On Dec.9, 2009, when Home Minister P.Chidambaram made that late night statement, promising to initiate the process of the formation of a separate state of Telangana, succumbing to the pressure from the Telangana Rashtra Samithi(TRS) chief, K.Chandrashekara Rao’s fast unto death, the Centre had opened a Pandora’s box.

As the Telangana region starts to boil once again, with the 48 hour bandh call given by the Joint Action Committee taking violent proportions, the Centre continues to look clueless and seems to be suffering from a policy paralysis.

The decades old demand for a separate state– comprising of the 10 districts of Andhra Pradesh, with a population of 3.53 crore (latest 2011 census) making for 41.6 percent of the State’s population and an area of 1.15 lakh sq.kms., larger than many States in the country—seems to have now reached its peak. The ostrich-like attitude adopted by successive Governments at the Centre, in all these years, and especially by the Congress-led UPA Government in the last seven years has tested the patience of the Telangana separatists.

The stage now seems to have reached when they are unwilling to wait any further, putting what looks like a reluctant Congress in a fix. The spate of resignations by both the MLAs and MPs from the Telangana region, cutting across party lines, however has woken up the Congress-led UPA Government to finally start confabulations, though even that looks half-hearted.

The separate state-hood demand which for a long time was dismissed by the Centre for many years as a partisan one, and had taken the defeat of TRS in the 2009 elections (it won just 2 seats in Lok Sabha and 10 seats in Assembly) as a virtual referendum, was obviously a huge miscalculation.

Congress party which had refused to take a stand o the separate state-hood demand for a long time had however stuck an alliance with the TRS in the 2004 Lok sabha elections which was held simultaneously with the Andhra Pradesh assembly elections. Following the formation of the UPA Government, it even went ahead and included the demand for a separate Telangana in the Common Minimum Programme, and made even the TRS Chief Chandrashekara Rao(KCR) a Minister at the Centre.

It however did not display any sincerity in working towards this CMP promise leading to KCR resigning from the Cabinet in 2006. He was dismissed and ignored later on. Then Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister Y.S.Rajashekara Reddy(YSR), who came to assume enormous powers and clout, adopted a carrot and stick policy successfully through his tenure between 2004-09, to keep the separatists at bay.

The results of the 2009 elections and the successful return of YSR in the State, gave further boost to the Congress central leadership’s thinking that it had successfully quelled the demand for a separate State. However, after the tragically accidental demise of YSR, the new Chief Minister K.Rosaiah was found seriously wanting in containing the growing resentment and the groundswell of support gathering momentum.

The master stroke by the marginalized TRS chief, KCR, to go on a fast unto death in the end of 2009, demanding a separate State, more for his political survival, revived the popular sentiment. The blunder committed by Chidambaram’s statement, without proper consultations with all the stake holders especially within the Congress itself and announcing the process of formation of the new State, took the issue to a point of no return.

The tactic of buying time, employed by the Congress-led UPA by appointing the Shrikrishna Commission to look into the issue, gave it some breathing space. But it was obvious even during that one year period between the formation of the Commission and the report being submitted in January this year, that the Centre had only managed to only postpone the issue.

The report itself with its six-point solution, out of which the Commission itself ruled out the four points and spoke of a regional autonomous body as the most practical solution, did not impress the separatists. The report only heightened the emotional factor, and the movement gained more support as violence was witnessed I many parts.

The sentiments for a separate State has reached such proportions now that politicians from the three regions, Telangana, Rayalaseema and Coastal Andhra, have reverted to speaking in public in their local dialects and not the common telugu which was earlier employed.

Moreover the politicians of all parties are facing so much pressure in their constituencies, especially the Telangana politicians, that they fear going to their constituencies.

Even a senior and most respected leader of the State, Union Minister S.Jaipal Reddy has had to face many such situations, where he was forced to mouth the “Jai Telangana” slogan. His earlier decision to remain neutral no more holds water and as one of the four MPs who is yet to resign from the Lok Sabha, he faces enormous pressure to do so.
The maximalist position adopted by the separatists under pressure from their constituents, leaves little room for manouevre for people like Jaipal Reddy. “It is either a separate State with Hyderabad being part of it or face the music”, is the threat posed by them to the UPA Government and the Congress leadership, even by Congress MLAs and MPs.

The Congress leadership obviously under influence from the more powerful and rich sections of the party, from the Andhra and Rayalaseema region finds itself unable to make up its mind. The casualness adopted in these last six months, even after the Shrikrishna report was ready, by the Congress leadership, has come to roost. The pained statements of its own party leaders from the Telangana region, about the leadership ignoring their demand and not taking it seriously, has much substance.

Now faced with the resignations and a total breakdown of party discipline, the leadership seems to have woken up to the seriousness of the situation. But unfortunately it doesn’t seem to have any creative solutions to the issue. The sops which it is offering, like jobs in Telangana for the locals, is an old hat, and is too little too late.
It’s a painful time for both the people of Andhra Pradesh and the Congress leadership, with no easy solutions in sight.