Dinesh Kamath's Editorial '‘Divide and rule’ policy continues' that was published in Newsband

‘Divide and rule’ policy continues

The Congress Working Committee came up with a historic resolution to create India’s 29th State - Telangana - by partitioning Andhra Pradesh.

The people of Telangana are celebrating the decision, which they see as crucial to the fulfillment of their social, economic and political aspirations. As much as the formation of Telangana is a source of joy to its people, the bifurcation is a cause for despondency to those living in coastal Andhra and Rayalaseema.

A separate Telangana State was first conceived in 1953, but the promise was not kept for a long time owing to which there were two violent agitations. Slowly, a feeling got built up among the people of Telangana that they were being discriminated against in employment and education.

It is clear that it was to gain advantage in 2014 elections that Congress gave the state of Telangana. It was not the people of Andhra Pradesh who wanted separate Telegana/Andhra, it was the politicians who needed it. If this is the way the country is to be divided into tiny states for political reasons then one can guess what can happen to the country in the future. Division of motherland to appease some egos in the garb of bringing justice and development to people is shameful.

How will Central Government now handle the dormant demands of other group for separate state. It's not a matter of just Telengana or Andhra Pradesh but whole country. Repercussions of one act can be seen easily on other part of country. Central commands need to be prudent while tackling these kinds of issues if they want to keep peace on the land. The Congress and their ideologue is always divisive in nature nurturing all sorts of divide and rule politics. The Congress leadership wants all states in this country to be smaller than the place from where they hail, so that their place can be seen as 'big' one.

Announcing the Union government’s decision to merge Telangana with

Andhra without the consent of the former, the then Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru had said that if the experiment failed, the two States could separate like young bride and groom suing for divorce if their marriage failed. If they had to be separated, why were they united in the first place.

This is a bad precedent. This shows that key decisions are based on opportunism, political blackmail and political expediency, rather than intrinsic merit of the issue. As it has always been said, the government should rise above the vote bank logic, and work for development instead.

While it may be a new dawn for Telengana, it may not be the same for India. The decision with an eye on election has opened a Pandora's Box with more and more regions demanding statehood. It seems that at this rate India will end up like the pre-Independence era where small unviable kingdoms competed with each other.