In case you happen to be indifferent towards your government and don't believe in voting, you need to be made aware of the story of Andhra Pradesh - How bad can become worse. Now, I'm not pro/anti Telangana and this is not about whether or not Telangana should be formed. This is about the way a non-issue has been politicized to play with the sentiments of the people. This is about how political gains have motivated every party to stray the masses, fuel riots and stall progress in the state, ultimately destroying normalcy in all the regions of the state. As a former resident of Andhra Pradesh, let me give you a first-hand account of what happened.
Mr. K. Chandrasekhar Rao was an insignificant candidate in the Telugu Desam Party, who was denied a lucrative ministry in Mr. Chandrababu Naidu's cabinet when TDP was in power. Now, KCR decides to form his own political party and chooses separate Telangana as the party's agenda and joins hands with Congress which was then under the leadership of YS Rajasekhar Reddy. He again is denied a ministry post and splits from Congress. Congress comes to power without any support from TRS in the 2009 elections in AP, with YSR as the CM. In an unprecedented turn of events, YSR dies in a helicopter-crash, leaving the state with no powerful government. All the later CMs were just stooges of Mrs. Sonia Gandhi whose main objective is to ensure that the Congress party Nehru-Gandhi family rules India forever and she is uninterested in petty aspects such as public security. In these circumstances, KCR decides to start Telangana agitation which to his own surprise becomes very powerful owing to the support and drive from Osmania University. The politically motivated agitation begins to take violent, ugly turn and thousands of youth are provoked into joining the agitation, with regular bandhs, riots and protests going on all around Telangana for several months. There have been several cases of suicides reported for the cause of Telangana.
My point of contention here: What was the Andhra government doing when it became increasingly evident that the Telangana agitation was going out of hands, threatening public security and progress of the state? Was it not the responsibility of the government to strive to restore normalcy in the state? If lack of welfare and unemployment in the region were the key issues due to which the agitation gained momentum, why didn't the government announce a single welfare policy or project which would benefit the region? If the agitation was fueled by politically motivated anti-social elements, why didn't the government try to take control of the situation? And most importantly, why was the government so late in responding about a separate state, waiting till all damage was done? At best, it can be said that the government failed to administer and at worst, one can believe that the government has added fuel to the fire for political gains.
The way the Congress government has responded, or rather, not responded to the issue is only half the story. The dramatics between YSR Congress (started by YSR's son YS Jagan) and Indian National Congress to ensure Congress its' vote-base in Seema-Andhra regions is another half. Andhra Pradesh used to be a peaceful and progressive state a few years ago with Hyderabad as its vibrant capital, admittedly with large portions of Telangana and Rayalaseema as under-developed. Today, the entire Seema-Andhra region is in dark because of agitations fueled by politically motivated anti-social elements in the name of a struggle for United Andhra, toying with the sentiments of the people. Make no mistake - protests of this nature cannot last without backing from powerful elements and the source of power now is YS Jagan, who will soon merge with the UPA after 2014 elections. Why doesn't the government assure that the concerns of all the regions will be addressed while deciding the terms of separation? Why doesn't the government promise progress in all the regions instead of playing divisive politics - flaming the sentiments of Telangana people as anti-Seema-Andhra and Seema-Andhra people as anti-Telangana? The Congress party will have to answer for letting making this happen to the state.
Sometimes I just feel like screaming at the Telugu people saying "No party gives a sh** about Telangana/Samaikhya Andhra/Seemandhra. All they want is political gains and tomorrow, history will be forgotten but it is you common people who will pay the price of their political gains." Seriously, what has come out of this agitation? Achieving a separate Telangana? And what will separate Telangana lead to? If history is telling, will the political parties which have failed to make any progress in the region in the last 60 years achieve progress in the new State now? And what will the United Andhra agitation result in? All the political parties (YSR Congress and TDP) which're protesting against it now are just chameleons who agreed for a separate Telangana a few months ago. Telangana will be formed anyway - The politically driven United Andhra agitation will only succeed in hampering the progress of the Seema-Andhra region and making it dark. Like history has shown repeatedly, like in case of every other politically motivated agitation driven by power-hungry politicians, the poor people will pay the price. The political parties will get on with their lives, history will soon be forgotten and the employees of the electricity board will move on. Who will give back the progress which might have happened in the last five years which were lost in the name of agitations in the state? There is no power in hospitals - who will pay the price of the lives which couldn't be saved due to lack of electricity?
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