BJP playing the Telangana tune again

Several eyebrows are raised over BJP playing up the Telangana sentiment again, especially during its ongoing 'Tiranga' patriotism campaign.

This is partly on account of the loss of credibility that BJP suffered after going back on its 'one vote two states' promise in favour of a separate Telangana state during the 1998 elections. Besides, the angry Left parties insist that BJP is not even fit to talk of the Telangana 'liberation'.

The BJP's recent show of national flags at district headquarters and other places demanding that the state government declare September 17 as the Telangana Liberation Day has not gone down well with the public. Questions are being posed as to why the party did not impress upon its ally, Telugu Desam Party, on the need for an official declaration on Telangana liberation during the last nine years when TDP was in power.

The former Union minister of state for home and a prominent BJP leader, Ch Vidyasagar Rao, who is very vocal on the issue, strongly justifies the current timing of the agitation. On the party's silence on the issue in the last nine years, he says the party had certain priorities to follow. "Anyway, we raised the issue way back in 1998," he maintains.

The Telangana Liberation Day is associated to the historic fight of the people of Telangana against the Nizam's rule. Save for its excitement over the humiliation of the seventh Nizam Mir Osman Ali Pasha, upon the march of the Indian forces into the Hyderabad state, the BJP has never overtly sympathised or identified with the historical event.

No battles were actually fought between the Indian forces and the Nizam's forces following the meek surrender of the Nizam.

The Telangana people's struggle against the Nizam later assumed the form of an armed struggle with the entry of the dreaded Razaakars. Though BJP claims that the Sangh Pariwar operatives took part in the armed struggle, it is rubbished by the Left parties, which actually carry the legacy of leading the armed movement in Telangana.

But history apart, the purpose and reasons behind the BJP's raking up the issue of Telangana liberation appear to be quite different.

Not taking lightly to the BJP talk of Telangana liberation, the CPI member of Parliament, Suravaram Sudhakar Reddy, recently questioned the role of Vidyasagar Rao, as the Union minister of state for home, in stopping the sanction of freedom fighter pensions to the people who participated in the struggle and were jailed.

According to Sudhakar Reddy, this incident was ample proof of BJP's lack of sympathy or respect for the movement. When he was a minister, Vidyasagar Rao alleged malpractices in selection of beneficiaries for the freedom fighters' pensions. His own brother Rajeshwara Rao, who was then a CPI leader, incidentally headed the scrutiny committee.

Vidyasagar Rao, however, refused to accord the freedom fighter status to those who continued the armed fight even after the formal merger Telangana with the Indian Union. This was the major bone of contention between the NDA government and the Left parties. The Left parties also levelled allegations against the sanction of pension to wrong persons by the Union home ministry headed by L K Advani.

It was in Indrajit Gupta's tenure as the Union home minister that the people who fought against the Nizam rule were given the status of freedom fighters. The political observers variously explain the possible reasons for the latest obsession of BJP with the Telangana sentiment.

They point out that BJP is trying to find a backdoor entry into the separate Telangana bandwagon. The party is also harping on its ideological roots of Hindu-Muslim divide in the state, which has a history of worst communal clashes. The observers suspect that the party is struggling to regain credibility in the Telangana region, which was once its traditional stronghold.

The more interesting development on September 17, however, was the hoisting of the national flag by the Telugu Desam Party supremo N Chandrababu Naidu, acknowledging the importance of the Telangana Liberation Day.

It may be recalled that Naidu refrained from taking up the cause of Telangana when he was the chief minister. Even the TRS, which is part of the state government, has urged the government to declare the Telangana Liberation Day as an official event.

However, there was no response to its plea from the government. Except garlanding the Vallabh Bhai Patel's statue, chief minister Y S Rajasekhara Reddy kept silent on the demand. The Left parties are equally not enthusiastic about the demand.

The Left parties commemorate September 12 as the Telangana Liberation Day when the four Telangana Communist leaders including Makdum Mohiuddin and Rajbahadur Gour called upon the people to take up arms against the Nizam government in 1948.

The then Communist leadership tried to continue the armed struggle even after the 'Army Action' leading to the surrender of the seventh Nizam. Around 4,000 were killed during and after the Army Action in the hands of the Indian forces.

BJP broadly represents a new generation of people who have no strong moorings in the immediate history of this part of the state. Yet, in its efforts to regain some credible ground, the party has unsuccessfully tried to raise patriotic fervour among the people.

The political observers feel that instead of taking up the real issues and problems that confront the people as a constructive opposition, BJP was merely playing up the sentiments which is likely to backfire.

Further, by acting so the party has also displayed its poor understanding of the people's knowledge of political games that parties play. The analysts caution that the people cannot be taken for granted as they could throw out the Chandrababu Naidu government despite the latter's manipulation of the media to keep the people in the dark about the real issues.

The analysts sum up that there is no use in asking the BJP to prove its historical credentials pertaining to the Telangana armed struggle as the party was born only in the 80s.

However, they raise a pertinent question as to why no Telangana leader of the BJP party has any credible background connected to the struggle.