Is Telangana part of Indian Union?

The very purpose of prolonged agitation of Telangana was for securing its public employment to the sons of the soil, seeking genuine share in Krishna and Godavari river waters, preventing the hijacking of Telangana revenue and recovering lands that went illegally into the hands of grabbers. All this cannot be done for ten years. Telangana Chief Minister is going to be a useless Rubber Stamp like Deputy Chief Minister in Seemandhra CM’s regime, or a Governor in a state under a domineering CM. The Home minister and the entire police wing of Telangana has to stand with folded hands to receive orders from New Delhi through Governor. While Telangana Assembly can make legislation with retrospective effect to some parts of nine districts, it has to keep mum on ‘Hyderabad’, the so called common capital, which might extend beyond the revenue district and also beyond the Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation taking key areas of four Telangana districts into the fold of Governor Rule for ten years. It is like President Rule in Hyderabad, Secunderabad, Cyberabad and parts of Rangareddy, Medak, Nalgonda etc. Before the state is formed, CM Kiran Kumar Reddy might even extend the area of Hyderabad by including some more adjoining villages and municipalities.

Without calling it as Union Territory, will Hyderabad become a capital of Seemandhra for ten years? Will Telangana also claim it as joint Capital? Can Telangana remain without any powers over that ‘greater’ part of its capital? The so called Antony committee’s recommendations if accepted as they are, one can find new meanings to the sovereignty of a state with Telangana as a new model which has no parallel anywhere in the world.

If this trend goes on, the onlookers might find fantastic Constitutional wonders (blunders) in the formation of Telangana state.

Wonder 1: It will have a capital where adjoining state will have all the powers, privileges and revenue without any responsibility of developing it. For example Seemandhra capital dumps its garbage but does not pay tax or if it pays tax, that part would be diverted to Seemandhra region. It was being done clandestinely so far, but now it will be done openly and officially. Telangana Government has to tax the people in other truncated part of its territory to get the dump cleared.

Wonder 2: Second wonder is the law and order in the capital of Telangana will be administered and managed by an officer sitting as far as 2000 kilometers away in New Delhi. Seemandhra will have four of five express highways, exclusively for the pairavikars, MLAs, MPs and Ministers of that state to cover 200 kilometers within an hour to reach their capital. All Seemandhra people will be happily traveling on highways with pleasure that they deprived Telangana people of their capital. Perhaps they do not pay road tax or toll fee or if they pay they might claim fifty per cent as their share.

Wonder 3: Revenue from Hyderabad (greater part) will be shared with Seemandhra State whether Constitution or any democratic system permits or not.

Wonder 4: Landlords and Real Estate dealers of Seemandhra can have their merry business of retaining ill gotten lands in huge tracts, while the State of Telangana will be waiting for completion of decade to make the laws to recover lands from the grabbers. While grabbers in truncated parts of Telangana districts would suffer laws, the grabbers from Seemandhra would be laughing at them with the privilege that Telangana is prevented from making similar laws.

Wonder 5: Seemandhra does not bother about having no capital and depriving their people of their capital, or rule from adjoining state for a decade.

Wonder 6: While all illegal projects launched by Seemandha’s AP government in their region to take the allotted assured waters from Godavari and Krishna, including completing Polavaram, Telangana state cannot start even a single irrigation project without clearance from the Authority if created as suggested by Union Minister Jairam Ramesh. Telangana might not take even a glass of water from these rivers which have to flow to fields of Seemandhra.

The suggestions of Jairam Ramesh and Antony Committee will create a new model of State which the Constitution of India and its father BR Ambedkar could ever imagined, a subdued or subordinate state!

Here are some startling facts relevant to the context. There is no constitutional provision for common capital. Nowhere in India, has a state shared its capital with another state. (Chandigarh is not a State; It is a Union Territory to which both states of Haryana and Punjab are attached). Nowhere in the world a State has a capital in adjoining state. Accommodating the capital requirements of Seemandhra means (according to Antony Committee) sharing of revenue and powers of capital of Telangana with Seemandhra state. Telangana Assembly can legislate for ten districts, but not for Hyderabad. There is no provision in the Constitution to take away the legislative powers of a State Assembly to Union of India. How is it practically possible for the Center to maintain law and order in Hyderabad from 2000 kilometers distance? How can Seemandhra Government protect interests of its people from a distance of 200 km? When Telangana tolerated a biased Andhra rule for more than five decades, why not Seemandhra could repose confidence in Telangan state for ten years? Without being a Union Territory, how can powers over Hyderbad be shifted to Union Government? Delhi model of transfer of law and order and other powers to Union Government is not applicable to Hyderabad which is permanent capital of Telangana. The State of Telangana state a separate Constitutional scheme which is different from 28 States in India as on today. If all those proposed powers are taken away from Telangana, the new 29th state of Telangana will become a second grade or third grade State which will be less than a Municipal Corporation. If Union concedes all powers sought by Seemandhra, can anybody tell what remains of Telangana?

According to old land acquisition law any state can acquire any land for public purpose. As per the new law also it is possible with higher compensation and added duty of settling the deprived families. But Telangana state cannot acquire any pieace of land. The state of Telangana will not even be a paper tiger against land grabbers. Is it a ‘State’, if it does not have complete authority over its revenue, rivers flowing through its territory, and other waters, educational institutions, employment, industry, and above all its own land etc.? Finally the question is: Is Telangana part of India, will the Constitution of India apply to it?