Make the best of a bad situation

As apprehended, the decision of the Congress Working Committee to bifurcate Andhra Pradesh resulted in widespread agitation in the Seemandhra region leading to a spate of resignations of MLAs and ministers. It is very unfortunate and for quite some time the State might remain in a disturbed condition. It is imperative that the leaders at the helm of affairs refrain from making any provocative utterances on the issues of Hyderabad city, job security and safety of non-Telanganites. The Seemandhra region is virtually boiling with all sections of the people jumping into the fray and coming on to the streets in an unprecedented manner, which is reminiscent of Jai Andhra agitation of 1972.

The issues involved are sensitive and they require statesmanship of high order to resolve which is conspicuous by its absence among our rulers. Some of our leaders seem to have gone into hiding unable to face the agitators, making the movement rudderless. Wisdom lies in realizing the gravity of the situation and in making the best of the bad situation keeping in mind the interest of future generations to whom we owe a trouble-free, peaceful and prosperous State. On both sides, Hyderabad city is the bone of contention; both have their own strong points in their favour. What is so unique about it and what is its history? For a proper appraisal, we have to go back a little into the conditions prevailing in the region before Independence.

KPS Menon, a doyen of our diplomats of sparkling intellect, had recorded his impressions in his highly readable autobiography ‘Many Worlds Revisited’. He was the first Indian ICS officer to be posted tin Hyderabad in a key position in 1925. He wrote: “Hyderabad used to have a character of its own. It was last repository of the Moghal traditions… Here, the upper 10th lived so elegantly and luxuriously and in complete forgetfulness of the hardships of the 90 per cent of the population. It was a new world.

All the forces of waning empire were there – autocracy, feudalism and paramountcy… There were men of enormous wealth who lived at the height of luxury….

The most cultivated among the nobles of Hyderabad was Maharaja Sir Kishen Pershad who was a scholar of Persian as well as Sanskrit, as proficient in the Quran as in the Gita and with delightful impartiality, married to four women, two Hindu and two Muslims… But the Nizam was not content with his large domain. He had expansionist tendencies. He demanded an outlet to the sea and coveted the port of Machilipatnam to which he had vague historical claim.”

That was the period when the poor and the downtrodden suffered untold misery. The Rajas and Zamindars were very powerful under his rule and they acted as his stooges in suppressing the poor peasants and workers and the revolt against that inhumanity started at that time. When the rest of the country was fighting for Independence from British rule, the leaders under the guidance of Swami Ramanand Teertha organized freedom movement against the Nizam and they were treated mercilessly and put in jails.

When the country got rid of the British rule and all the 500 and odd feudal States had been merged with the Indian Union, Nizam stood apart and even toyed with the idea of joining Pakistan. When two lakh Rajakars played havoc with the lives of the common people, Sardar Patel saved the situation by police action and prevented the Nizam from going to the UNO, and the State becoming another Kashmir in the heart of the country. Spanish philosopher George Santayana, when asked of future, commented: “Progress far from consisting in change depends on retentiveness… those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it.”

The uniqueness of the present upsurge is involvement of a wide section of the society, even those who have never come out openly, came in support of this demand for integrated State. Doctors, lawyers, teachers, students, employees, businessmen, housewives, nurses, auto mechanics, physically disabled and so on took out rallies. Interestingly, two groups of persons who chose to come out on their own and lend support are ‘beggars’ and ‘Hijras’ holding placards showing their distinct identity. If they had been asked, probably they would have spelt out their advantages in an undivided State. The presence of Hijras in large numbers in the rallies reminded one of an all India Hijra conference a few years ago somewhere in north India where they had asserted their rights like all other citizens.

The president of the conference, articulate and assertive, had a thought-provoking demand. She said that the post of Prime Minister and other Ministers should be reserved for them at least by turns on rotation as that will put an end to dynastic succession and nepotism and so on in high places. May their tribe flourish!

Andavilli’s Column