PROMISES ARE MADE TO BE
BROKEN ONLY
We all remember Mr. Modi, then star campaigner for the
current ruling party, during his election campaign repeatedly drumming into the
ears of gullible public that he and his party would alone be able to bring back
the lakhs of crores of black monies smuggled out and hoarded in foreign banks,
and not only that, he would get deposited Rs. 15 lakhs from that vast amount in
the bank accounts of every common man! And we know what happened to that –
their own party President Amit Shah retracted, laughing it away as a ‘jumla’ – false election promise not to
be kept! A similar breaking of promises occurs to the Telugus of Andhra Pradesh
too, which has been promised special status by the outgoing Prime Minister at
the insistence of the then opposition, now ruling, party leader, Venkaiah
Naidu, again repeatedly promised not only by Venkaiah but also Modi, as also included
in their election manifesto. At the time of bifurcation, this editor and many
others opposing the attempts at bifurcation itself were not, naturally,
focusing on post-bifurcation issues but it was Venkaiah who, shamelessly colluding with the then ruling party,
was at the same time posing as a protector of Andhras and demanding special
status for 10 years. Then came Chandrababu, another shameless traitor to Telugu
interests, posing as the only guardian angel for Andhra people’s interests,
demanding 15 years special status. And now all are retracting – another big jumla! That on the basis of a heap of
lies – that the 14th Finance Commission commended scrapping of
special category states, though such can be found nowhere in its report. Even
if made, it is not binding and they cannot pose as if they are implementing all
such recommendations. They talk of giving a special package, for which they are
statutorily bound, but nothing to be found in the actual black and white. But,
it is true that as yet there are 11 special category states, receiving large
amounts of Central Aid on 70% grants: 30% loans basis and several tax
concessions, sops and special packages to backward areas, etc. and that gives
great fillip to their development and addition of Andhra Pradesh for say 5 or
10 years will not cause any heavens to fall down. Now under the inspiration of
the Jallikattu movement in Tamil Nadu, people of Andhra are once again pooling
up their guts and efforts for launching a big agitation for achieving this just
demand, but it is to be seen whether they will prove themselves as victorious steadfast
fighters or just remain as aarambha Suuras
(heroes at the start
only), as customarily deprecated. §§§
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