Talangana State is hopefully around the corner!
Mr.Chidambaram, the union home minister has announced that the process for a separate Telangana State will begin soon. Six decades of struggle has finally resulted in a concrete step towards the much sought after separate existence. I am drowned in mixed feelings.
Happy - that a peoples' struggle finally won in this country after a long gap. Sad - the state which I belong to will be split into two. Happy - hopefully no more lives will be lost at the altar of this struggle. Sad - the state did not have a statesman leader to cater to the just demands of aggrieved people and hence it lead to this situation. Happy - people like me (Coastal Andhra Origins) wont be blamed unnecessarily in future for supposedly looting others' resources. Sad - it will not change the imbalanced power structure or inequity.
I am one, and I am secure in the knowledge that there are many more like me (from non - telangana regions) who have come to regard the Telangana area as their own land. Not as a land of destiny or as a land of opportunities but as a land which bestows a sense of belonging. It is my mooring point. It is a land of diverse cultures and THE land with the widest open arms - welcoming others into its fold. People here are known for their rustic and casual but warm nature. The language is liberating - free from all frivolous formalities. It is so enervating - destroys all barriers instantaneously for the open mind. It will remain all that and more to me.
I was born here, studied for most part of my life here, been working here and most of my friends are from here. The news of separation of the state though not entirely unexpected was a bit too soon for me. I expected a lot more resistance from Congress party and a lot more of compromise formulas being showered, hence, it's a surprise which evoked mixed emotions within me. I will try to summarize my feelings and ideas over the next few days through this blog.
This event being one which I closely observed holds a lot of lessons for a lot of people, including me.
For Political Struggles - Many may think that it is full of surprises but in actuality is a reaffirmation of history - Movements which can sustain their identity and voice over sustained periods are destined to succeed. The key is to "not give up" - "not relent under extreme duress". A movement needs to be broadbased at various levels to ensure secure anchorage and sustainability. A tree which can spread roots its' roots deeper and wider has greater chances to survive a drought or storm. Shallow ones are either blown away or wasted by withering. Telangana movement succeeded only because it could do both in many ways. It survived by going deeper - deeper when it was oppressed, deeper when it was sought to be erased by false promises of hope and wider - it garnered support from varied quarters - men-women, young-old, lawyers, students, government employees, police, journalists, political parties, naxalites, writers, politicians.. The list could go on. The recent struggle has been very successful in doing all these things and hence was able to bring pressure on the administration.
Struggles need to look beyond traditional political leadership for salvation. People of Telangana trusted Chenna Reddy and he sold them off. People trusted KCR - for a while. They decided to ditch him and forge ahead when it appeared that he broke his fast. That is when it truly became a mass struggle - when people chose to raise above party politics. He had no other option but to continue. He became a pawn in the hands of people rather than the situation being the other way around. He would have hopefully learned some lessons.
More to Continue........
Mr.Chidambaram, the union home minister has announced that the process for a separate Telangana State will begin soon. Six decades of struggle has finally resulted in a concrete step towards the much sought after separate existence. I am drowned in mixed feelings.
Happy - that a peoples' struggle finally won in this country after a long gap. Sad - the state which I belong to will be split into two. Happy - hopefully no more lives will be lost at the altar of this struggle. Sad - the state did not have a statesman leader to cater to the just demands of aggrieved people and hence it lead to this situation. Happy - people like me (Coastal Andhra Origins) wont be blamed unnecessarily in future for supposedly looting others' resources. Sad - it will not change the imbalanced power structure or inequity.
I am one, and I am secure in the knowledge that there are many more like me (from non - telangana regions) who have come to regard the Telangana area as their own land. Not as a land of destiny or as a land of opportunities but as a land which bestows a sense of belonging. It is my mooring point. It is a land of diverse cultures and THE land with the widest open arms - welcoming others into its fold. People here are known for their rustic and casual but warm nature. The language is liberating - free from all frivolous formalities. It is so enervating - destroys all barriers instantaneously for the open mind. It will remain all that and more to me.
I was born here, studied for most part of my life here, been working here and most of my friends are from here. The news of separation of the state though not entirely unexpected was a bit too soon for me. I expected a lot more resistance from Congress party and a lot more of compromise formulas being showered, hence, it's a surprise which evoked mixed emotions within me. I will try to summarize my feelings and ideas over the next few days through this blog.
This event being one which I closely observed holds a lot of lessons for a lot of people, including me.
For Political Struggles - Many may think that it is full of surprises but in actuality is a reaffirmation of history - Movements which can sustain their identity and voice over sustained periods are destined to succeed. The key is to "not give up" - "not relent under extreme duress". A movement needs to be broadbased at various levels to ensure secure anchorage and sustainability. A tree which can spread roots its' roots deeper and wider has greater chances to survive a drought or storm. Shallow ones are either blown away or wasted by withering. Telangana movement succeeded only because it could do both in many ways. It survived by going deeper - deeper when it was oppressed, deeper when it was sought to be erased by false promises of hope and wider - it garnered support from varied quarters - men-women, young-old, lawyers, students, government employees, police, journalists, political parties, naxalites, writers, politicians.. The list could go on. The recent struggle has been very successful in doing all these things and hence was able to bring pressure on the administration.
Struggles need to look beyond traditional political leadership for salvation. People of Telangana trusted Chenna Reddy and he sold them off. People trusted KCR - for a while. They decided to ditch him and forge ahead when it appeared that he broke his fast. That is when it truly became a mass struggle - when people chose to raise above party politics. He had no other option but to continue. He became a pawn in the hands of people rather than the situation being the other way around. He would have hopefully learned some lessons.
More to Continue........
9 comments:
loved reading it :)
So true. Nothing should and will change in the relations of the two regions. Its only that we are separate in terms of our identities.
good that long time struggle has won but sad for seperation, thnks for the blog.....!
history has been made. but not all is won yet. however, with the people keeping a tab on things - surely the politicos cannot backtrack on things. and frankly, there is no need to feel bad about the seperation, since to begin with the idea of a nation state or a state itself is very recent in history. India, was always a federation of multiple regions and kingdoms. the identity of a uniform India or Telugus or Tamils never existed. besides the entire world is moving towards smaller states / countries / regions. we as a species donot like being in large groups. we like to have our own little identities and like to feel different from others. its a biological need as well. for essentially we are all tribes people who might have changed externally, but genetically and biologically we remained essentially that - the tribes people of 10,000 years ago, who like to live in smaller communities with our own specific identities. hence, ussr is now CIS, as UK has been split into four assemblies, so shall India will undergo further subdivisions and so will Andhra Pradesh and other states too.
The struggle itself is a good example of the spirit of telengana. as they say, "udyamalaku upiri". be it throwing the UCIL out or the Razakars in earlier times. All in all, its been long overdue.
Anaya after reading this few of my confusion come to an end. wat ever state name we are calling all are indians JAI HIND
Saraswati, I beg to differ with you. You talk as if you are an authority on Anthropology, but the statements you made are wrong to a large extent.
Different ways in which the human race eastablishes the fact that - we arent designed to exist in huge groups... we will continue to disintegrate further! the cause for this split was the endless struggle.... hope the effect of this isnt another endless str......
Hi Umesh, good one! But I see the entire struggle today is indeed for Hyderabad. The Telangana movement was genuine and justified when it originally started decades ago but is completely irrelevant with the current level of development and integration with rest of the state. The borders between the three regions are very thin today and the people and cultures have greatly integrated with one another. THe justification for a separate should solely come from the grounds of underdevelopment or ciminal neglect/bias from the state government -- both of which are untrue today. The truth is that the political class and some sections of people in the region want to take advantage and control of the opportunities of the now supremely prosperous capital city in the guise of separate state for Telangana.
Surya,
I am not speaking as an authority on anthropology - only as a reader of anthropology - and an observer of human behaviour.
we all have this inside of us - to have this sense of belonging - which for sure doesn't come with large groups - we are more happier while we were in the villages and smaller communities than in large cities. you don't need to be an anthropologist for this...just reading up on history is enough.
but i would recommend you to read works of Desmond Morris - especially his human zoo - and his arguments will surely ring a bell. i found his reasoning very correct for the situations that are arising today. a must read for a lot of us, who wish to understand human behaviour.
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