Monday, October 31, 2011

Declaration of State of Telangana

The concepts of human rights, human dignity, self-rule and self-determination are quite modern.  Such concepts did not exist in the ancient world. Even if we were to find a glimpse of these concepts discussed in philosophies and texts of the ancients, we do not necessarily see its implementation as a comprehensive and extended practice to actually alter the lives of the people.

For thousands of years, man was born as a slave or subject and died as one.  Most of these slaves and subjects, sometimes even the landlords, did not possess any rights.  And the worst part is- most of them did not even realize that they possessed certain rights that are not necessarily ordained by their monarch.

Their assets, their property, their worth, their produce and even their self-respect, was up for grabs by their landlord, their king or an invading king or a marauding dacoit. Security was an expensive commodity.  The monarch provided meager security that was not even assured, and in return usurped all their rights. 

It took many centuries of struggle in certain parts of the world to come to a realization that man had certain ‘inalienable’ rights, which even the most powerful monarch could not take those away from him. 

Friday, October 28, 2011

I am the Movement...

[Original Contribution by Dileep Konatham].

As a Telanganite:
 
  • I will not lose my cool when someone talks negatively about Telangana Movement.
  • I will not get agitated by anti-Telangana "news" in the regional and national media.
  • I will not respond to foolish questions on why Telangana is needed.
  • I will not condemn my leadership on frivolous issues.  This will only dilute our cause.
  • I will not get swayed by anti-Telangana propaganda. 
  • I will not unnecessarily denounce my leadership in public. 
  • I will not lose heart when any of the agitations fail to attain Telangana.  I understand that an agitation is only a battle.  The war is won after many battles.
  • I will stand by the current Telangana leaders as long as they fight for Telangana.
  • I will strive to unite all Telangana forces to strengthen our movement.
  • I understand that Telangana is a just demand based on sound logic and facts.
  • I will approach my leadership and provide constructive feedback.
  • I will rise above caste and religion for Telangana.

Thursday, October 13, 2011

Andhra Pradesh is not a ‘marriage’

While describing the merger of Telangana and Andhra State in 1956 that resulted in formation of Andhra Pradesh, we tend to use metaphors like calling it ‘marriage of unequals’, or describing it as ‘an innocent girl married to naughty boy’.   Nehru purportedly said that this ‘marriage’ could be annulled through a ‘divorce’ at any point of time in future.   While such comparisons make poetic sense for the sake of driving a point, there is a danger when people start taking these analogies quite literally.   Right now, such comparisons are encouraging some Seemandhra politicians to seek alimony from Telangana or compensation from New Delhi for the loss of Hyderabad.  They should realize that any talks of compensation for the loss of Hyderabad as if it is ‘alimony’ will be quite disastrous for Seemandhras. 

When Gujaratis claimed Bombay because they had invested heavily into the city, no compensation was provided to Gujaratis for the loss when Bombay eventually became part of new Maharashtra.  No such compensation was given to Andhra State when Madras was retained by Tamil Nadu.  There was no discussion on ‘alimony’ because no one seriously considered them to be real marriages.  Back then, people were sensible enough to admit that such poetic references cannot be taken literally.