Ending an uneasy stay in the UPA coalition government, Telangana Rashtra Samithi (TRS) Ministers K Chandrasekara Rao and A. Narendra yesterday resigned, unhappy at not being able to redeem the promise of a separate state of Telangana to be carved out of Andhra Pradesh. The five-MP strong TRS though will continue to remain part of the UPA, the decision to quit the Manmohan Singh government cannot be blamed on them as they have done the right thing by setting their own standards of accountability towards the people and the region they represent. It goes without saying that the UPA government has failed completely in fulfilling its promise on Telangana as given in the Common Minimum Program (CMP). By going back on its commitment as spelled out in the CMP, the Congress led UPA government is sending the wrong signal to other regional allies as well that it is more interested in playing vote bank politics and that it can dispense off those partners once power is secured. The manner in which the Congress is treating the TRS and the issue of Telangana and regionalism in general is quite unfortunate and could do more harm to its future electoral prospects in the region.
Rather than addressing the aspiration of the people voicing their demand for a separate Telangana state, by keeping the issue under wraps of the committee appointed to look into this specific demand, the Congress has failed to honour its own promise to the Telangana people. It is also not surprising to learn that old Congress warhorse Pranab Mukherjee is the Chairman of the UPA sub-committee on the issue. Despite mounting pressure from the TRS on creation of a separate state for sometime now, Mukherjee who is one of the few remaining ideologue of the old Congress school of thought has not been able to deliver anything concrete on the state hood demand. The only conclusion that one can draw, is that the Congress appears to be deliberately delaying the process.
Interestingly, the CPI (M) a major constituent of the Left Front giving outside support to the UPA is of the opinion that substantial economic development is the solution for the Telangana region in Andhra Pradesh and not statehood as such. While this is a valid point, the CPI (M) will also be aware of the fact that one of the core reasons for demand of new states is directly linked to the issue of the uneven economic development, the neglect of hinterlands, which ultimately leads to a desire for local control over resources. For instance, Jharkhand and Chattisgarh are rich in natural resources but decades of bad governance have ensured that they remain backward and poor. Hopefully with statehood they will be in a better position to make choices that allows the economic, political and cultural empowerment of the people. As for the people of Telangana, the struggle will have to go on until the just demand of the TRS is met one day, hopefully by a government that does not betray.
