As Mumbaikars seek to overcome yet another tragedy and return to their normal lives and Norwegians mourn the death of their loved ones, one is reminded of the teachings of Bhagavad Gita, which emphasizes on the non-permanence of either happiness or distress and the importance of discharging one’s responsibility without being influenced by the vicissitudes in life.
In text 14 of Chapter 2, Lord Krishna tells Pandava warrior Arjuna that the non permanent appearance of happiness and distress and their disappearance in due course are like the appearance and disappearance of winter and summer seasons. They arise from sense perception and one must learn to tolerate them without being disturbed.
The divine cowherd also seeks to console and provide solace to a grieving humanity asserting that the soul can never be cut into pieces by any weapon, nor can it be burned by fire, nor moistened by water, not withered by wind.
“This individual soul is unbreakable and insoluble, and can be neither burned not dried. He is everlasting, all pervading, unchangeable, immovable and eternally the same”. (Text 24, Chapter 2)
Thus, one who thinks that the living entity is the slayer or that he is slain, does not understand. According to the Gita, one who is in knowledge knows that the self neither slays not is slain.
Krishna further goes on to exhort in his sermon on the battlefield that for the one who has taken his or her birth, death is certain and for one who is dead, birth is certain and therefore “in the unavoidable discharge of your duty, you should not lament”.
To those who are emotionally affected by such situations in life, the song celestial counsels, “from whatever and wherever the mind wanders due to its flickering and unsteady nature, one must certainly withdraw it and bring it back under the control of the self’. (Text 26, Chapter 6).
The Gita also offers advice to the political leadership in such a scenario. In Text 20 of Chapter 3, it says that even Kings like Janaka and others attained the perfectional stage by performance of prescribed duties. “Therefore, just for the same of educating the people in general, you should perform your work…whatever action is performed by a great man, common men follow in his footsteps. And whatever standards he sets by exemplary acts, all the world pursues”.
Monday, July 25, 2011
Monday, July 18, 2011
Remembering a Forgotten Guru
“The Child of music and of love” was the definition Sir John Davies gave to the great art of dancing.
Although the average educated person in the country is acquainted with the names of only a handful of artistes, India has produced countless number of talented and dedicated artistes, who worked selflessly and whole-heartedly for the emancipation of Indian culture and its varied art forms which had gathered a lot of dust during the centuries of alien rule.
Guru Thottam Shankaran Namboodiri, one of the greatest Kathakali performers the country has produced, was one such artiste.
For the uninitiated, Kathakali, one of the oldest theatre forms in the world, is a group presentation in which dancers take various roles in performances traditionally based on themes from Hindu mythology, especially Ramayana and Mahabharata.
The Guru was born in Thakazhi, a mile from the famous Krishnaswamy temple at Ambalapuzha in Alapuzha district of Kerala, in a family of landlords and the most orthodox of Brahmins.
After his ‘Upanayanam’ (sacred thread ceremony) and the completion of his studies of Vedic texts and other religious scriptures, young Shankaran evinced keen interest in dance and drama, especially Kathakali, which was viewed with disapproval by his father, a learned Pandit. Shankaran, who became the first Brahmin to take to Kathakali, nevertheless started studying Kathakali surreptitiously. And two years later, much to the amazement and ire of his father, he appeared in a Kathakali rehearsal witnessed among others by the family patriarch.
Himself a connoisseur of art, the father could not resist admiring his son’s talent notwithstanding his initial opposition and in due course allowed him to study ‘Natya’ properly. Encouraged by his father’s support, Sankaran studied ‘Abhinaya’ for four years under a well-known Chakkiyar and thereafter traveled across the state learning from different teachers whatever special knowledge they had. For a good 15 years, Sankaran toured all over Malabar with the best of Kathakali troupes and won recognition from Kings, Princes, local chieftains and temples in the form of ‘Vira Shrinkhalas’, medals and gifts. Simultaneously, the Guru also studied other forms of dances and Sanskrit drama, which over the years enabled him to become the best exponent of his art.
The Guru was perhaps the sole perfect master of the technique of ‘Ekalochana’. ‘Ekalochana’ is a scene from the ‘Attakatha’ (the verse text for a Kathakali piece) named ‘Duryodhana Vadham’ (The slaying of Mahabharata villain Duryodhana), in which Duryodhana while sitting in the garden with his wife Bhanumati is watched by a ‘Koki couple’ (birds). (It is said that these birds cannot meet after moon rise as a result of a sage’s curse).
These ‘Chakravaka Pakshis’ as they are called, seeing Bhanumati’s face and mistaking it to be the moon are frightened and the female bird with one eye looks angrily at Bhanumati’s face and with the other looks sorrowfully at her mate. Here, the Guru with one side of his face expressed anger (Raudra Bhava) and with the other sorrow (Karuna Bhava) simultaneously.
But it was his encounter with the father of modern Indian dance Uday Shankar which changed the lives of both and heralded the entry of regional dance forms into the national mainstream.Overwhelmed by the Guru’s performance at the palace of the Travancore King in 1934, Uday Shankar fell at his feet and requested him to be his Guru. They took a great liking for each other, which deepened and intensified further with time. The Guru accompanied Shankar to Kolkata in the same year to teach him and his troupe. Committed to the propagation of Kathakali, the Guru alongwith other actors and musicians toured across Northern India including Lahore, Delhi, Jaipur, Ahmedabad, Baroda, Bombay and Patna in 1936.
With the inception of the Uday Shankar India Culture Centre at Almora in 1938, the Guru moved to the Himalayan resort and consecrated the image of Lord Nataraja, the muse for traditional Indian artists. He taught Kathakali and expressions to Group members and students for eight months and spent the winter with his family in Kerala.
The Centre also hosted other great masters like Guru Kandappa Pillai, Guru Amubi Singh, Vishnudas Shirali and Ustad Allauddin Khan and the its students included Narendra Sharma, Guru Dutt, Sundari Sridharani, Kapila Vatsyayan and Shanti Bardhan.
Uday Shankar, alongwith his brother and Sitar maestro Pandit Ravi Shankar, also spent days together at the Guru’s native village and learnt the nuances of Kathakali.
The Guru’s love and affection for his pupil Uday Shankar was legendary. In fact, when the orthodox Brahmins in Malabar tried to dissuade him from traveling so far, the Guru is reported to have said, “if Shankar calls me even in the middle of the sea, I will unhesitatingly go to him”. He kept this promise till the last dying in the arms of his famous disciple.
A well-known art critic had described the 63-year old Guru’s final exit from the world stage on August 7, 1943 thus:
“The death that overtook the great master was as sudden as glorious. Five minutes before he had acted the scene of ‘Dussasana Vadham’, which was performed with the vigour and strength of youth, when the actor reached the very acme of perfection in the portrayal of the ‘Raudra’ aspect. The work done, the Guru went and sat in the auditorium and watched an item by the girl students. Just before ‘Indra’ was to begin, he relaxed in his seat and lolled over.
“He was taken in the fresh air when Dada (Uday Shankar) dressed up as Indra, ready to begin his dance, rushed out and caught hold of his Guru in his arms. Guru breathed his last, with a quiet, contented smile on his lips, body still moist with perspiration from his dance, surrounded by his pupils. It was unbelievable, monstrous. Yet, it was glorious, magnificent. He loved to dance and teach. He danced as he lived and he died dancing, at his best, every inch an artiste, dignified, straight and active even at 63…”
A shocked Uday Shankar, who regarded the Guru as the symbol of the Centre, said, “I cannot believe it, he looks so peaceful and happy. He has not only been a Guru and a father to me but much more. I feel bewildered but I know he is not gone. Fathers and Gurus never die, they are immortal. I have not been able in this life to get even a fraction of his art but I pray that when I die, I might at least follow him and depart suddenly, working and enjoying my work till the very last minute.”
Uday Shankar later dedicated ‘Kalpana’, one of the first and best ever films on Indian art to the memory of his late Guru. The Almora Centre too was closed soon thereafter. A fresh attempt is being made to revive the Centre at a new location at Almora for which the foundation stone was laid by the then President A P J Abdul Kalam.
As Uday Shankar began innovating and experimenting with the different art forms and evolving the modern Indian ballet, the task of preserving Kathakali in its purest form was left to the Guru’s son, Thottam Gopalakrishnan Nambudiripad. Though highly talented like his father, Gopalakrishnan chose to propagate Kathakali as a teacher, first joining Bharatiya Vidya Bhavan’s arts faculty on the invitation of Dr K M Munshi and later shifting to the West Bengal Academy of Dance, Drama and Music (which later became Rabindra Bharati University) at the special invitation of the then Chief Minister Dr B C Roy.
Prof Nambudiripad too was honoured with several awards including the ‘Amritam-tu-Vidya-Natyam’ by the Bharatiya Vidya Bhavan (the late actor Prithviraj Kapoor was the only other recipient) and a Senior Fellowship by the Government of India for his contribution to the promotion of ‘Natyakala’.
Like the late Guru, Prof Nambudiripad also perfected the art of ‘Ekalochana’ wherein with one side of his faced expressed anger (Raudra Bhava) and with the other sorrow (Karuna Bhava) simultaneously. He bid adieu both to the ‘Natyavedi’ and the world on January 02, 1985.
The Delhi-based Subhadra Nambudiri Foundation is also planning documentaries and publications in the coming days to propagate both Kathakali and the contributions made by the Late Guru.
***********************************************************************
Although the average educated person in the country is acquainted with the names of only a handful of artistes, India has produced countless number of talented and dedicated artistes, who worked selflessly and whole-heartedly for the emancipation of Indian culture and its varied art forms which had gathered a lot of dust during the centuries of alien rule.
Guru Thottam Shankaran Namboodiri, one of the greatest Kathakali performers the country has produced, was one such artiste.
For the uninitiated, Kathakali, one of the oldest theatre forms in the world, is a group presentation in which dancers take various roles in performances traditionally based on themes from Hindu mythology, especially Ramayana and Mahabharata.
The Guru was born in Thakazhi, a mile from the famous Krishnaswamy temple at Ambalapuzha in Alapuzha district of Kerala, in a family of landlords and the most orthodox of Brahmins.
After his ‘Upanayanam’ (sacred thread ceremony) and the completion of his studies of Vedic texts and other religious scriptures, young Shankaran evinced keen interest in dance and drama, especially Kathakali, which was viewed with disapproval by his father, a learned Pandit. Shankaran, who became the first Brahmin to take to Kathakali, nevertheless started studying Kathakali surreptitiously. And two years later, much to the amazement and ire of his father, he appeared in a Kathakali rehearsal witnessed among others by the family patriarch.
Himself a connoisseur of art, the father could not resist admiring his son’s talent notwithstanding his initial opposition and in due course allowed him to study ‘Natya’ properly. Encouraged by his father’s support, Sankaran studied ‘Abhinaya’ for four years under a well-known Chakkiyar and thereafter traveled across the state learning from different teachers whatever special knowledge they had. For a good 15 years, Sankaran toured all over Malabar with the best of Kathakali troupes and won recognition from Kings, Princes, local chieftains and temples in the form of ‘Vira Shrinkhalas’, medals and gifts. Simultaneously, the Guru also studied other forms of dances and Sanskrit drama, which over the years enabled him to become the best exponent of his art.
The Guru was perhaps the sole perfect master of the technique of ‘Ekalochana’. ‘Ekalochana’ is a scene from the ‘Attakatha’ (the verse text for a Kathakali piece) named ‘Duryodhana Vadham’ (The slaying of Mahabharata villain Duryodhana), in which Duryodhana while sitting in the garden with his wife Bhanumati is watched by a ‘Koki couple’ (birds). (It is said that these birds cannot meet after moon rise as a result of a sage’s curse).
These ‘Chakravaka Pakshis’ as they are called, seeing Bhanumati’s face and mistaking it to be the moon are frightened and the female bird with one eye looks angrily at Bhanumati’s face and with the other looks sorrowfully at her mate. Here, the Guru with one side of his face expressed anger (Raudra Bhava) and with the other sorrow (Karuna Bhava) simultaneously.
But it was his encounter with the father of modern Indian dance Uday Shankar which changed the lives of both and heralded the entry of regional dance forms into the national mainstream.Overwhelmed by the Guru’s performance at the palace of the Travancore King in 1934, Uday Shankar fell at his feet and requested him to be his Guru. They took a great liking for each other, which deepened and intensified further with time. The Guru accompanied Shankar to Kolkata in the same year to teach him and his troupe. Committed to the propagation of Kathakali, the Guru alongwith other actors and musicians toured across Northern India including Lahore, Delhi, Jaipur, Ahmedabad, Baroda, Bombay and Patna in 1936.
With the inception of the Uday Shankar India Culture Centre at Almora in 1938, the Guru moved to the Himalayan resort and consecrated the image of Lord Nataraja, the muse for traditional Indian artists. He taught Kathakali and expressions to Group members and students for eight months and spent the winter with his family in Kerala.
The Centre also hosted other great masters like Guru Kandappa Pillai, Guru Amubi Singh, Vishnudas Shirali and Ustad Allauddin Khan and the its students included Narendra Sharma, Guru Dutt, Sundari Sridharani, Kapila Vatsyayan and Shanti Bardhan.
Uday Shankar, alongwith his brother and Sitar maestro Pandit Ravi Shankar, also spent days together at the Guru’s native village and learnt the nuances of Kathakali.
The Guru’s love and affection for his pupil Uday Shankar was legendary. In fact, when the orthodox Brahmins in Malabar tried to dissuade him from traveling so far, the Guru is reported to have said, “if Shankar calls me even in the middle of the sea, I will unhesitatingly go to him”. He kept this promise till the last dying in the arms of his famous disciple.
A well-known art critic had described the 63-year old Guru’s final exit from the world stage on August 7, 1943 thus:
“The death that overtook the great master was as sudden as glorious. Five minutes before he had acted the scene of ‘Dussasana Vadham’, which was performed with the vigour and strength of youth, when the actor reached the very acme of perfection in the portrayal of the ‘Raudra’ aspect. The work done, the Guru went and sat in the auditorium and watched an item by the girl students. Just before ‘Indra’ was to begin, he relaxed in his seat and lolled over.
“He was taken in the fresh air when Dada (Uday Shankar) dressed up as Indra, ready to begin his dance, rushed out and caught hold of his Guru in his arms. Guru breathed his last, with a quiet, contented smile on his lips, body still moist with perspiration from his dance, surrounded by his pupils. It was unbelievable, monstrous. Yet, it was glorious, magnificent. He loved to dance and teach. He danced as he lived and he died dancing, at his best, every inch an artiste, dignified, straight and active even at 63…”
A shocked Uday Shankar, who regarded the Guru as the symbol of the Centre, said, “I cannot believe it, he looks so peaceful and happy. He has not only been a Guru and a father to me but much more. I feel bewildered but I know he is not gone. Fathers and Gurus never die, they are immortal. I have not been able in this life to get even a fraction of his art but I pray that when I die, I might at least follow him and depart suddenly, working and enjoying my work till the very last minute.”
Uday Shankar later dedicated ‘Kalpana’, one of the first and best ever films on Indian art to the memory of his late Guru. The Almora Centre too was closed soon thereafter. A fresh attempt is being made to revive the Centre at a new location at Almora for which the foundation stone was laid by the then President A P J Abdul Kalam.
As Uday Shankar began innovating and experimenting with the different art forms and evolving the modern Indian ballet, the task of preserving Kathakali in its purest form was left to the Guru’s son, Thottam Gopalakrishnan Nambudiripad. Though highly talented like his father, Gopalakrishnan chose to propagate Kathakali as a teacher, first joining Bharatiya Vidya Bhavan’s arts faculty on the invitation of Dr K M Munshi and later shifting to the West Bengal Academy of Dance, Drama and Music (which later became Rabindra Bharati University) at the special invitation of the then Chief Minister Dr B C Roy.
Prof Nambudiripad too was honoured with several awards including the ‘Amritam-tu-Vidya-Natyam’ by the Bharatiya Vidya Bhavan (the late actor Prithviraj Kapoor was the only other recipient) and a Senior Fellowship by the Government of India for his contribution to the promotion of ‘Natyakala’.
Like the late Guru, Prof Nambudiripad also perfected the art of ‘Ekalochana’ wherein with one side of his faced expressed anger (Raudra Bhava) and with the other sorrow (Karuna Bhava) simultaneously. He bid adieu both to the ‘Natyavedi’ and the world on January 02, 1985.
The Delhi-based Subhadra Nambudiri Foundation is also planning documentaries and publications in the coming days to propagate both Kathakali and the contributions made by the Late Guru.
***********************************************************************
Sunday, July 10, 2011
Time for Telangana
Telangana is back in the headlines with a bang once again with MPs and legislators, belonging to the region, from virtually all political parties including the ruling Congress party, tendering their resignation in what seems to be a desperate bid to force the Centre to bring in a law for the creation of a separate state in the upcoming Monsoon session of Parliament. Several Ministers in the state Government too have put in their papers, rejecting the mediation by the party high command.
The en masse resignations were followed by a 48 hour bandh, call for which was given by the Telangana Joint Action Committee to put pressure on the Centre to concede statehood. Offices, educational institutions, shops and business establishments remained shut and several bus and train services were cancelled.
The emotive Telangana issue has been like a volcano erupting off and on. Unfortunately, all political parties have all along been maintaining inconsistency on the issue and kept changing their stance according to their electoral convenience.
There has also been an attempt to compare the demand for Telangana with similar demands for smaller states across the country and fears have been raised time and again that conceding to the demand would open a pandora’s box and the country could ill afford creation of so many smaller states.
While smaller states may be administratively more convenient and give greater say to the local populace in matters of governance, states such as Jharkhand, where independent MLAs like Madhu Kora became Chief Ministers and amassed wealth vastly disproportionate to their income, showed the inherent fragility of polity in the newly carved out utopias often touted as the ultimate panacea for misgovernance and maladministration in large states.
However, the demand for Telangana, comprising the Telugu speaking portions of the erstwhile princely state of Hyderabad, has been there right since the time of nation’s independence. Except for the Telugu language, there was and is very little in common between the peoples of Telangana and other regions of the state namely Rayalaseema and Coastal Andhra.
To begin with, Telangana was never under direct British rule, unlike the Coastal Andhra and Rayalaseema regions of Andhra Pradesh, which were part of British India’s Madras Presidency..
It may be recalled that the States Reorganization Commission (SRC) , appointed in 1953, to study the creation of states on linguistic basis, was not in favour of an immediate merger of Telangana region with Andhra state, despite their common language.
The Commission found that the people of Telangana had several concerns including a less-developed economy than Andhra, but with a larger revenue base, which people of Telangana feared might be diverted for use in Andhra.
In fact, the then Prime Minister Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru was initially skeptical of merging Telangana with Andhra State, fearing a "tint of expansionist imperialism" in it. He compared the merger to a matrimonial alliance having "provisions for divorce" if the partners in the alliance cannot get on well.
Finally, the new state of Andhra Pradesh came into being on November 1, 1956 with assurances to Telangana in terms of power-sharing as well as administrative domicile rules and distribution of expenses of various regions.
However, the honeymoon did not last long with the people of Telangana expressing dissatisfaction over the implementation of the agreements and guarantees., made at the time of the state’s merger.
According to proponents of a separate state, Telangana is not only the largest of the three regions of Andhra Pradesh state, covering 41.47% of its total area and inhabited by 40.54% of the state's population but also contributes about 76% of the state's revenues, excluding the contribution of the central government.
They also cite perceived injustices in the distribution of water, budget allocations, and jobs. They allege that Budget allocations to Telangana are generally less than 1/3 of the total Andhra Pradesh budget. There are also allegations that in most years, funds allocated to Telangana were never spent. According to the proponents of separate statehood, only 20% of the total Government employees, less than 10% of employees in the secretariat, and less than 5% of department heads in the Andhra Pradesh government are from Telangana.
Following widespread protests last year, the Centre had announced a five-member committee on Telangana headed by retired Justice B N Srikrishna to look into the issue.
But instead of coming out with a strong recommendation, the Committee, in its report, offered six options ranging from maintaining the status quo to creation of a separate state with the contentious Hyderabad as a Union Territory as also acceptance of the demand for carving out a separate state with Hyderabad as its capital in toto.
Continuing with its dilly dallying tactics, the Centre sat on the recommendations, resulting in the present crisis.
With United Andhra contributing the highest number of MPs to its kitty, the Centre is hesitant to take a decision on the issue. With the charismatic YSR no more around and his son Jaganmohan Reddy threatening to undermine the party’s base in Seema-Andhra, the party’s options are limited.
The Congress also does not want the TRS, BJP or other regional parties to take credit for creation of a separate state. Having realised that the creation of Telangana was inevitable and a matter of time in the wake of consensus on the issue among all parties and sharp division within its own rank and file, the resignation of Congress Ministers, MLAs and MPs is being seen by political observers as a last ditch stage managed attempt by the Congress party to hijack the movement and retain at least part of its fast dwindling strength south of Vindhyas.
With only 38 MLAs and a wafer thin majority in Kerala, a discredited ally in Tamil Nadu, a near wipe out in Karnataka in the wake of BJP’s continued winning spree in Assembly and civic polls and a fast eroding base in Andhra thanks to Jaganmohan Reddy and a weak state leadership, Congress, it seems, sees a last straw of hope in Telangana.
Thus, the Congress men’s sudden penchant for Telangana has apparently more to do with realpolitik than the sentiments and aspirations of the people of the region. Whatever be the political compulsions, it is high time the people of Telangana get to realise their long cherished dream with the people of Seemandhra being adequately compensated for the loss of Hyderabad and having no bitterness for their brethren.
*******************************************************************************************
The en masse resignations were followed by a 48 hour bandh, call for which was given by the Telangana Joint Action Committee to put pressure on the Centre to concede statehood. Offices, educational institutions, shops and business establishments remained shut and several bus and train services were cancelled.
The emotive Telangana issue has been like a volcano erupting off and on. Unfortunately, all political parties have all along been maintaining inconsistency on the issue and kept changing their stance according to their electoral convenience.
There has also been an attempt to compare the demand for Telangana with similar demands for smaller states across the country and fears have been raised time and again that conceding to the demand would open a pandora’s box and the country could ill afford creation of so many smaller states.
While smaller states may be administratively more convenient and give greater say to the local populace in matters of governance, states such as Jharkhand, where independent MLAs like Madhu Kora became Chief Ministers and amassed wealth vastly disproportionate to their income, showed the inherent fragility of polity in the newly carved out utopias often touted as the ultimate panacea for misgovernance and maladministration in large states.
However, the demand for Telangana, comprising the Telugu speaking portions of the erstwhile princely state of Hyderabad, has been there right since the time of nation’s independence. Except for the Telugu language, there was and is very little in common between the peoples of Telangana and other regions of the state namely Rayalaseema and Coastal Andhra.
To begin with, Telangana was never under direct British rule, unlike the Coastal Andhra and Rayalaseema regions of Andhra Pradesh, which were part of British India’s Madras Presidency..
It may be recalled that the States Reorganization Commission (SRC) , appointed in 1953, to study the creation of states on linguistic basis, was not in favour of an immediate merger of Telangana region with Andhra state, despite their common language.
The Commission found that the people of Telangana had several concerns including a less-developed economy than Andhra, but with a larger revenue base, which people of Telangana feared might be diverted for use in Andhra.
In fact, the then Prime Minister Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru was initially skeptical of merging Telangana with Andhra State, fearing a "tint of expansionist imperialism" in it. He compared the merger to a matrimonial alliance having "provisions for divorce" if the partners in the alliance cannot get on well.
Finally, the new state of Andhra Pradesh came into being on November 1, 1956 with assurances to Telangana in terms of power-sharing as well as administrative domicile rules and distribution of expenses of various regions.
However, the honeymoon did not last long with the people of Telangana expressing dissatisfaction over the implementation of the agreements and guarantees., made at the time of the state’s merger.
According to proponents of a separate state, Telangana is not only the largest of the three regions of Andhra Pradesh state, covering 41.47% of its total area and inhabited by 40.54% of the state's population but also contributes about 76% of the state's revenues, excluding the contribution of the central government.
They also cite perceived injustices in the distribution of water, budget allocations, and jobs. They allege that Budget allocations to Telangana are generally less than 1/3 of the total Andhra Pradesh budget. There are also allegations that in most years, funds allocated to Telangana were never spent. According to the proponents of separate statehood, only 20% of the total Government employees, less than 10% of employees in the secretariat, and less than 5% of department heads in the Andhra Pradesh government are from Telangana.
Following widespread protests last year, the Centre had announced a five-member committee on Telangana headed by retired Justice B N Srikrishna to look into the issue.
But instead of coming out with a strong recommendation, the Committee, in its report, offered six options ranging from maintaining the status quo to creation of a separate state with the contentious Hyderabad as a Union Territory as also acceptance of the demand for carving out a separate state with Hyderabad as its capital in toto.
Continuing with its dilly dallying tactics, the Centre sat on the recommendations, resulting in the present crisis.
With United Andhra contributing the highest number of MPs to its kitty, the Centre is hesitant to take a decision on the issue. With the charismatic YSR no more around and his son Jaganmohan Reddy threatening to undermine the party’s base in Seema-Andhra, the party’s options are limited.
The Congress also does not want the TRS, BJP or other regional parties to take credit for creation of a separate state. Having realised that the creation of Telangana was inevitable and a matter of time in the wake of consensus on the issue among all parties and sharp division within its own rank and file, the resignation of Congress Ministers, MLAs and MPs is being seen by political observers as a last ditch stage managed attempt by the Congress party to hijack the movement and retain at least part of its fast dwindling strength south of Vindhyas.
With only 38 MLAs and a wafer thin majority in Kerala, a discredited ally in Tamil Nadu, a near wipe out in Karnataka in the wake of BJP’s continued winning spree in Assembly and civic polls and a fast eroding base in Andhra thanks to Jaganmohan Reddy and a weak state leadership, Congress, it seems, sees a last straw of hope in Telangana.
Thus, the Congress men’s sudden penchant for Telangana has apparently more to do with realpolitik than the sentiments and aspirations of the people of the region. Whatever be the political compulsions, it is high time the people of Telangana get to realise their long cherished dream with the people of Seemandhra being adequately compensated for the loss of Hyderabad and having no bitterness for their brethren.
*******************************************************************************************
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