The message from the Andhra Pradesh bifurcation

• It has been 10 years since Andhra Pradesh was divided into two States.
• A decade is a long enough time to examine the political, economic and historical implications of the division of the political geography of the Telugu people, for them as well as for the Indian Republic.

Scant nostalgia

• These two regions (Telangana and Andhra) were under different political authorities for only about 150 years.
  • Before the Nizam gave away the coastal districts and the ‘ceded’ districts that came to be called Rayalaseema to the European powers,
  • And, they were together again in 1956.
• However, these long years of living under one political authority could not foster enough of a sense of togetherness.
• That parting of ways has not yet happened with the Kannada-speaking area of the Nizam’s Hyderabad State, nor did it happen as yet with its Marathi-speaking area.
• They both joined Karnataka and Maharashtra States, respectively, after the linguistic reorganization of States.
• Does the fate of Andhra Pradesh which has pioneered the reconfiguration of the Indian political architecture along linguistic lines also foreshadow its demise.
• Does the Indian Republic eventually have to look for an organizing principle other than language?
  • That is the larger question that the division of Andhra Pradesh pelts at the Republic of India.
  • except a few States in the Indian Republic, all other States of our Republic are organized on a linguistic basis.
  • If the underlying organizing principle of language is unlikely to hold them together as units, an alternative principle will have to be formulated.
• There are already noises of unease among the political elites in some States, especially in the south, regarding speculation about future delimitation in which some northern States could gain abnormal numbers in the central legislature.

Where States stand

• The bifurcation of Andhra Pradesh can give us some idea as how reconfiguration can radically alter the political authority of States.
  • In the united Andhra Pradesh had 42 Lok Sabha seats and was the largest State in south India.
  • But now, with a mere 25 seats and Telangana, with 17 seats.
• If some States become smaller while others remain big, political equations among them will become unequal and may result in undesirable strains in the federal structure.
• The questions that the bifurcation of Andhra Pradesh threw up and the lessons the process of division offers cannot be parried or ignored.
• It is unwise to take comfort from the fact that neither side has as yet sharply articulated and followed up on their grievances regarding the messy way the process of bifurcation was handled.
• The Andhra Pradesh side, in the first five years after the division, got bogged down in its attempt to build for itself a world-class capital like Hyderabad
• And the next five years were consumed by profligate direct benefit transfer (DBT) welfarism.
• The fact that both the obsessions have made the State financially anemic is glossed over for now.
• Unfulfilled promises made by the Centre on
  • special category status and financial help for building the capital city,
  • inability to effect proper division of joint assets
• The idea of the linguistic reorganisation of India had a long incubation period.
  • It was thought through, elaborately debated, agreed upon and then implemented.
  • But a departure from it was neither thought through nor debated.
  • The Republic cannot afford such clumsy and thoughtless handling of major departures from its core organizing principles.
  • The Andhra Pradesh bifurcation and its fallout, merit a deeper and mature examination to ensure a firm footing for our Republic.