Telangana State Should Be Granted Or Not
This topic is related to constitutional aspects and political science. At the time of independence, two type of political units existed in India – The British provinces and princely states. Under the Indian Independence Act, 1947, the states were given the freedom to join either Pakistan or India or to remain independent.
According to our constitution, India is a Union of States. It has been not described as a federation of states like the United States of America or the commonwealth of Independent States. During the British period we had provinces and the princely states. All being subordinate to the viceroy and the Governor-General ruling from Delhi. Before the advent of the British rule, India was badly divided. Successive invaders conquered and ruled the different regions and parts of the subcontinent. Thus, India got a federal pattern with a strong unitary bias.
For nearly four decades since independence, we have witnessed stable governments at centre with the single political party assuming commanding sizeable majority in the parliament. It seemed that the tireless efforts of the prominent leader Late Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel started yielding good results. Thus all seems all right till 1967, when Opposition parties formed governments in different states. In Andhra Pradesh the regional parties came to power in the 1996 assembly election.
The 1996, 1998, 1999, 2004 and 2009 General Election showed that Indian assembly cannot have a single party commanding majority in the Lok Sabha and hence minority governments with majority support from outside like United Front Governments or coalition Governments such as NDA (National Democratic Alliances) and UPA (United Progressive Alliances) came into being. A Coalition Governments surviving on the support of regional parties with diverse interest will be weak and unstable.
In 1953, the government was forced to create a separate state of Andhra Pradesh for Telugu speaking people following the long drawn agitation and death of Potti Sri Ramulu after hunger strike for 56 days. Thus the first linguistic state of Andhra Pradesh was created under pressure.
It seemed very iniquitous, when the Central Governments has given its approval for the carving out Telangana from the existing State of Andhra Pradesh which was painstakingly formed after defeating Nizam Osman Ali Khan who wanted it to remain independent. India of today is different from the India of those periods of days of Alexander's invasion, Kushan invasion, Afghan, Turk and Mughal invasion and British conquest.
As on nation and a united people we can grow strong and meet the challenges of the external and internal threats. We still have disputes with our peripheral country like Pakistan, China, Bangladesh and Sri Lanka and some more from western threats. Unless we act in concert, we cannot face and overcome these external threats efficiently and successfully.
Internally also, we have several problems. There has been almost four decade old insurgency in the North-Eastern States. The next to trigger the separatist wave was cry for Khalistan which has luckily died down due to deft handling of the situation. We have terrorism let loose in Jammu and Kashmir valley. There are interstate rivalries, territorial quarrels and river water disputes and problems of linguistic minority.
There is no doubt that the present spurt of regionalism in India is a danger signal which we cannot ignore. At present a majority of States are under the rule of regional political parties with regional support base and narrow, unsophisticated interest. As they tend to maintain their own ideological position without making any integrative bid to assimilate themselves into national political mainstream, sharp difference with the centre on various issues are bound to erupt occasionally with separatist and secessionist underpinnings.
This topic is related to constitutional aspects and political science. At the time of independence, two type of political units existed in India – The British provinces and princely states. Under the Indian Independence Act, 1947, the states were given the freedom to join either Pakistan or India or to remain independent.
According to our constitution, India is a Union of States. It has been not described as a federation of states like the United States of America or the commonwealth of Independent States. During the British period we had provinces and the princely states. All being subordinate to the viceroy and the Governor-General ruling from Delhi. Before the advent of the British rule, India was badly divided. Successive invaders conquered and ruled the different regions and parts of the subcontinent. Thus, India got a federal pattern with a strong unitary bias.
For nearly four decades since independence, we have witnessed stable governments at centre with the single political party assuming commanding sizeable majority in the parliament. It seemed that the tireless efforts of the prominent leader Late Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel started yielding good results. Thus all seems all right till 1967, when Opposition parties formed governments in different states. In Andhra Pradesh the regional parties came to power in the 1996 assembly election.
The 1996, 1998, 1999, 2004 and 2009 General Election showed that Indian assembly cannot have a single party commanding majority in the Lok Sabha and hence minority governments with majority support from outside like United Front Governments or coalition Governments such as NDA (National Democratic Alliances) and UPA (United Progressive Alliances) came into being. A Coalition Governments surviving on the support of regional parties with diverse interest will be weak and unstable.
In 1953, the government was forced to create a separate state of Andhra Pradesh for Telugu speaking people following the long drawn agitation and death of Potti Sri Ramulu after hunger strike for 56 days. Thus the first linguistic state of Andhra Pradesh was created under pressure.
It seemed very iniquitous, when the Central Governments has given its approval for the carving out Telangana from the existing State of Andhra Pradesh which was painstakingly formed after defeating Nizam Osman Ali Khan who wanted it to remain independent. India of today is different from the India of those periods of days of Alexander's invasion, Kushan invasion, Afghan, Turk and Mughal invasion and British conquest. As on nation and a united people we can grow strong and meet the challenges of the external and internal threats. We still have disputes with our peripheral country like Pakistan, China, Bangladesh and Sri Lanka and some more from western threats. Unless we act in concert, we cannot face and overcome these external threats efficiently and successfully.
Internally also, we have several problems. There has been almost four decade old insurgency in the North-Eastern States. The next to trigger the separatist wave was cry for Khalistan which has luckily died down due to deft handling of the situation. We have terrorism let loose in Jammu and Kashmir valley. There are interstate rivalries, territorial quarrels and river water disputes and problems of linguistic minority.
There is no doubt that the present spurt of regionalism in India is a danger signal which we cannot ignore. At present a majority of States are under the rule of regional political parties with regional support base and narrow, unsophisticated interest. As they tend to maintain their own ideological position without making any integrative bid to assimilate themselves into national political mainstream, sharp difference with the centre on various issues are bound to erupt occasionally with separatist and secessionist underpinnings.
At present India has already 28 States and 7 Union Territory of world second largest democracy. It is noticeable that demand for new states is not going to end with Telangana. Proposal of nine new states namely Mithilanchal, Coorg, Saurashtra, Gorkhaland, Bundelkhand, Bhojpur, Coochbehar, Vidarbha and Harit Pradesh are already still pending with the Central Government.
After the Centre approval on 9th December 2009, protagonists of Bodoland and Gondwana have also started raising ugly heads. More State will serves only short term purposes, they are not good for long term welfare of the nation. Unity in diversity is a good idea, but only from cultural point of view.
Politicians will try to exploit it for their own benefit and take full advantage of chaos. Only politicians and bureaucrats have been able to get a mileage out of all the ugly exercise. More states means more portfolios, more departments, more Headquarters, more government machinery, more misuse of resources and on top of everything, more funds to fiddle with at will. No politician is interested in the development and welfare of the masses. Everybody has a personal axe to grind. Politically, it will be a constant source of trouble due to political instability and secessionist tendencies.
To tackle this stir we need a strong administration which look after the people well and tries to address their problems and grievances. Mere creation of new States is only an attempt of diverting the attention from the real issue like poverty, inflation, unemployment and unrest. At conclusion I strictly oppose the creation of new state of Telangana from Andhra Pradesh, which is further dividing India into 29th state. The Centre and State Government should mutually concert and tackle the basic problems of citizen first.
After the Centre approval on 9th December 2009, protagonists of Bodoland and Gondwana have also started raising ugly heads. More State will serves only short term purposes, they are not good for long term welfare of the nation. Unity in diversity is a good idea, but only from cultural point of view. Politicians will try to exploit it for their own benefit and take full advantage of chaos. Only politicians and bureaucrats have been able to get a mileage out of all the ugly exercise.
More states means more portfolios, more departments, more Headquarters, more government machinery, more misuse of resources and on top of everything, more funds to fiddle with at will. No politician is interested in the development and welfare of the masses. Everybody has a personal axe to grind. Politically, it will be a constant source of trouble due to political instability and secessionist tendencies. To tackle this stir we need a strong administration which look after the people well and tries to address their problems and grievances. Mere creation of new States is only an attempt of diverting the attention from the real issue like poverty, inflation, unemployment and unrest.
At conclusion I strictly oppose the creation of new state of Telangana from Andhra Pradesh, which is further dividing India into 29th state. The Centre and State Government should mutually concert and tackle the basic problems of citizen first.
- M Mohan Raj
