Telugu leader on difficult wicket

Seven years after the bifurcation of erstwhile Andhra Pradesh, the Andhra Pradesh Reorganization Act of 2014 has left several promises affecting the two Telugu states unfulfilled. Apart from unfulfilled promises and money flow, both the states are struggling to deal with post-partition challenges like sharing of river waters.

a new trend

Andhra Pradesh’s demands, some of which were expressed by Chief Minister YS Jagan Mohan Reddy in a recent meeting with Union Home Minister Amit Shah and a few others, include special category status; ₹55,656 crore for Polavaram Irrigation Project designated as National Project; shifting of Polavaram Project Authority from Hyderabad to Rajahmundry; shifting of the High Court of Andhra Pradesh from Amaravati to Kurnool; Restructuring of loans worth ₹50,000 crore in which Andhra Pradesh power utilities have been implicated; and release of pending dues – ₹3,299 crore related to subsidy for PDS rice from the Union Ministry of Food and ₹4,652 crore from the Union Ministry of Rural Development.

Telangana Chief Minister K. Chandrashekhar Rao’s list is also similar. During a meeting with Prime Minister Narendra Modi last month, Mr Rao called for an Indian Institute of Management in Hyderabad. His other demands include Hyderabad-Nagpur Industrial Corridor, ₹1,000 crore for a textile park in Warangal, 100% funding for road network in Left Wing Extremism-affected areas, setting up of a tribal university in Warangal, and additional funds. Improve road connectivity in backward areas as promised in the States Reorganization Act.

Despite their traditional visits to Delhi and meeting with the Prime Minister and Union Ministers, both the Chief Ministers have refrained from making these long-pending problems a major Centre-State federal issue of national importance. They prefer to maintain strategic silence.

This is a new trend in Telangana-Andhra politics. This is a perceptible change from the days of former Chief Minister NT Rama Rao, who was in constant battle with the Center over issues affecting erstwhile Andhra Pradesh, starting with Telugu culture, language and pride. A fierce fighter against centralisation, misuse of Article 356 and the institution of governors, Rao worked strongly for multi-party federalism. This prompted him to form the National Front, an anti-Congress Indradhanush coalition. His famous statements – “the center is an ideological myth” and the Congress had “mortgaged” the self-respect and interests of the Telugu people in Delhi – were a huge hit with the Telugu people. Former Chief Minister N. Chandrababu Naidu also argued with the Center over the special category status and eventually his Telugu Desam Party (TDP) broke ties with the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP).

Ironically, Mr Reddy’s YSR Congress Party’s tough stand on special category status prompted Mr Naidu to take a tough stand. Sri Reddy used to taunt Mr Naidu and tell people that if he had all 25 MPs from Andhra Pradesh in the Lok Sabha, he could have forced the Center to give special category status to Andhra Pradesh. The YSR Congress party now has 22 MPs in the Lok Sabha, but not much is heard about the special category status now. After provoking Mr. Naidu to pull out of the National Democratic Alliance, Mr. Reddy started cultivating the BJP. Their relationship continues to blossom, pushing state issues into the background.

Notably, both the YSR Congress Party and the Telangana Rashtra Samithi (TRS) supported the abrogation of Article 370 and bifurcation of Jammu and Kashmir into two union territories. Although the TRS opposed the Citizenship (Amendment) Bill (CAB) in Parliament, Mr Rao did not explicitly say that the National Register of Citizens (NRC) would not be implemented in Telangana. Sri Reddy supported the CAB at first, but several days later, when Asaduddin Owaisi appealed to him to withdraw his party’s support, he said that NRC would not be implemented in Andhra Pradesh.

struggle for federalism

So, what happened to the fighting spirit of the chief ministers and political leaders of Andhra and Telangana? Why are they now going soft on the central government and being treated as compromising with it? Why is the fight for federalism left to leaders like West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee?

The reasons are layered. Both Mr Rao and Mr Reddy seem wary of the BJP’s dominance and Mr Modi’s power and are aware of the political implications of bringing the Center to power. In Sri Reddy’s case, given the allegations of disproportionate assets, it may be political compulsion, which is before him in a special CBI court. He considers the TDP a bigger political opponent than the BJP in Andhra Pradesh. Mr Rao has also preferred to settle for a non-confrontational approach towards the BJP, realizing the futility of forming a non-BJP non-Congress front.

But while strategizing for their political existence, both the leaders either unable to understand the centralization tendencies of BJP and its efforts to implement the idea of ​​’One Nation One Ration Card’, ‘One Nation One Election’, ‘One Nation One’ are or are easily overlooked. Language’. The project fits into the BJP’s long-cherished ideological agenda of making India homogeneous in complete disregard of the country’s historical diversity and pluralism and seeks to dismantle the federalism nurtured by former leaders of erstwhile Andhra Pradesh.

The beauty of Indian federalism is that it not only gave ample space to the states to flourish and fight for their rights, but also protected multiculturalism. This happened over time – first, when the Center and the states were ruled by separate parties and later, when national and regional parties formed coalition governments. Differences were respected and resolved in true federal spirit. Some states were given special privileges for historical, cultural and ethnic reasons. One party now wants to destroy it in the name of national unity and its one nation principle.

Read also | Water dispute: A look at Andhra Pradesh’s concerns

The signs are already there. For all its talk of promoting ‘cooperative federalism’, the BJP continues to downplay the concept, as seen in its attempt to abrogate Article 370 and change the political landscape of Kashmir; In West Bengal and Maharashtra it creates trouble in many ways; And the defections it has done in Madhya Pradesh and Karnataka.

Politically savvy and strong regional leaders like Sri Rao and Sri Reddy should rise to the occasion and thwart such crude attempts to attack federalism and democracy. Their attitude of running with rabbits and hunting with hounds could even boomerang. By keeping silent and indirectly following the BJP’s line, they are legitimizing their one nation agenda, besides unknowingly enabling this agenda to grow and become stronger. Whatever their compulsions, they should not forget that Indian federalism is enshrined in the Constitution, and they have every right to challenge the move to undermine it by eroding the autonomy of the states. If they chose to be reluctant, they would do great harm to the nation.

Of. Venkateshwarlu is a senior journalist based in Hyderabad