Andhra Kutralu Exposed By Wiki Leaks -- Nadendla Manohar, Chandrababu, ABN & Governer 's Inovolvement

WikiLeaks reports the then Deputy Speaker Nadendla Manohar (now the Speaker) discussed with US consul general the situation in Telangana and the issue of a separate statehood. The files disclose that the US learnt through local contacts and press reports of a fear among the police that the Naxalites were on the path of resurgence in Andhra Pradesh by fomenting trouble during the Telangana agitation.

In the latter part of 2009 as TRS president K Chandrasekhar Rao spearheaded the movement for statehood for Telangana and the Centre acquiesced to his demands with a statement on the roadmap for Telangana, the US administration appears to have closely followed it and sought opinions of academics K C Reddy, the then chairman of
AP State Council Of Higher Educa tion, and Deputy Speaker Nadendla Manohar through its consulate-general.

In the expose on the US administration's coverage of Telangana issue, the WikiLeaks speaks of US knowledge based on local contacts and press reports that law enforcement believes CPI (Maoist) elements are helping to organise some of the activities of Telangana student bodies. The WikiLeaks has published the cables sent on the situation by the Consulate General office in Hyderabad.

(http:// wikileaks.org/cable/ 2010/01/ 10HYDERABAD2.html). The cables were sent in the name of Consul General Cornelis Keur. Nadendla Manohar, then Deputy Speaker of AP Legislative Assembly, "told CongenOff (Consulate General Office) that the police are convinced that, like in 1969, the current unrest over Telangana statehood will result in a successful recruiting campaign by Naxalite forces in the region." Mr Manohar, as per the WikiLeaks, noted that many former Naxalite leaders emerged from the earlier agitations and they garnered significant sympathy throughout Telangana due to their support of statehood.

Mr Manohar, who represents the Tenali constituency in Coastal Andhra's Guntur district, also remarked that many of the "radical members" of the Telangana students joint action committee were 30 plus year old students from the Madiga community, who were well past future career concerns and would continue to agitate whether or not the academic year was lost. The WikiLeaks also covers how the US files speak of active role being taken up by the student organisations and political joint action committee (T JAC).

 

Telangana Students Roar But Don't Bite 
-------------------------------------- 
 
¶3. (U) The TS-JAC invited students from colleges throughout the 
region to participate in the January 3 "Vidyarthi Garjana" rally 
on the campus of Osmania University (OU) in Hyderabad.  Student 
organizers had predicted that a massive mobilization would bring 
as many as 500,000 people to the rally.  In the end, 
approximately 80,000 students participated in a surprisingly 
well organized and peaceful outpouring of support for groups 
championing Telangana statehood. 

 

(U) SUMMARY: Longtime Congress party stalwart and 
underperforming Governor of Andhra Pradesh (AP) Narayan Dutt 
Tiwari resigned following a sex scandal involving allegedly 
trafficked women.  Two days later, Chhattisgarh Governor ELS 
Narasimhan, a former Intelligence Bureau (IB) Chief and fluent 
Telugu speaker, was sworn in as Governor of Andhra Pradesh. 
Media speculation about the timing of the revelations in the 
midst of the controversy over Telangana (ref A) has led some 
observers to question whether it will further delay decisive GoI 
action on the statehood issue. END SUMMARY. 

(SBU) Rampant media speculation about the timing of the 
revelations ascribes either pro- or anti-statehood motives to 
ABN Andhra Jyothi, which was inaugurated on October 15, 2009. 
Some analysts cite this media expose as an attempt to delay the 
creation of a new state, pointing to the friendship between the 
channel's owner, Vemuri Radhakrishna, and N. Chandrababu Naidu, 
leader of the opposition Telugu Desam Party (TDP).  Naidu, a 
former Chief Minister of Andhra Pradesh, has seemed reluctant to 
reaffirm his party's commitment to separate statehood.  Other 
analysts point the presence of Andhra Jyothi Editor, K. 
Srinivas, at a pro-statehood event sponsored by the U.S.-based 
Telangana Development Forum and postulate that Narisimhan's 
ascension to governor cements the case for statehood.  A 
journalist from a rival news organization claiming close ties to 
the reporters of ABN Andhra Jyothi dismissed the pro-and 
anti-statehood theories - the true motive of the expose was to 
 
HYDERABAD 00000138  002.2 OF 002 
 
 
capture as much market share as possible for the new station by 
putting out a sensational story.  He added that this story has 
been in development for six months and the timing is just 
opportune. 

A Governor Takes Flight 
----------------------- 
 
¶2. (U) On December 26, Narayan Dutt Tiwari, the Governor of AP, 
tendered his resignation to GoI President Pratibha Patil.  The 
resignation, accepted immediately, came a day after the 24-hour 
Telugu language news channel ABN Andhra Jyothi aired an expose 
embroiling the Governor in a sex scandal.  The report purported 
that Governor Tiwari and officials at Raj Bhavan were 
trafficking young women from Uttarakhand on the pretext of 
employment; these women were then forced to sate the sexual 
advances of the Governor.  The channel broadcast a grainy video 
allegedly showing Governor Tiwari engaged in flagrante with 
three young women at his official residence.  In a scene 
reminiscent of the recently cancelled march on the State 
Assembly in support of Telangana statehood (ref B), Women's 
groups immediately began to protest at the gate of the Raj 
Bhavan.  Media reports indicate that the decision to demand that 
Governor Tiwari vacate his post came from New Delhi following a 
high-level United Progressive Alliance (UPA) meeting chaired by 
Congress party leader Sonia Gandhi and Prime Minister Manmohan 
Singh. 

An Ace Reliever 
--------------- 
 
¶3. (SBU) On December 27, the GoI asked current Chhattisgarh 
Governor ELS Narasimhan to accept the additional charge of 
Governor for Andhra Pradesh.  A fluent Telugu speaker, 
Narasimhan reportedly attended a meeting with GoI Home Minister 
¶P. Chidambaram to discuss the issue of Telangana statehood a few 
days prior to the current controversy.  As a former Intelligence 
Bureau (IB) Chief, analysts expect him to provide the Congress 
leadership with more accurate information and better insight 
into the current political turmoil in the state than the 
outgoing Tiwari.  [COMMENT: In meetings with Congenoffs over the 
past two years, Governor Tiwari appeared at times to have a 
shaky grip on current affairs in the state. END COMMENT].  The 
Chief Justice of the AP High Court administered the oath of 
office on December 28.  Governor Narasimhan emerged from the 
1968 batch of the AP cadre of the Indian Police Service (IPS). 

కన్న తల్లి... మన పుట్టుక... తన జీవితం

కోవెల వంటి నీ కడుపులో 9 నెలలు నన్ను మోసి 

ప్రాణం పోసిన దేవతవే అమ్మ నీవు
భాదను దిగమింగి నీ పేగు తెంచుకోని 

నాకు జన్మనిచ్చిన ఆదిశక్తి రూపమే నీవమ్మ
సృష్టిలోనే శాశ్వత సత్యమే నీవమ్మ, 

జగమెరిగిన భాషల్లో తొలి పలుకు నీవే అమ్మ 

దండాలమ్మ నీకు పాదాభి వందనాలమ్మ, 

సృష్టికర్తనే సృష్టించిన గొప్ప జన్మ నీదమ్మ 

నీ రోమ్మేగా ఉగ్గు పోసి నాకు బతుకునిచ్చింది, 

ఆ పాలేగా నా ఒంట్లో రక్తాన్ని నింపింది 

నీ చిటికెన వేలేగా నాతో జీవన ప్రయాణంలో 

బుడి బుడి నడకలను వేయించింది 

నీ బ్రతుకే నాకో హారతివైన దేవతవమ్మ,  

సెలవు లేని కొలువు కూడా నీదే కదా అమ్మ 

||దండాలమ్మ..|| 

మల్లె పూల కన్న తెల్లనైనదే నీ మనసు, 

తేనె కన్న తియ్యనైనదే నువ్వు పాడే జోల పాట
చందమామ కన్న స్వచ్చమైనదే నీ ప్రేమ, 

మంచు కన్న చల్లనైనది నీ ఒడే కదా అమ్మ
సప్తస్వరాల కంటే మధురమైనదే నీ అనురాగం, 

అడగకుండానే వరాలిచ్చే దేవతవమ్మ 
||దండాలమ్మ..|| 
 

నేను ఎంత ఎత్తుకు ఎదిగినా నీకు మాత్రం 

నేను ఇంకా నీ కొంగు చాటు పసికూనంటివి 

నా ముఖం లోని ముసి ముసి నవ్వులే, 

నీకు గంగలలో తేనెలలో కడిగిన ముత్యాలంటివి
నా ఆశలు ఆశయాలే నీ కలల పంట అంటివే, 

నీ త్యాగాన్ని తలచుకొని నా ఆశలకే సిగ్గు వేసెనా

||దండాలమ్మ..|| 
 

తప్పటడుగు వేసినప్పుడు దీవెనల వంటి 

నీ కమ్మనైన దెబ్బలే ఇప్పుడు గుర్తుకొచ్చెనా
నీ చేతి బువ్వ లేక నాకు ముద్దనే దిగదాయే, 

నీ ప్రేమకు దూరమై నా ఆకలే తీరదాయేనా 

కంటి పాప మీద నీ ముద్దుతోనే నాకు పొద్దు పోయేనా, 

అది లేక నిద్రలేని రాత్రులెన్నో

||దండాలమ్మ..|| 

శ్రీ రామ రక్ష వంటి నీ తోడునే వదిలొస్తినా, 

కదిలే దేవతలా నువ్విచ్చే దీవెనలే మతికొచ్చెనా
సల్లంగున్నవా బిడ్డా? ఎట్లున్నావ్ కొడకా? 

పదే పదే నువ్వు అడిగే అమాయకమైన ప్రశ్నలకు కోపగిస్తినా
కలలో అవి గుర్తుకొచ్చి కళ్లెమ్మటి నీళ్ళే వచ్చెనా, 

ఏడిస్తే బుజ్జగించనీకి అమ్మ లేదాయే అని ఏడుపొచ్చెనా

||దండాలమ్మ..|| 

పసి కూనగా పుట్టి.. 

ఆడ బిడ్డగా పెరిగి.. 

ఆగని యంత్రమై.. 

రాజీలేని దాసీ అయి
తన బతుకుకే చితి రగిలించి..

మన కోసం హారతై...

ఇల్లునే గుడి చేసే అమ్మకు..
ఎన్ని శోకాలో..

ఎన్నెన్ని శాపాలో..

ఓ లోకమా ఇది ధర్మమా? బ్రహ్మ నీకిది న్యాయమా?
ఈ కవనం మా అమ్మ కి మరియు ఈ లోకంలో ఉన్న అందరమ్మలకు అంకితం...!!

-- Nishanth Dongari

   Marie Curie Research Fellow 

Let us All Demand an End to "This Hunt" On The Soil Of India

"Green Hunt" has started. The program of elimination of adivasis on the name of Maoists that Home Minister Chidambaram has initiated. Given the low reliability of reports emanating from Chhattisgarh, the numbers published by the press as to how many Cobra Soldiers have entered Dantewada district, how many battalions of paramilitary units have been sent by the Center, what kind of fatalities have been caused by the shootings on both sides, etc. might not be completely true.

 

With a little effort it might not be impossible to ascertain the number of soldiers involved in Green Hunt, but the same cannot be said of the number of deaths in this operation. The presence of a dead body proves death. But the authorities in Chhattisgarh take possession of the dead bodies of only their men, perform Panchnama and postmortem and hand over the bodies to the families of the dead. The bodies of Maoists and their sympathizers are often left in the forests as fodder for wild animals. This was standard practice until about a year ago; only recently and on certain occasions, it appears that some of these bodies are also being brought and Panchnama performed.

 

If those that have died are not armed naxalites but are in fact rural villagers, then leaving their bodies behind in the forest is the smart thing to do from the governments point of view. Even if the bodies are those of armed naxalites, the opinion in Chhattisgarhs ruling officialdom seems to be that the corpses of traitors deserve neither the usual dignities accorded to the dead, nor their labor for the performance of such dignities.

In the war against the LTTE in Sri Lanka, when evidence was uncovered through the Panchnamas performed on the bodies of dead Tamils that they had been killed by torture, the government of that country ordered that bodies of Tamils could henceforth be buried without the performance of Panchnamas. While the constitution might impede the passing of similar orders by our own governments, the Chhattisgarh government is implementing the same through unwritten orders.

Newspapers are reporting that that the government of Chhattisgarh has passed orders banning media personnel from even approaching the areas of operation. Raman Singhs government seems to believe that such a restriction is necessary to obscure whether it is armed naxalites or their Adivasi followers that are hunted through Green hunt. If the media has the courage to defy this restriction, they can win.

This is because the Supreme court has declared, in the very early days of the drafting of the constitution, that freedom of the press is part of an individuals freedom of expression. This right can only be regulated within the bounds allowed by the constitution, and that too through specific enactments, but the government does not have the right to ban the media by Government Orders, without showing any reasons for the same. Not that it is possible to emerge alive after arguing about the Constitution with armed Cobras that are blocking the way, but at the very least we must know that it is illegal to place such restrictions on the media. If not, and if governments, one after the other, start placing restrictions and ban the media, then its a great loss for Democracy.


What was begun by the Left government in Lalgarh is being continued by the government in Chhattisgarh. It appears that Sri Lanka has provided inspiration in this matter as well. In the last three months of the battle against the LTTE, the Sri Lankan govt. did not let the media enter the northern part of the country. The intentions of the Sri Lankan rulers become clear when we see in the internal correspondence of United Nations officials that about 20 thousand Tamil civilians were killed during the period of this ban on the media. Sri Lanka has now been mentioned twice, but the story cant be complete without a third mention of it.
The rulers of India have gained a new courage after the fall of LTTEs army. Our rulers have also begun to believe that Peace Talks and Political Solutions are not necessary in militant political struggles, and that with firm resolve, such groups can be physically eliminated. The resolve to eliminate the Maoists, who have already been declared to be the pre-eminent threat against the countrys internal security, has thus been strengthened. Ordinary people might indeed wonder if the immorality of the ruling parties, their unfair governance, and economic systems that are perversely feeding the growth of inequalities, are in fact not greater dangers to the internal security of the country.

But what the current home minister Chidambaram, who is also the ex-finance minister and one of the architects of the countrys development policy, knows is that leaving aside the issue of internal security, Maoist presence can inhibit the attempts to extract the enormous mineral resources in the forests of Central India, and use them for development. While Maoists have not necessarily obstructed on all occasions the presence and expansion of capitalists in the areas under their dominance, the anxiety is that the fear that the Maoists might do so will inhibit capitalists from coming forward to invest in the area.

These, all together have led to the process of Maoists elimination. Chidambarams challenge (delivered without ruffling his toothpaste smile in the least), that Paramilitary units and Cobras trained in guerilla warfare will be launched in a massive fashion to physically annihilate the Maoists, is now being implemented. News trickling in about the recent Dantewada shootings reveals that the decimation of Adivasis might be the meaning behind this elimination. And the Maoists are speaking the same language as well; they are issuing a counter-challenge to the government about their own prowess.

Only the second day after Chidambarams proclamation that paramilitary units would be launched in Aabujmadh, they have killed police in large numbers in Rajnandgaon. Those that have chosen the path of armed struggle can hardly avoid fighting when warfare arrives at their door, but they must not do anything to invite a battle whilst living amidst the people. They should do whatever they can in order to prevent it. What must in fact be done can be debated extensively, but the real question is about ones attitude on the matter. Maoist leaders do not like such questions. Whose side are you on? they ask.

If you were to recognize not just political partisanship but also a partisanship of values, we could reply that we are on the side of Justice. Justice mostly lies on the side of those that are fighting for the people, but when they start prioritizing their political objectives over the welfare of the people, one cannot but call it injustice. And then there are also those that ask How long can the government remain a silent spectator? It is one thing to fight militantly for the sake of peoples needs, and it is another to launch an armed challenge to the sovereignty of the state.

Even those rulers that can tolerate the first cannot tolerate the second. They ask whether even the Maoists can be expected to behave differently should they come to power tomorrow. This is a fair question, but the only answer that can be given by advocates of democracy is that any challenge must be faced in a democratic fashion. When the 11th planning commission, seeking a solution to this, appointed a committee of experts, they concluded that the only way to face the Maoists democratically is for the state itself to create through the use of state sovereignty whatever rights, freedoms and opportunities that people had gained through the Maoists.

There is no evidence that either Manmohan Singh or Chidambaram have read those submissions. Finally, as always, the conflicts of Dantewada district have begun to echo in Bhadrachalam district. From Chintoor to Vajod, the police are forcing the Adivasis to come to police stations, and are imprisoning them illegally, and are torturing them severely in order to commit them to the legal process.

It was only when Komuram Narasimha Rao, a resident of R.Kothagudem colony, committed suicide on the 7th of this month, out of fear of what else the police would subject him to, that the world came to know that the Police of Charla had hung him on a hook and beat him to a pulp, after they had tied up his hands and feet. One can imagine what the situation is like in Dantewada when it is like this in Kothagudem. That is why it is important that we raise our voices to demand that the government stop this hunt, just as it is necessary to ask that the Maoists behave in a manner that would put pressure on such a direction.

తెలంగాణకు విలన్ నెం.1 రోశయ్యే..!!

చూడటానికి పెద్దమనిషిలా.. గౌరవంగా కనిపించే మాజీ సీఎం రోశయ్య నంగనాచిలా తెలంగాణకు వ్యతిరేకంగా చేయాల్సిందిల్లా చేశాడు. డిసెంబర్ 9 ప్రకటనను నిలిపివేస్తూ డిసెంబర్ 23 ప్రకటన రావడానికి ప్రధాన కారకుడు రోశయ్యే. తెలంగాణ రాష్ట్ర ఏర్పాటు ఆలస్యం కావడానికి ఈ నంగనాచి రోశయ్య పంపిన దొంగ నివేదికనే కారణం. దారిన పోయే దానయ్యనంటూనే తెరవెనక కథంతా నడిపించాడు. సీమాంధ్రలో పరిస్థితి అల్లకల్లోలంగా ఉందంటూ 2009 డిసెంబర్ 19, 20 తేదీల్లో కేంద్రానికి పచ్చి అబద్దపు నివేదికలను పంపాడు. అందులో ప్రతీ లైనులో అబద్దపు మాటలే. 86 వేల మంది సీమాంధ్రులు ఆందోళనలో పాల్గొన్నారని, తెలంగాణ ఏర్పాటు చేస్తే సీమాంధ్ర మొత్తం తగలబడి పోతుందని అతి దారుణంగా, మోసపూరితమైన నివేదికను కేంద్రానికి చేరవేశాడు. నివేదికను ఇవ్వడానికి స్వయంగా తానే ఢిల్లీకి వెళ్లాడు. ఢిల్లీ విమానాశ్రయంలో పెద్ద డ్రామానే నడిపాడు. ఇక అంతా అయిపోయిందని, సీమాంధ్రలో పరిస్థితి అదుపుతప్పిందని, వెంటనే డిసెంబర్ 9 ప్రకటనను వెనక్కి తీసుకోకపోతే రాష్ట్రం అగ్నిగుండమవుతుందని సినిమాల్లో విలన్ కన్నా అత్యంత దారుణంగా నటించి, నర్తించాడు. ఇన్నాళ్లూ చంద్రబాబు కుట్ర అని అందరూ అనుకున్నారు. కానీ రోశయ్య కుట్రలో చంద్రబాబు భాగస్వామి అని ఆలస్యంగా తెలిసింది. రోశయ్య రాసిన నివేదికలను ఆర్‌టీఐ యాక్టు ద్వారా టిన్యూస్ సంపాదించింది. లగడపాటి రాజగోపాల్, కావూరి సాంబశివరావులు కూడా ఈ కుట్రలో ప్రధాన భూమిక పోషించారు. రోశయ్య పంపిన నివేదికలో లగడపాటి దీక్షను కూడా పెద్ద బూచిలా చూపించారు. ఎన్టీఆర్ ట్రస్ట్‌భవన్ నుంచి ప్రారంభమైన రాజీనామాల పర్వం ఈ ముసలి, మాజీ సిఎం పన్నిన పన్నాగమని ఇప్పుడే బయట పడింది. డిసెంబర్ 23 ప్రకటనకు ప్రధాన కారకుడనే పచ్చి నిజం నిగ్గుతేలింది. ఇంత పెద్ద డ్రామాను ఎంతో చాకచక్యంగా నడిపిన రోశయ్యకు సీమాంధ్ర పెత్తందార్లు కేంద్రం చేత ఇప్పించిన నజరానానే తమిళనాడు గవర్నర్‌గిరి.

ఆపదర్మ ముఖ్యమంత్రి అయ్యినవాడు 10 కోట్ల ప్రజలకు న్యాయం చేయాలి అల కాకుండా సీమ ఆంద్ర నీచ బుడ్డి తో తెలంగాణ ప్రజలకు ద్రోహం చేసిండు ఇచిన తెలంగాణాను వెనకకు పోవడానికి కారణం ఈ ముసలోడే ఇంతకముందు మాట ఇచి మోసం చేసినోళ్ళు ఎలా చాచారో చూసాం వీడు కూడా అంతే 600 మంది అమరుల ఆత్మలకు శాంతి లేకుండా చేసాడు వీడు సామాన్యుడు కాదు టీ న్యూస్ పుణ్యమా అని అందరికి ఈ సీమ ఆంద్ర రాజకేయ నాయకుల గురించి తెలిసింది ఇప్పటికిన అర్ధమయిందా మన చానెల్ మన పేపర్ మనకోసమే మన ఆత్మ గౌరవం నీలబదాలంటే మనం వాటిని అదరిన్చలుఇ దన్యవాదములు టీ న్యూస్ మరియు నమస్తే తెలంగాణ.

Rise of Factionist YSR: Setback to the Telangana Movement

In the period of five years, Y.S. Rajsekhar Reddy- a product and a propeller of Rayalaseema factional politics- knew too well the mechanics and machinations of power and knew how to hit his adversaries at vulnerable points. He literally stifled all the opposition to his power, managed to distance the Delhi High Command from all the leaders particularly senior Telangana leaders who were left with no choice except repeating and reiterating their loyalty to the high command without any reciprocation from the other side. He nurtured sizable young goons and political lumpens who were personally loyal to him. YSR fortified his position to an extent that he became indispensable for the congress party both at the national and the state level.

The man is anything but a vendor of humane visages. His rise in politics has been accompanied by more bloodshed than that of any other politician in this state. Not bloodshed for some avowed ‘higher cause’, but bloodshed for the narrowest possible cause: the rise of one individual to political power and prominence. The recent elections may very well have meant many things in terms of popular aspirations, and one has no desire to be cynical on that score. But in the matter of the change of helmsmen, it has merely replaced a man who would find nothing too crooked if it is in his political interest, with one who would find nothing too brutal. And for both, the goal is the same: Power. Such precisely are the men neo-liberalism wishes to find in power in countries such as ours which it wants to subordinate to its logic and interests. It would be imprudent to regard this as an irrelevant consideration on the ground of the Congress Party’s avowal of a ‘human face’, for firstly that expression has no precise meaning, secondly Congressmen are known to be capable of changing course mid-stream, and thirdly India’s rulers irrespective of party have knowingly put themselves in a position where they have little leeway in matters of policy.

YSR (as he is known in short) belongs to Cuddapah district of the Rayalaseema region of the state. His constituency, Pulivendula, exhibits a most distressing topography: endless stretches of nude soil studded with gravel and relieved by rocks that are even more bare. It is watered, using the expression figuratively, by the Chitravati, a tributary of the Penna (called Pennair in most maps), itself hardly a river worth the name. Today YSR wishes to be seen as a politician who has responded to the needs of farmers and is determined to do well by them, but in the nearly three decades of his political life, he has not been instrumental in adding one acre of assured irrigation to the parched lands of the constituency that has again and again returned him or his brother (when YSR chose to go to parliament instead) to the state assembly.

Y.S.R saw to it that the peace talks, which he promised in the elections, collapse and ‘hounded’ the Maoists with such ruthlessness. The only difference between Babu and Y.S.R. styles is that the later tilted the economic reforms slightly in favour of rural economy in terms of building irrigation infrastructure writing off of the agricultural debt, free power supply to farmers and a few pro-rural poor measures. This shift from the high metropolis-centric IT dominated thrust to agrarian concerns turned Y.S.R. into almost a welfare symbol and his sudden death evoked popular sentiments and the media made him an icon out of the context.

YSR’s death was followed by a big drama in Andhra politics; the lumpen forces that were solidly rooted in politics and intensely engaged in amassing wealth by all means felt orphaned and were looking for an alternative in wilderness. There was no single congress man respectable and reputed to take over the mantle. It was in this utter despair they propped up his son Y.S. Jaganmohan Reddy whose political career was less than a hundred days at that time. Many congress men of all hues loudly claimed and openly argued that he was the only proper successor to YSR.

The young Jaganmohan Reddy triggered by ambition let loose the money and musclemen and created law and order problem in the state. Any name of a Telangana leader mentioned for the post of C.M. invited immediate protest and burning of the effigy of those leaders in their respective districts. The media which is also largely lumpenised lent wide publicity to every incident magnifying the protest that passed for public support to the young man. It created terrible fear all around and no congress man dared to even comment on what was happening around. Balagopal in his last address to Human Rights Forum just before he passed away, expressed his deep concern about this fear that gripped the state. This only suggests that Y.S.R. or his supporters built such an anti-social force that this drama would have been enacted if high-command had ever touched Y.S.R for any reason. It took this sequence to happen for the high command to realize that it enjoyed no support in this state and all the rhetoric used in praise of the high command was hollow. The seasoned congress politicians in Delhi wanted to do as much of damage control as possible and send a message to Y.S.R’s followers and to the Congress Party in the state that the power of High Command matters.

శ్రీశైలం ఎవరిది ? -- ఆర్. విద్యాసాగర్‌రావు

ఈ మధ్య మంత్రి టి.జి. వెంక తెలంగాణ ప్రత్యేక రాష్ట్రమవుతే శ్రీశైలం ప్రాజెక్టు రాయలసీమకు చెందుతుంది-ఎందుకంటే శ్రీశైలం మా ప్రాంతంలో కట్టబడింది. పైపెచ్చు ఆ డ్యాం మూలంగా రాయలసీమ వాళ్లు చాలా మంది నిరాక్షిశయులయ్యారు అని అన్నారు. ఇది ఎంతవరకు నిజం?

హైదరాబాద్ నగరం తెలంగాణలో అంతర్భాగం కనుక హైదరాబాద్ లేకుండా తెలంగాణ అంగీకరించే ప్రసక్తే లేదు అని తెలంగాణ వాదులు కరా ఖండిగా కేంద్రానికి చెప్పిన సందర్భంగా కౌంటర్‌గా మంత్రి వెంక హైదరాబాద్ తెలంగాణకు ఇస్తే మాకు శ్రీశైలం ఇవ్వవలసి ఉంటుందన్న వాదన తెరమీదకు తెచ్చినట్టుగా స్పష్టంగా కనిపిస్తోంది. ఇది కేవలం వాదనకోసమే అలా మాట్లాడి ఉండొచ్చు. లేదా మంత్రి గారికి ఆ కోరిక ఉండొచ్చు. ఏదేమైనా శ్రీశైలం ప్రాజెక్టు ఆంధ్రవూపదేశ్ రాష్ట్ర ప్రాజెక్టు-భారతదేశపు ప్రాజెక్టు- దానిపైన ఎవరికీ పేటెంట్ హక్కు లేదు. అది జాతిసొత్తు ప్రజల సొత్తు ఆ ప్రాజెక్టును కృష్ణా నదిపైన నిర్మించారు. డ్యాంకు కుడిపక్క కర్నూలు జిల్లా ఎడమ పక్క మహబూబ్‌నగర్ జిల్లా ఉన్నాయి.

ఈ ప్రాజెక్టు మూలంగా మహబూబ్‌నగర్ జిల్లాలోని కొల్లాపూర్ పరిధిలో 27, అలంపూర్ పరిధిలో 29 గ్రామాలు, వనపర్తి పరిధిలో 11 గ్రామాలు, మొత్తం 67 గ్రామాలు, కర్నూలు జిల్లాలోని నందికొట్కూరు పరిధిలో 32 గ్రామాలు, ఆత్మకూరు పరిధిలో 14 గ్రామాలు, కర్నూలు పరిధిలో 4 గ్రామాలు, మొత్తం 50 గ్రామాలు ముంపుకు గురయ్యాయి. ఇక ముంపుకు గురయిన భూమి విషయానికి వస్తే మహబూబ్‌నగ ర్ జిల్లాలోని 1546 ఎకరాల మాగాణి, 429 29 ఎకరాల మెట్ట, 7952 ఎకరాల బంజరు పోరంబోకు భూమి ఇలా మొత్తం 54 807 ఎకరాల భూమి కాగా కర్నూలు జిల్లాలోని 2028 ఎకరాల మాగాణి, 47029 ఎకరాల మెట్ట, 5294 ఎకరాల బంజరు పోరంబోకు భూమి వగైరా మొత్తం 52541 ఎకరాలు, నీట మునగడం జరిగింది.ఈ వివరాలను బట్టి ఏం తెలుస్తోంది.

ఒకటి- మహబూబ్‌నగర్, కర్నూలు, జిల్లాలు శ్రీశైలంకు ఇరు పక్కలా ఉన్నాయని, రెండు -కర్నూలు జిల్లా కన్న మహబూబ్‌నగర్ జిల్లాలోనే అటు గ్రామాలు కానీ భూములు కానీ ఎక్కువగా ముంపునకు గురయ్యాయని. ఈ నేపథ్యంలో శ్రీశైలం రాయలసీమకే చెందుతుందనడంలో ఏ మాత్రం ఔచిత్యం ఉందో పాఠకులే అర్థం చేసుకోవచ్చు. శ్రీశైలం ప్రాజెక్టులో రెండు విద్యుత్ కేంద్రాలున్నాయి. ఎడమ గట్టు విద్యుత్ కేంద్రం 900 మెగావాట్ల సామర్థ్యం కలిగి ఉంది. కుడిగట్టు విద్యుత్ కేంద్రం 700 మెగావాట్ల సామర్థ్యం కలిగి ఉంది. మొత్తం విద్యుత్ సామర్థ్యం 1670 మెగావాట్లు- ఇక నీటి వినియోగానికి వస్తే కొన్ని విచివూతమైన విషయాలు బయటపడతాయి.

శ్రీశైలం ప్రాజెక్టు ప్రధాన ఉద్దేశ్యం విద్యుదుత్పాదన. విద్యుత్తు ఉత్పత్తి చేసి నీటిని దిగువ ఉన్న నాగార్జునసాగర్‌కు విడుదల చేయడం. అంటే నాగార్జునసాగర్‌కు ఇది బ్యాలెన్సింగ్ రిజర్వాయర్‌గా ఉపయోగపడుతుందన్న మాట. ఈ ప్రాజెక్టు నుండి నేరుగా సాగు కోసం నీటిని తరలించ కూడదని, కృష్ణానదీ జలాలను మూడు రాష్ట్రాలకు అంటే మహారాష్ట్ర, కర్ణాటక, ఆంధ్రవూపదేశ్‌కు పంచిన బచావత్ ట్రిబ్యునల్ తమ నివేదికలో స్పష్టంగా పేర్కొంది. శ్రీశైలంలో నిలువ చేసిన నీరు శ్రీశైలంలో విద్యుత్తు ఉత్పత్తి చేసాక నాగార్జునసాగర్‌లో విద్యుత్తు ఉత్పత్తి చేసిన అనంతరం అంతిమంగా సాగర్ ఆయకట్టు కృష్ణాడెల్టా ఆయకట్టుకు ఉపయోగపడుతుంది. కాబట్టి శ్రీశైలంలో ఆవిరి నష్టానికి 33 టి.ఎం.సి ల నీటిని ట్రిబ్యునల్ ప్రత్యేకంగా కేటాయించింది. శ్రీశైలం మాదిరిగానే మేము కూడా ‘ కోయినా ప్రాజెక్టు’ను విద్యుత్తు ఉత్పాదన కోసమే కట్టుకున్నాం.

Full Article @ Namasthe Telangana

--

ఆర్. విద్యాసాగర్‌రావు

కేంద్ర జలవనరుల సంఘం మాజీ చీఫ్ ఇంజనీర్ 

Rise of Telugu Desam Party: The Fall Of Telangana Identity

In terms of economic changes in 1970s there was considerable central government investment in Hyderabad and there was overall expansion of industrial and infrastructural base. The Andhra political elite felt more encouraged, empowered and reassured of their investment after the Jai Andhra agitation. As the Telangana leadership could not protect the mulki-rules, nor could protect the Chief Minister office for Telanganite, the Andhra elite came to believe that once for all the demand for a separate Telangana State was over. This has enthused them to invest more freely in industry and infrastructure in the city of Hyderabad. The agrarian surplus and leakages of public funds through contracts made the class more prosperous almost suggesting an arrival of some brand of regional bourgeoisie. The rich farmers, powerful peasant community and regional industrial class coupled with the restless masses laid a new base for the rise of alternative political force. There was realignment of political forces at the state and national levels. In a multi-class society, alignment and realignment of political forces is an unending process. The lumpen mafia class became a political force to reckon with. It is in the wake of these developments, the TDP – a regional party under the leadership of NTR – was born.

NTR hailing from powerful Kamma peasant community was a very popular movie hero who played several mythological and social roles in Telugu cinema. He was equally popular in both the regions; his popularity coupled with his rhetoric on welfare programmes, which Mrs. Gandhi was abandoning, made him a great ballot box-office hit. It was a record that a political party came to power in less than a year’s time after it was formed. This resounding success of NTR and his unquestioned leadership in the TDP further pushed the Telangana political leaders to margins of politics and political power. Their political survival depended on the vagaries of capricious NTR. Identical to Mrs. Gandhi’s style was the despotic or monarchic style of NTR. There was no single cabinet minister or political leader from the Telangana region who could have talked to him as a colleague in the cabinet. This style of NTR not only marginalized the political leaders but politics itself. It reduced cabinet system of government into a caricature of parliamentary democracy.

The Telugu regional identity was so articulated that the Telangana identity got submerged in the larger Telugu identity. The self respect of Telugus which TDP raised as an important issue obviated the Telangana identity for the time being. It is not that what happened through the rhetoric of Telugu identity was integration of the regions but subjugation. It is always the case with such identity politics that instead of negotiating with the sub-identities, it leaves the space and scope for the aggressive reemergence of the identities. The rise of Telangana identity in late 90s was a part of this social and political dynamic of societal change.

The style of NTR and his arbitrary impulsive decision making left all the political elite of the state desperate but it was more so in the case of the helpless Telangana representatives. Their entire mass base was lost. It was this political void in Telangana region that was gradually occupied by militant politics of CPI (ML) movement which questioned the political relevance of parliamentary democracy. The political leadership lacked moral and mass base to confront a militant movement. This made the weak Telangana political elite insecure and they came to depend on police force to such an extent that the Superintendent of Police or even a subordinate police officer would decide whether a MLA or a Minister would attend a meeting or not, visit a village or not.

During this phase amassing of wealth and grabbing of land around the city of Hyderabad was one major “political” activity of the mafia class. NTR either allowed this activity or was indifferent to it. This led to fattening of the lumpen mafia class. They saw that sale of liquor or Arak liberalized, private capital allowed in education particularly professional education and opens more and more corporate hospitals. A neat nexus between the contractors, land mafia, liquor mafia, cinema industry, corporate hospitals and corporate educational institutions has been struck. The media provided the necessary support and propaganda for these classes. In fact the media became a part of this nexus: the role of one news paper baron during this period is something that all the Telugu people are fully aware of. He was called Raja Guru by the political circles. The Telangana political elite on the margins of this economic activity were contented with a few sub-contracts, land deals, liquor licenses and land grabbing. The power of this nexus has become so formidable that there was no countervailing democratic force.

The monarchic style narrowed the scope to carry on the other powerful community- Kapus who aspired for greater share in power when they aligned with the TDP. The killing of one of the Kapu leaders in Vijayawada led to serious hostilities and there was a violent backlash on the Kamma community. There was also the rupture with the Dalit community with the Karamchedu massacre which led to a vibrant dalit movement not only in the Andhra region but whole of the state. There was opposition because of reckless liquor sales from women, thus the antagonism from women, kapus and dalit hit the social base of the TDP resulting in its setback in 1988-89 elections. The rhetoric of Telugu identity proved to be too inadequate to hold the people together and so called unity of Telugus cracked and left scope and space for the revival of the sub-identity. The law of identity politics seems to be that either it has to transcend the identity to strike linkages with similar or larger identities to pursue larger interests or they get struck in the identity which has a propensity for internal fragmentation. This seems to be true of linguistic politics, caste politics and regional politics. Rise of sub-regionalism is a part of this political phenomenon.

The Telugu Identity: Ups and Downs

The congress party in its five year term (1989-1994) under the faulty model of development triggered by LPG misruled and mismanaged the governance to such a point that it scripted its own defeat in the 1994 elections. The two major causes for its defeat were that it tampered with the two rupees rice scheme and also further encouraged and patronized liquor sales. This withdrawal from peoples’ welfare programme was under the pressure of global market forces. Congress had no imaginative policy framework. The lumpen mafia class that has fattened during the Telugu Desam period was in a position to dictate the policy choices to the government. With the result the distinction between the Congress Party and TDP in reality was largely blurred. In a situation of this kind where the social base is common and policy choices are externally forced upon, the changes in political leadership through electoral politics carried no meaning whatsoever. This could be seen nowhere more strikingly than in the agricultural sector. The neglect of agriculture has been so phenomenal that it lost its voice in the policy process and its significant place in the economy giving rise to electoral jolts. Taking advantage of the Congress Party’s misdirected development, NTR promised total prohibition and also restoration of two rupees rice scheme which proved to be electorally gainful and got TDP and its leader NTR back to the power.

Given NTR’s disposition and style he was adamant on implementation of these two programmes. As they were enforced it dented into State revenues and was adversely hitting the dominant economic interests particularly of the lumpen class. This approach was also not to the liking of global economic interests. The power of this class was so decisive that when NTR went ahead with these two schemes, they got him overthrown. It is ironical that those MLAs and MPs who won with the help of NTR’s charisma and populist promises turned against him overnight and humiliated him when he personally went (Vice-Roy hotel was the place where the conspiracy was hatched) to appeal to the party MLAs not to let him down. It is in this shady palace politics, Chandra Babu Naidu –his son-in-law –manipulative and cunning became the obvious choice of these classes. This formidable power of the lumpen class along with the other interests remains unquestioned till to-day and it is they who are calling the shots.

The power in the state is so structured and manipulated that the linkages at the national level are so worked out that within no time the image of Chandra Babu Naidu was built. A large section of Indian middle classes believed that he was a potential Prime Ministerial candidate. His assuming of power may not be illegal but certainly it was immoral. His governance was ruthless, it was during his regime two civil liberties leaders were hacked to death and the president of A.P. civil liberties committee was kidnapped by a vigilante group which was fully patronized by the state police and backed by the Chief Minister. He projected himself as a CEO and not CM. Politics have come to be seen through the techno-managerial prism. This was greatly useful to the classes in amassing the wealth in whatever form that was possible. Politics have come to be reduced to wealth chasing power and power chasing the wealth. This approach facilitated the easy entry of the global capital which treated the Andhra State as guinea pig for its experiment.

It is paradoxical that while identity politics were gaining momentum all over India, there was the super imposition of globalization on a backward, iniquitous and unevenly developed economy. This model was sold to the Indian people under the guise of serious balance of payment crisis. The people were told that there was no alternative except to borrow from the International Agencies and open up the Indian market to foreign capital. The state which is expected to be a protector of the sovereign power of the people and resources has turned into a facilitator of the movement of the global capital- a shift in the very role and character of the Nation-State. This model of development is intrinsically undemocratic and against the core values of Indian Constitution. Since there was no viable opposition the process led to widening of inequalities across the castes, classes, gender, rural, urban, and forward and the backward regions. It is these widening inequalities between the agriculture and service sector, between metropolitan Hyderabad and rest of the State, between the backward regions and relatively advanced regions that unleashed new political forces. The TDP was not opposed to global capital. This means their identity politics were more cultural in their approach than opposing the swamping of Telugu identity in economic terrain. The revival of the Telangana movement is a direct fallout of this path of development-the process on which rulers have had no control.

The determination with which Naidu ‘encountered’ the problems and wielded ruthless power is unbelievable. The TDP had 29 Members of Parliament, which was critical for the survival of NDA government at the national level. He very cleverly used this number and the BJP had not many options except to concede whatever Chandra Babu demanded. The NDA government had no moral qualms about the globalization as BJP’s nexus, notwithstanding all the RSS postures and claims about nationalism and patriotism, with imperialism was smooth and strong. In the normal course it would have been problematic for a state government to deal directly and enter international agreements without much of intervention from the national government. The ruthless suppression of all the democratic voices was possible with the backing of the bank and sangh parivar.