By Dr.Cyriac Maprayil. London
One of the reasons – and a very sound one-why the government of India opposed recognition for the threatened break away of Nagaland in the early sixties was that this would encourage similar trends through out the country possibly resulting in the disintegration of the Indian union.
This is one of the reasons why India, secular, democratic India continues to protect Kashmir from fundamentalists whose ultimate aim is the destruction of civilised secularism. It is therefore, sad to know that Telangana, an integral part of the state of Andhra Pradesh,is to be considered as a separate state by the government of India.
There are some separatist tribalists who cite the example of united states of America to justify their own version of what amounts to a kind of apartheid. Forgotten in this argument is the fact that American states are not tribal in so far as they are united by a common unifying language that is English and their culture has its roots in what may be described as fundamentally American-apple pie and hamburgers, if you like.
In India there is no unifying language despite attempts to foist Hindi with disastrous consequences on the south of India particularly Tamil Nadu which violently resisted the replacement of ancient Tamil language by a perceived ‘alien’ tongue.
The Indian Prime Minister of the day,Lal Bahadur Sastri was rebuked by the President Sri S.Radakrishnan for his folly in taking on the Tamils and eventually compromised so that India remains a united nation.
Telangana ,in contrast , is a Telugu speaking part of Telugu speaking Andhra Pradesh. So there is no language grievance here. Where it differs from the rest of Andhra is its Mao-Marxist inspired opposition to “capitalist” India.
This is not a recent development though it is strongly associated with Naxalites. Shortly after Indian independence, telangana violently opted for a radical social state which was quickly crushed by the Indian army on Nehru’s orders. So it is ironic that this rebel area is being granted statehood. True, it will have to function under the limits imposed on it by the Indian constitution. But what is disturbing for most Indians who cherishes Indian unity and have no time for chauvinism and communalism is that these are precisely the negatives that recognition of Telangana state will foster.
India first and narrow provincialism last should be our indestructible motto. So far for all the turbulence and threat to secularism, India remains a strong and vibrant democracy , a powerful bastion against bigotry, castesm, communalism and above all fundamentalism of the most obscene and objectionable kind. May it always remain the same and let us prevent more Telanganas and keep our beloved India intact.
