Save the State and the country

It was mentioned by them that Hyderabad would never become, for obvious reasons, a truly Telugu capital culturally or emotionally even after another quarter century. So there is need for developing another Telugu capital and Vijayawada from all points of view is a very suitable place as proposed by Justice Wanchoo long ago in 1953.

There has never so far been in the country a situation similar to the one in the State today. Whatever the final decision by the government on the burning Telangana issue, it will plunge the whole State into great turmoil for a long time to come. It is now nearly a month and life is completely disrupted in most of the towns of Seemandhra. With no public transport and work in most of the government offices paralysed, the common man is put to great inconvenience. Most of them are putting up with all these hardships with the fond hope that their agitation will make the rulers in Delhi change their mind on bifurcation and then their problems will be solved and everything will be hunky-dory for them after that. Even as it is, their lives are made miserable with rising prices, falling rupee and near collapse of day-to-day administration in the State and at the Centre. While files are piling up in the State, they are missing at the Centre mysteriously.

What is shocking to our brothers abroad is that when a large chunk of the country is literally boiling, the top man of the country has not opened his mouth either in Parliament or outside. He chooses to live up to his reputation as ‘mouni baba’ whose smile, if at all, is as enigmatic as his silence. A very popular writer in a widely read English weekly has said something very interesting which reveals the present state of affairs. He said: “mother, son and dysfunctional puppet believe that silence is the privilege of the ruling class. Indian democracy may be the noisiest in the world but its three most powerful individuals are the least heard, least seen entities in any open society”.

The most disconcerting thing in the present pandemonium of political parties is the divergence between what the leaders of most of the parties now in the fray have committed themselves to earlier in writing and what their followers have been shouting in the streets. If the final decision goes against their protestations, the leaders might not hesitate to take refuge on the Gandhian famous turn around on the partition of the country, “partition – on my dead body”.

Then, it was hapless people on both sides who suffered untold misery by that decision and now it might be the common people again who have to bear the brunt. The leaders who have already been benefited all these years in ever so many ways will be the first to make the best of both the worlds, one or two or even more States. There will be more plum posts to be distributed among those who are loyal, ministers, chairmen of corporations, nominated posts of several bodies and so on. Some of them might even become Governors and so on depending on their standing in the community.

It is in this context that the views expressed by one of our brightest intellects and an eminent architect of our Constitution, Dr B R Ambedkar, on making Hyderabad the second capital of India, as published in The Hans India, is a very valid reason of far-reaching consequences for the future security and unity of the country. In the emerging situation it is all the more relevant and necessary in the interests of the State.

What is needed for the country is very much essential for the States and in that respect the proposal made by an organization in Vijayawada (Development of Andhra Region – DARE) long ago in the wake of Jai Andhra movement of 1972 acquires significance and urgency. It was proposed then that Vijayawada area should be made the second capital of the State and it should be developed on par with the State capital Hyderabad by locating here important national institutions and Central government offices so that Hyderabad might not become top heavy.

It was mentioned by them that Hyderabad would never become, for obvious reasons, a truly Telugu capital culturally or emotionally even after another quarter century. So there is need for developing another Telugu capital and Vijayawada from all points of view is a very suitable place as proposed by Justice Wanchoo long ago in 1953.