A CM-to-be (rather, someone who was a CM-wouldn't-wanna-be in his own words and now a CM-to-be anyway) calls for bandh today. This is the second bandh after the A.P. Reorganization Bill was somehow approved in the Parliament of India. The first one was supported by the ruling-party-to-be and the second was called for by the same.
It was very recently that we saw in Delhi that a CM-turned-activist believing that a governmet can still go on a dharna. Now, we have a CM who believes in closing down the state!
...And as irrelevant as it may seem, such maniacs (Yes, I said "maniacs"!) are the ones who make me strongly believe that Mohandas Gandhi chose his Path of Non-violence very aptly to lead the Nation towards Independence. I mean, just imagine what would happen if we got our independence through killings or some other violent acts! We’d have continued the same even after independence, just to get things our way! (May I remind that the bandh-s and dharna-s are, albeit as disfigured and irrational remnants of purposeful display of non-adherence to government-established order, from the pre-Independence era?)
And, don't even get me started on the reason for the bandh!! The ruling party wanted a few villages and towns which are being, through an ordinance by the recently-sworn-in Union Government of India, “undemocratically and unconstitutionally taken away from their State without seeking the State Legislature's opinion/approval”. Oh, yes, if you knew enough history, you’d realize that the current proponent of the bandh is the same political group that had been saying that the Andhra Pradesh State Assembly's opinion can be happily disregarded and trashed and that the State of Andhra Pradesh can be reorganized as per the whims and wishes of the Union Government of India so as to cut out Telangana.
...And why did they want these "few villages and towns"? Because they belonged to them historically? Yes and no. These places belonged to them (along with Vinukonda and some regions of Palnadu also, IIRC) a century ago and to Coastal Andhra later. The pre-1956 Telangana didn't have these few villages and towns but they want them now, because they are emotionally bonded to them in the last 60 years. And they cannot ever raise their voice against Hyderabad-Karnataka region that was a part of the pre-1956 Telangana! And, they cannot understand a similar emotional bonding that the rest of the state has with Hyderabad or Telangana!
What’s more shocking is that the ordinance was prepared before the elections and the CM-to-be and his party knew of it all along! They stayed mum about it until now, so that they can keep the tensions alive and bring them up when needed.
Polavaram is not a decision taken today – this had been one of the major issues of concern for some reason or the other for the past decade or longer. So, what had been done against it all these years, in support of their claims or arguments? What is the rational basis for yesterday’s call for bandh? What will a bandh in Telangana do abouta a decision taken in New Delhi, and who will it inconvenience? How can one claim regions selectively, totally by their choice, and yet constantly whine about it?
Would someone answer these questions? First, someone – the “educated” lot among us – must initiate, of course!
