Higher Education
Minister Sridhar Babu told reporters, briefing about their meetings
with party leaders.
"We won't go back on the issue (of withdrawing resignations) till the
doubts arising out of the December 23 statement are cleared and a time
frame is announced for Telangana. We need a statement clarifying the
doubts."
The ministers met Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee, Urban Development
Minister S Jaipal Reddy, Law Minister Veerapa Moily and party leader
Ahmed Patel and discussed the current situation and put forth their
demands.
The comments come a day after Mukherjee reportedly asked them to
withdraw their resignations.
Asked whether they were blackmailing the Congress by not taking back
their resignations, Babu said: "We are not blackmailing. There is
nothing called blackmailing in politics. We are putting forward our
demands to our central leadership about the sentiments. This is not
blackmailing."
"As a optimistic young politician I would like the solution should
come the very moment. Timely solution to the issue is needed and time
is precious. People are more agitated now," Babu said to a question.
Asked whether the party will formally join the Joint Action Committee,
which is spearheading the Telangana agitation, he said these issues
will be discussed with senior party leaders in the state before a
decision is taken.
To a question whether their visit can be called a successful one, he
shot back: "There is nothing called success. It depends...we came here
to tell them about the ground situation and the people's pro-Telangana
sentiments to the high command. We have to seek a solution."
Babu, who was elected to the assembly from Karimnagar constituency,
said the ministers explained to the leaders the ambiguity created by
the statement on Telangana.
Asked whether they have suggested any time frame, he said, "It is a
constitutional mechanism. Time frame is known according to the
machinery. We need an early resolution."
Babu said the ministers sent their resignations to Sonia as "their
candidature and nominations to the cabinet were decided by the High
Command. If the Chief Minister (K Rosaiah) wants the resignation to be
sent to him, we will do so."
To a question that their resignations have brought the government
functioning to a standstill, Babu said every government is committed
to proceed according to the wishes of the people. "When the wishes of
the people are granted then everything will be back to normal."
http://www.deccanherald.com/content/43698/telangana-ministers-rule-taking-back.html
chhotemianinshallah
Hyderabad, Dec 28 (PTI)
Property prices in Vijayawada have spiked nearly 20 per cent in one
month as realtors have shifted their focus to the coastal city,
anticipating that it would become the capital of Andhra Pradesh if a
separate Telangana is carved out of the state.
Although both Telangana and Samaikyandhra agitators are still fighting
over the status of Hyderabad, many builders are showing a keen
interest on "construction activity" in Vijayawada, said Giridhara
Prasad Gupta, a real estate businessman.
And this has led the prices of apartments and plots zooming northward
in Vijayawada. Ramavarapadu and Gannavaram in the city are now the
most sought after areas as the L&T IT Park construction is going on
there.
C. Sekhar Reddy, president, Andhra Pradesh Builders Forum, said real
estate transactions in Hyderabad have come down recently. However, he
said, this could not be attributed totally to the Telangana issue.
"There has been a slump in the sector for the past one year," Reddy
said.
He said on an average as many as 15,000 apartments were sold in
Hyderabad from 2004 to 2007. The figure has come down to 10,000 in
2008.
According to a senior official, the property registration activity has
come down by 10 per cent in Hyderabad whereas it is normal in other
parts of the state.
Reddy said the builders were hopeful of recovering from the signs of
global recession and see good growth this year.
"Hyderabad has become global destination for investments. Telangana
will not be an issue for investments. This is only a temporary issue,"
The builders Forum president said.
"There were massive speculative investments in and around Vijayawada
when the Congress party won election in 2004 along with Telangana
Rashtra Samithi. People have invested thinking that Telangana will be
separated. However, it did not meterialise as they expected.
"Now only those big people are creating hype in Vijayawada now to
clear their investments," a contractor said on condition of
anonymity.
http://www.deccanherald.com/content/43656/property-prices-zoom-20-per.html
chhotemianinshallah
'Cong must seek a conse-nsus within the party.'
The ruling Congress at the Centre and the Rosaiah government must get
their immediate priorities right in Andhra Pradesh. They must quickly
restore a semblance of political order that is a prerequisite to
contain the violent protests over the controversial Telangana
statehood issue. No purpose would be served at this juncture by merely
blaming the Opposition for the present turmoil. The political blame-
game can be reserved for another time. If anything is horribly wrong
on the political front, it is the problem within the state Congress.
The party high command hadn’t even brought its state leaders,
legislators and supporters onboard before Union Home Minister P
Chidambaram made two diametrically opposite statements on the
statehood issue. The flip-flop, in a matter of 15 days, provoked both
the proponents and opponents of Telangana to take to violent ways. It
is important to convince everyone that the Telangana statehood issue
cannot be settled through violence.
Belatedly though, the high command realised the need to engage in
consensus-building. Much of the chaotic political situation in the
state at present could be cleared if the ruling party’s ministers,
legislators and parliamentarians learn to speak in one voice.
Therefore, first and foremost, the high command must seek a consensus
within the party’s state unit. It is guilty of avoiding this exercise
even though it had put the Telangana statehood issue on its agenda
almost 10 years ago. Clarity within the ruling party will help
Opposition parties too to firm up their views and this would help pave
the way for seeking a larger political consensus on separate
statehood. Political consensus-building has to be a sincere and
convincing exercise, and not be perceived as just a devious way to put
the issue in cold storage, again.
In the midst of this Andhra slide, the high command is unwisely loud
thinking about setting up a second states’ reorganisation commission
to look into the statehood demand. In the prevailing emotive
atmosphere, this could be easily construed as a tactic to buy time.
Even if the idea is a serious and sincere one, it is imperative to
seek wider political support for it in Andhra Pradesh. And, since such
a panel would also open up the possibilities for creating more states,
the Congress at the Centre would be well served by building a national
political consensus on it. The risk of opening the proverbial
Pandora’s Box unthinkingly is better avoided.
http://www.deccanherald.com/content/43559/arrest-ap-slide.html
chhotemianinshallah
The New Indian Express
First Published : 29 Dec 2009 12:02:00 AM IST
Last Updated : 29 Dec 2009 12:43:27 AM IST
The lunatic fringe of Indian political opinion and social attitude is
at it again. The Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) is now suggesting
that the case for smaller states is a Muslim communal plot. There
should be little room for this conspiracy-theory outlook. Telangana,
by this extreme view, is a plot hatched to create Muslim dominance.
It’s a different matter that K Chandrasekhar Rao leads the Telangana
Rashtra Samithi, and that the demand is several decades old. By this
token, even the demand for Harit Pradesh would be a Muslim plot. The
best way to deal with this kind of argument — especially in a
situation in which the RSS and its cohorts, not excluding the BJP,
its political arm, are imploding — is to ignore it. The implicit
paranoia in the RSS stance is clearly not reflected in wider social
and political currents in middle and marginal India. That has been
clearly shown in the electoral dividends reaped over the past year or
so, including Jharkhand, where the BJP slumped. There is a case for
revisiting the issue of a fresh round of territorial delineation, most
logically in the shape of a new states reorganisation commission to
deal with multiple demands for new statehood entities. A piecemeal
approach will not do justice to the issue.
The principles on which a new states reorganisation commission would
deliberate the question must be clearly spelt out. It has now become
completely clear that language must not be the basis for the formation
of states. That is simply because it enshrines a principle that deeply
divides communities and peoples. Other communitarian principles must
also be rejected outright. It stands to reason that the fundamental
principle must now be administrative convenience. The case for carving
Uttar Pradesh into three new states makes eminent sense, because it is
large, unwieldy and a litigant from Gorakhpur may find it difficult to
travel to Lucknow to pursue his interests. The positive thing about
the Telangana movement is that it is based not on the politics of
identity but on the politics of entitlement. Whatever the outcome of
the Telangana movement, those in charge must remember that the
criterion for carving out new states must revolve around issues of
development and entitlement; not identity. It is sincerely to be hoped
that the Congress and the UPA uses this issue to rethink fundamental
questions rather than play populist games.
chhotemianinshallah
Santwana Bhattacharya & Anand Kumar
First Published : 29 Dec 2009 01:54:00 AM IST
Last Updated : 29 Dec 2009 07:45:30 AM IST
NEW DELHI: Even as the Congress leaders from the Telangana region met
the party brass seeking clarity on the issue, the leadership seemed
set to make Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister K. Rosaiah the fall guy.
One of the party’s top leaders, close to the Gandhi family, let it out
that the party High Command was far from happy with Rosaiah’s
performance, especially his handling of the Andhra- Telangana crisis.
The Congress leadership is miffed with the Andhra Pradesh Chief
Minister for passing the buck on to the Centre and exposing the
Congress leadership to the direct line of fire.
“There are problems of having a weak chief minister,’’ the Congress
leader noted.
The Congress is clearly holding Rosiah responsible for giving “faulty
half-baked input” that there was a firm all-party consensus on the
formation of Telangana. The TDP and the Prajarajyam Party, the two key
regional players in the State, later reversed their stand. TDP chief
Chandrababu Naidu washed his hands off the “consensus’’ claiming he
did not expect the Government take a step based on an “informal
meeting’’.
Worse, TRS chief K.Chandrasekhar Rao refused to break his fast once
the all-party meeting decision was made public. Rao had agreed to do
so provided the Prime Minister or Congress president made a public
appeal.
Comments
What can you expect from a party which inherited the 'divide and rule'
policy of British? They even did not name P.V. Narshimah Rao as the
architecture of reforms! The great modern day "Chanakya" never deserve
such dishonest from his own party. It we our fault we keep voting them
on the name of Gandhi! Rosaiah is a gentleman, honest person no doubt
about it.
By Sushil Prasad
12/29/2009 10:20:00 AM
Yes leader ship is what it is, humbleness, honest, politeness, are
only some of the character of a leader and they won't sustain for long
time and doesn't give firm results. a path with direction is missing
in rosaiaha. In this present situation we recommend a man/women aged
around 30-45 - who can understand politics at fastest communication
scenario.
By RamaK
12/29/2009 10:14:00 AM
Rosaiah is the new "bakra" to be made "halal" to compensate for the
the short-sightedness of the central leadership. The Congress really
has no spine nor far-sightedness. One man fasted, they created a state
against the wishes of Telangana. Another man fasted, they split AP. A
third man fasted, and they put the decision on hold. The Congress
should remember that every man who goes on a fast-unto-death is not
Gandhi
By Deepak
12/29/2009 9:54:00 AM
Rosaaiah is one of the honest politicians you can find in india why
does congress has to make him a scape glly does then goat, if they
reaally does that Congress will lost what ever respect left for them
in Andhra Pradesh. For once let us isee a indian political party take
responsibilty of its actions, may it be telanga crisis or Babri..
Indian political parties will always put the ultimate responsibility
for all failures on one person..look at PV Narsimha Rao... Shame on u
so called Congress High Command.. there is nothing high abt you.
By Ganesh
12/29/2009 9:54:00 AM
Rosaiah has been quite open about who decides in the Congress Party.
When things go right it is Soniaji and the High Command and when
things go wrong it is the state leadership. That probably explains why
the decision was taken on someone's birthday as a gift and when it
comes to defending the decision the decision maker goes into hiding.
By N.Srikanth
12/29/2009 9:51:00 AM
Why blame Roshaiah , it's the congress party that started this fire
way back in 2004 by promising Telangana state in 2004 elections. The
promises were never kept and kept on decieving T-People even in 2009
elections. Every singple party cashed in on T-issue and now paying for
it. It is a long lasting problem of 6- decades and in everybody's
interest , a separate state shold be formed. By Nooka Sreenivas
By Nooka Sreenivas
12/29/2009 9:09:00 AM
This was only to be expected.There always has to be a fall guy when
things go wrong in the congress party.Who better than the meek Rosiah
to take the flack and the blame?He alone can be depended upon to
accept all that is hurled at him and thus absolve the High Command of
any shortcomings and shortsight in the handling of this issue. Of
course,if the midnight statement had led to a resolution of the
tangle,we all know who would have been crowned with all the glory.
By N.S.Rajan
12/29/2009 8:44:00 AM
chhotemianinshallah
By Ishaan Tharoor Sunday, Dec. 13, 2009
ENLARGE PHOTO+
Pro-Telangana supporters hold flags and celebrate in the southern
Indian city of Hyderabad Dec. 10, 2009. Following violent protests,
the government will carve a new state out of southern Andhra Pradesh,
a move likely to fuel more statehood demands
Krishnendu Halder / Reuters
In mid-October 1952, an acolyte of Mahatma Gandhi named Potti
Sriramulu invoked the tactics of his teacher and went on a hunger
strike. The nation of India — at the time just five years old — was
still finding shape after centuries of division and colonial rule,
with many of its diverse regions clamoring for greater political
recognition. Sriramulu's fast came on behalf of tens of millions who,
like him, spoke Telugu, a prominent south Indian language, and wanted
their own state within the country.
Yet his protest went unheeded for weeks by New Delhi and, 58 days
after it began, Sriramulu died, a sacrifice that triggered widespread
rioting and eventually forced the government into forming the Telugu-
speaking state of Andhra Pradesh in 1953, as well as other new states
organized on linguistic lines. No small irony then, that, almost 60
years later, another hunger strike threatens to dismember the state
Sriramulu first won, and revive a fierce debate about the nature of
the federal Indian nation-state.
(See a pictorial history of the tempestuous Nehru dynasty of India.)
Late Wednesday, the Indian government announced it would approve the
carving out of a separate state known as Telangana from Andhra
Pradesh. The movement for Telangana secession is virtually as old as
the Indian republic itself, but it gained traction this month after
its main political leader, K. Chandrashekar Rao, commenced a week-long
fast. Rao's deteriorating health as well as coordinated protests —
some violent — across the 10 districts of Andhra Pradhesh's 23 that
comprise Telangana, including the influential high-tech capital of
Hyderabad, seemed to force New Delhi's hand. But it could open a whole
series of controversies for the Indian government as many other
regional movements have now stepped up their own demands for
statehood.
(See a story about the death that may have precipitated the Andhra
Pradesh controversy.)
Though Telugu-speaking as well, Telangana had once been part of a
separate kingdom ruled from Hyderabad, which recognized British
suzerainty during the colonial period but was not administratively
part of British India. It was subsumed into the territory of Andhra
Pradesh only in 1956, after a further dismemberment of the once
independent Hyderabad kingdom. Though the city of Hyderabad was made
the capital of the united Andhra Pradesh state, calls for greater
autonomy have lingered, with many in Telangana complaining of
marginalization at the hands of the coastal Andhra population.
But if New Delhi imagined it would calm tensions with its nod toward
accepting a new state, the move backfired. Dozens of local legislators
in Andhra Pradesh have resigned their posts and strikes by those
opposing Telangana's secession have paralyzed much of the state.
Trains have been blocked, businesses shut down. According to news
reports on Saturday, two activists in favor of a "united Andhra" took
their lives in protest of the state's splitting. The turmoil has also
plunged Hyderabad, a booming, cosmopolitan I.T. hub, into panic as
politicians and business leaders fret over the costs of the current
instability. "This will be a total flop as investors will flee," says
Amruthraj Padmanabhundi, a 27-year-old I.T. professional in Hyderabad.
"I am very worried [about] my prospects slipping."
The prospect of Telangana's creation has buoyed similar causes
elsewhere as calls for secession echo in nearly a dozen states in
India. A four-day strike is under way among the picturesque hills and
tea estates of Darjeeling, in northern West Bengal, with protesters
intensifying demands for a new state of Gorkhaland that would better
address the needs of the area's ethnic Nepalese population. More than
100 activists have begun what they call a "fast-unto-death." On the
other side of the country, in the vast desert state of Rajasthan, a
caravan of some 5,000 demonstrators and 500 camels paraded into the
capital of Jaipur on Friday, agitating for the formation of Maru
Pradesh, a state that would be carved out of some of Rajasthan's
poorest districts. "Rajasthan is huge. It is not easy to keep track of
all the villages, of the development or the lack of it," says Jaiveer
Godara, the leading voice of the movement. "The person who lives in
the last village of Maru Pradesh has to wait for three days to get
supply of water from outside ... [And] there are no roads that lead to
his village."
(See a story about the 1937 silver jubilee of the ruler of Hyderabad,
reputedly the world's richest man, from TIME's archives.)
At the root of this looming crisis lies the still unresolved question
of how the world's largest democracy ought best to govern itself.
Independent India was at first a patchwork of former British provinces
and princely states threaded together into a federal republic. Some of
its states remain huge and unwieldy — for example, the north Indian
state of Uttar Pradesh, with its estimated 190 million people, would
be virtually tied with Brazil as the fifth most populous country on
earth but it would also possess 8% of the world's population under the
global poverty line. With a country of India's size and diversity — as
well as poverty — there is logic in having smaller states. "It will in
fact strengthen [governance] through economic and administrative
convenience," says Delhi-based political analyst Paranjoy Guha
Thakurta. "India can survive and prosper by breaking up."
The Indian government last fashioned new states in 2000, when three
largely remote and impoverished regions were elevated in status. At
least two of them — Chhattisgarh and Uttarakhand — have shown marked
progress since their inception. Small states like Kerala in the south
and Haryana in the north, both with populations under 30 million,
boast some of India's highest development indicators. Backers of
further decentralization even point to the original, idealistic
Gandhian vision for India — of a republic brought together not by a
strong central government, but an "ocean" of egalitarian and self-
sufficient villages.
Of course, that sort of utopianism has little place in the current
hurly-burly of Indian politics. Experts worry that new states may
simply mean more jockeying for power and expanded bureaucracy in a
country already notorious for its spools of red tape as well as its
perpetual political horse-trading. "Ultimately, fragmentation is not a
substitute for good governance," says C.V. Madhukar, director of PRS
Legislative Research, a Delhi nonprofit which advises the government.
Hoping to dampen a few of calls for new and smaller states ignited by
the Andhra controversy, New Delhi has dialed back its support for
Telangana, insisting that the matter now find a resolution through a
vote in the Andhra Pradesh legislature. Given the current tumult, it's
unclear when or how such a motion may go through. The political party
headed by Rao, the Telangana separatist leader, was trounced both in
recent state and national polls. His hunger strike — now ended — and
the disturbances organized around it were likely an act of desperation
of a movement shorn of much of its real political capital. "Having the
government buckle to this kind moral blackmail is not a healthy way to
go about things," says Madhukar. "There shouldn't be this sword of
Damocles hanging over peoples' heads." A young India may have come of
age through such dramatic acts of Gandhian sacrifice, but a more
mature nation needs more measured habits. —With reporting by Nilanjana
Bhowmick/New Delhi
http://www.time.com/time/world/article/0,8599,1947392,00.html
chhotemianinshallah
17 Dec 2009, 0340 hrs IST, T K Arun, ET Bureau
Every child who’s read Alice In Wonderland knows that saying what you
mean and meaning what you say are two different things. So do the
political parties that supported a separate Telangana till the Centre
said it was willing to bifurcate Andhra Pradesh, but then turned
against the move when they saw the reaction on the ground.
The Telugu Desam Party is the lead proponent of this art of instant
change of heart. How do these parties still hope to be taken seriously
by the people?
Hypocrisy is common in politics. But total hypocrisy would be exposed
and rejected. So, if some forms of hypocrisy are consistently
tolerated by the public at large, there has to be some reason why this
happens.
Probably because it’s part of the wider Indian culture to not really
expect people to mean what they say. The hostess who piles food on the
plate of the guest who protests that he cannot possibly eat any more
but proceeds to polish off what has been served with relish is a good
example of this diffuseness of commitment in India that borders on
hypocrisy.
The hostess knows the guest doesn’t really mean what he says any more
than it’s her mission in life to nurture the guest to her own
financial ruin. But they implicitly owe it to each other to strike
that pose that fetches that appropriate reciprocal reaction. Neither
means what he/she says, but together, they have made the right
impression on each other.
Take the case of the IIT alumnus in the US who’s been sent to jail for
threatening dire violence against the Bush administration. He probably
didn’t mean what he said. Indians implicitly understand this, that he
was just trying to create an impression. But you can’t expect the
Americans to believe that you don’t mean what you say as a matter of
routine.
When you use a word like doublespeak to describe this attitude that
comes naturally to the typical Indian political party, which stands
for perfectly contradictory things with perfect natural ease, it
sounds very harsh. It actually is too harsh. A more appropriate term
might be pre-industrial.
The industrial age heralded precision. If you want a metal something
to be machined to a thickness of seven microns, you say it has to be
machined to a thickness of seven microns, and what you say pretty much
means that it has to be machined to a thickness of seven microns.
When such precise actions preponderantly fill your life, you acquire
the habit of saying what you mean and meaning what you say. In pre-
industrial cultures, there is great latitude in locating the precise
meaning of what you say.
Since about 70% of Indians still live in rural areas and 61% of the
workforce lives off agriculture and allied activities, their attitude
to
precision is pre-industrial. Obfuscation is not just a contingent
hazard, but often a welcome way to avoid conflict.
Precision leads to binary choices, and binary choices potentially lead
to conflict. Fuzzy boundaries of what you mean and don’t mean avoids
explicit choice and, therefore, conflict, and allows life to continue
without change. Fuzziness of language has allowed caste inequality and
inequity to continue for ages in India.
Advaita means non-duality. The philosophy asserts unity between
physical nature and the spirit or atman, between the individual spirit
and the cosmic spirit. Where is the scope for caste discrimination in
a society guided by the principle of advaita?
Yet, Hindu traditions, supposedly anchored in advaita, also involve
vicious caste discrimination, completely negating all notions of the
unity of everything animate and inanimate. Only pre-modern fuzziness
of words and their meaning would have permitted this contradiction to
sustain as long as they have.
It is perhaps not accidental that Kerala’s pre-eminent social
reformer, Sree Narayana Guru, who questioned the caste system based on
intellectual resources drawn from within the philosophy of advaita,
towards the close of the 19th century, also exhorted his followers to
promote modern industry.
The only political party that has been completely consistent on
forming small states has been the Communists. The communist ethos is
that of industry, of binary logic (notwithstanding that some
individual communists have, of course, evolved to the higher stage of
fuzzy logic).
The Indian economy is growing, essentially on the strength of industry
and services. These modern economic activities call for precision in
thought and action and correlation between the two. The language and
culture of modern India will not tolerate the pre-industrial fuzziness
bordering on hypocrisy that still dominates the discourse of most
political parties.
Scientists in India who build rockets for moon missions still seek to
avoid the inauspicious time when the mythical serpent Rahu swallows
the moon, for scheduling the rocket launch. Such pre-industrial
dichotomy is also under assault, when buses today go up in flames in
Andhra Pradesh, against the hypocrisy of parties that say one thing
and mean something else altogether.
chhotemianinshallah
17 Dec 2009, 0336 hrs IST, Jaideep Mishra, ET Bureau
The interstices of history can reveal volumes about present-day lacuna
and shortcomings in the realm of policy. The demand for Telangana
state, for instance, has much to do with proactive water policy or the
lack of it, going back over a century and more.
The fact of the matter is that the Godavari Barrage, built circa 1850,
veritably transformed the famine-prone districts of coastal Andhra
Pradesh into a large granary. The anicut may have been designed as a
political statement of imperial mission, and other attendant ulterior
motives.
Yet, Sir Arthur Cotton, who designed the barrage and oversaw its
construction, was a technocrat in today’s parlance, and a visionary.
The records show that he engineered the ‘magnificent project’ making
the best use of available local materials like lime, quarry and
excellent teak. The dam across the river Krishna followed next. And
after completing the Krishna and Godavari anicuts, Sir Arthur
envisaged purposeful storage of river water and did suggest connecting
major rivers of India for irrigation, bargeways and domestic usage.
It is plain that the Nizam lacked the foresight to build canals and
waterways, as in adjoining Andhra during the days of the Raj, and
never mind that both the Godavari and Krishna also flow through
Telangana. The lack of water infrastructure in Telangana has, of
course, been considerably righted in the decades since.
But in a relative sense, the figures suggest a clear infrastructure
deficit vis-à-vis the coastal region. Worse, there are rigidities when
it comes to water availability in Telangana. It may have deeply
affected its agrarian economy.
Note that because of the historical lack of modern irrigation systems
in Telangana, there has traditionally been much reliance on tank and
well irrigation. But in recent decades, there’s been a general neglect
of policy focus and funding for tank irrigation pan-India.
The result has been much silting and drying up of water tanks. Reports
say that the area under tank irrigation in Telangana has shrunk to
less than a fourth in a matter of years. And for well irrigation to be
a credible option, quality power supply is needed, which may not be
the case. In any case, the capital cost of sinking deeper tubewells
can be prohibitive, given falling water tables and steep going rates
of available credit.
In this decade, data suggests that while almost 60 lakh hectares of
land have been brought under irrigation in the whole of Andhra
Pradesh, the
bulk of the land is in the coastal areas.
There may be valid technical reasons for the lopsided development of
irrigation potential, but it just so happens that a disproportionate
part of irrigation investments in Telangana have been of the ‘drip’
variety, requiring added sunk-costs in the last mile in the form of
sprinkler systems, etc.
Meanwhile, a recent national study estimates that 15% of underground
acquifers are not just depleted but in a “critical condition” Also,
the figure is likely to rise to as high as a “frightening 60%” in a
couple of decades, say the mavens.
Actually, there has been thorough neglect of water policy generally.
The sector faces a huge financing gap. While budgetary resources for
irrigation and water supply have been falling and declining, user
charges remain much too negligible to cover even routine maintenance.
The fact remains that a large proportion of recurrent budgets is
devoted to salaries and wages of personnel, rather than being spent on
capital expenditure and repairs.
Back in 1999, the National Commission on Water did arrive at the
conclusion that overall water balances are “precarious.” Yet we have
chosen to simply “muddle through” without overhaul of policy. However,
given that acquifer depletion seems to be concentrated in the most
populous and economically-productive areas, the lack of policy action
would have massive repurcussions.
Also, competitive politics can lead to avoidable conflicts of interest
between upstream and downstream riparians in intra-state and inter-
state rivers. And notwithstanding the positive contribution of
irrigation to overall productivity and economic welfare, there’s much
scope for misallocation and mismanagement of allocated resources. It
can all drive down the efficiency of water systems.
The bottom line is the need to replace the present command-and-control
administration of water with more transparent and flexible
arrangements.
Sid Harth
Attributes it to bandh; 13 Ministers decide to keep away
HYDERABAD: A meeting of the Council of Ministers scheduled for
Wednesday was postponed indefinitely by Chief Minister K. Rosaiah, a
few hours after all 13 Ministers from the Telangana region announced
their decision to stay away from it.
Mr. Rosaiah said he was deferring the Cabinet meeting as the
administration would be busy on Wednesday when the Telangana Joint
Action Committee (JAC) has called for a one-day bandh throughout the
Telangana region. At a press conference on Tuesday evening, he
admitted he had learnt through television channels that the Ministers
had decided to abstain from the meeting. But some of them called him
up to deny they were keeping away.
Not proper
Earlier, the Ministers, while announcing their decision, said it was
not proper for them to attend the meeting when they had faxed a joint
letter of resignation to Congress president Sonia Gandhi. Higher
Education Minister D. Sridhar Babu said they were firm on keeping away
from all official engagements till the Centre announced a time-frame
for the creation of Telangana. Four other Ministers – Ponnala
Lakshmaiah, Jupally Krishna Rao, Komatireddy Venkat Reddy and D.K.
Aruna echoed similar sentiments.
Meanwhile, on their return from New Delhi where they met the Central
leaders, the Telangana Ministers took the stand that it would not be
good for them to associate with the JAC’s activities. Such
association, some of them felt, would not only amount to defying the
Central leadership, but also have an adverse impact on the law & order
situation.
More than half a dozen Ministers, including Home Minister P. Sabitha
Indra Reddy, attended a meeting of elected representatives of Congress
on the outskirts of the city where they expressed the view that it
would be better if the ruling party went alone in its campaign to
achieve Telangana.
Wednesday, Dec 30, 2009
ePaper | Mobile/PDA Version
http://www.hindu.com/2009/12/30/stories/2009123054940100.htm
Sid Harth
HYDERABAD: Bus services and dozens of trains across Telangana region
have been withdrawn on Wednesday following the bandh called by the
Telangana Joint Action Committee demanding that the Centre initiate
the process of formation of a separate State.
Heavy police force has been deployed across the region to avoid
untoward incidents even as senior police officers warned the agitators
with stern action if they indulged in violence. Police clamped
prohibitory orders under Section 144 in the twin cities and and
adjoining areas while police has been deployed in large numbers in
Cyberabad Police Commissionerate limits.
The APSRTC has decided to keep its over 9,000 buses plying in
Telangana off the roads and buses heading towards Vijayawada, Kurnool
and other places in coastal Andhra regions were cancelled at 8 p.m. on
Tuesday.
The South Central Railway announced cancellation of trains on the
three major routes. In all, eight trains on Secunderabad–Kazipet line,
nine on Kazipet–Dornakal line, Kazipet–Ballarshah (13), Secunderabad–
Mudkhed (26), Secunderabad–Mahabubnagar (17) and Secunderabad–Nalgonda
(2) have been cancelled.
The bandh received support from various sections as Government
employees in some districts announced a pen-down strike while the
lawyers of Telangana region have decided against attending courts.
Wednesday, Dec 30, 2009
ePaper | Mobile/PDA Version
http://www.hindu.com/2009/12/30/stories/2009123054970100.htm
Sid Harth
State Of Denial
30 December 2009, 12:00am IST
The Union government seems to be in a fix over the Telangana demand.
Opinion in Andhra Pradesh continues to be polarised and a consensus
has so far eluded the government. Besides, the success of Telangana
supporters has revived similar demands for statehood across the
country. A solution that satisfies everyone is easier said than done,
but the government's hope that the issue will resolve on its own with
time is fraught with risk.
A clarification on how the government intends to satisfy the
contrasting demands of legislators from Andhra Pradesh is expected any
time now. A team of legislators from Telangana met the Congress's
national leadership on Monday and demanded that a time frame be fixed
to announce the formation of the new state. An all-party joint action
committee on Telangana has called for a bandh on Wednesday. Rallies
and other forms of protest have also been announced. Politicians from
coastal Andhra and Rayalaseema are likely to respond with their own
agitations. Ever since the Telangana agitation began, the
administration in Andhra Pradesh has come to a standstill. A host of
ministers have refused to take back their resignations and attend
office. It's necessary that the Union government gets proactive and
breaks the logjam in the state.
Instead of exploring options like ministerial committees to further
study the Telangana demand the Centre must go for a new state
reorganisation commission (SRC). The statehood demand is not
restricted to Telangana. The subnationalism that's driving the
Telangana movement has found resonance in UP, Maharashtra and West
Bengal. These sentiments are unlikely to dissipate once the Telangana
issue is settled. An SRC would be better placed than a ministerial
committee to address their aspirations. It could work on a set of
criteria to evaluate if the statehood demands are justifiable and
sustainable and decide accordingly.
However, the Centre must not harbour the idea that a demand for a
separate state is per se regressive. The experience so far reveals
that smaller administrative units tend to perform better than large
states. The SRC with a clearly defined mandate would offer a
transparent mechanism to meet statehood aspirations. The Telangana
issue spiralled out of control mainly because the Centre kept
postponing a decision on the statehood demand. It later succumbed to
the Telangana Rashtra Samiti's politics of blackmail. A repeat of the
situation must be avoided.
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/home/opinion/edit-page/State-Of-Denial/articleshow/5392261.cms
bademiyansubhanallah
PTI First Published : 30 Dec 2009 10:26:08 AM IST Last Updated : 30
Dec 2009 01:06:31 PM IST
HYDERABAD: Normal life came to a grinding halt in Hyderabad and nine
other districts of Telangana Wednesday as the day-long shutdown called
by all-party Joint Action Committee (JAC), demanding statehood to the
region, evoked total response.
Transport services were paralysed while shops, business
establishments, petrol bunks, cinema theatres, banks, offices and
educational institutions remained closed.
State-owned Road Transport Corporation (RTC) suspended all its bus
services, including those which pass through Telangana to major cities
like Vijayawada, Guntur, Visakhapatnam, Kurnool and Tirupati in Andhra
and Rayalaseema regions.
More than 9,000 buses went off the roads. In Hyderabad alone, 3,400
buses did not come out of the depots, causing severe inconvenience to
commuters.
South Central Railway (SCR) has cancelled 165 trains, including 87
express and passenger trains, as a precautionary measure. The railway
authorities also cancelled 46 suburban trains and 32 MMTS (Multi-Modal
Transport System) services in Hyderabad.
The roads in this Andhra Pradesh capital and major towns like
Warangal, Karimnagar and Nizamabad wore a deserted look as even auto-
rickshaws joined the shutdown.
Government employees, lawyers, industrial workers, students and
people's organisations in the region also struck work to back the
demand for formation of Telangana state out of Andhra Pradesh.
The shutdown, the fifth since the beginning of Telangana agitation a
month ago, affected the work in IT/ITeS and pharma companies in this
technology hub. Some IT companies made arrangements for the
accommodation of their employees in hotels near their offices to
ensure uninterrupted work while others declared a holiday as a
precautionary measure.
Police imposed prohibitory orders in Hyderabad and surrounding areas.
Additional police and paramilitary forces were deployed in Cyberabad,
the IT district housing IT giants like Microsoft, Google and Mahindra
Satyam.
Police have also made tight security arrangements in areas inhabited
by people from Andhra region in view of the recent attacks on film
shootings.
As many as 40 companies of paramilitary Central Reserve Police Force
(CRPF) have been deployed in Telangana, including 15 in Hyderabad.
Additional police forces from neighbouring states of Karnataka, Tamil
Nadu and Maharashtra were also deployed.
The shutdown has been called by JAC to demand the central government
immediately initiate the process for formation of Telangana state.
JAC, comprising ruling Congress party, Telugu Desam Party, Telangana
Rashtra Samiti (TRS), Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and organisations
of students, employees and workers, was formed on Dec 24, a day after
the central government made a second statement on the Telangana issue.
This statement made after days of protests in Andhra and Rayalaseema
regions called for wide ranging consultations on granting of statehood
to Telangana. It evoked strong protests in Telangana as it was seen as
a u-turn by the central government, which had announced Dec 9 that the
process for formation of Telangana state would be initiated.
The Dec 9 statement followed 11 days of mass protests in Telangana and
hunger strike by TRS president K. Chandrasekhara Rao.
chhotemianinshallah
Agencies
Posted: Dec 30, 2009 at 1056 hrs IST
Ranchi JMM chief Shibu Soren was sworn in as chief minister of
Jharkhand for the third time on Wednesday, alongwith two ministers
from coalition partners, ending almost a year-long spell of
President's rule in the state.
Besides 65-year old Soren, who heads a five-party coalition, BJP
Jharkhand unit chief Raghubar Das and All Jharkhand Students Union
(AJSU) chief Sudesh Mahato were sworn in as ministers at Morabadi
ground by Governor K Sankaranarayanan.
Soren has been directed by the governor to prove his majority on the
floor of the Assembly by January eight. Asked about expansion of the
ministry, a senior BJP leader said, "The ministry can be expanded
after Guruji (Soren) takes the floor test."
Soren has secured the support of 44 MLAs--JMM 18, BJP 18, JDU-2 AJSU 5
and JJM 1--in the 81-member House after the assembly elections in
Jharkhand gave a fractured verdict.
Congress-JVMP combine has got 22 seats. Soren had resigned in January
this year after he failed to get himself elected to the Assembly in a
by-poll.
The JMM chief had staked claim to form the government on December 25,
two days after the election results threw up a hung assembly.
Soren now heads the government with the help of the NDA for the first
time.After taking oath, Soren said his topmost priority was to
eradicate poverty and provide irrigation facilities to farmers.
"Pet mein anaj, khet mein pani (eradication of poverty and irrigation
for farmers)," he said when asked about his priorities.
Chhattisgarh Chief Minister Raman Singh, Uttarakhand Chief Minister
Ramesh Pokhriyal and Bihar Deputy Chief Minister Sushil Kumar Modi
were prominent BJP leaders present at the swearing in.
Karuna Shukla, BJP national vice president and incharge of Jharkhand
was also present.
http://www.expressindia.com/latest-news/Shibu-Soren-sworn-in-as-Jharkhand-CM/561429/
chhotemianinshallah
Agencies
Posted: Dec 30, 2009 at 0940 hrs IST
Hyderabad Barring sporadic incidents, the Telangana bandh on Wednesday
called by the all-party Joint Action Committee (JAC) in support of the
separate statehood demand was peaceful.
There were no incidents of violence and the bandh was totally peaceful
till noon, DGP R R Girish Kumar told reporters.
However, normal life was paralysed across the Telangana region as the
Andhra Pradesh State Road Transport Corporation (APSRTC) and the
Railways suspended services.
The pro-Telangana agitators organised road blockades and dharnas in
the districts of Telangana region. The JAC leaders also held a rally
at Baghlingampalli locality here but they were taken into custody by
the police.
"All parties have come under one umbrella and formed the JAC. We
demand that the Centre table a bill in Parliament for formation of
separate Telangana state immediately. Otherwise, we will intensify the
agitation," JAC Convener Prof Kodandaram told reporters.
"It is the strong demand of four crore Telangana people to have the
separate state. The Centre should take immediate steps for the
formation of Telangana," senior TDP leader N Janardhana Reddy said.
The rally was also attended by leaders of TRS, Congress and other JAC
constituents.
The Osmania University, the nerve-centre of the statehood movement by
the students, remained peaceful. Slogan- shouting students continued
to hold relay hunger strikes in the university campus amid tight
security arrangements.
Meanwhile, the APSRTC suspended over 9,000 buses plying in the
Telangana region. Thousands of city buses in Hyderabad were cancelled
due to which passengers had a tough time in reaching their
destinations. Many of them were stranded at various places.
Schools, colleges, shops and other commercial establishments remained
closed in Hyderabad and other places in the Telangana region.
BJP leaders, including state party president Bandaru Dattatreya, and
activists held a sit-in outside the office of the DGP demanding that
alleged false cases against students and other Telangana agitators be
withdrawn.
Heavy police force was deployed across the region to avoid any
untoward incidents and prohibitory orders were clamped in Hyderabad
and other places.
In Karimnagar district, the agitators set afire a lorry at
Godavarikhani last night. The bandh supporters attacked the Provident
Fund office and ground water department office in Karimnagar.
Activists of TRS, BJP and other parties organised rallies and other
forms of protest in the district.
http://www.expressindia.com/latest-news/3-Idiots-shatters-all-records/561400/
chhotemianinshallah
PTI 31 December 2009, 02:23pm IST
HYDERABAD: All the 13 Congress ministers from Telangana region in
Andhra Pradesh today decided to withdraw their resignation after the
Centre's announcement on holding discussions with political parties.
( Watch Video )
"We are satisfied with the decision of the Centre to initiate the
process of discussions (with 8 recognised political parties).
"We met APCC President D Srinivas who asked us to withdraw the
resignation. We have decided to withdraw our resignation," Information
Minister Geeta Reddy told reporters after the meeting.
The decision comes a day after Union home minister P Chidambaram sent
an invitation to leaders of 8 parties for discussions in Delhi on
January 5 on the Telangana statehood issue.
The ministers resigned after Chidambaram's announcement on December 23
putting the Telangana issue on the backburner saying he would initiate
wide ranging discussions on the issue. Earlier on December 9 he had
announced that the process for Telangana state would be initiated.
Reddy said the ministers had last week represented to the Congress
leadership and "we never expected that they will respond so quickly."
She thanked Congress President Sonia Gandhi and other senior leaders
including Pranab Mukherjee and Ahmed Patel for the Centre's
initiative.
chhotemianinshallah
TNN 30 December 2009, 11:01pm IST
NEW DELHI: Home minister P Chidambaram has called a meeting of
political parties from Andhra Pradesh on January 5 to discuss
statehood for Telangana.
The Centre hopes to nudge the statehood process by calling Andhra
Pradesh's recognised parties Congress, Telugu Desam Party, Telangana
Rashtra Samiti, CPI, CPM, Praja Rajyam Party, BJP and MIM to the
negotiating table.
The meeting is part of "wide-ranging consultations" the home minister
spoke of in his December 23 statement that triggered strong unrest in
Telangana region. Chidambaram's articulation for "wide-ranging
consultations" in view of "altered" situation saw proponents of
statehood accuse the Centre of going back on its December 9
commitment.
Life in Telangana has been disrupted since celebrations were jolted by
what was seen as the Centre cracking under pressure from Congress MPs
and MLAs from Rayalaseema and coastal Andhra. The agitators called a
bandh on Wednesday which brought the volatile region to a standstill.
The move to swiftly commence consultation process, hammered out in a
meeting of Congress core committee on Tuesday, is aimed at placating
Telangana agitators. Congress MPs and MLAs from Telangana have been
insisting on a timeframe to point to a roadmap for statehood. The
party bosses are not averse to this but have to proceed with care.
TRS leadership said it would participate in the consultation process
despite its scepticism following the home minister's second statement.
Party ideologue Jayashankar said TRS would use the forum to reiterate
its stand but the movement would continue till statehood was granted.
Congress leader from Telangana Keshav Rao hailed the move, saying,
"Congress is a democratic party believing in a democratic process.
Congress's stand is spelt out in the December 9 statement of the home
minister." The leader clearly sought to allay fears that the meeting
was a time-buying tactic. The Centre does hope that consultations
would help UPA get around the timeframe demand.
TRS and students community, who are leading the protest,slammed the
Centre's push for consultation as an attempt to drag the issue instead
of clinching it.
Telangana agitation has divided political parties on regional lines
andCongress has been affected as much. While its MPs and MLAs from
Telangana are protesting the Centre's bid to "wriggle out of its
commitment", 12 ministers from the region in the Rosaiah government
have put in their papers and are not attending office, making it
difficult for the cabinet to meet.
The state administration -- first owing to protests from Andhra and
Rayalaseema MPs and ministers and now because of the retaliatory
action from their Telangana counterparts -- has come to a complete
standstill.
AICC spokesperson Jayanthi Natarajan refused to dwell on the fate of
Andhra deadlock owing to "the sensitivity of the issue". Speaking to
reporters, she said, "There is need for wider consultations."
It is a Catch-22 situation though. The consultations, which are set to
bring out the resistance among various Andhra players against
bifurcation of the state, would be used by the Centre to demonstrate
to Telangana proponents that there were difficulties involved in
dividing the state.
But agitators have lately hardened their stance by invoking the
Constitution. They say that there is no need for an assembly
resolution and for a consensus to start moving on statehood.
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/india/Centre-calls-for-talks-on-Telangana/articleshow/5396823.cms
Sid Harth
PTI Thursday, December 31, 2009 18:21 IST
New Delhi: Dismissing the charge of "flip- flop" on the part of Centre
on Telangana issue, home minister P Chidambaram today said the January
5 meeting of political parties from Andhra Pradesh is to devise a
"mechanism and roadmap" on resolving the problem.
"The January 5 meeting is the first step in the consultations. In the
first step we have called the recognised parties in the state to
devise a mechanism and a roadmap (on the issue," he told a press
conference, the state chief minister has been invited to the meeting
in his official capacity.
He said as the consultation process progresses the issue of involving
people beyond the 8 recognised parties could be thought of.
Referring to the two statments he had made on Dec 9 and Dec 23 on the
issue of separate Telangana, Chidambaram said there has been criticism
that there has been a flip-flop on the part of the Central government.
"There was no no flip-flop on the part of the Central government,
which simply responded to the situation in Andhra Pradesh.We simply
resonded to the wishes of the people of Andhra Pradesh.I hope you
don't call the Jan 5 meeitng a
flip-flop," he said.
Recalling the history of the issue, Chidambaram said the National
Common Minimum Programme of the UPA in 2004 had said the government
would consider the demand for the formation of a Telangana state at an
appropriate time after due consultations and consensus.
Major political parties in Andhra Pradesh contested the 2009 Assembly
elections on manifestos that, in one manner or other, declared support
for the formation of a separate state of Telangana.
He referred to the all party meeting convened by Andhra Pradesh chief
minister K Rosaiah on December 7 in which all floor leaders of the
political parties agreed to support the proposal to adopt a resolution
in the state Assembly for the creation of Telangana.
The CPI(M) had a different view and the MIM said the appropriate forum
for expressing its views would be the Assembly.
The Centre received the minutes of the meeting on December 8 and on 9
the government decided to initiate the process of forming the state of
Telangana.
"On December 9, it was announced that an appropriate resolution would
be moved in the state assembly. I would like to highlight key words in
the statement: they are 'process', 'appropriate resolution' and
'moved'.
"In the background of the minutes of the all party meeting, I would
like to ask, "what was wrong with that statement," he asked.
Sid Harth
PTI Thursday, December 31, 2009 19:50 IST
Hyderabad: A pro-Telangana minister in Andhra Pradesh today hit out at
chief minister K Rosaiah over his comments that Naxalites were
involved in the statehood movement, saying that his remarks were
affecting the bifurcation of the state
"It is not proper for the Chief Minister and DGP to say that Naxalites
and ex-Naxalites have joined the Telangana movement in full force. He
should not try to scuttle the formation of Telangana by sending
reports to the Centre or by speaking to the media like this,"
information technology minister K Venkata Reddy told reporters here.
"He (Rosaiah) should behave like the chief minister for Andhra Pradesh
and not just for coastal Andhra, at least till the state is divided,"
the minister said.
Reddy said the CM was at fault for saying that the pro-Telangana
agitation had a negative impact on the state's industrial sector and
the film industry.
The minister claimed that he and higher education minister D Sridhar
Babu had not withdrawn their resignations as 11 other ministers did in
the wake of the Centre's decision to hold discussions with eight
political parties in the state.
Information minister J Geetha Reddy had announced earlier in the day
that all the 13 ministers, who have resigned in support of separate
Telangana demand, have decided to withdraw their resignations in the
wake of the Centre's decision to
hold dialogue with eight recognised political parties in the state
over the issue.
Sid Harth
PTI Thursday, December 31, 2009 19:53 IST
New Delhi: With the government inviting political parties having a
presence in Andhra Pradesh for talks on Telangana, BJP today said the
Centre should first end the uncertainty on the issue by making its
stand clear and resolve differences within Congress over the matter.
"Much of the problem of Telangana is because of the strife inside
Congress on the issue and this can only be contained by Sonia Gandhi
and prime minister Manmohan Singh," BJP spokesperson Ravi Shankar
Prasad said.
He said the all-party meeting will succeed only if Congress handles
this internal crisis.
Alleging there was a difference between the two statements of home
minister P Chidambaram on formation of Telangana, Prasad said this had
created "total uncertainty" on the issue.
"The nation is entitled to know the government view on Telangana and
it should make its stand clear on the subject... It is the job of the
government to manage the demand for a new state," Prasad said, adding
the UPA should address regional concerns in a responsible manner.
In reply to a question, the Rajya Sabha MP said BJP had not made up
its mind on formation of a second States Reorganisation Commission as
the issue is still in "a nebulous state".
"An SRC is a tough call, having long term implications. The government
has to formulate and take initiative on it," he said.
chhotemianinshallah
All-party meeting must evolve a consensus
Union Home Minister Chidambaram’s invitation to eight recognized
parties in Andhra Pradesh to meet him on January 5 for ‘wide-ranging’
discussions to resolve the ongoing imbroglio for a separate state is a
step in the right direction. Coming after his assurance on wider
consultations on the issue in a statement on December 23, the
invitation is aimed at evolving a consensus. The political parties
cannot shy away from their responsibility to restore order and calm in
the state ravaged by unrest over the vexed issue. Significantly, the
Centre’s in-principle nod to statehood for Telangana had come after a
consensus had emerged at an all-party meeting on December 7. However,
when the Telangana region on the one hand and coastal Andhra and
Rayalseema on the other began polarising along regional lines, all
parties, including the Congress, found themselves split down the
middle on the issue.
Parties like the TDP and the Praja Rajyam Party, which had earlier
pledged open support to the cause of the Telangana state and had
aligned with the avowedly pro-Telangana TRS in the simultaneous Lok
Sabha and assembly elections, did a complete volte face, after they
found the non-Telangana regions opposing the bifurcation of the state.
It does not behove parties to shift their position on key issues as
per their political convenience. It is vital that they behave
responsibly, first by attending the January 5 meeting and then by
working with due sincerity to defuse the situation. Indulging in
doublespeak or dragging their feet in the restoration of peace would
eventually expose them before the people at large.
The state has indeed suffered enormous damage in the three weeks since
the Centre’s nod on Telangana. Industrial production has been
crippled, investor sentiment jolted, tourism has been severely
affected, work in offices has been paralysed and education in schools
and colleges has been hit. It is, therefore, imperative that the
January 5 meeting be not a wasted opportunity. A durable solution must
be found in a spirit of give and take. For Mr Chidambaram too this is
a challenge and an opportunity to prove his negotiating skills.
http://www.tribuneindia.com/2010/20100101/edit.htm#2
chhotemianinshallah
TNN 30 December 2009, 05:11am IST
NAGPUR: Former union minister Vilas Muttemwar has reiterated his
demand for Vidarbha's statehood in a letter to Congress president
Sonia Gandhi as the party celebrates its 125th anniversary. The MP has
said that it is high time to respect the aspirations of Vidarbhaites
by giving them statehood.
Congratulating the senior leadership, Muttemwar mentioned that India's
oldest party had always respected the aspirations and sentiments of
the common people. He said that the announcement of Telangana state
had rekindled hopes of crores of people in this region.
Justifying his demand, the ex-minister for renewable energy said the
long-pending demand for separate Vidarbha was older than Telangana and
a number of senior leaders, MPs, legislators and grass-root level
workers belonging to this region had advocated restoration of
statehood.
The six-time MP said the separate state demand was not a knee-jerk
reaction due to events in Telangana, but it was studied demand,
recommended by various authorities and committees set up by the
government and the Congress party internally for over 120 years. "In
1888, the British administration recommended formation of Vidarbha
state to then commissionerate. In 1918, the constitutional review
committee, the Dar committee and JVP panel had agreed to grant it
statehood. In 1955, the States Reorganisation Commission (SRC)
comprising Justice Fazal Ali and Pandit Karzuru had unanimously
recommended carving out Vidarbha state as it would be viable, stable
and surplus," Muttemwar wrote.
He added that in 1988, former Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi had realised
the injustice meted out to the region had appointed now NCP leader PA
Sangma to ascertain the feasibility of restoring statehood and,
interestingly, he had also recommended its separation.
In 1996, a delegation of senior Congress leaders including working
committee members and AICC general secretaries like Ahmed Patel,
Ghulam Nabi Azad, Meira Kumar, K Karunakaran, Rajesh Pilot, Balram
Jakhar, Mukul Wasnik, Vasant Sathe, NKP Salve, Sudhakarrao Naik and
several prominent leaders from Vidarbha, besides Muttemwar had met
with then PM HD Deve Gowda and submitted a representation for
restoration of Vidarbha's statehood as recommended by SRC.
Muttemwar, the three-time MP from Nagpur, tried to remind Gandhi that
it was due to her initiative that a panel under Pranab Mukherjee was
set up in 2002 to once again consider the formation of Vidarbha and
Telangana. Since, the statehood for Telangana had been announced,
justice should be done with the people of this region, who've always
stood by the Congress through thick and thin, he said.
Deliberating on the problems, Muttemwar said Vidarbha was not able to
develop economically despite being part of a progressive state like
Maharashtra. This was evident from the fact that over 7,000 farmers
committed suicides due to lack of irrigation facilities.
Further, five districts were facing problems of Naxal-infestation,
besides numerous other problems like unemployment, load-shedding and
lack of industries. "It's now impossible to get developed by remaining
in Maharashtra. The people are not separatists or destructive minded.
However, if it is neglected further, the people could go to any
possible extent to fight for their rights," he warned.
He also expressed apprehensions that opposition parties like the BJP
will capitalise on sentiments and the Congress will stand to lose its
base in the region, besides causing embarrassment to the party leaders
and grass-root workers.
chhotemianinshallah
STAFF WRITER 13:10 HRS IST
Hyderabad, Jan 1 (PTI) Staying away from the usual New Year
celebrations, students and other Telangana supporters organised
cultural programmes highlighting their demand at various places in the
region late last night.
Hundreds of students of Osmania University (OU) here, the nerve centre
of separate Telangana agitation by students, held 'Telangana Dhum
Dham' by singing songs and performing other Telangana folk arts.
The OU students vowed to fight for separate Telangana statehood till
the goal is completely realised.
The students of Kakatiya University at Warangal also organised similar
programmes.
Girl students performed 'Bathukamma' dances at several educational
institutes in the region.
The students have called for a massive students' convention in the
university campus on January 3. The students said they will go ahead
with the meeting though police have denied permission.
http://www.ptinews.com/news/448667_Students-usher-in-New-Year-with-programmes-on-Telangana
chhotemianinshallah
chhotemianinshallah
K V Ramana / DNA
Thursday, December 31, 2009 23:43 IST
Hyderabad: Ten ministers from the Telangana region faced public anger
for withdrawing their resignations after the Centre invited eight
political parties to Delhi for talks on statehood. Protestors are so
furious that they have vowed not to let the ministers enter their
constituencies.
Agitators gathered outside irrigation minister P Lakshmaiah's house in
Warangal on Thursday and were poised to strike but police stopped
them. A day after the home ministry invited representatives of eight
political parties to Delhi on January 5 for a formal discussion on the
Telangana issue, all the 12 ministers from Telangana, who had
submitted their resignations, decided to take them back.
After a prolonged meeting with the Pradesh Congress Committee
president D Srinivas and a telephonic conversation with Union law
minister Veerappa Moily, the ministers decided to join the cabinet.
"The fact that the Centre has begun discussing Telangana proves that
it is committed about statehood. We are taking our resignations back,"
information minister J Geeta Reddy said. "But, if something goes wrong
after the January 5 meeting, we will not hesitate to resign. As
ministers from the region we are committed for Telangana," another
minister J Krishna Rao said.
However, the decision sparked widespread protest in the region and led
students to label the ministers "traitors". The convener of the all-
party joint action committee (JAC), professor Kodandaram, too termed
the ministers' decision 'unfortunate'.
Seeing the public mood, IT minister K Venkat Reddy and higher
education minister D Sridhar Babu said they would not withdraw their
resignations.
Meanwhile, the parties which will attend the January 5 meet are busy
doing their homework. Each party has been asked to nominate two
representatives for the meeting. With most parties unable to speak in
one voice on Telangana, identifying speakers who can offer a balanced
and accurate view to the Centre is becoming difficult.
http://www.dnaindia.com/india/report_10-face-flak-for-withdrawing-resignations_1329591
chhotemianinshallah
Telangana creation should not hurt a rising metro
Business Standard / New Delhi December 11, 2009, 0:03 IST
The sudden manner in which the Union government has chosen to address
the demand for a separate state of Telangana, carved out of Andhra
Pradesh, raises an important question for corporate India regarding
the future of Hyderabad. The “triplet” cities of Hyderabad-
Secunderabad-Cyberabad have emerged as a major centre of business. The
location of an international airport has further contributed to the
globalisation of the city. Apart from the emergent business
communities from various parts of Andhra Pradesh, especially coastal
Andhra, businesses from across the country and the world have been
investing in and around Hyderabad. The future structure of governance
in the country’s sixth largest metropolis will be a matter of concern
for all existing and potential investors. Apart from the impact on
land values, there would be an impact on plans for a range of
investments in and around the city. Earlier decisions to bifurcate
large states, as in the case of Bihar, Madhya Pradesh and Uttar
Pradesh, did not involve the future of any large metropolitan city. In
the case of Andhra Pradesh, Hyderabad’s future is critically linked to
the manner in which the question of Telangana is resolved. The idea of
making Hyderabad a Union Territory has been mooted for long. It is not
clear if such issues have been considered by the group of wise men
from the United Progressive Alliance, led by veteran Congress leader
Pranab Mukherjee, that was charged with the responsibility of
addressing the issue of Telangana.
It is, in fact, unfortunate that the Union government chose to buckle
under the pressure of a fast unto death by a politician whose party
did not fare particularly well in recent elections even as the ruling
Congress, whose manifesto did not even promise statehood for
Telangana, did remarkably well, without allowing the Mukherjee group
to finish its deliberations.
It is also not clear why the Congress and the UPA government never
chose to implement some of the solutions that came out of the earlier
agitation for a separate Telangana in 1969-70, especially the idea of
creating Regional Development Boards with region-specific budgets and
plan allocations. Whatever the final political settlement on
Telangana, India Inc would be deeply interested in the future of
Hyderabad, especially policies pertaining to urban governance and
infrastructure development. The decision of a sitting Congress member
of Parliament to resign on the issue opens up the new problem of
whether the rest of the state would be satisfied with bifurcation or
there would be trifurcation with Andhra and Rayalaseema created as new
states. It remains to be seen how the Congress will handle the issue
in coming months, having fudged the issue for so many years and now
capitulating under pressure. One eminently sensible way of handling
all the issues is to be found in the UPA’s national common minimum
programme of 2004, to which even Mr K Chandrashekhar Rao’s Telangana
Rashtra Samithi had signed up. It had promised the constitution of a
second States Reorganisation Commission (SRC). With demands for a
Harit Pradesh and Bundelkhand in the north, the time may have come for
a new SRC.
http://www.business-standard.com/india/news/what-about-hyderabad/379151/
chhotemianinshallah
2 Jan 2010, 0309 hrs IST, ET Bureau
MUMBAI: Probably inspired by K Chandrasekhar Rao’s success on
Telangana, the Congress MP from Vidarbha too has decided to launch a
dharna to press
for a separate statehood. Only difference, however, would be the
Congressman doesn't seem to believe in fasting unlike Mr Rao .
Former Union Minister and local Congress MP Vilas Muttemwar will hold
a 'dharna' on January 3 here in support of demand for statehood for
Vidarbha. To begin with, it will only be a day-long sit-in and not a
fast, the party has made it clear. He argues that the Centre is
ignoring Vidarbha because it is following peaceful ways not like
Telangana that was witnessing violent protests.
A day-long sit in agitation will be held on January 3 near Gandhi
statue at Variety Square to be led by Mr Muttemwar himself. Nagpur-
South MLA Dinanath Padole, three former Mayors Vikas Thakre, Naresh
Gawande and Kishore Dorle have appealed to the pro-Vidarbha people to
join the agitation. Vidarbha Janandolan Samiti too has announced its
support for Mr Muttemwar.
With the Centre calling political parties for talks over Telangana, Mr
Muttemwar feels it should also call leaders from the region for such
an interaction as the feelings of people from the area for separate
statehood are “more strong” than Telangana.
Mr Muttemwar told media persons that the first State Reorganisation
Commission had unambiguously favoured creation of a separate Vidarbha
and the case for carving it out was suggested more vociferously than
that of Telangana. He called the Centre "unjust and undemocratic" for
its decision of not calling Vidarbha leaders for talks.
"We do not want to live with Maharashtra as the last 50 years have
given us only neglect and backwardness, leading to Naxalism in five
districts and suicides of 40,000 farmers," he said.
"As we believe in Mahatma Gandhi, we are making the demand peacefully
but they should not underestimate us. Our feelings are stronger than
(in) Telangana," he added. Earlier on December 29, Mr Muttemwar had
written a letter to Congress president Sonia Gandhi contending that
the demand for Vidarbha was over 120 years old and should be accepted
Meanwhile, Vidarbha Janandolan Samiti, an NGO engaged in the welfare
of farmers in the region, would join the sit-in agitation for separate
Vidarbha. "The Samiti will whole heartedly extend its support to the
cause of creation of separate Vidarbha", Samiti president Kishore
Tiwari, said in a release on Friday.
He said some political parties are talking about martyrdom of
'samyukta Maharashtra movement' whereas nearly 7,000 farmers from
Vidarbha region have ended their lives because of multiple problems,
including lack of sufficient irrigation facilities. “Still no one is
seen to be taking note of these farmers' deaths," he added.
Samiti members in large number will join the January 3 dharna
agitation to press the demand for separate state of Vidarbha, he
said.
chhotemianinshallah
Agencies
Posted: Friday , Jan 01, 2010 at 2034 hrs
New Delhi:
Cracking the whip, Congress High Command on Friday issued a show-cause
notice to rebel Andhra Pradesh Minister from Telangana K Venkata
Reddy, who raised a storm by attacking Chief Minister K Rosaiah, for
"deliberately lowering party's prestige".
The notice was issued by AICC General Secretary Janardhan Dwivedi, who
is in-charge of organisational affairs, after he received a report
from Veerappa Moily, Congress in-charge of Andhra Pradesh.
In the notice, Reddy, who has also reportedly refused to take back his
resignation which was submitted to party chief Sonia Gandhi, has been
charged with "deliberately lowering the prestige of the party".
Dwivedi has given 7 days time for Reddy to reply.
Reddy had yesterday hit out at Rosaiah over his comments that
Naxalites were involved in the statehood movement, saying that his
remarks were affecting the bifurcation of the state.
"It is not proper for the Chief Minister and DGP to say that Naxalites
and ex-Naxalites have joined the Telangana movement in full force. He
should not try to scuttle the formation of Telangana by sending
reports to the Centre or by speaking to the media like this," he had
said.
"He (Rosaiah) should behave like the Chief Minister for Andhra Pradesh
and not just for coastal Andhra, at least till the state is divided,"
the Minister said.
http://www.indianexpress.com/news/andhra-it-minister-issued-showcause-notice/562211/
chhotemianinshallah
Posted: Friday , Jan 01, 2010 at 1852 hrs
Chennai: Related
Union Home Minister P Chidambaram on Friday dismissed as "meaningless
and absurd" demand for bifurcation of Tamil Nadu, saying the idea
should be nipped in the bud.
"It is a meaningless and absurd idea. It should be nipped in the bud,"
he said, reacting to PMK leader S Ramadoss' remarks about splitting
Tamil Nadu into two states.
Chidambaram was talking to reporters after meeting Chief Minister M
Karunanidhi here.
Ramadoss had recently said bifurcation of Tamil Nadu would be "good"
on administrative grounds, apparently buoyed by the Centre's nod for
the creation of Telangana.
Karunanidhi had, however, dismissed the idea, saying there was "no
place for such concepts." AIADMK leader Jayalalithaa too had opposed
the bifurcation idea.
The chief minister had also attributed the present turmoil in
neighbouring Andhra Pradesh over the Telangana issue to "a delayed
decision and hasty announcement" by the Centre.
Responding to a question on Telangana issue, Chidambaram said the all-
party meeting convened by the Centre on January 5 in Delhi would
discuss and take an appropriate decision.
"We have invited leaders of eight different political parties from
Andhra Pradesh. We will talk to them and discuss about arriving at an
unanimous opinion," he said.
Asked whether there is any specific terror threat to the country, he
said all countries across the globe were facing terror threat.
http://www.indianexpress.com/news/chidambaram-terms-demand-for-bifurcation-of-tn-absurd/562198/
chhotemianinshallah
Agencies
Posted: Saturday , Jan 02, 2010 at 2012 hrs
Updated:Saturday , Jan 02, 2010 at 2053 hrs
Hyderabad:
The Andhra Pradesh government has set up a dedicated telephone number
and launched website to allay the fears of IT/ITeS industry, which
feels insecure in the wake of the ongoing Telangana agitation.
Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister K Rosaiah told CEOs and heads of leading
IT and ITES companies operating in Hyderabad that all necessary
measures would be taken to see that the IT industry maintains its
'business continuity’.
The chief minister added that Inspector General of Police T Krishna
Prasad was being posted to look after the security of IT industry.
The industry honchos sought an assurance on ensuring business
continuity, safety and security for their staff and also their
establishments. Recent disturbances in the state had resulted in loss
of many man hours and caused disruption in critical operations.
Director General of Police R R Girish Kumar, who attended the meeting,
said a dedicated telephone number and a website have been launched to
help the industry.
The industry heads said that over 1,300 IT/ITeS companies operates in
Andhra Pradesh.
The sector provides 2.3 lakh direct employment and eight lakh indirect
employment in the state and has a turnover of over Rs 31,000 crore,
which accounts for 15 per cent of the total IT revenue generated in
the country, they informed the chief minister.
chhotemianinshallah
Agencies
Posted: Saturday , Jan 02, 2010 at 1621 hrs
Updated:Saturday , Jan 02, 2010 at 1653 hrs
Hyderabad:
'Chidambaram is against the bifurcation of his native state Tamil Nadu
but is ready to divide Andhra.'
Union Home Minister P Chidambaram was criticised by two opposition
parties in Andhra Pradesh -- Telugu Desam and Praja Rajyam -- which
said he was "adding fuel to fire" over the contentious Telangana
issue.
Chidambaram also became the target of attack of BJP, with the party
alleging that his statements on the separate statehood demand were
only compounding the confusion.
"He (Chidambaram) is against the bifurcation of his native state Tamil
Nadu but is ready to divide AP. Why these double standards? It only
exposes the vengeful attitude of Chidambaram against the fast-
developing Andhra Pradesh," TDP senior MLAs Dhulipalla Narendra Kumar
and Bojjala Gopalakrishna Reddy said in Hyderabad.
Addressing a press conference at the Telugu Desam Legislature Party
office, the MLAs alleged that the Union Home Minister was "adding fuel
to fire" through his statements on the Telangana issue and pushing AP
into further turmoil.
"Except vested interests, there is absolutely no basis for division of
AP. If backwardness is a basis for bifurcation, then there are many
backward areas even in coastal Andhra and Rayalaseema regions," they
said.
They wondered how the Centre could go ahead with the proposed
bifurcation of the state when there was no consensus even within the
ruling United Progressive Alliance.
"Sharad Pawar, Mamata Banerjee and Dayanidhi Maran have opposed the
formation of Telangana. Even the Samajwadi Party and the Rashtriya
Janata Dal are also against this. Why are you not taking this into
account? Moreover, has the Union Cabinet ever discussed the
bifurcation issue and framed any guidelines for that," the leaders
questioned Chidambaram.
Narendra and Gopalakrishna took strong exception to the all-party
meeting convened by the Centre on January 5, saying that it has been
done even before normalcy returned to the state. "This will only stoke
the passions further and worsen the situation in Andhra Pradesh," they
claimed.
On the other hand, TDP politburo member Nagam Janardhana Reddy, a
Telangana supporter, too lashed out at Chidambaram. saying his
statements on statehood issue "lacked consistency".
"He (Chidambaram) is speaking one thing in New Delhi and another in
Chennai. He seems to be ignoring the people's wishes on such a
critical issue," Nagam said.
Senior Praja Rajyam Party leader K Kala Venkata Rao came down on
Chidambaram alleging that a deep conspiracy was being hatched under
his leadership to split Andhra Pradesh, the largest state in south
India. "If backwardness is the reason for the proposed bifurcation of
AP, then the country should also be divided into a thousand pieces,"
he said.
Senior BJP leader and former Union minister Ch Vidyasagar Rao said in
Karimnagar that Chidambaram's statements on the separate statehood
demand were only compounding the confusion.
"The Congress itself doesn't have a clear view on the Telangana issue.
Then there is no meaning for the all-party meeting on the 5th,"
Vidyasagar Rao said.
9 Comments |
Neighbour's envy?
By: Sri Sri | Saturday , 2 Jan '10 23:26:23 PM
The statement smacks of arrogance and ignorance that is the hallmark
of Andhra leaders' attitude towards the Telengana issue.First, it is
preposterous on their part to think Andhra achieved something that can
evoke the envy of Tamilians.Second, Telenganaites are seeking
separation not just because of lack of development, but due to
repeated flouting of accords and dilution of packages to protect their
interests. Successive Andhra CMs managed the Telengana problem by
manupulating Telengana politicians.This only enabled them to buy time
but not address the issue.Now all that the people are asking is allow
them to deal with their own problems. Truly, is the size or shape of
the state on the national map more important than the quality of the
lives of the people?
Chidambaram adding fuel
By: peshori ahuja | Saturday , 2 Jan '10 22:58:13 PM
HM resented the word "flip-flop". Now he is charged with "adding fuel
to fire" and creating "turmoil". What has he to say now. It is clear
that like other Congress ministers, PM has no control on HM.
Chidambaram adding fuel to fire on Telangana issue
By: Jay | Saturday , 2 Jan '10 22:47:46 PM
Firstly, congratulations to IE for boldly writing about this as
compared to TOI. Chidambaram and his sidekick, Pillai being tamilians,
have yet to denounce LTTE as a terrorist outfit. Secondly, due to lack
of transparency, it is not known how many funds during his term as
finance minister, Chidambram has siphoned off to his home state tamil
nadu. Therefore, and lastly ofcourse being tamilian(s), Chidambaram is
not going to bring the bifurcation of tamil nadu issue to the
forefront. Ironic isn't it, that the person least capable of doing
anything about homeland security is appointed as the Home Minister.
TELANGANA ISSUE
By: ARASADA.VENKATARAO | Saturday , 2 Jan '10 22:15:21 PM
Govt of India settled so many sever issues like khalistan and Assam
etc.IS it not possible to store peace in the state by providing better
infrastructure,development of down troden.whether Telangana or United
Andhra is not the ambition of common man/men.This is the job of
unemloyed politicians.First,control law and order, punishment to those
who cause damage to the valuble public/privte property.Wide publicity
of bad results out of bundhs and other voilent acts.Youth should think
twice and dont follow and believe politicians in the present
situation.Andra Pradesh should not loose I T idustry.Both
Mr.Chandrababunaidu and Late Y.S.R did well to attract I T idustry in
A.P.Not only I.T,so many idustries including Film.Union Government
should initiate steps to restore peace in the state.
Chidambaram adding fuel to fire on Telangana issue'
By: Abdulmajeed Khan Advocate | Saturday , 2 Jan '10 20:51:48 PM
Dear Sir.Division of India has left crises and problems to all of us.
The followers of British mentality of 1947 have to change their
thought. They should take any decision of such nature after going
through pre independence history. We are today in 2010 and after 2050
new generation will emerge, if dissection policy will be promoted by
low thought politicians, this will definitely prove fatal to this land
of ours. Mr. Prime Minister, are you not true Indian, then why you are
adding such detrimental structures. I hope your government will
consider my humble suggestion. The steps taken in the Jammu and
Kashmir granting any further separation line will further promote
destruction. A matter of year takes decades to control is the identity
of the incompetent persons holding the affairs of administration.
Please don%u2019t spoil our land in bifurcations. We should all stand
first as Indians, then Bengali, Kashmiri, Bihari%u2019s etc. and there
should be no identity of citizen from his religion.
"Enemy out there"
By: Yash | Saturday , 2 Jan '10 20:47:46 PM
This is typical of telugu politics - the enemy is always "out there",
in this case in the form of tamilian Chidambaram. They do not want to
concede that the current situation is a result of their own deeds.
They wud rather blame an outsider! Everyone knows that all key
decisions are taken in the current govt only with Sonia Gandhi's
backing. If these politicans had any balls, they wud question Sonia
Gandhi, not Chidambaram, who is only her mouthpiece.
Chidambaram adding fuel to fire on Telangana issue'
By: chtrgupt | Saturday , 2 Jan '10 19:54:11 PM
Thanks to the intense agitation for a separate state, some reputed IT
companies are quietly shifting their operations to neighboring states.
While this is understandable, since they have made a commitment to
their customers of uninterrupted operations, it is the state and its
people who would be losing.
who wants separation
By: sreeram | Saturday , 2 Jan '10 19:52:48 PM
every now and than OUR MPS,MLA'S çarry on increaseing their perks and
salaries,who bothers about common man probelems.Due to these
separation movement how many innocent people lost their valuable
lives,did any politician think about, they want only power,in India
our politicians greedy about power by separation telangana people will
another CM, what else they get,in united AP they almost 14 ministerial
berths, what they did so far, is their any body asking that,by united
AP these people will loose CM post,in which way these politicians will
improve our lives,inspite of improving, they are taking our lives to
hell, GOD only save our country, country like India needs military
rule there by these all backward areas will improved automatically
with out any partiality,once these political system abolished these
agitations will never come up again and again , if a minister dropped
from the post, immediately he will start some agitation,by en cashing
local people weakness, MAY PEACE MAY RE
united Andhra
By: sadaadmi | Saturday , 2 Jan '10 18:09:23 PM
Telungana politicians wants separation for their self
interest.Telungana people want separation as the region was
underdeveloped. What else the common man want except
peace,employment , good health service, good education? Nothing else.
It is politicians who propose bifurcation of District,state etc for
they can appoint more officers and thrive on transfer industry aswell
create new power centre. Hell with politicians and cration of more
Government offices ,Secretariat, DIG offices etc. Give Telungana
people the Basic facilities they want. Give them the option of New
state or construction of 10 super specialty Hospital with appolo
management but free treatment for Poor, 10 medical & 10 Engineering
colleages, 5 engineering and Medical colleges exclusively for Women
with 80 % reserved for Local people of the district , 3000 MW thermal
power station, and creation of 50000 Permanent jobs by allotting
projects . Let us see which one the People prefer.
http://www.indianexpress.com/news/chidambaram-adding-fuel-to-fire-on-telangana-issue/562528/0
chhotemianinshallah
Red corner notice against NDFB chief
Pioneer News Service | New Delhi
The intelligence agencies have issued a red corner notice against
National Democratic Front of Bodoland (NDFB) chief Ranjan Daimary. He
is wanted in the serial blasts that rocked Assam in October 2008.
Known as Doimari Ranjan alias Ronsaigra Nabla Doimari alias DR Nabla,
sources said Daimary is wanted for offences like murder, wounding,
theft, mischief, criminal conspiracy, violation of explosive
substances and under different firearms acts. Born in Assam in 1960,
Daimary is believed to speak several languages like English, Hindi,
Assamese, Bengali and of course Boro.
That Daimary maintained a very low profile despite being a militant is
obvious from the fact that the intelligence agencies do not have his
photograph. Though the intelligence agencies know that he stands 170
cms tall, has black hair and wears a moustache, they do not have any
clue about the colour of his eyes and distinguishing characteristics.
According to sources, the red corner notice against Daimary was
largely because of the talks between the Centre’s interlocutors and
the pro-talks faction of the NDFB. The Indian Government has sent a
signal to the Bodo groups that the establishment will go to any extent
to encourage dialogue and dissuade separatism.
Several members of pro-talks faction have welcomed the red corner
notice against Daimary and think it is a positive development.
However, these members have decided to remain anonymous and not
comment on record. “On New Year day when Christians all over the world
were praying, he engineered an attack on one of our leaders in
Sonitpur,” said an NDFB leader. The pro-talks faction last year broke
away from Daimary and his associates who demand sovereignty.
With this development, the intelligence agencies hope that pro-talks
factions will fall in line and come forward for peace talks with the
Centre and discourage militants like Daimary who now finds his name in
the Interpol headquarters in Lyons.
http://www.dailypioneer.com/226859/Red-corner-notice-against-NDFB-chief.html
chhotemianinshallah
Osmania campus resounds with ‘students roar’
Omer Farooq | Hyderabad
More than a lakh students from all over Telangana region have demanded
the immediate formation of Telangana State and warned the Central
Government against using talks and consultation as delaying tactics.
Despite the police machinery going all-out — creating obstructions,
erecting barriers and checkposts and subjecting participants to
searches — to discourage students from participating in the Vidyarthy
Garjana, young boys and girls poured into the Osmania campus, turning
it into a sea of humanity.
The impressive show of strength was organised by the Osmania Students
Joint Action Committee as part of its more than a month long
agitation. Speakers from the university and other colleges of the
regions targeted the politicians from coastal Andhra and Rayalaseema
region for their opposition to Telangana State and said this showed
that they were determined to continue exploitation of the region of
Telangana for their own gain.
Even as the police stopped the vehicles carrying participants at
different places including Nalgonda, Medak and Mehbubnagar, campus was
brimming with the crowds as folk singers and cultural troupes
performed highlighting the sufferings and the history of Telangana
struggle through their songs.
Agitated students sat on dharna stopping traffic on National Highway
No. 9 when they were stopped by the police at Chityal in Nalgonda
district. Vehicles were stopped at different places by the police on
various grounds including absence of permissions and students not
carrying identity cards.
Those vehicles which were able to reach Hyderabad were stopped several
kilometres away from the venue and the students had to walk to reach
the campus.
Several youth and students were also sent back from the main entrance
saying they did not have the identity cards. It led to arguments
between the police officials and the organisers.
In accordance with the orders of the High Court the political leaders
of all the parties were staying away from the venue of the meeting.
But the police restrictions evoked angry reaction from the leaders of
various parties including ruling Congress and the Telangana Rashtra
Samiti.
“These restrictions by the police are unlawful and unconstitutional.
Their only aim was to foil the meeting. But they will not succeed,”
said TRS legislator T Harish Rao.
Former minister and Congress MLA Damodar Reddy warned that if the
students get provoked by police actions, the government will be
responsible.
The campus in Hyderabad was turned in to police garrison since last
night. Some 30 companies of paramilitary forces, in addition to about
4,000 policemen, were deployed in and around the campus and all the
entry points of the area were sealed to ensure that only students get
an entry to the campus to attend the meeting, permitted by the Andhra
Pradesh High Court.
Police were on alert since Saturday and kept a tight vigil on all
roads coming into the city of Hyderabad. They continued to subject all
the incoming vehicles to search to curb the movement of suspected
“anti-social elements.” Hyderabad city Police Commissioner B Prasad
Rao said only students who carried identity cards with them would be
allowed on to the campus.
As part of the security arrangements, traffic restrictions were
imposed on the main road which passes through the campus. The traffic
was also being diverted on the other roads in the immediate vicinity
of the campus. The Police Commissioner appealed to the citizens to
extend their support to the students to ensure peaceful conduct.
The High Court allowed the Vidyarthy Garjana on several conditions,
which include not allowing any political leader’s participation.
Telangana Rashtra Samiti president K Chandrasekhara Rao said his party
would abide by the court order and keep away from the meeting, though
it extended full support. Telugu Desam and Congress leaders also
announced their support to the students meeting.
“Only a meeting is allowed. The students will not be allowed to take
out any rally,” said Prasad Rao.
Thousands of students were already present on campus. A festive air
prevailed where the JAC took up several novel and interesting
programmes as a build-up to the main meeting. While some students went
around the campus posing as “saints,” blessing the policemen with the
bunch of bird feathers, the campus was plastered with interesting
photographs.
A poster, modeled on latest movie 3 Idiots showed Chidambaram, Pranab
Mukherjee and Veerappa Moily, while another poster had Chief Minister
K Rosaiah in the role of Ravana with the other nine heads carrying the
faces of different anti-Telangana leaders from Andhra and
Rayalaseema.
Meanwhile, the Osmania University Joint Action Committee has given a
call for stopping trains and closing roads on January 5, to mount
pressure on the Central Government for taking an early decision in
favor of Telangana State.
The call was given by the students JAC leader Uttam Kumar, who was the
first speaker at the rally. More than two lakh students have turned
for the rally and more were still pouring in.
“Don’t allow a single vehicle or train from Andhra region to enter
Telangana,” Kumar told agitators. “It is necessary to make it clear to
the Center that no decision other than formation of Telangana was
acceptable to us. As students, it is our responsibility to ensure
this.”
He said the call for stopping trains and roads was a reply to Andhra’s
politicians, who had given a call to stop trains in Andhra and
Rayalaseema on the same day, in opposition to Telangana.
Kumar issued a stern warning to leaders of all the parties not to
speak against Telangana. “If they do it, we will wipe out Gandhi
Bhavan, Congress headquarter and NTR Bhavan of TDP,” he threatened.
Meanwhile, Jamat-e-Islami Hind too held a massive public meeting in
Hyderabad in support of Telangana State. Thousands of people turned up
to hear Jamat leaders calling for the formation of the State to ensure
better governance and justice to all.
Jamat’s State Chief Malik Moatasim Khan was among the main speakers.
The socio-religious organisation, which has presence all over
Telangana, is planning to hold similar meetings in the entire region
to mobilise support among the Muslims.
A Jamat delegation also met leaders of different political parties to
convey the message of Jamat’s support to the Telangana struggle.
http://www.dailypioneer.com/226806/Osmania-campus-resounds-with-‘students-roar’.html
chhotemianinshallah
Hyderabad will be part of Telangana: JAC
PNS | Hyderabad
The Osmania University Joint Action Committee (JAC) has rejected the
demand from some quarters that Hyderabad be declared a Union Territory
in case of division of the State. In a resolution passed at the
Vidyarthi Garjana at Osmania University campus on Sunday, the JAC made
it clear that Hyderabad would remain a part of Telangana.
The JAC wanted the Central Government to announce a time-bound
programme for the formation of Telangana State and move a Bill in
Parliament without waiting for resolution of the State Assembly, as it
was impossible to bring about political consensus.
The JAC also demanded that all political parties — including Telugu
Desam and MIM — make their stand on Telangana clear at the January 5
meeting in Delhi.
The JAC felt the Government should pay a compensation of Rs 10 lakh to
the family of each of the people who lost their lives during the
current agitation for Telangana and provide a job to one member of the
family. The JAC also wanted the State Government to withdraw cases
booked against students and activists.
It urged the student community to keep their struggle for Telangana
peaceful. They criticised the demand for a united Andhra Pradesh,
saying the movement was created by capitalists and big investors to
save their money.
Meanwhile, Telangana Rashtra Samiti president K Chandrasekhara Rao
alleged that the police stopped about one lakh students at different
places in Telangana region to prevent them from attending the meeting
at Osmania University on Sunday. Rao added that each officer who had
done so would face contempt of court proceedings.
KCR said leaders of all parties would meet in New Delhi on Monday,
ahead of the January 5 meeting with Union Home Minister P Chidambaram.
He expressed confidence that Telangana State would be formed soon.
http://www.dailypioneer.com/226804/Hyderabad-will-be-part-of-Telangana-JAC.html
chhotemianinshallah
Last Updated: 2010-01-04T10:01:00+05:30
Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) chief Mohan Bhagwat blamed the
Congress-led United Progressive Alliance (UPA) government for
encouraging the "politics of separatism" and cited the Telangana
approval as an example of the execution of this politics.
Bhagwat attending an RSS function that was held at the Sangam Parade
ground said, "The government has taken the decision (of creating
Telangana state) under pressure and it reflects the politics of
separatism." He added, "Political parties of the country should rise
above regional politics and work together for the development of the
country... A number of parties are raking up issues related to castes
and languages for politics.”
Bhagwat also alleged the central government of charges like the "lack
of military preparedness" despite China's aggressive posturing and
despite Beijing "befriending Nepal, Pakistan and trying to make
inroads into Arunachal Pradesh". Bhagwat blamed that the central
government did not take the matter of terrorism seriously. In his
statement he said, "Due to the leniency adopted by the government,
terror activities are taking place in different parts of the country."
He also mentioned that RSS is termed publicly as “communal” when it
criticizes infiltration from Bangladesh and Pakistan to India, people
call the RSS "communal"; however, people are silent when Bangladesh
and Pakistan drive away minority Hindus. He claimed that his party is
an organization dedicated to promoting the moral values in the country
and thus should not be considered just as a political party.
http://www.india-server.com/news/rss-chief-accuses-upa-as-encouraging-18836.html
chhotemianinshallah
Press Trust of India
Posted: Monday , Jan 04, 2010 at 0414 hrs
Allahabad:
Adopting a stance at variance with that of the BJP, Rashtriya
Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) strongly disapproved the creation of a
separate Telangana on Sunday.
According to the Sangh, the demarcation of provinces on the basis of
language will not solve the country’s problems.
“Creation of separate states was a folly for which the nation is still
paying the price. The proposed creation of Telangana will only add to
the country’s woes without solving any problems. We need to find out
ways to unite the people and not divide them,” RSS chief Mohan Bhagwat
said in a function organised by the Sangh’s Kashi Prant unit.
The BJP has been favouring smaller states on the grounds of good
governance. This is yet another instance, in the recent past, of the
RSS having expressed an opinion at variance with the BJP’s stand on a
particular issue.
A few months ago, the saffron outfit had commended Congress General
Secretary Rahul Gandhi’s forays into backward rural areas even as the
BJP had dismissed it as a political stunt.
Also on the language issue, the RSS Sarsanghchalak, without naming Raj
Thackeray or MNS, questioned the mindset which accepts taking an oath
of office in English, a foreign language, but opposes anyone who does
the same in Hindi.
Comments (1) |
Is RSS still existent?
By: Benny | 04-Jan-2010
Who cares about RSS? They are Hindu fundamentalists. They oppose the
constitution all the time with their insecular attitude. Their
opinions should be taken with a grain of salt. They are laughable
section clearly paid off by rich Andhra lobbyists.
http://www.indianexpress.com/news/On-Telangana--RSS-does-not-see-eye-to-eye-with-BJP/563002