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Politics and Public Policy in India

April 16, 2012 • 8:00 am 2

Hyderabad riots, Political flux in Andhra and BJP’s Telangana stance – OpEd in Pioneer

Originally published in The Pioneer. Also published earlier in Pioneer my challenge to the BJP to make the case for Telangana to rest of Andhra.

Background reading for this Column

The reactions from Muslim groups and MIM linking Sangareddy violence to Mahububnagar can be found here and here. Business Standard has a good summary of political turmoil within AP Congress. and the India Today on the Reddy Hindu Identity rhetoric from Congress. The BJP’s booklet on case for Telangana to Seemandhra residents can be found here.

(Also see bottom of the blog for  tailpiece on Beef controversy at Osmania University)

One of film actresses, Urmila Matondkar’s early breaks in the Telugu movie industry was a Ram Gopal Verma movie called Gaayam made in 1993. The movie also featured Revathi and a less nationally known male lead actor,Jagapathi Babu. While much of the storyline is said to have been inspired by The Godfather and other Western sources, there was an element of factual reality closer home on how communal riots were engineered in Hyderabad to force a Chief Minister out.

Hyderabad was witness to a series of incidents of communal rioting between 1990 and 1992 even as dissidence within the Congress saw three different Congress Chief Ministers within that span of three years. The strong correlation between weak Congress Chief Ministers in Andhra Pradesh and communal violence in Hyderabad is not limited to the early 1990s. Between 1980 and 1983, Andhra Pradesh saw a similar parade of weak Congress Chief Ministers being swapped from New Delhi and a highly controversial Congress-engineered coup against NT Rama Rao in 1984, with some of the worst incidents of communal rioting in Hyderabad.

Growing up as a child in Hyderabad, watching news of curfew being imposed onDoordarshan, was a favourite pastime, for one of our Mathematics teachers would invariably have to skip showing up to work. Curfew in Hyderabad those days meant there was always the outside chance of either school being closed or a free period. The incidents of communal rioting in Hyderabad were not funny anymore as we grew up to come to terms with its grim reality in the early 1990s. During the 1990 violence another Mathematics teacher was booked under the Terrorist and Disruptive Activities (Prevention) Act and put away without bail, for the only crime of being a Hindu in his twenties in an area of the old city that saw violence against Muslims.

Hyderabad once again in the past week saw deliberately provoked incidents of communal violence. Some have attempted to attribute it to VHP leader Pravin Togadia’s earlier presence in that city, which in the opinion of this columnist is a naïve and superficial reading of the dynamics that are shaping up in Andhra Pradesh. The State once again is witness to a weak Congress Chief Minister with no real base. There are a number of powerful lobbies of current and former Congressmen that have been at the receiving end of a variety of court and CBI interventions with their commercial interests around Hyderabad and political interests elsewhere under threat. Last but not the least there is a new political dynamic that is emerging that is unsettling many from the Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen to the Telangana Rashtra Samithi.

The communal incidents of the past week in Hyderabad must not be seen in isolation given the anxiety expressed by the MIM and other Muslim groups even before these incidents. Sangareddy, about 50km to the west of Hyderabad, saw communal incidents in the weeks leading up to the incidents in Hyderabad. In both Sangareddy and Hyderabad, there was deliberate provocation in the name of insult to religious symbols of one kind or another. But what is curious is the line pushed by the MIM and the so-called Muslim civil rights groups, both of whom linked the communal flare-up to the BJP’s surprise win in a bypoll election to the State Assembly in a different district of the Telangana region — Mahabubnagar.

The Congress and the Telugu Desam Party have declined in the Telangana region for some time now over the T-State issue. What is, however, interesting about the Mahabubnagar contest is that it was the first time that there was a competitive election between pro-Telangana parties since the movement for joint political action for a separate Telangana State emerged. The margin of victory for the BJP in Mahabubnagar may have been narrow, but it is significant that the BJP managed to hold its own against the TRS in a Telangana seat with a large concentration of Muslim population. Hence, the angst of the MIM and other Muslim groups is highly understandable.

This columnist had many months back lamented that the movement in support of a separate Telangana State had to first make its case to the rest of Andhra. This columnist had also lamented that, despite the churning in Andhra politics and the fragmentation of political parties, the BJP had failed to produce a leader who could reach beyond the regional divide to chart a new course. This past week the BJP’s young chief in Andhra Pradesh, G Kishan Reddy, released a 14 page booklet in Telugu, making a direct socio-economic case to the people of Rayalseema and Andhra on why a regional bifurcation of the State would not hurt their interest but instead create new opportunity. It was heartening to see him actually take up the challenge of making a positive case for Telangana to the rest of Andhra by touring both regions.

It is too early to say if the BJP’s Mahabubnagar win was an anomaly or a leading indicator of the undercurrents in play in Telangana. One thing is, however, clear: The political ferment within the Congress in Andhra has reached its rotten limit, with factions going at each other within the party and beyond. Chandrababu Naidu’s Telugu Desam Party seems to also be scripting its path to increasing irrelevance with its failure to take a clear stance on Telangana while continuing to be mired in family feuds within NTR’s extended family.

The political environment in Andhra Pradesh is in a flux, putting a State that sends the highest number of Congress MPs in play for the first time in decades, opening up the possibility of a new configuration to emerge.

How far the BJP will gain in this environment, is an open question, but it may have found a new rising star in young Kishan Reddy who has shown a proclivity for engaging on policy issues in the past and has now shown the conviction to take a bold and enlightened stance on the Telangana issue.

Tailpiece on Beef controversy in Osmania University

The Beef controversy in Osmania University is unfortunate. It is one thing to argue a case for the private right to consumer beef quite another to make a public spectacle out of it with the deliberate aim of drawing controversy. The ABVP too has acted foolishly walking into the trap here resulting in violence on campus. Between the Telangana issue and these contrived controversies it is an open question what kind of academics gets done in Osmania University these days. This entire sequence of events is another reason why organized politics on campus needs to be clamped down completely. The IITs have the most meaningful model for student governance within the campus where there is room for robust debate and democracy but without any role for political parties.

On the Beef issue without getting into the Historical context and the geographical differences on attitudes towards it suffices to say the following:

Most legislation in India is against commercial Cow slaughter and transportation and trade facilitating it. It is a slippery slope to go from this position to attempt to Criminalize the Possession or Consumption of Beef.

It is just as well in a Federal polity like India for a Local Community or state  to prohibit cow slaughter or commerce around it while other states and communities retain the right to not do so.

Beyond this any arguments against Private Consumption of Beef need to be in the socio-cultural realm with no role for Politics or Government.

Also read on the same topic from Offstumped Archives 2008 – Flat World Hindutva on Individual Freedom and Socio-economic choice and on Liberty and Licentiousness.

Filed under: federalism, Flat World Hindutva, Offstumped, Telangana

October 11, 2011 • 8:00 am 12

Telangana and the BJP’s lost opportunity in Andhra – OpEd in the Pioneer

Updated with Twitter conversation with G. Kishan Reddy, State President of BJP. Original post below

The UPA’s blundering over Telangana has not been put to critical scrutiny by the Delhi-based media, thus denying the issue the national coverage that it has long merited. If the blundering over Telangana and the mess in Andhra Pradesh was a glaring example of a culture of poor accountability within the Congress, paradoxically it is also a reflection on the BJP’s inability to fill the vacuum.

Since 2009 the stark reality for the BJP has been its failure to break new ground. Karnataka was the last new State that the BJP added to its kitty and has since been its only foray to the south. This inability to break new ground assumes acute significance given that the BJP has already peaked in most of its traditional strongholds with the exception of Rajasthan and Maharashtra. With a recovery in its former stronghold Uttar Pradesh far from certain, the BJP needs to take a hard look at why its future electoral footprint at best makes it look like a super regional party.

In a competitive bipolar polity a political blunder of the magnitude in Andhra Pradesh should have been a slam dunk opportunity for the BJP to resurrect itself. A party that sees itself as the natural alternative to the Congress should have been at the forefront in brokering a consensus in Andhra Pradesh given the prevailing environment of anarchy.

Unlike every other major political party that faces an existential factional feud over this issue, the BJP was in the unique position of being able to marshal public opinion on both sides of the Telangana debate.

With the TRS’s dishonorable conduct robbing what was a legitimate cause of all its moral sheen, and the conduct of some crony capitalist politicians from the rest of Andhra Pradesh vitiating the atmosphere, there has been an acute need for pan-Andhra leadership. The game of political one-upmanship that has been played out in Andhra Pradesh over Telangana has resulted in what should have been merely an administrative separation of regions assuming meaningless emotional overtones provoking and rationalising violence.

Despite this environment creating an opportunity for someone to stand tall and influence the debate on both sides within Andhra Pradesh, the BJP did not attempt any ground-breaking interventions.

At the time of writing this article, speculation was rife on the possibility of a political deal between the TRS and the Congress resulting in a merger and paving the way for a separate State of Telangana. While such a possibility cannot be ruled out in a State where cynical political wheeling-dealing and opportunism knows no limits, it is unlikely the tsunami of emotions unleashed by this issue can be calmed through a backroom deal between the TRS and the Congress.

Differences over the future status of Hyderabad, the fanning of Muslim anxieties as a political wedge issue and regional quotas will make any opportunistic backroom deal extremely hard to sell. Such a merger will not be seen as legitimate by the people of the rest of Andhra Pradesh, thus further vitiating an already surcharged atmosphere.

The right way out of this Telangana mess is for this to be a separation on mutually acceptable terms. It is incumbent on the advocates of a separate State of Telangana to win over the people in the rest of Andhra Pradesh to make the case for such a mutually acceptable separation. A move must be made to reach out to the rest of Andhra Pradesh to assuage anxieties and convince the people that a separate State of Telangana will in no way hurt their interests.

In fact, going a step further, it must be demonstrated how such a mutually acceptable separation of administration may actually be a win-win for all regions with greater devolution of powers and the opportunity for other cities to develop.

The BJP’s failure to distinguish itself uniquely with the above approach in Andhra Pradesh has practically resulted in a lost opportunity. With no credible pan-Andhra leadership that can straddle the regional divide, filling the vacuum resulting from a splintered and leaderless Congress and a discredited, divided Telugu Desam, the BJP is left to being a bit player in the debate, promising to support a Bill for Statehood in New Delhi while being able to influence little else in Andhra Pradesh.

An air of mutual suspicion and an atmosphere of distrust has been prevailing in Andhra Pradesh over Telanagana for many months now. This suspicion and distrust has largely resulted from crony capitalists on one side of the divide who are invested in Hyderabad thanks to political patronage and from extortionist politicians on the other side who see an opportunity for payback on what they believe was an unfair division of the spoils of power.

A move for the Telangana movement to reach out to the rest of Andhra Pradesh will take credible leadership on both sides, a rare commodity in all of Andhra Pradesh. It must be asked why Andhra Pradesh as a whole has failed to produce credible leaders with integrity in more than a decade now.

Between NT Ramarao’s showmanship, Mr Chandrababu Naidu’s political flip-flops, YS Rajasekhara Reddy’s rise from factionalism to demise in crony capitalism, and Chiranjeevi’s eminently forgettable debut, the leadership landscape in Andhra Pradesh is reflective of the current state of fragmented politics where nobody trusts anybody and nobody wants to listen to anybody. There seems to be no tall and towering figure that is able to dwarf the opportunists to command the people’s attention.

The solution to the Telangana crisis lies in winning over the rest of Andhra Pradesh. The moment calls for credible leadership to rise to the occasion. Andhra Pradesh is crying for such leadership. It is tragic that none is visible on the horizon.

Filed under: Telangana, Two Indias, UPA-II Critical Appraisal

September 30, 2011 • 8:00 am 9

Rahul Gandhi’s real litmus test is Andhra Pradesh and not Uttar Pradesh

Originally published in Rediff.com on 29th September 2011

The political intrigue at the highest levels of the United Progressive Alliance [ Images ] government over policymaking on the 2G spectrum issue has once again brought to the fore the poor political management skills of the Congress party.

At the time of writing of this column it is unclear if P Chidambaram [ Images ] would indeed step aside. The immediate political fallout from the 2G scam notwithstanding, the entire fracas raises serious questions on the level of trust between senior leaders of the United Progressive Alliance.

This lack of trust within the UPA leadership must not be analysed narrowly to be merely a conflict of egos or ambitions. This lack of trust is symptomatic of a deeper malaise within the Congress arising primarily from the dichotomy between politics and responsibility.

The blundering by the Congress over the Telangana [ Images ] issue best exemplifies this malaise. Consider this — Andhra Pradesh sends the highest number of members of Parliament from the Congress. The Congress party in Andhra had a virtual lock on the state assembly after the 2009 election. Between the UPA government in Delhi [ Images ] and the Congress government in Hyderabad as far as the affairs of Andhra go, there was not even the usual excuse for political delinquency — coalition compulsion.

Yet the Congress party blundered in its handling of Telangana, flip-flopped over political promises before and after successive elections to finally jeopardise governance in what should have been its flagship state.

Make no mistake, Andhra Pradesh is to the Congress what Gujarat is to the BJP in terms of being its political mainstay. In the past three decades with the exception of the Rajiv Gandhi [ Images ] government, the Congress has never managed to be in power in Delhi without a lock on Andhra Pradesh. What does it say of the average Congressman and -woman that they would forgive and tolerate a leadership that has jeopardised the party’s situation in the one state that matters the most for the UPA?

The lack of trust between leaders of the UPA is a direct fallout of this culture of lack of political accountability. The dichotomy of power and responsibility between Racecourse Road and Janpath ironically reminds of a similar split between the real power centre and a notional government within our neighbour to our western border.

It is no coincidence that both that State and this government are living a lie to rationalise the state of denial they find themselves in. It is also no coincidence that such a continued drift while in denial has lead to an existential crisis to both.<

At a different time in the Congress party’s history questions of this nature would have probably come from a Congress partisan lamenting the damage done by this separation of political power from the offices of responsibility. Matters have now come to such a pass that regrettably it is now up to Congress antagonists to hold up the mirror and show the partisans the truth.

The truth that in an environment of no political accountability nobody’s interests will be secure, as the blundering over Telangana has come to show. Little wonder that in such an environment of insecurity, basic trust has become a scarce commodity at the highest levels of the UPA’s leadership.

So where does the Congress as a party and the UPA as a government go from here?

The current UPA government has lost the moral fabric that once held it together. It is a matter time before its current avatar starts to disintegrate. Much faith has been invested in the multi-cornered Uttar Pradesh election next year to script the next version of a Congress-led government in Delhi.

The obsessive focus on Uttar Pradesh at the expense of utter delinquency in Andhra leads one to conclude that the Congress has come to view the outcome in Uttar Pradesh as a panacea to all its current political problems.

This has raised the stakes significantly for its future leader Rahul Gandhi. Stage-managed events and a servile media may have raised Rahul Gandhi’s profile in Uttar Pradesh, it is an open question if UP will displace AP as the Congress’s mainstay anytime soon.

The reality for Rahul Gandhi in other states is that his baby steps in ushering in accountability through inner-party democracy in the Youth Congress are likely to end up being a case of too little too late.

It is a stinging commentary on both Rahul Gandhi’s leadership and the culture that has been fostered in the Congress party that despite all of his high-profile visits to non-descript corners of the country, no questions have been asked so far on why he has not visited Andhra Pradesh or Osmania University to face the Telangana conflict first hand?

Irrespective of whether P Chidambaram resigns or more skeletons tumble out on the 2G scam, the Congress cannot run away from its responsibility of securing its own base and interests in Andhra Pradesh. The least it can do to be truthful and sincere to its own partisans and foot soldiers would be for its leadership to risk unpleasantness and face the inevitable in Andhra Pradesh.

It is Andhra Pradesh and not Uttar Pradesh which is the real litmus test for Rahul Gandhi’s political leadership. By outsourcing the resolution of the Telangana crisis to backroom operators and unelected bureaucrats, Rahul Gandhi has signaled what kind of leader he can at best be.

While this brings cheer to Congress antagonists, it is Congress partisans who need to be most concerned. Having lowered the bar on expectations from the leadership so much, they have jeopardised their own interests in their compulsion to make their leadership look good.

Filed under: Advani Yatra against Corruption, Anna Hazare, उत्तर प्रदेश २०१२, Baba Ramdev, Telangana, Two Indias, UPA-II Critical Appraisal, Uttar Pradesh Polls 2012, Varun Gandhi

September 22, 2011 • 5:40 am 12

Telangana’s solution lies in the rest of Andhra Pradesh

The contentious and intractable issue of statehood for the Telangana region seems to be on a path of further civil disobedience. The  Congress’ cynical opportunism and monumental blundering over Telangana is beyond censure. The other political parties have not covered themselves in much glory either. The conduct of the TRS in specific needs to be singled out for special censure with its irresponsible rhetoric bordering on outright hate and naked extortion.

This blogger long supported the demand for Telanagana statehood. But the TRS’ dishonorable conduct has robbed what was a legitimate cause of all its moral sheen. The conduct of some crony capitalist politicians from the rest of Andhra has been no less dishonorable. The net result of this game of political one-upmanship has been that what should have been merely an Administrative separation of regions has assumed meaningless emotional overtones provoking violence and rationalizing violence.

What is the way out of this Telangana mess ?

The possibility of a political deal between the TRS and the Congress has long been rumored. While such a possibility cannot be ruled out in a state where cynical political wheeling-dealing and opportunism knows no limits, it is unlikely the tsunami of emotions unleashed by this issue can be calmed through a backroom deal. Differences over the future status of Hyderabad, Muslim anxieties as wedge issue and the issue of regional quotas will make any opportunistic backroom deal extremely hard to sell.

The right way out of this Telangana mess is for this to be separation on mutually acceptable terms. It is incumbent on the leadership of the Telangana movement to win over their brothers and sisters in the rest of Andhra Pradesh to make the case for such a separation. They must reach out to to the rest of Andhra Pradesh to assuage anxieties and convince the people that a separate state of Telangana will in no way hurt their interests. In fact they should go a step further to show how such a mutually acceptable separation of Administration may actually be a win-win for all regions with greater devolution of power and the opportunity for other Cities to develop.

The air of mutual suspicion and the atmosphere of distrust has largely been created by crony capitalist  and extortionist politicians on both sides. A move for the Telangana movement to reach out to the rest of Andhra Pradesh will take credible leadership on both sides, a rare commodity in all of Andhra Pradesh.

It must be asked why Andhra Pradesh as a whole has failed to produce credible leaders with integrity in so many decades. Between NTR’s showmanship,  Chandrababu Naidu’s political flip-flops, YSR’s rise from factionalism to demise in crony capitalism and Chiranjeevi’s highly forgettable debut the leadership landscape in Andhra Pradesh is reflective of the current state  of fragmented politics where nobody trusts anybody and nobody wants to listen to anybody.

There seems to be no tall and towering figure who is able to dwarf the opportunists to command the people’s attention. The BJP has hardly distinguished itself while the Lok Satta is barely a force to reckon with.

The solution to the Telangana crisis lies in winning over the rest of Andhra Pradesh. The moment calls for credible leadership to rise to the occasion. Andhra Pradesh is crying for credible leadership. It is tragic that none is visible on the horizon.

Filed under: Telangana, Two Indias, UPA-II Critical Appraisal

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