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New Delhi:
The government’s nod to a separate Telangana state while being a
good thing democratically in meeting regional aspirations could also
open a “Pandora’s box” of political problems, say experts and
politicians.
“Pandora’s box has been opened,” said N. Bhaskara Rao, chairman of
Centre for Media Studies. “For six years, the Congress government
has slept. Now, it took an overnight decision on Telangana. This
will lead to a bigger battle,” Rao told IANS.
According to Kamal Mitra Chenoy, a political analyst of Jawaharlal
Nehru University, the “fear” of collapse of the Indian state had
been raised innumerable times at the formation of every new state.
“When PEPSU (Patiala and East Punjab States Union) was broken up,
there was a fear that more would happen. When greater Assam was
broken up, there was again that fear. With the creation of
Chhattisgarh and Uttarakhand, there were similar sentiments,” he
said.
He
felt the decision to allow formation of Telangana state was a
“democratic move”. “Clearly, it was a mass movement,” said Chenoy,
noting that the Telangana demand was a historical one which began
even before independence.
Even
Rao said that “theoretically, smaller states is not a bad thing
administratively”, but said the issue will be how to divide the
states.
Home
Minister P. Chidambaram noted that the Telangana debate was
symptomatic of a demand for greater autonomy of economic rights.
“That debate again exposes how people of a region feel that they
have been neglected despite speaking the same language by the
governments that have ruled that state for many years. The
undercurrent in every debate is the violation of someone’s rights or
the perceived violations of someone’s rights,” the minister said
outside parliament.
Shahid Siddiqui, general secretary of Bahujan Samaj Party, told IANS:
“Once the central government has conceded the Telangana demand, it
is bound to consider lots of other similar demands. And the first
would be to give separate statehood to Harit Pradesh in western
Uttar Pradesh.”
He
cited the economic backwardness of the Telangana region as the main
reason for the demand. “The Uttar Pradesh assembly has passed a
resolution over that and the bill is with the central government
now. They have to concede to that demand as well,” he said.
The
opposition Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP has welcomed the Telangana
move with open arms. BJP senior leader L.K. Advani said: “We wanted
that, according to the aspirations of the people, the state of
Telangana is created.”
But
there were also nay-sayers, like Samajwadi Party’s Amar Singh. “I
don’t agree with the decision of the centre. It is not good for the
unity of the country,” said Singh, who pointed to the separation of
the hill state of Uttarakhand from Uttar Pradesh. “There are a lot
of problems and concerns consequently,” he said.
The
movements for creation of separate Gorkhaland, Coorg, Bundelkhand
and other similar demands are expected to get a boost with the
success of the Telangana movement.
But
according to Bhaskara Rao most of these demands are “not immediate
problems”.
“The
state assemblies have to pass the resolution. Uttar Pradesh,
Maharashtra or West Bengal will not pass such resolutions, while
Andhra is in the position to pass the resolution,” he said.
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