SOROOR AHMED opines that Union Home Minister’s announcement to concede carving out a separate State of Telangana was made only because the ruling UPA Government found itself short of taking any punitive action against those indicted in the Liberhan Commission Report for demolishing the Babri Masjid.
In democracies the ruling party and the opposition sometimes conspire to distract the attention of the citizens if they both find themselves caught on the wrong foot. It cannot be said with surety whether the Telangana Rashtriya Samiti chief, K Chandrashekar Rao, and Union Home Minister, P Chidambaram, really joined hands or not; but one thing is clear: the whole debate over Liberhan Commission Report and Action Taken Report disappeared from what is called the mainstream media after the Centre’s December 9 night announcement which, in a way, conceded the demand of a separate state carved out of Andhra Pradesh.
It was none else but Chidambaram who made the assurance on Telangana on behalf of the Union Government late on December 9 night – almost midnight. It came at the height of the heated discussion in Parliament, media and academic circle on the demolition of Babri Masjid in Ayodhya on December 6, 1992 by the Sangh Parivar zealots. The entire BJP bigwigs including Atal Bihari Vajpayee and Lal Krishna Advani were finding themselves cornered. Though the Liberhan Commission Report did not say anything new yet even the ruling United Progressive Alliance came under pressure to take action against the perpetrators of the crime. The Congress too was unable to wriggle itself out of the situation as it lacks the courage to take bold action against anyone, even an insignificant kar sevak involved in the demolition.
The Union Home Minister does not seem to be so naïve as to not foresee the ramifications of such an announcement in Andhra Pradesh as well as in different parts of the country. The ruling Congress Party consciously opened this Pandora’s Box only to retract from the position a fortnight later, that is on December 23. Perhaps the ruling Congress in the beginning thought that it would be easy to overcome the Telangana crisis rather than take action against the perpetrators of the crime in Ayodhya on December 6, 1992. It is another thing that their calculation got somewhat wrong and they ended up dividing the Congress in the entire Andhra Pradesh.
Chandrashekar Rao’s 11-day long fast was not the first of its kind in the country, nor was it longest. The Centre and various state governments have in the past so many decades overcome many such blackmailing tactic and even crisis could have been handled smoothly. It is difficult to accept the plea that Chidambaram assured Telangana on December 9 night as the Centre wanted to break Chandrashekar Rao’s fast. Now reports suggest that the situation, prior to December 9 was not as bad in Hyderabad and Telangana region nor was the health of TRS leader so precarious as it was made out then. There is no dearth of political observers who were surprised by the speed with which the Centre made such an important announcement. Nobody is going to buy the plea that Chidambaram gave such an important assurance on Telangana just to break the fast of Chandrashekar Rao.
The BJP, which got a breather by this announcement, was quick to capitalise on the situation. Beleaguered Lal Krishna Advani, who has nothing to lose in Andhra Pradesh – the BJP’s presence in that state is just marginal – quickly threw its weight behind the demand for a separate Telangana state.
It must be understood that sometimes it is in the interest of the entire ruling class – which does not only mean the party or alliance in power, but the opposition, the administrative machinery, the media, etc. – to get rid of the messy situation they are in. The Liberhan debate created such scenario for them. So, whether they all really plotted or not cannot be said with certainty; but the way the whole issue was push to the backburner really raises serious doubt over the whole game-plan.