Retrograde motions of the State

Five Muslim youth, under trials in handcuffs, get encountered and killed in Alair by Telangana police, very reminiscent of Naxalite encounters in the seventies in the erstwhile State of Andhra Pradesh. The police and some people rejoice at the act as a lesson to terrorists, an act of vengeance. Twenty or more poor Dalit and Adivasi labourers from Tamil Nadu get encountered by the AP police as they were ‘smugglers’ of red sanders in the Seshachalam forest.

The NHRC has asked the AP government to name the cops in the fake encounter. The Telangana government has now constituted a six member Special Investigation team (SIT) headed by a former Additional Commissioner of Police.

The question is, who has ordered these encounter killings? The Chief Ministers of the two States, the Governor or the police chiefs? The utter disregard for the law and judicial procedures in both the cases, and the impunity of the State raise many questions with regard to the very nature of the States and the ruling parties.

Shiv Sena does not want the Muslims to have the right to vote and now, Swami Goud advises Hindus to have four children, lest the Muslim population would overtake them. This is atrocious, to say the least. Coming from a member of the ruling party, TRS, which has been trying to endear itself to the Muslim community by promising reservations and other sops, the statement of Swami Goud must be condemned by the party chief KCR.

Coming in the wake of the staged encounters of Muslim under trials, such statements are bound to alienate the Muslim community, more particularly the youth. Such statements are divisive and do not augur well for Telangana State which has been achieved by the people of Telangana – Muslims, Christians, Hindus, Dalits, Adivasis et al. It is sad that such a statement should come from someone holding a responsible position.

The Shiv Sena, the RSS, the BJP, Sadhwis and Sadhus have been making statements calling upon Hindus to unite against the minorities to turn the country into a Hindu Rashtra. One way for them seems to be for Hindus to have larger families, women must bear the burden of more pregnancies in the most deplorable conditions for the poor. Who are the Hindus that Goud is talking about? Dalits, Adivasis? Goud would do well to pay more attention to the issues of livelihoods and health than take it upon him to decide who should have how many children. What message does the statement of Goud send to the Muslim community? That the TRS members in power may not after all be very different form the RSS and the BJP.

The Telangana State has been achieved by a people’s movement, a peaceful movement with certain ideals of justice and secular society. Corruption is not only about swindling of public resources, using power for personal gain. While it is also about them, corruption is about deviating from responsibility and promises made to the people. It is also about deviating from the principles and ideals enshrined in the Constitution.

When statements such as were made by the Chairman of the Telangana Legislative Council, it is a sad day for the Telangana State. People expect those who are occupying positions of power to be democratic, responsible and above all understand our history, the nature of our society and its diverse communities.

The hierarchically divided society by caste that needed nothing short of annihilation – a multi-religious society that needs to strengthen the glue that binds them – is now slowly but steadily slipping into the hands of those who have little interest in annihilating caste, nor any interest in taking pride in the diversity of its cultures. The mindset of those in power is retrograde, endangering the very democratic, secular fabric of the country. Telangana, one hoped would be an exception.

Rama Melkote