Durga’s Suspension, TMC’s Feat, Telangana

Two major developments have caught national attention over the last few days.

First came the suspension of a young IAS officer of the UP cadre, Durga Shakti Nagpal, the Gautam Buddh Nagar SDM, ostensibly on the ground that she had pulled down the wall of a mosque being built without clearance (an act that triggered communal tension in the area, according to the UP CM), whereas the general impression is that action was initiated against her for having found “visibly tackling illegal sand mining in the Yamuna and Hindon riverbeds†, as The Indian Express has affirmed.

The second development was the virtual sweep by CM Mamata Banerjee’s Trinamul Congress in the just concluded West Bengal panchayat elections, humbling the CPM and trouncing the Congress in the process, thus reaffirming her supremacy over the State through her undisputed success in rural Bengal.

Durga Shakti Nagpal’s spirited fight against the sand mafia in public interest in UP has resulted in the Akhilesh Yadav Government taking the brazen step to suspend her—this is the general public opinion in the State. This has been reinforced by the Gautam Buddh Nagar DM’s report to the State Government rubbishing the allegation that she had demolished the mosque’s wall in Qadalpura village under the Rabupura Police Circle in Gautam Buddh Nagar, and the local police in Gautam Buddh Nagar asserting that there was no communal flare-up in the area, as claimed by the CM.

Mamata’s victory in the panchayat polls in West Bengal, even though the elections were marred by widespread violence taking a toll of as many as 24 lives and the TMC supremo ensuring that her party secured a large number of seats unopposed like what her adversary, the CPM, did in 2008, is doubtless striking as she has turned the tables on the CPM—she won 13 of the 17 zilla parishads, the same number the CPM captured in 2008. As The Indian Express pointed out,

...The verdict in favour of the TMC is in part an outcome of the continuing disaffection against the Left. Voters have chosen to keep their faith in the TMC. The party must now live up to its mandate.

But these two developments, howsoever note-worthy, have been overshadowed by the UPA coordination committee unanimously endorsing, on July 30, the proposal for creation of a separate State of Telangana and thereafter the Congress Working Committee (CWC) passing a resolution the same evening asking the Centre to take necessary steps to bifurcate present-day Andhra Pradesh and make the State of Telangana, the 29th State of the Indian Union, a reality within a definite time-frame. Whatever the reasons for the Congress and UPA belatedly deciding on a separate State of Telangana—and political expediency is believed to be the prime cause behind the eventual realisation of the need to grant Statehood to the region—it is definitely a bold decision for which Congress President Sonia Gandhi merits warm compliments. After all, let us not forget, the issue had been hanging fire for 58 long years—as early as in 1955 the States Reorganisation Commission (Fazal Ali Commission) had recommended Statehood for Telangana but it was stalled due to hectic lobbying by the highly influential personalities of coastal Andhra enjoying considerable economic clout and opposed to parting with Hyderabad which is located well within Telangana. The current decision, of creating a new State with 10 districts, underlines that Hyderabad will be the joint capital of the two parts for 10 years during which time Andhra Pradesh will be required to develop a new capital.

The unique feature of the mass movement for setting up a separate State of Telangana was the coming together of all segments of the population of the region to spearhead the Statehood demand. This was exemplified during a two-day dharna at New Delhi’s Jantar Mantar three months ago on April 29 and 30—all political parties barring the CPM (which anyway stood isolated on the issue), were represented there by their leaders and workers and they covered the entire political spectrum: from the BJP on the Right to the CPI-ML (New Democracy) on the Left; all of them projected that basic demand.

Today violence has broken out in parts of Seemandhra following the Congress and UPA’s decision on Telangana. One need not be unduly worried over this development which in any case was anticipated by the leadership of the Congress and UPA, notably Congress President and UPA chairperson Sonia Gandhi who remains firm in her stand to guarantee Statehood for Telangana.

As for the rising demand for Statehood for Vidarbha, eastern UP, the Darjeeling hills, Bodo-speaking areas of Assam now that Telangana is all set to become a State, there is no harm if each of these is meticulously examined by setting up a second States Reorganisation Commission. Regional aspirations of the people in different parts of the country must be squarely met by facilitating real empowerment for them. By so doing those at the helm of affairs would help the country to unfold a new chapter in its quest for genuine federalism by promoting and safeguarding democracy at the grassroots.

August 1 S.C.