Press Sense - 29 / 10 : Hyderabad Needs A United Andhra PradeshcolorNo credible political leader or analyst, save the hard core elements of the Telangana Rashtra Samiti (TRS), no serious business leader, save cronies marginalised by the present dispensation, no senior civil servant, save those who eye new jobs in a new state capital, actually believes that the expected impressive performance of the TRS in the assembly elections in the Telangana region of Andhra Pradesh will in fact lead to the bifurcation of the state. All hope for a compromise formula.
Most stakeholders in the statehood of the Telugus concede that ignoring the problem of Telangana’s alienation, more than its backwardness, was a costly error of judgment on the part of AP chief minister and Telugu Desam Party (TDP) leader Nara Chandrababu Naidu. However, few believe that ... the Congress-TRS combine will actually result in the bifurcation of the state.
* Today there is a bizarre gap between the expected political sweep of the separatists in the districts and the nonchalance of a hep Hyderabad where life and business go on as usual.
* It is hoped that the Congress Party will be able to quickly distance itself from the idea of breaking up the state and will come up with a compromise formula that will address the problem of Telangana’s backwardness and alienation within the framework of a united AP.
* Senior Congress leaders quite openly and willingly extend that assurance when asked what the party’s stance would be on Telangana. They point to ideas that have been around from ever since the States Re-organisation Commission recognised the problem of Telangana’s backwardness. Ideas like a Regional Development Committee, district-specific development budgets, investment in new irrigation and infrastructure projects, and so on.
* The Communist Party leaders are equally categorical. They may have arrived at seat adjustments with the TRS but they don’t support the idea of bifurcating the state. Indeed, the Communists gained wide acceptance in the state in the 1950s on the slogan of a “visalandhra” — a united state of the Telugu speaking people. The BJP also fudges the issue today, having supported the idea of a separate state till recently. The TDP has, of course, campaigned on the platform of a united AP.
* Why is there such universal reticence within Hyderabad’s political, academic and business elite to accept the idea of the state’s bifurcation in the face of ground level support for the TRS? Why has Hyderabad not been ignited by this desire this time round like in 1968-72?
# Hyderabad has changed. In the past three decades, it has grown to emerge as one of India’s top five metros. It has become globalised in its reach thanks to the growth of a range of service sector professions. Mr Naidu not only cleaned up the city, built a new infrastructure for it, enticed new institutions and business into it, created a new stake in the city’s future among the state’s more entrepreneurial classes, but he has set new aspirational goals for the city with its global connectivity and reach.
# Till a decade ago, successful Hyderabadis aspired to go to Mumbai, Delhi, Chennai, to the Persian Gulf and to the West in search of a better life, better professional prospects. Today, successful Hyderabadis want to return home to be a part of the city’s new growth process. There is a new elite in this growing metropolis that has a stake in being part of a larger, faster growing state. Hyderabad’s ability to compete with Bangalore and catch up with Mumbai is based on its links to the wider Andhra hinterland of capital, enterprise and talent.
# A separate Telangana can slow down, perhaps even halt this process. There could be a flight of capital, to coastal cities, to other states. If Hyderabad’s “cosmopolitan” elite migrates, Telangana does not as yet have its modernised, self-confident, cash-rich upper class ready to step in. The city will suffer from the state’s bifurcation. Old communal wounds may get raked.
# Even Mr Naidu’s critics admit that he has placed the city on a global map, and improved its connectivity and infrastructure. Rural Telangana was perhaps neglected but urban Hyderabad prospered. Its take-off will come in an environment of forward-looking modernism that the city’s now maturing elite can offer if it remains invested in it and does not take flight from a loss of faith.
* Hyderabad is no longer just the administrative capital of the state but a new business and knowledge centre with a forward-looking vision. It needs the kind of developmental leadership that Mr Naidu gave it in recent years.
* The politics of a separate Telangana will regress into new caste and communal equations that will inhibit Hyderabad’s progress. Telangana needs a development agenda, a stronger voice in decision making, a better share of state revenues, implementation of old, unkept promises. It also needs the growth impulses from a growing Hyderabad in a united Andhra Pradesh. A separate state is no solution to its genuine problems.
- TFE, 23 Apr 2004---------------
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