The Śūnyatā (Openness) Blog

Found this on the Great Andhra website. Reproducing the map and the full text of the letter, adding emphasis where I find it relevant. To, The President of India,Rashtrapathi Bhavan, New Delhi. Respected Madam President, We look forward to you for your kind intervention in the matter of the demand for a separate Telangana State, as it is engineered and pushed forward by self-seeking and short-sighted small - time power brokers, politically unemployed, arousing passions and raising a bogey of “non-development” --- the two hallmarks of the Telangana movement. It hardly needs a mention that edifice of their case is based on twisted facts and doctored statistics. The movement has already taken its toll, and it is fast moving towards spreading disaffection and hatred among people. Thus there is an urgent need to arrest the movement and call it a bluff. Even a casual look at the statistics cited in this exhaustive note would conclusively establish how fallacious their argument is. Far from ...

I was hoping to tackle the issue of Telangana Vs. Samaikya Andhra (Unified AP) from various angles today.However, a discussion on the economic and cultural issues and the 'victimhood narrative' of Telangana, Rayalaseema and Kalinga Andhra has to wait, because the political issues have come to fore again. Before reviewing the current political scenario, I just want to make it clear regarding where my affinities lie.The question of separate statehood has surely become an emotional issue for many people.And I don't want the emotions to cloud over a dispassionate analysis of the issues involved. I am 37.5 years old and lived for 11 years each in Telangana (Bodhan, Mahboobnagar and Hyderabad) and Rayalaseema (Nandyal and Kadapa).I have also spent a few early years in Vijayawada and my wife hails from Guntur district, not to speak of the many friends I have from all parts of the state.I am sure there are lakhs of people like me who straddle all three areas of the state. To expect...

Like most of us, I have been observing the mess going on - with my own eyes and ears on the streets of Hyderabad, and on the TV channels, newspapers, and of course, the internet. I am planning to do a detailed post/s over the weekend on this. However, I have already been part of a debate or two on some blogs, and to start with, I would like to post a lengthy comment that I did on Sepia Mutiny this morning. Here's my comment: 1.It is not true that Telangana was merged with Andhra immediately after the 1948 police action.Hyderabad state was formed and it had a separate existence till 1956, when both Hyderabad and Visalandhra were merged to form AP.There was a Gentlemen's Agreement between leaders of all three areas (similar to the earlier Sreebagh Pact between Rayalaseema and Coastal AP for Visaalandhra) before this happened.The movement to merge was as strong in Hyderabad state as it was in Andhra.The name 'Telangana' itself means 'land of Telugus'. 2.English ed...