Telangana 25: Why Delhi cannot wish away Telangana anymore

No power on earth can stop an idea whose time has come - Victor Hugo


No one knows this better than PM Manmohan Singh, who very often quotes this line. After failing to suppress the Telangana movement with the SriKrishna committee and its Chapter 8 recommendations, the central government now is embattled by the ‘Sakala Janula Samme’ (SJS) launched by the people of Telangana. A million employees of Government, right from state secretariat to Singareni colleries have been on an indefinite strike for 26 days now. They have foregone their salaries too and signaled they are not going to budge till the central government implements its December 9, 2009 decision to demerge Telangana from Andhra Pradesh.

An otherwise bustling Mahatma Gandhi Bus Station (MGBS) wears a deserted look as the RTC employees are on Strike. MGBS is among the 4 largest bus stations in Asia.

So what will Delhi do now? Unlike in the past, there is an ongoing strike which overthrew governance in Telangana and is pushing the state and regions around it into darkness, literally. Cities, towns and villages in Andhra Pradesh are facing electricity power cuts (some up to 10 hours a day) as are cities like Bangalore, Pune and Thiruvanathapuram. There are mounting revenue losses with each passing day and more importantly increasing frustration with these democratic and peaceful methods of agitation. With the SKC episode, the Congress and its central and state governments lost all credibility. As did the mainstream print and electronic media, which played an active role in Chapter 8.  The game is up for Delhi which has no option to dilly-dally now lest the agitation will spiral out of control of its leadership. The NH-9 blockade 4 days ago is a precursor of things to come, in such scenario. Already, the TJAC is under tremendous pressure to ‘harden up’ from its vanta-varpu kind of programs which have made enough of the point about peaceful & brotherly co-existence in Telangana.

In Hyderabad, Seemandhra secretariat employees were taken to their offices with police escort.

What should worry supporters of Telangana is the steady loss of faith of the agitators in our institutions of democracy. The executive, the judiciary, the press all have been corrupted and rights to these institutions have been denied to the movement. The despondence this sparked contributed to 600 odd suicides. How long will it take for this despondence to turn from hurting self to avenging the oppressive rulers? Unmindful of this volatility, those opposing the demerger, like the Chief Minister himself, poke fun at the strike everyday by reminding that the strike would ‘only hurt Telangana’. So what do these guys want?

At least, did someone in Delhi wake up to the reality that this strike is not just going to ‘hurt Telangana alone’. And that, besides hurting the democratic and social fabric of this region and country, this strike could also create a real, day-to-day crisis. Did someone realize that Telangana is no Manipur. Bang in the middle, if the agitators turn restless, the north and south of this country gets disconnected. What if the Rail-Rokos get indefinite? What if the national highways get blocked indefinitely? Are they then going to bring the army in!? The media owned by Andhra plutocrats definitely want us to believe so. They have been on a propaganda spree for last few days that center is geared up for President’s rule in the state to ‘control’ the spiraling unrest. Wishful thinking, I would say or just another trick to demoralize the striking citizens into believing that their efforts are futile and the strike needs to be withdrawn. The media also created a controversy out of Pranab Mukherjee’s comments on Telangana agitation.

In fact, the very fact that this media, after a prolonged silence on Telangana, as per SKC’s Chapter 8 instructions, now started talking about possible Centre’s action shows the success of the strike. The strike has successfully untied the Chapter 8 blockade on Telangana debate. And it is poised to push all the Andhra plutocrats into a corner, despite their media empires.

Nothing short of demerger and inaugurating the state of Telangana is going to stop this movement. The agitators have risked their lives and livelihood, Delhi has to succumb. While the Andhra Pradesh government seems to have released nearly 80 crores to Police to ‘control’ the Telangana stir and marked the same GOs as confidential, it would be fallacy to assume this agitation can be contained anymore through police and paramilitary forces. The SJS is the inflection point and Delhi cannot wish away Telangana anymore. The time for the idea of Telangana has come.