Of late, KCR has been making improper statements; not that he did not give such statements earlier. The movement he has been leading has reached a crucial stage now and he should have been doubly careful with his tongue. Sri Krishna Committee is dealing with the matter very seriously and all the political parties are busy collecting data required by committee. After all they have to face cross examination by Justice Sri Krishna! In this academic process, the militancy of movement has taken a back seat. This lull might continue till December and it is becoming difficult for the T-leaders to keep the momentum of the movement.
The JAC broke into pieces and in its place myriad weak JACs have sprung up. The clout JAC (headed by Kodanda Ram) was commanding two months ago is nowhere to be seen now and nobody is taking Kodanda Ram seriously these days. All along he, along with other T-fighters, has been flaunting some statistics and claiming that T was underdeveloped. This information/misinformation/disinformation (it depends on the way how you look at things) has been in circulation since several years and leaders from A-area never bothered to counter it.
After Dec 9th, situation has changed. They started opposing this under-development theory with some data (how genuine, no one knows). Let us hope Sri Krishna Committee would find out whose statistics as well as interpretation are correct. Meanwhile Kodanda Ram and company changed their catchphrase from "It is the issue of underdevelopment” to “It is the issue of self-respect and self-rule".
When they talk of self-rule, one wonders whether T-MLAs and T-MPs are being nominated by A-leaders or getting elected by T-electorate. As far as self-respect is concerned, no one can measure it. When T-leaders are calling A-people thieves and giving a call to T-people to drive them out, are they thinking of self-respect of A-people? When KCR denounced Telugu Talli, was he considering Telugu self-respect aspect? When he said he would serve as a serf to Sonia, where did he mortgage his self-respect?
If Kodanda Ram has collected reliable data in defence of his separatist proposal, he would have boldly and gladly appeared before the Sri Krishna committee. He is avoiding appearing in front of them under the plea that the committee would not give away separate T-state. All of us know that the committee is not competent enough to declare separate state but its findings and recommendations are definitely going to influence the political decision by Central government.
While trying to shift the focus from under-development to self-respect, T-leaders are sowing seeds of suspicion in the minds of T-people that the propaganda so far been touted has not been based on facts. If the credibility of the cause is lost, everything is lost.
This is a very delicate phase and KCR should act with tact to keep the flame burning. He should weigh his words before uttering anything. But KCR seems to be oblivious of this, for he is confusing his followers and creating avoidable controversies.
First to be blamed is his attitude towards the Sri Krishna Committee - He found fault with its guidelines so much so that he made all his legislators resign their seats in protest. He called the committee a God-forsaken one ('Dikku malina’) and refused to submit party memorandum to them.
And surprise of surprises, he was the first one to meet the committee to present their case. He took it so seriously that he appointed some eleven sub-committees to prepare the memorandum. I would say it was a good decision to submit his case effectively and his earlier 'God-forsaken' statement could have been avoided. After impressing the committee with his oratory skills, KCR came out and taunted it with his 'civil war' threat.
It is common sense that you should not antagonize the Judge trying your case. Justice Sri Krishna is not a mild gentleman, as we can notice. When T- freedom fighters organization met him, one of the members said "Nizam's rule was better than A-leaders' rule". Immediately Sri Krishna retorted with "My grandfather used to say that British ruled better"!
And when Mysoora Reddy called them 'Tee Taa"s, (Dismissed Tahsildar) he quipped "I am retired but not tired". So it is apparent that he knows how put the people in place when they exceed their limits. He might not have taken KCR's 'God-forsaken' comment kindly. Still he chose to be silent. When KCR came out with 'Civil War' threat to influence the judgment, he pounced upon it.
He commented that 'civil war' is too big a word to be used. And when KCR's daughter went to him he pulled her up asking what her father meant by 'civil war'. If ever KCR has to go to him again, he should be prepared for cross examination by the justice on the 'civil war' issue.
The second issue about KCR's attitude is - His statement regarding joining Congress. In fact, Congress has been the villain in T-drama. It has been playing hide and seek with this ever-burning issue and prolonged it beyond decent timeline and beyond reasonable proportions. Even at this advanced stage, it is not making its stand on state division clear. Congress’ dilly-dallying has prompted TDP to play the same game.
By announcing its decision to oppose TRS/BJP candidates in the forthcoming elections, Congress sent signals to define its anti-division stand. Probably it is testing waters before taking a final decision. It is pitting its PCC president against a candidate who would enjoy the sympathy of the electorate for having resigned for T-cause. If Congress wins enough votes in these by-elections, it might gather enough boldness to declare that T-people are not yet prepared to division.
In these circumstances, if an opposition party expresses willingness to join Congress, imagine how frustrated its supporters feel. Think how the contestants from that party feel scandalized. Voters might say - "Why vote for you, when you are ultimately going to join Congress? We can as well vote for Congress and reap the benefits ruling party showers."
Give me a single sensible reason that warranted these by-elections? (contd.)
MBS PRASAD
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