Editorial, "FALSE PROMISES AND EMPTY HANDS", in LAW ANIMATED WORLD, 15 February 2018, Vol. 14, Part 1, No. 3 issue

FALSE PROMISES AND EMPTY HANDS

- (శుష్క ప్రియాలు, శూన్య హస్తాలు in Telugu idiom) are all that given to the State of Andhra Pradesh by the Jumla-addict authoritarian Central Government, as has become too clear from the recent 2018-19 budget allocations. There is not a whisper of any special package to A.P., let alone of the special status promised by the previous Prime Minister on the Parliament floor for 5 years, demanded by Venkaiah Naidu for 10 years as was also the poll promise of Modi in the last elections, but insisted for 15 years by the current CM of AP though all have conveniently trashed the same. But the people of AP have neither forgotten nor forgiven this ‘betrayal’ as the huge success of the recent state-wide protest Bandh demonstrates. No sufficient allocations are made to Telangana either. But here the need for serious concern is more on Andhra Pradesh’s problems as the division of the State itself was done quite unjustly, arbitrarily throwing to winds, even without a nationwide debate and discussion, the legacy and achievements of decades old struggle of our national movement and pro-people entities during the freedom struggle and afterwards for linguistic reorganization of the country, succumbing to base regional chauvinism out of murky vested interests and collusion of the then and the now ruling parties to stab the Telugu people in the back. Certainly much loss and damage were caused to Andhra Pradesh which even the backstabbers could not ignore and so had to incorporate some 19 statutory directions to help it out in addition to this promise of special status. The now ruling party soon after coming to power reneged on the assurances on the pretext of the finance commission recommending scrapping of the category of special status states itself, again a blatant lie, and dangled the carrot of a special package but now neither this nor that is visible. The budget allocations have in reality become the BJP poll-strategic spending manoeuvres and no real relief to any section of the people except the corporate rich evident therein. In such a context, the rising agitation in Andhra Pradesh for special status and due justice is quite welcome and it should be widened and intensified into a nationwide movement for exiting the current false-Hindutavadi Jumla regime, and installing a good, at least any lesser evil, government soon to protect and promote whatever ingredients of the much-publicised secular socialist democratic fabric yet remaining in the country. §§§