05.09.2013
From:
A Citizen
of India
Who also
happens to be
A CES(ROADS) officer and Alumnus of Osmania Univeristy and IIM Calcutta
To
The
Hon’ble Member of Parliament
Loksabha/RajyaSabha
Indian
Union
Sub:-Ideals of Freedom movement as reflected in
the Preamble to Constitution of India – Unity, Integrity and Fraternity of
Indian People – Mindless propagation of false issues and fomenting hate, hatred
and violence in the name of agitation for separate Telangana– capitulation of
not only the state, ( Executive) and legislature but also national parties like
BJP and INC– anguish of 9Crore Andhra Pradesh People – request for intervention
– reg.
Sir/Madam,
As
Lawmakers and guardians of Indian Constitution, we come to your doorstep for
justice in preserving the unity, integrity and fraternity of Indian People.
You
are aware that CWC and UPA recommended the formation of Telangana State
by dividing Andhra Pradesh. While there are almost 24 demands for separate
states all over India,
why Andhra Pradesh alone is our anguished question.
Madam/Sir,
I submit the following questions for your kind perusal. What is the basis for
granting of statehood to Telangana? Backwardness? If that is the criteria there
are many districts/regions in India
that would want separate state. Justice Srikrishna
Commission in its report had clearly dispelled this long propagated lie of
Telangana’s backwardness vis-Ã -vis rest of Andhra Pradesh. Smaller States? Why
only 2 states? Why not 4 states
including Hyderabad
City State
as demanded by many? What about the other demands and what are the difficulties
faced by Uttarakhand in recent floods and what about the draw backs of a
smaller state? What about Chattishgarh, and Jharkhand’s performances and the
rise of political instability as well as extremism in these states. What is the
optimum area and revenue needed to form a sustainable State? What is the
optimum number of legislators needed to keep the state political system stable
and not amenable to horse trading? What
is fiscal cost being borne by Centre and Nation in supporting smaller states by
creating additional posts of Governors, Chief Ministers, Ministers, secretaries
and other top heavy paraphernalia ? Is
there any scientific basis for division of States? Do we want more Cauvery’s and Almaty’s on our
hands? Any further division of states should be on a firm logic and with the
consent of the concerned states. Even, Chattishgarh, Uttarakhand and Jharkhand
were formed after a unanimous resolution of the concerned State Legislative
Assemblies.
What
about the rights of states especially political rights of
State as a unit Vis-Ã -vis Union? Are the
States a birthday Cake to be divided at will by the Government at power? What
if a political party divides a state to reduce the political influence of the
others just as Britishers did who followed divide and rule policy. Do WE and Constitution allow the petty
electoral political considerations dictate the divisions of states? Then what
about the will of WE, THE PEOPLE? Are the basic features of Constitution a
myth?
As
established in the Minerva Mills’s case, KesavanandaBharti Case, and S.R.Bommai
cases, the Constitution of India has certain ‘basic’ features and the powers of
Parliament to make laws including constitution amendments are not without
limits. Some of the most important basic features of the constitution include
democracy, federal nature of the constitution, equality before law, equal
protection of law, promotion of Fraternity, Unity and Integrity etc.
At
the time of adopting the constitution, the nation building was still in
progress and the amalgamation of 600 odd princely states was still going on.
The integration of these Indian people into Indian Union presented challenges
and difficulties, and Constitution makers sought to facilitate the same through
article 3, which has given flexibility to the Parliament to redraw the
boundaries of States, with a simple majority. This power was specifically
conferred on the Parliament to quickly and smoothly achieve the integration of
these territories and promote among them all
FRATERNITY
assuring the dignity of the individual and the unity and integrity of the
Nation.
This
power is not unlimited, especially after 65 Years after independence when
integration of princely states is no more an issue, and especially if a
majority of state assembly and population is against the division of a state.
Democracy is not the tyranny of ruling party/ coalition, who Constitute a
simple majority for a limited period ( 5 years). The ideals, spirit and vision
of our Constitution as reflected in various provisions of Constitution,
specifically Preamble shall guide our journey to a better and equitable
society. A careful examination of the journey of the post independent India reveals
that conscious and continuous efforts
were made towards building a national identity promoting unity and integrity.
Nowhere was this more pronounced than in the Education. At national level, we
have carefully drafted lessons on history, culture etc promoting harmony among
various sections of society. We have promoted Hindi as national language
despite English being more commonly known.
Similarly States were organized on the linguistic basis due to common
heritage and culture. Just as pan-Indian identity was sought to be strengthened
at the national level, a careful nurturing of already existing linguistic
identity was promoted at the state’s level, especially in Tamilnadu, Andhra
Pradesh, Karnataka, Kerala, Odisha, Maharashtra, Gujarat, West Bengal etc., and
a feeling of unity was promoted. A vibrant cultural amalgamation had taken
place. Now a division of any such state, without a strong logic or scientific
basis will lead to ultimate weakening of States and hence the country.
The
recent happenings in Telangana issue, the decision of UPA and CWC recommending
Telangana and the congress spokesperson’s reading out the resolution of CWC
brought out a disturbing acceptance of hate, hatred and violence as means of
achieving separatism. I quote the tacit acceptance of violence and hatred by
political class as reflected in the statement “…the safety and security of all
the residents in all the 3 regions, and guarantee of fundamental rights of all
residents….”. All these rights and safety are already guaranteed by
constitution. Then what makes CWC to
state the obvious?. To understand, we
have to go to the history of the hate campaign by TRS and Congress leaders from
Telangana for the last 12 years and, more so for the last 5 years. Suffice to
say that even the statues of Telugu icons ( poets, kings, balladeers etc ) of
pre-independence era dating to more than thousand years and premises of AP High
Court were not spared.
Now
let’s see the statement of Union Finance
Minister on behalf of Union Home Minister in the Parliament on 5th August 2013
. I quote from THE HINDU Newspaper dated 06.08.2013. “As MPs clamoured for a
debate on Telangana, Mr. Chidambaram said:“…The Constitution of India lays down
a procedure for formation of new States. Besides, a number of substantive
matters have to be addressed with the formation of new State. These matters are
under consideration of the government.” The issues, he said, “will include, but
not [be] limited to, sharing of river waters, generation and distribution of
electricity, safety and security of all
residents of all three regions, guarantee
of fundamental rights of all residents,etc”. Does the Constitution of India not guarantee
safety, security and fundamental rights of its citizens?. Why is the Home
Minister of the Country was compelled to make this statement on the floor of
Parliament. Where is the Country headed?
Again
a statement of Capitulation of the great Indian State
to the divisive, separatist elements in the hallowed portals (!) of Parliament
of India.
What
we expect from State/Executive to these Violence, Hate and Hatred is Firm dealing.
Stern treatment of the Separatists who are weakening the fabric of India and are
thus disturbing the harmony among various sections of society. But what we see
now is the capitulation of political class. And the re-emergence of violent
agitations for separate states in more than 24 regions of the country
irrespective of sustainability, threatening peace and harmony of the
country. Is this the spirit of “promote among them all
FRATERNITY
assuring the dignity of the individual and the unity and integrity of the
Nation”
Separate Telangana demand:Gentlemen agreement, six point formula and Article
371 D are historical testimonies to the concessions given by thepeople of
Telangana, and rest of Andhra Pradesh to Telangana regional leaders to keep the
State United.
Although,
only way to progress and prosperity is to look forward, we are compelled to
look into the past as present Telangana protagonists are harping on history to
justify division. Is it really so?.Let
us start with the history of Hyderabad
State. But for
SardarVallabhbhai Patel, the Hyderabad state
would have been another Kashmir in Indian
History. Thanks to Sardar’s police action and Telangana Armed Struggle, that
was averted.But, the integration of Hyderabad
into India
was never complete, as far as Telangana region is concerned. Prove me wrong.
Which other state has demanded and got enacted by Government of India the law
(Public Employment (Requirement as to Residence) Act. 1957, empowering the
Government of India to prescribe residence as condition for employment in
certain posts and services in the State of Andhra Pradesh and in the (then)
Union Territories of Himachal Pradesh, Manipur and Tripura) giving reservations
on the basis of place of residence, though the same is in contravention to the
spirit of constitution especially preamble and
fundamental rights? Which other state
has a special article 371 D enabling exclusion of residents of other Indian
States from securing employment under the state government? Which other state
has remained outside the PMT ( Pre-Medical Test of CBSE) system which enables exchange of students across India for MBBS
studies. Which other state stipulates local condition for the posts to be
filled by its Public Service Commission? Do we need such exclusionary
reservations even after 56 years of existence now? Do we need to humour this
outdated exclusion? Are these people not part of India as claimed by the so called
leaders of the movement, particularly TRS?
At
the time of first SRC, fragmentation of Hyderabad
in to three distinct linguistic parts i.e., Kannada, Maratha and Telugu, and
merger in to respective linguistic states of (Mysore)
Karnataka, (Bombay) Maharashtra
and Andhra Pradesh was adopted by the Hyderabad State Assembly.
The
merger of Kannada speaking people into Karnataka and Maratha speaking people in
to Maharashtra happened without any murmur or apprehensions, because their
leaders were not as narrow mindedas few leaders of the then Telangana and
probably were as jubilant and as happy as their own people, in merging in to
mainstream.
Both
these areas were as backward and illiterate as was Telangana at that time, due
to the oppressive regime of Nizam and his Dora/ Patel/ village headmen. (It
would be interesting to do a comparative study of the economic and human indicators
of these areas now, including Telangana. Probably the other two areas,i.e.
Marathwada/Aurangabad and North Karnataka/Gulbarga are more badly placed now
than Telangana is, and they don’t blame other regions). The leaders of the then
Telangana, particularly, K.V.Rangareddy and M.Chennareddy have tried their best
to remain as a separate state. But the overwhelming support of Telangana people
for Visalandhra (It is very important to note that the word “Andhra” was then
used synonymously with Telugus and is reflected in the organisation of Andhra
Mahasabhas both in Telangana and Rayalaseema Areas. Now the word Andhra has
become blasphemous) defeated these machinations, and Hyderabad State Assembly
passed the resolution to merger into respective linguistic States.
But, the leaders of Telangana did not
accept unconditional merger accepted by other linguistic units. They extracted
14 specific concessions (gentlemen agreement) of which 6 are political, 1 about
prohibition, 1 for land sales, and 6 concerning expenditure, government jobs,
education etc. While the non-political concessions were drafted only for 5 to
10 years’ time frame, the political demands like CM/Dy.CM reservation were
carefully drafted to be without time frame. (An analysis of these gentlemen agreement
is included in page no.9)
Thus
the intention of the Doras/leaders were clear from the beginning, in the name
of backwardness/illiteracy, they wanted to ensure the kind of political
security and tenure enjoyed by them ( Doras/Patels) during Nizam ruleand
Britishers defences. This was clear to the Telangana leaders supporting United
Andhra Pradesh from the beginning and we can see the same reflected in the
speech of Sh. PendemVasudev, MLA of Gajwel in the assembly of Hyderabad State
on 28th November 1955.
Unfortunately, just as Ghazni Mohammed was
able to aggregate mercenaries for Indian conquests and loot/plunder, they were
able to mobilise handful of supporters in Telangana, who in the hope of sharing
spoils in the form of political power and appointments, indulged in inciting
and polluting the minds of innocent students and public by promising rosy
future and blaming other regions for their supposed backwardness. As Gita says,
to gain strength one has to look within. It is the individual’s will power and
attitude that determines his future and progress. They conveniently ignore
about the backwardness of other regions and areas. As Justice Sri Krishna
Commission Brought out in its report, Today, after 56 years after the emergence
of united Andhra Pradesh, the educational, health, infrastructural,
irrigational and industrial facilities and indicators were as good as or even
better than other regions of the State or that of many other States.
Definitely, the improvement of educational facilities and economic indicators
should obviate the need for continuance of safeguards or separate state, as the
very basis of these concessions is no longer present. However, the protagonists
of Telangana put forward a strange argument that, they were rich from the beginning.
Was the Nizam rich or the people? If people were also rich, then why the slogan
of backwardness/illiteracy? Why was there a popular demand for Visalandhra
then? The fact of the matter is during Nizam’s rule, the nobles and their
cohorts/cronies i.e., land lords and village headmen enjoyed the toils of
people like parasites fleecing the blood.
Now they want to bring back the same regime.
For
safeguarding these privileges they shamelessly exploited the
backwardness/illiteracy as a plank to extract political concessions which
strangely include the power to decide on prohibition. These feudal elements
neither have the will nor the patience to work on real issues and do hard work.
They just needed a talisman or magic wand to hoodwink the people in to believing
on a single point solution, i.e. separate state. Telangana people will also
realise the same, but it may be too late to correct?. Please watch this
anti-national remarks of so called TRS leader on TV5 (Telugu news channel) on
26th August 2013 at 8:14 – 8:18 AM, which was only a miniscule part
of the mindless talk of these separatists, and decide about their ideology.
Also watch the incidents on 02.09.2013 forcefully removing the Osmania Hospital
Superindent and Osmania Dental College Principal.If you permit, video footage
running into days ( including the inflammatory speeches of TRS leaders like
KCR, Harishrao, KTR, Kavitha, JAC leaders Kodanadaram, Srinivasagoud, Congress leaders Ponnam Prabhakar,
Gutha Sukhender Reddy , K.Kesavarao etc.,) will be
shown which will make things clear to you about the ideology behind this
present separate Telangana movement. They are striking at the very basis of
nation state( cultural/ethnic identity), which will have ramifications all over
India.
As Members of Parliament committed to
integrity and unity of India, we need your intervention on the current
political and social unrest in Andhra Pradesh unleashed by the mindless
decision of UPA and CWC recommending Division of Andhra Pradesh reminding the
Bengal Division by Britishers in 1905. Bengal
division was carried out by the oppressive Foreigners, citing administrative grounds,
and was actually aimed at weakening the emerging unity among Indians. {Sadly,
however, Britishers succeeded in the end. The Bengal Division resulted in to birth
of a second nation and subsequently a third nation}. Thus even a foreign and oppressive government
took care in citing a more palatable and defendable reason. In contrast, the
reasons cited for recommending division of Andhra Pradesh after 57 years of its
existence was “in order to better fulfil their social, economic, political
and other
aspirations” and had to be qualified by “safety and security of all
residents in all the regions and the guarantee of the fundamental rights of all
residents” which is reflected both in the CWC resolution and Union Finance
Minister’s statement in the Parliament.
Does Telangana not have representation in Parliament, or AP legislative
Assembly? Do they not have democratic local bodies? What is the share of MLAs
in AP Assembly in 1956 and now in 2013. Is there increased representation or
not? Who is the benefited region? Is there any other region in AP that produced
a Prime Minister of India? If the region could produce a Prime Minister who
chose to get elected from a different region of Andhra Pradesh, and prove
himself to be acceptable to not only Nation but also State what prevents them
from leading the united State? M.Chenna Reddy himself had led the State not
once but twice, and he himself said separate Telangana is no longer an issue. What
political aspirations do they need to be fulfilled? A permanent reservation of
Chief minster ship?. Reservations may be acceptable and desirable to help
disadvantaged sections for education and to some extent employment, but to reserve
national and state leadership? Leadership by its own definition connotes
inclusion of all people and acceptance by all. It cannot be ensured by reason
of birth or caste or religion or region.
You know
why thesewords (guarantee of fundamental
rights)were necessitated to be included in the CWC resolution and statement
of union finance minister in Parliament?. For the last 12 years and more
particularly for the last 5 years, in the name of Telangana agitation, the
lumpen elements had a free run in Andhra Pradesh. They had open licence to
vandalise, destruct properties including defacing/ destroying telugu icons
like, Vemana the balladeer and poet, Krishna Devaraya the last emperor of South
India, Molla the poetess etc., and abusing rest of telugu people with choicest
abuses, the favourite being thieves.
This was a open challenge to law and order, the basis of any state
including good (?) old monarchy/oligarchies.
This was also directly against the ideals of Constitution enshrined in
preamble
“promote among
them all
FRATERNITY
assuring the dignity of the individual and the unity and integrity of the
Nation”
Thus
there was a failure of State and also violation of Constitution. What was the
result of these violence? The political parties which were in favour of united
Andhra Pradesh, hitherto playing vague stand, under duress were compelled to
adopt a public stance in support of division. (Explore any telugu daily during
2007-2010, and also watch tv episodes of Jaganmohanreddy’sOdarpuYatra to
Mehaboobabad on May 28, 2010, the TRS’s manhandling of Sri Jayaprakash Narayan,
MLA Loksatta in the premises of AP Legislative assembly at media point, the
felicitation to Sh.NagamJanardhan Reddy BJP leader and the sad and cruel
defacing of statues of telugu icons on the Tankbund of Hyderabad during million
march).(Sadly National media including Television did not highlight these
cruelties. Truth prevails finally, but in the short run, lies have had a free
run). Thus what was not achieved with
reason was achieved with violence.
Even
the views of political parties in the all party meeting on December 7 2009 were
influenced by the urgency to save the life of KCR and to defuse the tensions
and present a face saving formula to KCR to stop hunger strike. It was under
duress that these views extracted. It is a well-known fact that KCR was
compelled by these militant elements to continue fast and he needed a face
saving gesture. Well, KCR life was saved, but in the bargain many innocent lives (1000 as per TRS) were lost and
now many more lives (around 200 as per newspaper reports and still continuing)
are being sacrificed now.
Change
in stance was extracted by not allowing free expression of views. You can ask
Sh.ChandraBabau Naidu the leader of TDP and Sh. YS Jaganmohan Reddy the leader of YSRCP or Sh.Jayaprakash
Narayan , leader of Loksatta, or N.Janardhan Reddy who had a nice felicitation in Osmania University after which there was sudden
change in his personality and utterings. Now, He is more heroic and militant ( holier than thou) than KCR or Harish Rao!. The medicine of manhandling had done wonders to his
health!. Good news, meanwhile, after achieving their goal, our brethren are now
very accommodating. The doctor’s JAC, had quashed the appointment of Smt.
Annapoorna, as Principal of Osmania Dental College and dethroned the
Superindent of Osmania Hospital Sh. Sivaramireddy, to replace with Telangana
Brethren. Don’t ask who gave authority; it is WE the Indian Union that has
given the power in our failure to inculcate FRATERNITY and uphold LAW and
ORDER.
Thus
violence, hate and hatred are given formal and roaring recognition
by Independent India,
by conceding their demand. Congratulations to all of us!.
It
will be a futile exercise to compare these separatists, with our founding
fathers and their next generation politicians and leaders. Yet we have to
survey the facts. Compare the positive assurances and concessions given to the
Telangana regional leaders both in the gentlemen agreement (The expenditure of
the central and general administration of the State should be borne
proportionately by the two regions and the balance of income from Telengana
should be reserved for expenditure on the development of Telengana area. This
arrangement will be reviewed after five
years and can be continued for another five
years if the Telengana members of the Assembly so desire, etc, etc ….) and
six point formula (We are convinced that the accelerated development of the
backward areas and planned development of the State capital are the major factors which will help in successfully
implementing the above principles,…….., etc,etc…..Hyderabad Central University
is direct fruit of this formula) with the
current CWC resolution and Union Finance Minister’s statement in
parliament i.e “ ensuring safety and security” and “guarantee of fundamental rights” . Union
Finance Minister and CWC were very generous indeed!
Are
we penalizing the good behaviour befitting with ideals of Constitution like
FRATERNITY, UNITY and INTEGRITY and rewarding the HATE, HATRED and VIOLENCE?
What signals does this send to the country? Tomorrow, if I say that Rest of
Andhra Pradesh got a raw deal from Parliament and Government of India and hence
deserve to be seceded to “better fulfil our Social, economic, political and
other aspirations”, will you allow?. Well CWC will allow, we presume.
Definitely when rest of India is unconcerned
about unity, integrity and fraternity of its own constituents, why should we
care about the same, especially when we can have control on defence, foreign
affairs, natural resources and can have more political posts like PM, Foreign
minister, embassies in 182 countries, pampering from big brothers like USA,
CHINA etc, and external assistance in terms of grants, aid, etc,. etc., .Why we
may even get the assistance of Maoists also. It is a different matter that
finally the entire South Asia may plunge into a crisis or become a middle east
or Egypt.
But who cares?, we will bother only about today and how much of the spoils (
doesn’t matter whether they are votes or political appointments) we will get to
ourselves. These are my innermost feelings and only time will tell whether we
are headed towards this destructive path. When we as a nation forget about rule
of law/law and order which was basic premise on which the civilisation
progressed, then it’s time for jungleraj, where force/violence will rule.
Freedom
of India and emergence as a single and unified nation was the result of more
than one and half century’s struggle of freedom fighters who had not only
fought against a foreign government but also against the regressive elements of
Indian society including princely class. We have had elements within country
like debauched kings, money lenders, zamindars, absentee landlords, and
religious fanatics etc.Britisher’s protection ensured not only their own
degeneration, but also their sense of entitlement, arrogance and atrocities on
own people. Freedom fight was as much a fight against a foreign government as
against own divisive elements. That we could succeed only partially was
attested by the partition of country and the attendant genocide.
The
current incidents for the last 5 years in the backdrop of Telangana Agitation
indicate that fight against internal divisive forces was not won and had to be
waged again. Else, the cohesive unit that is India
will crumble like USSR
or more dangerously, may lead to balkanisation.
I was not born during freedom struggle
or even immediately after that. In fact I was born in the silver jubilee year
of Indian independence. Thus I was not witness to the sacrifices and struggles
of freedom fighters, but lived every moment of freedom vicariously through the
history and freedom lessons. And at the age of 15-17 years I was having same
aspirations and hopes like every other Indian. And in similar fashion I was
very proud to be identified with a Telugu man. I was basking in the glory of
Prataparudraand Rudramadevias much as I was in the glory of SrikrishnaDevaraya
or Akbar or Quli Qutubshah.
But now it is being said that I can no longer
claim the cultural heritage of Kakatiyas or Simukha. Or more insultingly, some
people are ashamed of Uyyalawada Narasimhareddy or Raja RajaNarendra. And I also
note that these voices are minority voices but being vocal and having
nuisance/TRP value, are being given pride of place and prime of time in the
telugu 24X7 news channels which have projected a sense of deprivation among
sizeable section of Telangana people.
But, people will soon realise their mistake. However, what is surprising
is that these divisive elements have also succeeded in influencing the two
major parties i.e. INC and BJP in agreeing for bifurcation of Andhra Pradesh.
In
the cacophony of lies, truth should not be swept aside. It deserves at least one
hearing. Let us again survey the formation of Andhra Pradesh and subsequent
developments leading to the current situation.
Hyderabad state was among the last princely state to merge
into India, but not before
the police action which was necessitated due to the Nizam’s intransigence to
remain independent or merge with Pakistan. It is a well-known fact
that Nizam’s regime was oppressive and least bothered about welfare of people.
This was reflected in the meagre educational facilities, no importance to
regional language(i.e Telugu/Kannada/Marathi)etc.,. In this scenario a sense of
brotherhood among same linguistic people was developed strongly, especially
among Telugus, who were under single rulers for major parts of history, like
Satavahanas, Kakatiyas, Nizam’s till advent of britishers etc., The armed
struggle of Telangana got both moral and material support of rest of Andhra
Pradesh.
Vislanandhra
or united land of Telugus ( Andhra as a synonym to Telugu people was freely
used at that time, as reflected in Andhra Mahasabhas in present day Telangana
Area, Rajaraja Narendra Andhra Bhasha Nilayam in Warangal, Krishnadevaraya
Andhra nilayam in Hyderabad etc., now the very word Andhra seems to be a taboo)
had the support of people of both regions.
It
is a fact that some leaders were against unified Andhra Pradesh from the
beginning. These are the old Doras of Nizam, who had a free rein in a State
whose defence was assured by a third party, whose king doesn’t care what
happens to people, as long as payment of revenue collection was received in
time. Thus Doras are de-facto rulers of the villages with practically unlimited
power. Thus naturally they would not like reduction in their power in the new
setup. This would be easier, if the state is small, and does not contain new
politico-social units. But how to exclude the new ideas/ education?.
They
wanted to achieve this using the same weapon. Telangana is not well educated,
and hence will be deprived of educational opportunities and hence by extension
employment opportunities. Hence should have a separate state. This was a sane
argument, except that if the education is at a so low level, how are they going
to bring in teachers/administrators to meet the demand if more schools are to
be opened. Well, we will import from
other areas, but the political power should be in the hands of us i.e. “Doras”. However, the very strong united
Telugu land sentiment among the population of Telangana led to a resolution for
united Andhra Pradesh.
But
not before granting concessions by the rest of Andhra Pradesh in the gentlemen
agreement. However, the same less educated people of Kannada and Marathi
speaking people of Hyderabad
state did not sought or got any concessions. Why? Patels/ Doras of these areas
were more progressive and national in outlook and there were no K.V.Ranagareddy
or M.Chennareddy. Let us examine the concessions of gentlemen agreement and
subsequent developments.
S.No
|
Point of Gentlemen agreement
|
Remarks
|
1.
|
The expenditure of the central and general
administration of the State should be borne proportionately by the two
regions and the balance of income from Telengana should be reserved for
expenditure on the development of Telengana area. This arrangement will be
reviewed after five years and can
be continued for another five years
if the Telengana members of the Assembly so desire
|
Was envisaged for ten years only. But nobody
seems to note this aspect. Even today, we see mindless castigations.
|
2
|
Prohibition
in Telengana should be implemented in the manner decided upon by the
Assembly members of Telengana
|
Strange in a country whose founding father’s
favourite theme was placed as the second most important issue to be needed an
assurance!
|
3
|
The existing educational facilities in
Telengana should be secured to the students of Telengana and further
improved. Admission to the Colleges
including technical institutions in the Telengana area should be restricted
to the students of Telengana, or the latter should have admission to the
extent of one- third of the total
admissions in the entire State, whichever course is advantageous to Telengana
students.
|
Now, post-1973, not 33% (one third) but 36% of
seats of entire state are reserved in higher institutions.
And the Primary and high school facilities are
on par and better than rest of Andhra Pradesh. Justice Sri Krishna Commission
findings confirms the same.
And in the bargain, Rest of Andhra Pradesh as
well as Telangana students lost the 15% national pool MBBS seats filled
through PMT.
|
4
|
Retrenchment of services should be proportionate
from both regions if it becomes inevitable due to integration.
|
Was never required.
|
5
|
Future recruitment to services will be on the
basis of population from both regions.
|
Mulki rules were against this agreement, and
nobody seems to notice or care about this. If there were some violations of
mulki rules, due to corruption and nepotism, later constitution 32nd
amendment ensured permanent reservation on the basis of place of residence,
which was directly against article 16 of constitution itself.
|
6
|
The position of Urdu in the administrative and
judicial structure existing at present in the Telengana area may continue for
five years , when the position may be reviewed by the Regional Council. So far(as) recruitment to services is
concerned, knowledge of Telugu should no be insisted upon at the time of
recruitment but they should be required to pass a prescribed Telugu test in
two years after appointment
|
Strange, no one bothers now.
|
7
|
Some kind of domicile rule, e.g., residence for
12 years should be provided in order to assure the prescribed proportion to recruitment
of services for Telengana area.
|
Was continuously addressed either through Mulki
rules or Public Employment (Requirement as to Residence) Act. 1957, or the
present Zonal system.
|
8
|
Sales of agricultural lands in Telengana area
(is) to be controlled by the Regional Council.
|
Was an eyewash and for public consumption, else,
what will people think? Had any TRS/Congress leader of today remember this?
At least I have not heard any one.
|
9
|
A
Regional Council will be established for the Telengana area with a
view to secure its all- round development in accordance with its needs and
requirements.
|
Seems to be a violation, but how sincerely the
political leaders made efforts to achieve this is a moot point. Note the time period 10 years ( in the 11th
point)
|
10
|
The Regional Council will consist of 20 members
as follows: 9 members of the Assembly representing each district of Telengana
to be elected by the Assembly members of the Telengana districts separately,
6 members of the Assembly or the Parliament elected by the Telengana
representatives of the Assembly , 5 members from outside the Assembly to be
elected by the Telengana members of the Assembly. All ministers from Telengana area will be
(its) members.
|
As above
|
11
|
The Regional Council will be a statutory body
empowered to deal with and decide about matters mentioned above and those
relating to planning and development, irrigation and other projects,
industrial development within the general plan and recruitment to services in
so far as they relate to Telengana area.
If there is difference of opinion between the views of the Regional
Council and the Government of State, a reference may be made to the
Government of India for final decision.
Unless revised
earlier by agreement, this arrangement will be reviewed at the end of ten years.
|
As above
|
12
|
The Cabinet will
consist of members in proportion of 60
to 40 per cent for Andhra and
Telengana respectively. Out of the 40 per cent Telengana Ministers one will be a
Muslim from Telengana.
|
Fully honoured
|
13
|
If the Chief Minister is from Andhra, the Deputy
Chief Minister will be from Telengana
and vice- versa. Two out of the
following portfolios will be assigned to Ministers from Telengana :
a. Home; b.
Finance; c. Revenue; d. Planning & Development; and e. Commerce &
Industry.
|
Both the signatories, i.e. Sanjeeva Reddy from
Rayalaseema and ChennaReddy from Telangana have violated.
|
14
|
The Hyderabad Pradesh Congress Committee
President desired that the Pradesh Congress Committee should be separated from
Telengana up to the end of 1962.
Andhra Provincial Congress Committee President has no objection.
|
Transient and irrelevant now
|
It is very important to remember that the present Telangana area was
part of one of the last princely state to merge with Indian Union i.e,
Nizam/Hyderabad State, that too with police action. And the present agitation
is grounded in the exemptions granted at the time of integration of this area
into Andhra Pradesh.
Nizam Government by firman dated 25th Ramzan 1337 Hijri (corresponding
to 1919 AD) issued rules for recruitment to government services which are
widely known as Mulki Rules. In, Urdu language, Mulk is a
nation, and the residents are Mulkis. In essence these rules preclude non-nationals
of the state from government employment.
After the incorporation of Hyderabad
State into India, M. K. Vellodi was appointed as Chief Minister of the state on 26 January 1950.
He was a Senior Civil servant in the Government of India. He administered the
state with the help of bureaucrats from Madras state and Bombay state.
To allay the fears of the people of Hyderabad state, as their level of education
at that particular point of time is not well developed, at the time of merging
with Andhra Pradesh in 1956, safeguards were envisaged through Gentleman’s
agreement, which was conceded by Andhra Leaders in the bargain for a United
state for all Telugu speaking people. The public support for Single
State for all the Telugu speaking
people was reflected in the Visalandhra sentiment prevailing both in the Andhra State
and Hyderabad State at that point of time. The same
was reflected in the overwhelming support received in the legislative assembly
of Hyderabad State in favor of united Telugu state. It may be noted that no such fears were
expressed or sought to be allayed by the other two states, i.e. Maharashtra or
Karnataka for the parts of Hyderabad
State being merged with
them. Quickly Parliament Enacted the Public Employment (Requirement as to
Residence) Act. 1957, empowering the Government of India to prescribe residence
as condition for employment in certain posts and services in the State of
Andhra Pradesh and in the (then) Union Territories of Himachal Pradesh, Manipur
and Tripura. This Act having expired in 1974, there is no provision to
prescribe residence as a condition for public employment, except that for
Andhra Pradesh Special provisions have been made by inserting a new Art.371 D
(post) in the constitution itself. No person outside the Andhra Pradesh state
is eligible for any post under the State Government. No other State
discriminates residents of other states in the matters of employment in the
state. Thus a resident of Haryana can apply for a post notified by UP Public
service Commission and vice versa. This is not available in Andhra Pradesh,
which bars residents of other states to apply for posts under government. This
is one of the last remaining vestiges of erstwhile tyrannical Nizam State
which prohibited employment for people coming from other parts of the country
under Mulki Rules and root cause for many problems now being faced. Exclusion
of people from other states to work in a state directly acts against the
integration of the people and against the spirit of article 15 and 16. Further
as seen from above, the exception under 16(3) was meant to be very sparingly
used and that too in exceptional circumstances. The lapse of Public Employment
(Requirement as to Residence) Act. 1957 in the year 1974 and no further
enactments under 16(3) testify to the same. Even the above act was originally
envisaged for 5+5 years which was subsequently enhanced to 15 years vide act 1
of 1969. The permanent exclusion of other state people from other parts of India through
article 371(d) is against the spirit of constitution and specifically the
ideals enshrined in preamble and is an
impediment in the achievement of FRATERNITY, UNITY and INTEGRITY of the Nation.
This is a perverted affront on the integration of Andhra Pradesh with other
parts of India.
The above acts prevented Andhra Pradesh Students from participating in
the Pre-Medical Test (PMT) conducted by CBSE for admission in to the 15% merit
all India
seats in different medical colleges in all other States of INDIA, as a
reciprocity arrangement was not possible. This resulted in a huge loss for the
students of AP to pursue medicinal studies in the prestigious national
institutions in other States for the last 60 years. Exchange of students did
not take place. This is a cultural loss.
Thus
people of the other half of Andhra Pradesh, i.e erstwhile Andhra State have
made certain concessions like foregoing the employment opportunities in the
Telangana Area, forgoing opportunity to work in their own state, foregoing
cultural exchange with other parts of the country for their young students, etc
in return for an idea of united Telugu Speaking State. The Capital was also
fixed as Hyderabad. Consequently Hyderabad
was developed in to a mega polis with cosmopolitan culture and almost every
other family had a member working in Hyderabad.
Many Central Government regional Offices, PSUs like IDPL, BHEL, ECIL, BDL, etc
were established due to the combined bargaining power of all Telugu speaking
people. Now Telangana along with a fully developed megapolis will be severed
from a united State leaving bitter memories and freshly created animosities.
Who is responsible for this ?lumpen elements who initially started the
blame game in the name of backwardness are now clamoring for self-respect. Will
the self-respect and self-determination rest with a separatist state or will it
escalate to the next logical level? And
who will forgive the TRS leaders, especially KCR, in their mindless utterings
castigating all Andhra people as children of demons, looters, perverts etc.,
what happens if the current sense of betrayal leading the other side, i.e.
Andhra area leaders pitching the same slogan?
And We fail to understand
the logic of seeking exclusive reservations on regional basis, even after 66
years of independence, with improvements in education and other infrastructural
facilities better than most of the other Indian states, and even other regions
of the same state.
Local reservations and Zonal
Reservations which are in vogue in
Andhra Pradesh are root cause of development of regional feelings among all the
regions of AP and especially among teachers. Can we remove these reservations
at least in education? It is very disheartening to see the Teachers/Professors
who are supposed to promote harmony, fraternity, unity and integrity are now
injecting toxic ideas into the minds of young students spoiling entire
generations. What we see now is reaping the dividends of these reservations in
place for the last half century. And why should independent India suffer
from the ill effects of a firman issued by a tyrannical and biased king?
By the same token of argument, they should seek to reserve all the
IAS/IPS and other central service posts located in Hyderabad and Telangana be filled with locals
only? Strange and contrived logic. And I doubt whether there is any
disproportionate amount of class 4,3, and 2 level and even class 1 posts being filled with
non-locals in any of the other states where there is no restriction on
recruitment from other people. These arguments by these separatist and divisive
elements only help in whipping up the emotions and false sense of deprivation.
That
these divisive elements were able to whip up emotions was proved in 1969 Jai
Telangana and in 1972 Jai Andhra agitations. Then a strong Smt.Indira Gandhi
stood firm and a compromise was arrived in 6 point formula. Accordingly, Hyderabad,
the State Capital was developed, a Central University
( Hyderabad Central University)
is established and Zonal System established. The beneficiary of all the above
is only Telangana area. And now after enjoying the fruits for last 40 years,
the leaders of TRS and Congress whipped up emotions, created false hopes and
promoted HATE, HATRED and Violence. And CWC as well as Central Government is
rewarding these cruel politics!
Sir,
as a responsible Member of Parliament will you let this happen?
It
is time for Parliament and Responsible Political parties to sit and decide on
the future map of India
and the basis for the same. If linguo- cultural basis was not appropriate, then
decide what should be the basis and also please make the redrawing of
boundaries of States more difficult. Otherwise take measures to preserve the
linguo-cultural unity, and ensure Law and order. Any future division of States
should need and seek the approval from all sections of the Nation. Probably
insistence on a 3/4th Majority of Parliament in both houses and
concerned State Assembly will go a long way in moulding the any future
agitations for separation towards, conciliatory and persuasive tone which is essential to preserve the
unity, integrity and fraternity. Article 3 may be amended accordingly.
There
is a reason why States were made indestructible in USA. That will exclude the possibility of continuous political instability in the polity. Our founding fathers did not
had the opportunity for the same, as the nation building was still continuing
at the time of adopting the Constitution, with 600 odd princely states waiting
for integration. Hence a simple article 3 was provided to the Parliament. This
was never meant to be a source of political instability.
I
as an All India Service Officer have no business in writing this letter. But as
a citizen of India, my
understanding of India
and allegiance to Constitution is shaken to the core by this decision. I wanted
to make efforts to regain my faith in the Indian State.
G.Sreedhar
CES(ROADS) 2000 Batch
BE (Osmania), MBA(IIMCalcutta)
