Have we achieved the Telangana of our dreams?

As the general public turns sentimental on this monumental day, one should spare a thought for the courageous decision taken by Ms Sonia Gandhi, who, as the UPA Chairperson, made a huge political sacrifice by defying popular perception and granted Telangana State. One needs to salute her broad-minded vision and respect for the sentiments of people from the Telangana region of Andhra Pradesh, even as she was aware that Congress could be wiped off from Andhra Pradesh and would lose ground to TRS if a new State was formed. With her selflessness, she committed political suicide in order to prevent suicides by students and others during the agitation for a separate statehood.

Millions of those who sacrificed their lives for the cause of Telangana statehood must be turning in their graves seeing the state-of-affairs the State is in, a mere six years into its formation. It is rather ironical that the euphoria of the creation of the country's 29th State was destined to be a short-lived one. Tragedy for the new State befell the very day K Chandrasekhar Rao (KCR) was sworn-in as its first Chief Minister.

As Telangana State turned seven, it is time for every citizen of the State to go in for an honest soul-searching and retrospect without any prejudice. It will not be out of place to state that barring the blind followers from within Telangana Rashtra Samithi (TRS) not a single person would look contended. In fact, this could cause further heartburn and remorse for having voted the party to power in their over-zealous expectation of good governance.

As the general public turns sentimental on this monumental day, one should spare a thought for the courageous decision taken by Ms Sonia Gandhi, who, as the UPA Chairperson, made a huge political sacrifice by defying popular perception and granted Telangana State. One needs to salute her broad-minded vision and respect for the sentiments of people from the Telangana region of Andhra Pradesh, even as she was aware that Congress could be wiped off from Andhra Pradesh and would lose ground to TRS if a new State was formed. With her selflessness, she committed political suicide in order to prevent suicides by students and others during the agitation for a separate statehood.

Unfortunately, when one looks back at the six years that have gone by, one is reminded of the adage-one step forward, two steps backward-because that is precisely what KCR and his cronies have achieved. They have taken forward TRS prospects while the situation in the State has gone backward, from bad to worse.

There is all-round failure and the people stare at a bleak future, which was unthinkable when a refreshingly vibrant dawn beckoned people from Telangana region in 2014. That is because the dictator in KCR made a mockery of all established constitutional and democratic norms with his greed for power that saw him 'purchase' elected MPs and MLAs promising them the moon. It is a different matter altogether that most of such political 'commodities' have been treated as second grade leaders with the original TRS members being the preferred lot!

KCR went into an overdrive-not of improving the lot of the people but making promises dime a dozen. People got carried away and that suited his ego-ridden greed because he could play with their sentiments and they glibly fell into his oratorical trap.

It is a fact that he has not honoured even one promise. In fact, to make matters worse, he just kept promising more oblivious that his game-plan would be seen through in course of time. The setbacks in the Lok Sabha elections were real shockers because he expected a clean sweep. The outcome jolted him and he felt the need to establish a rapport with another likeminded dictator and his counterpart from Andhra Pradesh, Y S Jagan Mohan Reddy. Rather than take advantage of this 'friendship' and reap the benefits of the river water sharing pact, his government failed to get its due share of waters.

Farmers have been left in the lurch while data on farmers' suicides was jumbled to his convenience. Their lands were gobbled in the name of various projects. The crop loan waiver scheme in the first term was faulty. In his second term, they were again promised waiver of up to Rs. one lakh and even that remains a joke on the people. Their wrath was felt in Nizamabad Lok Sabha seat where his daughter was made to eat humble pie.

KCR, like a tyrannical ruler, changed laws at the drop of a hat and came up with those that served his vested interests.

Students, undoubtedly the most potent weapon during the movement for statehood, were dumped soon after he was elected to power. The 'KG to PG' free education remains a mirage. Even as several State universities were rudderless in the absence of full-fledged Vice-Chancellors, faculties or funds, he allowed private universities to mushroom. Denied fee reimbursement, lakhs of disillusioned students, particularly those with little economic resources, were compelled to discontinue higher education.

Over 30 lakh youth are jobless. Even his promise to fill one lakh vacancies lies in tatters while more than 18 lakh aspirants, who enrolled themselves with the State Public Service Commission, are still waiting for jobs that are nowhere in sight.

Corruption is everywhere and has almost become a buzzword in the way the administration is run. Thousands of crores were swindled in the name of irrigation projects and works taken up by civic bodies. Take any sector and one finds that corruption rules the roost while nothing tangible is actually happening because developmental activities have been near-zero.

One wishes to know where there has been any progress, one that has made the life of the people more meaningful. Who has gained in these years of utter misrule and highhanded behaviour that saw even media getting gag orders and warnings for anti-government stories, howsoever substantiated with facts and figures.

So, the question that remains is who is benefitting under the TRS rule? Telangana was a revenue surplus State at the time of its formation. Today, it stares at a staggering Rs. three lakh crore debt, which translates to two full-fledged annual budgets. Adding to the woes, economic figures are manipulated so that the critics (there is no dearth of them) are kept at bay.

Lest one forgets, the impact of Covid-19 has nothing to with the debt-trap the State finds itself in. The sordid side of KCR stood exposed during the pandemic and the lockdown. He has hoodwinked authorities by giving all wrong and ill-gotten figures to show the world that the state administration was doing a commendable containing job. He was shown his place by Prime Minister Narendra Modi and even the courts, which pulled him up for non-compliance with norms and misguiding public with superficial blabber.

Finally, one should recall that 'Neellu, Nidhulu, Nimayakalu'....was the slogan on which the statehood struggle took shape and eventually bore fruit in the form of Telangana State. Six years later, we are still groping in the dark as 'Neellu, Nidhulu, Nimayakalu' remain adrift.

(The writer is Treasurer of

Telangana Pradesh Congress Committee)