Political Diary

New Delhi, 1 February 2014

Telangana: No Lessons Learnt

CAUGHT BETWEEN ROCK & HARD PLACE

By Poonam I Kaushish

"It will be a folly to ignore realities; facts take their revenge if they are not faced squarely and well." Independent India’s first Home Minister Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel’s wise words have come to haunt the Congress-led UPA Government II as never before. All over the appalling mess it finds itself in over the carving out Telangana from Andhra Pradesh. Alas, by revisiting the Pandora’s Box of creating a new State it is caught between a rock and a hard place, difficult to extricate itself.

Undoubtedly, if the Centre hoped that it would be able to defuse the crisis by getting the State Assembly to pass the AP Reorganisation Bill 2013, its hopes were dashed after the Andhra Assembly rejected it.  Pro-United Andhra protagonist Chief Minister Reddy pulled out a rabbit by returning it as the Bill wasn’t comprehensive; lacking in purpose, objective, reasons and a financial memorandum.

With tempers running high in both the Seemandhra and Telangana regions finding easy solutions is doubtful as the pro-United Andhra and anti-Telangana storm is at a crescendo. Worse, it has added to UPA II headache whereby it is once again back to square one. How does it get it self out of this log jam?

Already, its minders are hunkering for a fight with TRS Chief Chandrasekhar Rao pushing the Congress to get Parliament to ratify the Bill as the Assembly’s rejection is not binding on the Centre. According to a senior Congress leader, the Party plans to adopt a two-pronged strategy during Parliament’s session beginning tomorrow.

One, expel the pro-Seemandhra and coastal region MPs who plan to stall Parliament’s session beginning tomorrow as failure to introduce the Bill would put the blame squarely at its doorsteps and paint the Party as villain in the Telangana region.

Two, it has no option but to hoot for Telangana as it has withered and become a pariah in Rayalaseema and Coastal regions where anti-Telangana sentiment reigns. Also, any attempt to strike an alliance with TRS depends on the success of the Statehood bill.

Making matters dicey there is a time crunch as Parliament’s session is only 12 days and there are a multitude of amendments. Consequently, Constitutional and Parliamentary procedures could steer the Bill in to no-man’s land with the BJP plumming for addressing the Seemandhra people’s concerns simultaneously.

The Congress desperation is understandable as Andhra has been the biggest contributor to the Congress kitty in the Lok Sabha since the last two elections thanks to late chief minister Y S R Reddy and his pro-farmer policies. Out of 42 Lok Sabha seats, 17 fall in Telangana.

With the stakes high in the forthcoming polls if the Party delays its decision on creation of the new State Telangana, it could lose substantial ground to the TRS and BJP in the region who would net a majority of the Lok Sabha seats.

More potently, the tragedy in their eagerness to wield unbridled power all players have lost sight of the bigger picture: Are small States better than big ones?  Indisputably, a few States are too large and unmanageable for competent governance. It takes nearly two days to get from Lucknow to Jhansi by road! Obviously, administrative efficiency is the first casualty.

Experience over the past six decades shows that smaller States are able to meet more effectively the rising expectations and aspirations of their people for speedy development and a responsive administration. Uttarakhand from UP, Jharkhand from Bihar and Chhattisgarh from Madhya Pradesh and, earlier, Haryana and Himachal Pradesh are all shining examples of “small is beautiful”.

Logically, if one district of Assam could be made into a full-fledged State of Nagaland, another into Mizoram, a third into Meghalaya and yet another into Arunachal Pradesh, how can one hold back on Telengana or Vidarbha?

But, champions of big States differ. There is no guarantee that it would not whet regional and separatist appetites and increase fissiparous tendencies specially with caste and creed dictating aaj ki rajniti’s  agenda whereby any fresh redrawing of the country’s map could give monstrous fillip to separatism by stoking smoldering fires of border disputes and cities.

Both Haryana and Punjab still want Chandigarh. Orissa demands the return of Saraikala and Kharsuan. Nagaland wants to cut into large chunks of Manipur and certain forest areas of Assam. Bihar yearns desperately for the mineral-rich districts of Jharkhand.

Look at the ugly riparian fight between Tamil Nadu and Karnataka, Andhra and Tamil Nadu and Punjab and Haryana. . Or that tiny Goa has had 18 Chief Ministers in 26 years and a Government lasted only 10 days in Meghalaya in 2008.

Besides Telengana, there is demand for Vidarbha in Maharashtra, Harit Pradesh out of Western UP, Bundelkhand and Purvanchal out of south-eastern UP, Gondwana from portions of Chhattisgarh, Andhra and Madhya Pradesh, Kodagu in Karnataka’s coffee belt, Bodoland from Assam, Ladakh from Kashmir, Garoland from Meghalaya, Mithilanchal from North Bihar and Gorkhaland in West Bengal.

There is no gainsaying, it may make sound political sense but lousy economics. The world over while Governments’ are cutting back on cost we continue to multiply our expenses. Pertinently, where the hell is the Centre going to get the money with rising inflation, sky-rocketing prices, decreasing GDP and mounting deficit.

A reality check showcases an ugly picture. Jharkhand has shown small States do not translate into a panacea to development, resource allocation and governance. Remember Koda, who milked the State of over Rs 4000 crores. And has seen five Chief Ministers across three Assembly terms and been under President's Rule thrice. Clearly, demonstrating that small isn’t always beautiful!

The tragic irony of history is that successive Prime Ministers bought peace at the cost of strong integrated India by carving out new jagirs for acquiring “new chelas” and assured vote banks. Lest history books omitted their “contribution” in the building of a new India.

The controversies and demands generated then continue till date. Unfortunately for the Government, its policy of going populist time and again wherein Statehood is seen as a panacea and non-statehood a catastrophe along-with opting for quick-fix remedies has once again boomeranged.

Our netas must realize that statesmanship and wisdom lie in adopting the middle path. It needs to learn from the mistakes of the recently carved small States, diagnose the disease afresh and hammer out solutions for better governance. Instead of buying time.

Much can be achieved through meaningful decentralization. Let us not allow politicians of all hues to create new pocket boroughs motivated by petty personal interests, undermining national unity.

The time has come to bolt the door, politics willing. It remains to be seen whether the Congress-led UPA Government will come out smelling of roses or reek of rotten eggs. Let not history record what Mirza Ghalib brilliantly stated: Umra bhar Ghalib yahi bhool karta raha, Dhool chehre pe thi, Aur aina saaf karta raha! ---- INFA

(Copyright, India News and Feature Alliance)