Joy erupted at Osmania University's Arts Block in contrasting ways. It shone out of the triumphant, gulal-smeared faces of hundreds of students, and flowed freely through tears of joy. As the poker-faced Ajay Maken and Digvijay Singh announced the Congress Working Committee's nod for India's 29th state—Telangana—it was greeted by shouts of 'Jai Telangana' and enthusiastic hugs, and celebrated with motichoor laddoos, crackers and zooming bikes. This was the same battleground which has seen angry sloganeering, lathicharges, teargas shells, dharnas, stone-peltings and suicides. Today, it's rife with hope, even if tempered with a large dose of caution. "The economics of a new state will of course have to be worked out," says Manne Krishnak, an Osmania University Joint Action Committee leader. "But at last we have self-respect and self-rule."
Respect restored. That's the predominant feeling among the people of the region. "The people of Telangana have spent years at the feet of Rayalaseema and Andhra people," says BTech graduate M. Rajnikanth Goud, who hails from Rangareddy district. "It is our day of independence." The 23-year-old, who works in a small IT firm in Dilsukhnagar in Hyderabad, says among the 50-odd employees, he is the only one from Telangana. "My language and culture were a source of office jokes. Even in interviews, Andhra employees would guess where I was from and insult me. Now, the IT sector will have more people from Telangana."
More jobs, plum posts in the government and private sectors and better education. All this will now come their way, feel the Telanganaites, given that the region's most developed city, Hyderabad, will be the joint capital for both states for 10 years, by which time Andhra Pradesh has to build one of its own.
And herein lies the heartburn.
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Ravindra Goda, a government bank employee in Vizag, just cannot understand why Hyderabad should be gifted to Telangana when both "Seemandhra and Telangana have helped develop it". Niranjan Reddy, MD of advertising agency AIM Vyapti Advertising, hails from Kadapa (in Rayalaseema), studied in Vijayawada (coastal Andhra), and opened up his business in Hyderabad. Calling himself an "all-region" man, he says it is impossible to develop another capital in 10 years. "Investors wouldn't know where to invest once there are two states. It's like hitting the restart button." He predicts a fall of at least 20 per cent in the retail and real estate sectors in the coming years.
No Telangana here An ongoing protest in Anantapur. (Photograph by AP)
A shared Hyderabad is causing some grief in Tollywood too. The epicentre of the Telugu film industry, the city boasts studios such as Ramoji Film City, Annapoorna, Rama Naidu, Saradhi and Padmalaya and is home to most Telugu stars and filmmakers. Though 50 per cent of Tollywood's revenues come from what is called the Nizam territory (Telangana districts), the film industry is ruled by coastal Andhra and Rayalaseema. Daggubati Suresh, film producer and brother of star Venkatesh, rues that the Telugu people have lost their political voice. "Smaller pieces find it difficult to survive since there are no economies of scale. We'll have to live with whatever's given and hope the Telugu film industry stays united," he says.
Telangana Joint Action Committee chairman M. Kodandaram admits having a common capital will remain a bugbear. But the weightier concerns of power generation and supply or of water-sharing will be easier to address, he feels, because previous committees have looked into them.
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Finally, for a struggle which for long was also a fight against feudalism, it took an upper-caste Velama, K. Chandrasekhara Rao, to set up the Telangana Rashtra Samiti in 2001, and his 10-day fast in 2009 for the Telangana agitation to pick up steam and force then home minister P. Chidambaram to make an announcement on December 9 of that year and for the Congress now to give it shape.
Of course, the political expediency of the move is not lost on anyone. With opinion polls predicting a sweep for Jaganmohan Reddy in Seemandhra and a TRS surge in Telangana, not to forget Narendra Modi's impending visit to the state this month to try and open a BJP account, the timing was just perfect for the Congress to pull the Telangana rabbit out of the hat.
Thank you KCR offers prayers to goddess Telangana Talli. (Photograph by Anil Kumar)
KCR and his party, for one, are stumped. Statehood was their plank, and the Congress has thrown it out with this ace. Why, it had been banking on the electorate's resentment against the Congress's wavering stance on the issue. So, while he welcomed the announcement, KCR said he will celebrate only when the bill is finally passed in Parliament. The party plays coy on any talk of a merger, and its leaders such as Shravan Kumar and T. Harish Rao continue to bat for KCR, comparing him to Nelson Mandela and calling him Telangana's 'jaati-pitah'. "KCR is the true architect of Telangana," says Harish Rao.
Jaganmohan may have lost some ground in Telangana, what with him asking 16 of his MLAs to resign a couple of days before the CWC meet over the united Andhra issue. However, political analysts say that having a steadfast stand will help Jagan win more seats in Seemandhra.
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Circle of reason Telangana JAC leaders in Hyderabad on July 30. (Photograph by PTI)
The Muslims in Hyderabad have by and large accepted the decision, though the Majlis-e-Ittehadul-Muslimeen had earlier been vocal in criticising the division of Andhra. "In the districts of Telangana, there's immense happiness and hope among Muslims that statehood will improve their lives," says Siasat editor and TDP leader Zahid Ali Khan. Zafar Javeed, chairman of the AP Federation of Minority Educational Institutions, says, "People cannot live in discomfort for long. When long-standing aspirations are fulfilled, minority Muslims would like to flow with the mainstream."
Anti-division agitations, however, continued to rage in Kurnool, Anantapur, Vijayawada, Guntur, Visakhapatnam, Kadapa and other areas, with leaders caught between the angst of their people and the firmness of the high command. Resignations have become the order of the day and Seemandhra is catching on the disturbing trend of suicides. Vijayawada MP Lagadapati Rajagopal, a strong unity proponent, says the game isn't over yet. "All the Seemandhra MPs will vote against the bill in Parliament and keep the state united at all costs," he says.
The Congress's eyes, however, remain firmly fixed on the fringe benefits. Telangana has 17 Lok Sabha seats and 119 assembly seats. Should there be a TRS-Congress coalition/merger, it can aspire to the magic figure of 60 assembly seats and 12-14 LS seats. And in Seemandhra, which has 25 LS seats and 175 assembly seats, the simple majority is 80. The Congress currently holds 97 seats here but with a Jagan sweep forecast, it would need to have a post-poll truck with YSR Congress.
Parakala Prabhakar, political analyst and author of Refuting an Agitation: 101 Lies of Telangana Separatists, says it is sad that the Congress has reduced the issue of statehood to a calculation of how many seats it would win. "Instead of looking at statehood on a linguistic principle, the Congress is simply redrawing the political map for seats in the 2014 elections," he says. "Even Indira Gandhi—who cannot be compared to anyone in realpolitik—stood like a rock in the 1969 and 1972 agitations. But today, in the Congress, no one has the stomach to ride a storm, and therein lies the tragedy."
Meanwhile, Telangana protagonists are keeping a keen eye on the five-month deadline set by Digvijay Singh. After all, they have been bitten before. As student leader Krishank puts it, "Flip-flops define today's politics. One can never be too careful where the Congress is concerned."
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Poll Position: The Parties After The Telangana Announcement
TDP
Chandrababu Naidu's seven-month-long padayatra has kept party flock together. But he has lost a lot of ground in Seemandhra with his letter of support for Telangana. Many United Andhra supporters feel had he stayed silent, CWC wouldn't have given decision on Telangana.
BJP
Since it was BJP which first said it was going to give Telangana if voted to power, it has some support. Modi's rising popularity is also going to reflect well for party. However, Telangana's 12.4% Muslim voters would not want to have anything to do with the saffron party.
MIM
MIM has been trying to expand its base in some districts in Telangana; might just increase tally in assembly. The Owaisis retain might in the Old City. The MIM has had differences with the Congress and Akbaruddin Owaisi's imprisonment over a hate speech only widened the gap.
Congress
The rebellion among the Seemandhra leaders might subside as even star batsman-CM Kiran Kumar Reddy now accepts that a division is certain. But it would be difficult for the ruling party to retain its numbers in Seemandhra unless it has some kind of a poll tie-up with Jagan.
YSR Congress
The resignation of 16 MLAs on the eve of announcement has made clear Jagan's stand. The party is all set for huge gains in Seemandhra but in Telangana, it would be completely alienated. If the division does come through, Jagan would have to completely forgo the Telangana region.
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Capital Talk: Possible Capitals For Seemandhra
Ongole
Headquarters of Prakasam district, it has lots of vacant land and good rail and road connectivity. Yet to get an airport but has a port. Known for its agriculture and granite industries. Among the minuses: no great infrastructure in place and no major rivers in the district. Ongole is a water-scarce city but it is being floated as a possible capital of the new state.
Vijayawada
Commercial and business hub of Andhra region. Located on the banks of the Krishna river. Fertile soil and so agriculturally rich. Known for its automobile parts, garment and hardware industries. Has an airport at Gannavaram and is close to Machilipatnam port. Just a 5-hour drive from Hyderabad, but is already developed to the maximum possible limit; expansion difficult.
Visakhapatnam
The beautiful, cosmopolitan port city is at the state's eastern corner, along the Eastern ghats. It has steel, petroleum, fertiliser industries and a shipyard. The Eastern Naval Headquarters is located here. It has an international airport, and is well connected by road and rail. It has several engineering and management colleges, and Andhra University.
Kurnool
Previously, capital of Andhra State from 1953 to 1956. Lies on the banks of Tungabhadra river. Has quite a few colleges. Considered the gateway to Rayalaseema.
Tirupati
Houses the famous Balaji temple at Tirumala, one of the world's richest temples and the Tirumala Tirupati Devasthanam, a rich trust board. Touristy place, with high floating population. Surrounded by hills, making expansion difficult. Close to Chennai. Located in Chittoor district and education hub of AP. Well connected by air, road and sea.
By Madhavi Tata in Hyderabad
AUTHORS: MADHAVI TATA
TAGS: NEW STATES | CONGRESS | UPA | TRS | BJP | YSR CONGRESS | TDP
SECTION: NATIONAL
SUBSECTION: COVER STORIES
PLACES: TELANGANA | ANDHRA PRADESH | HYDERABAD
Translate| ALSO IN THIS STORY |
CONGRESS The Congress is at a T-junction, and not just in Andhra. The go-it-alone strategy of '09 takes a backseat. |
OPINION POLL Gauging the public mood on Telangana, Hyderabad as a joint capital and asking who stands to gain the most politically with this move |
BUSINESS A few minor hiccups but business should boom for both states after the bifurcation |
 JUMP CUT All kinds of baseless arguments were put forth by vested interests to deny the region's people. |
CULTURE The Telugu in Telangana has a unique vocabulary and diction owing to its Nizami heritage |
 JUMP CUT Mamata, Jagan, Anna Hazare, KCR, Baba Ramdev, Telangana, it's all been managed. What next? |
REORGANISING STATES Enthused by Telangana's creation, other demands for statehood have been renewed |
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