National Security
Dividing States & Countries
Dt: 19/12/13
Dividing States & Countries
Dr T.H.Chowdary*
In the context of re-organisation of Andhra Pradesh it is well to recall the historic precedents.
2. When in 1947 India was to be partitioned and Pakistan was to be created, the provinces of Punjab and Bengal and Assam and NWFP posed a problem. Punjab had Muslim majority but that was in the western part of the state. Similarly, Bengal had Muslim majority in the east of Bengal. In the Assam province, Sylhet district had Muslim majority. In the NWFP it was not the Pakistan - demanding Muslim League which had the popular mandate in the 1946 elections to the Provincial Legislature. It was the Congress- led by the nationalist Khan Abdul Gafar Khan and Khan Sahib which won the majority and formed the government. If India is divided on the basis of religion, why should not be the provinces of Punjab and Bengal be divided on the same lines insisted the Congress and the Hindu Mahasabha. Lord Mountbatten, the Governor General in consultation with the consent of Great Britain decided that in Punjab as well as Bengal the majority MLAs that is the Muslims will separately decide whether their state should be partitioned or not. Similarly, the Hindu -Sikh minority MLAs in Punjab the Hindu minority MLAs in Bengal would also separately decide whether they want partition of the state or not. In Punjab, the majority Muslim MLAs decided that the state should not be partitioned whereas the Hindu-Sikh minority MLAs voted for partition. Exactly in Bengal also, the Muslim majority MLAs voted against partition whereas the Hindu MLAs voted for partition. Mountbatten decided that the minority is the one which should be respected and therefore ordered the partition of Punjab and Bengal. The result was that the Hindu majority East Punjab and west Bengal did not go to Pakistan. In the Sylhet district of Assam, a referendum was held. The majority decided to join east Pakistan and so Sylhet is in Bangladesh.
3. In NWFP the Congress -led by nationalist Muslims wanted referendum to choose between independence, joining Pakistan or Hindustan. Mountbatten did not agree for the first choice. The Congress therefore boycotted the referendum. It went in favour of joining Pakistan. (In Sindh, there was one district Tharparker with Hindu majority but neither the
Congress nor the Hindu Mahasabha pressed for a referendum in that district just like in Sylhet of Assam. Therefore Hindus of Tharparker were condemned to be a minuscule minority in west Pakistan) .
4. In the light of these what will be appropriate for Andhra Pradesh? It should be the MLAs from Telengana who are wanting a separate state that should decide whether a separate Telengana state should be formed or not. If there is any district of Telengana whether it be Hyderabad or Khammam or some other one, which has a different opinion then it is for them to demand a referendum like in Sylhet of Assam. Now that the winter session of the Parliament is over, it is obvious that the Telengana Bill will have to come only in the budget session which will be very close to the next general elections due in April / May of 2014. It would be prudent that these four months are utilised for intellectuals and politicians to sit together and come to mutual agreement what should be the procedure for Telengana formation. A common Governor even if he is given the power of Art-371H will be non-functional and ineffective. That the Polavaram project would be taken over by the center will also be ineffective because the barrage will be in Seemandhra whereas the lands submersed will be in Telengana. Those lands will have to be acquired . The Center has no power to do so. Only the state can acquire. Telengana may for various reasons that acquisition or delay it so badly that Polavaram project would not be taken up.
5. What is most troubling the Seemandhra people appears to be the safety, security, dignity and honour of the millions of Seemandhra people who have moved to their capital Hyderabad for education and job opportunities for their children and other professions. This is the crux of the problem. May be, the HMDA itself could be a separate full-fledged state with its own Governor and Legislature just like Delhi but not at all under the center’s tutelage. Telengana will then have two states. Seemandhra also, can have two sates, Andhra & Rayalaseema. All the problems can once for all be solved that way. Also Telengana will have two major cities, Hyderabad and its future capital which will be Warangal, recalling the glory of Kakatiya kingdom which ruled more or less the whole of Andhra Pradesh for hundreds of years. Rayalaseema can have its capital in Tirupati and Andhra’s capital can be Visakhapatnam. (797 words)
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