Saturday, December 5, 2009

2 States- The story of Andhra Pradesh

This is possibly the first political article i am posting on my blog. I apologize if it hurts anyones sentiments.

The recent happenings in Andhra Pradesh has deeply saddened me. The fight for a separate state for Telangana has stirred up the hornet's nest again. Several students have been hurt and the general life has been affected in that part of state. Andhra Pradesh has three main regions-Telengana,Andhra,Rayalaseema based on the demography and language. If you see the division of the Indian states, it is mainly based on the language and culture of the people. In AP the language is Telugu. But just like in any other INDIAN state, the slang of the language varies in different regions. Some speak it fast, some speak it slow, words are different in some cases(for those who know the language you may see the difference. To say that I have not seen you for long- in Andhra they say it as "enti kanipinchatledu", In telengana slang it is "enti agupinchatledu"). Thus there are several beautiful flavours of the language which is also called as "Italian of the East" for its sweetness. I do not mean that other languages are not sweet enough. Everyone will feel the same with their own languages and I really love them and respect them.

Coming to the issue after the brief preliminaries, the hue and cry for a separate state of Telengana was first raised in the late 1960s. Similar incidents have happened during that time and it was more intense. The reason was that the region was unfairly undeveloped and there was a deep perception that people from Andhra were exploiting it. That was some 40 years ago. Now things have changed. What I mean is that there has been major development throughout the country in terms of basic necessities though not fully.But you can see the perceptible change in the development as a whole. Of course not all parts of India have equal development. You can still see the major lack of infrastructure for basic needs in far off and some what inaccessible regions of our country. To be more specific you can find the real bad state of the basic amenities even in the perceived developed Andhra region. Andhra itself has the godavari region, visakha region which is north of the delta region, the nellore and prakasam regions south of the godavari and krishna basins. I am not good at geography but am just tyring to make a point that these regions mentioned have many undeveloped and ignored portions..
However for any region of AP, there are major economic hubs like Vizag,Rajamundry,Kakinada,Warangal,Hyderabad among others, on which the surrounding places rely upon. Remember the geography term "rural agglomeration". This is based on what i know of but someone with more knowledge can call it out.

Coming to the Telengana region, I have studied there for two years and I love the people and the slang. Why not, the telengana slang is very popular in films too. I can empathize with their discontent but it should be understood that there are similar places around the AP which are facing similar problems as they are mentioning of. Having separate state will not solve all the problems. All of Andhra Pradesh share a similar culture and heritage. Thats the bond which ties them together. If you look at the Indian setup there are several places where you find this economic and developmental imbalance. Even if you give a separate state for each of them and by knowing how our political system works, one can conclude that the poor places will remain the same. The better places will continue to grow. Better in the sense that they are the revenue generating regions for the state. Giving more SOPs to the local people has been there for long. Even if you take the Engg college admissions in the state of AP you will find the local and non-local terminology when you are opting for a college that falls under the different AP region as mentioned before.

The hullabullah created by certain self interested or nasty politicians is affecting the state as a whole. People who think they never can become the king of the state, are fighting for a separate state so that they can rule the state(and get their share of booty). I wish all people think twice about this before dividing the state into two. Guys we share a great relationship with each other though the way we speak is slightly different. Is it not. Dont we watch and clap for the same movies...Dont we feel the same sorrow when there are floods or calamities in some part of the state...I really feel sorry for the folks who have lost their lives in the recent protests...Lets stay together and fight for our common rights...We are all affected by this unequal treatment of different parts of the state...Lets peacefully protest for our basic rights like water,electricity and education than for separation.....Let us not bend to the selfish interests of the politicians who fight in the garb of idealism and reformation.....Lets not fight against each other as step children when we are not...The state is ours....Remember-Unity in Diversity...thats our Indian spirit...

I do not want to end this with any Jai slogans...

With love to all the AP people
Sravan

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