After Pepper Sprayed, Should Congress 'Forget' Telangana?

By M H Ahssan | INNLIVE

The controversy over a MP from Seemandhra using pepper spray in Parliament to delay the passage of the Telangana bill may have taken Parliamentary proceedings to a new low, but is it time to go beyond the drama and finally resolve the issue of creating the new state? "One pepper spray should not deter the government of India from putting the bill in Parliament. 

If one or few members of Parliament carry pepper spray to disrupt the House because something is not happening as per their will, then this is not acceptable. My friends from Seemandhra should not have resorted to such low-level tactics," Telangana Rashtriya Samithi MLA KT Rama Rao told INNLIVE.
The bill was tabled in Parliament in bedlam with Home Minister Sushilkumar Shinde simply rising and announcing that the Telangana bill had been placed in the House. However, critics say that the method used by the Congress to create the new state is just as much in bad taste as the methods employed by its opponents to stall it. "This bill should be dropped and ought to be dropped. What had happened today is a blot on our democracy. 

Without giving a 48 hour notice the home minister simply gets up and introduces a bill," said political analyst Parakala Prabhakar. Although the Congress is trying to project a serious intent on the creation of Telangana, the earlier flip-flops cannot be ignored. "In 2004, the Congress had looked for a very limited solution to Telangana. It was only in 2009 that it had given a firm commitment on the basis of which they got electoral victories. 

The Sri Krishna committee that was set up did not endorse the division of the state. So a group of ministers was set up to look upon the issue. Surprisingly, none of the members of the GoM ever visited Andhra Pradesh or Hyderabad. They sought responses through emails," Prabhakar said. Senior journalist TM Veeraraghav agreed that the Centre is completely at fault for the current mess. 

"The Centre has to take responsibility for dilly-dallying the issue. They must remember that it was a poll promise that they had made. The Congress may not be responsible for the acrimony that came to the fore today. Individual MPs have to respond on that," Veeraraghav said. The role of the Bharatiya Janata Party has also become a suspect in this whole issue. "The BJP has a double standard. 

When they created Chhattisgarh and Jharkhand, it was passed through voice vote amid din. Now they are talking about propriety. In 2009, definitely the Congress and every other party were in favour of creation of Telangana. Even BJP supported it. It is a test of character, commitment and credibility of the national parties," Rao said. Veeraraghav felt that the BJP won't have much political role to play in Andhra Pradesh but it won't also allow the 17 Telangana seats to go to the Congress easily. 

"The BJP has no stake in Andhra Pradesh but it is not going to give Congress the 17 Telangana seats so easily. However, it is highly unlikely that this Bill is going to be passed in this session. Even if it is passed in Lok Sabha it won't get passed in Rajya Sabha given the BJP's stand today where it has a majority," he said. Telengana has always remained a complex issue from the moment the idea was mooted, but according to its backers, it is an idea whose time has come. 

"When Congress did not decide on Telangana we called them indecisive and when they decided finally we call it poliltical expediency. There is no right time. Telangana has to be formed amid resistance. Seemandhra's MPs will always remain political opportunists," TRS's Rao said.