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| CURRENT AFFAIRS |
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TELANGANA |
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The opportunity in tragedy
Suspended Congress MPs were losing credibility in Telangana because of the High Command’s indecision and aggressive regional outfits. Their four-day suspension from Parliament may help them salvage their battered political fortunes in the region, writes Sai Manish
The recent suspension of eight Congress MPs from the Lok Sabha for disrupting proceedings has turned out to be quite a blessing in disguise for their battered images back home in Telangana. The suspended MPs—Ponnam Prabhakar, Madhu Yaskhi Goud, M Jagannath, K R G Reddy, G Viveknanda, Balram Naik, Sukender Reddy Gutha and S Rajaiah—have all used their four days out in the wilderness to good effect.
After being debarred from participating in the House proceedings, the MPs decided to block the main entry gate to Parliament forcing many MPs to divert their vehicles through other gates to enter both houses to participate in the proceedings. M Jagannath, one of the suspended MPs says, “The government must honour its commitment to the people of Telangana and give them a separate state. Our position is becoming untenable as we are not able to show our faces to the people of Telangana.”
The desperation of the Congress MPs is driven by the fact that this indecision by the Union Cabinet over the issue of statehood for Telangana would adversely impact their political careers. For one, they have been pushed to a corner by regional parties like the TRS, TDP and the Telangana Joint Action Committee (T-JAC) headed by Osmania University professor M Kodandaram. The TRS, more specifically, is at the forefront of the agitation and has taken the battle to the Congress by describing it as a stumbling block to the creation of Telangana.
Most of the MPs claim they have become political untouchables in the state as the regional parties have painted them black on the issue. In fact, one of the suspended MPs, Madhu Yakshi Goud, was at the receiving end of the Telangana wrath in March last year. As he reached to lend support to the Million March organised by the T-JAC, many young Osmania University students attacked him with water bottles and slippers forcing him to escape the venue.
Then later that year all the Telangana MPs threatened to resign from their seats even as the resignation drama, stretched over three months, failed to force the Cabinet to budge. What is also troubling the Congress MPs is the increasing spate of suicides—again most of which are being projected by the TRS and T-JAC as their “martyrs” for a separate state. “I appeal to students not to commit suicide because Telangana will be created soon,” says M Jagannath.
This time the Congress MPs may have succeeded in making a point. They ran down the floor of the House raising the Telangana statehood issue even as a frantic P Chidambaram and Pawan Kumar Bansal tried to assuage them. In the process they got themselves suspended. Ironically their ‘martyrdom’ came on a day when none of the other TRS or TDP MPs was present in the house, which allowed the focus to be on the Congress sympathy on the issue. Many pro-Telangana activists and students welcomed the efforts taken by the Congress MPs.
Sai Manish is a Correspondent with Tehelka.
sai.manish@tehelka.com
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