My opinion sent to Sri Krishna Committee

Dear Sir,

I am a student from Telangana. I neither come from any business family nor any political group which has any kind of vested interest. I am just a common man who feels strongly for Telangana. The most significant achievement I and people like me would have from the formation of the state of Telangana is ‘identity’. The Telangana struggle has now gone beyond the question of development, the distribution of resources or allocation of jobs etc. The struggle is now for identity - an identity that we lost in 1956 and which is still elusive.

Sir, I have only 3 points to make which I get into directly.

1) Telangana is long over due and is not suppressible.
The demand has been around for the past 60 years. Though the demand was latent before 2001, one cannot say it was not there. The sentiment existed just like a dormant volcano. The sentiment has been simmering and erupting whenever there was a political vent and opportunity to voice the demand. Even if the demand is diluted now, it can surely come back again and again. Worse even, the sentiment of Telangana can be exploited by the politicians and distract the student community leading to scores of suicides.

2) Telangana blocks any further reorganization of states in India
Can we say that there would not be any form of States’ reorganization in the future? Certainly not. So, can any reorganization of states be made, bypassing the issue of Telangana? No; not without the Telangana movement coming back and taking more lives. Telangana has blocked the pipeline for any further reorganization of states and the deepening of democracy. It is better to solve the problem now than leave it to become a bigger sub-national problem.

3) Telangana can not be allowed to become another Kashmir
Telangana has been the hot bed for Maoist violence. The unrest among the student agitators for Telangana could turn them to violence as all other constitutional methods have been resorted to, but in vain. Such agitators who have a violent predisposition could be used by the Maoists and also by Islamic terror networks. The ‘enemy nations’ of India would be happy to plant the seeds of bigger problems to our nation.

Sir,

Telangana is the most Constitutional demand of four crore people. If this is not accepted, then it cannot be said that real democracy exists in this part of the country. Suppression of the legitimate and reasonable aspirations of the people goes against the spirit of India as a ‘Federation with a Unitary bias’. Federalism does not give the right to separate (read secede) but it surely allows for deepening of democracy in the form of separation of administrative units in the country.

Please deliver the people of Telangana from the oppression of the Andhras.

// Jai Hind // //Jai Telangana //