Sometimes stating the obvious with charts and numbers helps. Just as the Justice Rajinder Sachar committee helped focus public attention on a well-known fact, namely the economic and educational backwardness of Muslims in most of northern and eastern India, the Justice Sri Krishna Committee (SKC) report has revealed the obvious, namely that the Telangana region of Andhra Pradesh is not as badly off as so many protagonists of the separate Telangana movement, including some well-known economists, claimed. Simple numbers tell a tale. In the forty years since the first separate Telangana agitation of 1969, this region has done well for itself, especially when compared to the really more backward Rayalaseema region. Why then did the agitation launched by Telangana Rashtra Samiti (TRS) leader K Chandrashekhara Rao in 2001 catch on? Partly because a desperate Congress party breathed life into it to bring down the Telugu Desam government of Chandrababu Naidu. It is well known that the Congress underestimated its chances of victory in Andhra Pradesh in 2004 and joined the TRS platform. In the event, it was the TRS that benefited from the alliance with the Congress. However, poor handling of Mr Rao’s ego and intra-party games in New Delhi revived TRS fortunes. A confused national leadership of the Congress confounded matters and revived a dying movement that has also gained from the support extended by Maoists to the statehood cause.
After conducting an impartial enquiry, the Sri Krishna Committee has come to the conclusion that keeping Andhra Pradesh united, but offering Telangana certain constitutional guarantees and developmental support would be the best way forward. This is really not a new idea. It goes back to a key idea of the 1956 “Gentlemen’s Agreement” that created a Telangana Regional Committee. This was unfortunately abolished in 1973, in response to the “Jai Andhra” agitation. This time around the Congress party must carry conviction with the people of the state and the Telangana region in implementing the recommendations of the SKC. It is a matter of winning the people’s trust. If the central government and the Congress party fail to win the trust of the people of Telangana, the agitation will not die down. If, on the other hand, they do succeed, a new phase of growth and development can be initiated in the state of the Telugus.
The SKC report is right to assert that state formation in India cannot be made merely in response to agitational politics and violence. If there is a case for the re-organisation of Indian states, this must be done on the basis of a national re-evaluation. This calls for a second States Re-organisation Commission.