The pangs of partition

Disclaimer: I was born in Rajahmundry (a part of Seema Andhra) and had lived there for the first 15 years of my life. I have lived the next 17 years of my life in Hyderabad (now a part of Telangana). I can understand and empathise with the emotions of people from both the parts of Andhra Pradesh and I do not like being categorised either as a person from Telangana or as a person from Seema Andhra. I do not yearn for any identity other than that of a citizen of India.

The agitation for a separate State of Telangana has been raging, on and off, for the last four decades. Perhaps, the division would have been less painful had it been done four decades earlier. But hindsight is a wonderful thing.

My grievance is not with the movement for a separate Telangana but with the manner in which the division was carried out with utter disregard for the feelings of the people from both regions. This has undeniably and irreversibly damaged the fraternal bond that the people of the two regions shared.

While, I do not, in any manner, intend to compare Telangana to Pakistan or Andhra to India, the parallels between the manner in which the partition of India was carried out in 1947 and the manner in which the division of Andhra Pradesh was carried out in 2014 are too apparent to overlook.

The primary factor that tilted the balance in favour of the partition of India was Mohammed Ali Jinnah’s overpowering personal ambition to become the head of a Muslim state although he was all for Hindu-Muslim unity only a few years before. His stubborn ego was unrelenting. Both the British Government and the Indian National Congress had to yield to him as it was evidently the only manner in which India could gain independence. Similarly, it was K.Chandrasekhar Rao's (KCR) desperate quest to become a Chief Ministerthat had triggered the bitter division of Andhra Pradesh. Curiously, KCR himself had spoken in favour of a united Andhra Pradesh in the state assembly in the 90s.

During the years before India gained its independence, the British Government, with its policy of ‘Divide and Rule’, had stoked passions between communities and by not granting independence to India much earlier than it did, got itself into a serious pickle. The partition of the country was the only way in which it could extricate itself from the mess and escape unscathed. Similarly, the Congress Government, by seriously mismanaging the Telangana movement since 2009 and by being flippant about the promises made by it to the people of Telangana, had created discord between the people of the two regions. It had driven itself into a corner from where the only way out was by sacrificing its votes in one region in the hope of gaining votes in another.

In February, 1947, the British Government entrusted the unenviable task of partitioning the country to a tough yet capable viceroy, Lord Louis Mountbatten. Similarly, in December, 2009, when the Telangana agitation was at its peak, the Congress Government entrusted the task of supervising the division of Andhra Pradesh to a tough Governor, Mr. ESL Narasimhan.

Most importantly, the one enduring repercussion of the partition of India is the deep sense of bitterness, antagonism and suspicion between the people of both the countries which continues to exist even today. Similarly, the animosity that has been created between the people of Telangana and Seema Andhra as a consequence of the division of Andhra Pradesh is now well entrenched and threatens to remain long lasting. The territorial and border disputes between India and Pakistan as a result of the partition continue to threaten the fragile peace between the two countries. The hasty division of Andhra Pradesh without deciding on the allocation of resources to the two states and without even deciding on the capital of the residual state has created a discordant and volatile atmosphere between the two states which is likely to persist in the time to come.

One sincerely hopes that despite the above similarities, Andhra and Telangana do not end up becoming sworn enemies constantly baying for each other’s blood like India and Pakistan have been over the years. I reiterate that the sole endeavour of the above exercise is only to compare the manner and circumstances in which the partition of India and the division of the State of Andhra Pradesh were carried out but not to compare the parties involved by any stretch of imagination.

While it was the Congress Government that was largely responsible for the mess that was created in Andhra Pradesh which has ultimately led to the division of the state, the complicity and connivance of each and every political party cannot be ignored as none of them had opposed the division with any conviction except for making wishy-washy statements and empty gestures. In fact, almost all of the political parties had, at one point of time or another, supported separation of the state and had later altered their position based on political expediency. The despicable manner in which the bill was passed in the Parliament was possible only because the parties in opposition lacked the political will to oppose it with each party vying for credit to garner some votes in Telangana. Of course, it was the KCR who ultimately emerged victorious by pipping everyone to the Chief Minister's post while the Congress ended up licking their wounds and regretting their naïveté.

One would have been genuinely happy had the division of the state been in response to and in recognition of the people's movement for a separate state and not the result of a dangerous political game in which people's feelings and lives were wagered away with impunity.

The prejudice and the internecine hatred, engendered in the minds of the people from both regions by the politicians, have caused deep wounds in the people's psyche. These wounds would take many years to heal. It certainly does not help if politicians, even after achieving their selfish ends, do not put a lid on their vituperative utterances targeting people belonging to a particular region.

The people of Telangana are rejoicing the creation of a new state and the people of Seema Andhra are gradually reconciling to the division of the state. People from both the regions have high hopes for the future of their respective states. The onus now lies on the politicians to shift their attention to the people and fulfil their tall promises, now that they have achieved their respective personal ambitions. One sincerely hopes that the division of the State does more good than bad and that both regions flourish and prosper. This is a critical time for both the states and it is imperative that our political leaders set aside their personal and selfish ambitions for a few years and do the job that they were elected for - Lead.