Seperate state for telangana?

The fire has been restarted – separate state for telangana region of Andhra is once again a top of the mind issue for all telugu people across the world. People who argue for/against the state should really keep some simple things in mind – in my opinion.

  1. A state is really an administrative region in a country. Being a telugu person, or andhra telugu person, or telangana telugu person, in addition any other attribute one may associate with themselves (for example, telugu, andhra brahmin, male or female, engineer or doctor or business person, chowdary or reddy, indian, human) should not really matter which administrative area you live in. One’s identity is fully intact whether you live in india, andhra pradesh, telangana, united states etc. To that end to carve out states based on some sort of regional binding attribute would seem rather arbitrary. What if all the kaapus (or any other group) in andhra demand a separate state? Is their claim valid?
  2. The first statement is not against telangana. I am just saying it is not important whether telangana is a seperate state or not for a person’s identity to be preserved. So there is no reason why folks should be offended that some (or all) telangana people want a state of their own. It is indeed ok. Having 2 (or 3) telugu speaking states would not make telugu any less of a language, or telugu people any less entrepreneurial, adventurous, resourceful or any other great qualities we are known for.
  3. Agitating for Samaikhya Andhra (united Andhra) feels like yelling or screaming at a brother/sister/partner who wants to live a separate life. Whether one is right or wrong (may be being separate is better or being united is better), screaming at the other party is not going to help the cause.
  4. Tantrums should not be the reason for getting rewards. Seems like this is one rule most/all parents agree with. However, this is exactly what the indian government keeps ending up with. There seem to be a lack of genuine process for civil discussion, organized process, and voting to achieve these sizable goals. There are no provisions for referendums. Decisions are handed out by AICC president, who – if i may point out – is a not a representative of andhra pradesh, not a member of central or state govts. To achieve something sizable, the process seems to be to first get sizable people mind share (this seems right) win a few elections ( this seems right), wait for some higher power to approve (this is broken), and if they don’t approve “agitate” (this broken).

Full Disclosure: I was born to coastal andhra emigrant parents and spent 20 years in hyderabad since birth, before emigrating to United States. where I have been living for the last 19 years.

I am hoping that the future will be for the good for the next generation no matter how the regions end up.