Chennai: As the high intensity protests, sometimes violent, rock Andhra Pradesh after Telengana statehood reached ‘finality’, some fringe elements like Kongunadu Makkal Desiya Katchi and a former Congress MP have revived their two-state rhetoric in TN, a comic interlude to new junkies who closely follow Telangana.
Fledgling Kongunadu Makkal Desiya Katchi’s E.R. Eswaran and former Congress MP R. Anbarasu, a member of Vanniyar group and whose son Arul Anbarasu was an MLA in the previous Assembly, are the few minnows in the state polity who believe in bifurcating the state.
In what was his witty best that could easily leave listeners deadpanned, Eswaran claimed that Coimbatore could be another Singapore if the city was made a capital of a separate state formed by carving out the kongu region.
An unrelenting Anbarasu even went a yard further and proposed to form a movement to campaign for the state’s bifurcation. He even suggested Chennai and Madurai as capitals of northern and southern TN. As if Congress chief Sonia Gandhi and PM Manmohan Singh were short of problems, the former Congress MP hopes to meet them to press for their demand.
Strangely, the PMK, which once ran high decibel campaign to carve out the Vanniyar dominant northern districts and form a separate state, had long forgotten the demand after it failed to woo prominent Vanniyar politicians, most of whom are in the DMK.
Even while welcoming the proposed Telegana formation, Dr Ramadoss carefully avoided any mention of TN and appealed to the Centre to consider other state bifurcation pleas. And Karunanidhi’s DMK, which once insisted on separating TN from the Indian state and has watered down its demand to state autonomy these days, perhaps thought it wise to keep mum on the issue.
However, there are still some Tamil nationalist outfits like Tamil Desiya Podu Udamai Katchi that nurture hopes of separate Tamil nation. Perhaps, it is time that these fledgling caste- based outfits learnt from major parties and realised how far they have moved from the people, who prefer to be united as ‘Tamils’ of one state, before indulging in such slapstick politicking.
Small is beautiful, says PMK
Welcoming the Centre’s decision to create Telangana bifurcating Andhra Pradesh, PMK founder Dr S. Ramadoss said the creation of new states would not affect the country’s unity rather it would help in the development and alleviate poverty.
In a statement issued here, Dr Ramadoss said though the Centre’s decision was a delayed one, steps should be immediately taken to implement the bifurcation decision. Recalling his participation in a rally seeking separate Telangana state in 2004, he said his party had always been in support for the Telangana struggle and had even pressed for its inclusion in the common programme of the Congress-led UPA-I government.
Dr Ramadoss said he had been urging the Centre to accept the demand for creating new states as small is beautiful. He had also extended support for the demand for trifurcating UP and formation of Vidarbha from Maharashtra.
“There is a demand for creating 22 new states. Since the creation of new states will usher in development, the Union government should review and accept valid demands for creation of such states,” he said.
Next: Kodavas up demand for homeland
Kodavas up demand for homeland
S.V. Krishna Chaitanya I DC
Mysore: As the chorus for new states grew louder, a day after the Union government announced the creation of Telangana, the Kodavas of Karnataka disclosed plans to launch an agitation at the national level and explore legal options in support of their demand for an autonomous homeland.
The Codava National Council (CNC) said a fresh memorandum will be sent to the Prime Minister and President explaining its stand, and a "Delhi Chalo" organised on November 1 as part of its programme to hold a massive agitation in the national capital in pursuit of its demand.
Codava National Council (CNC) president, N.U. Nachappa, said the Kodavas' demands are more legitimate than those of the people of Telangana. "They do not have a scientific argument for a separate statehood.
The Centre should have considered our demand along with that of the people of Telangana. It's unfortunate that both the state and Union governments have not bothered about our peaceful struggle for a homeland and given in to pressure from movements that have been violent.
This is a deliberate attempt to suppress the culture of the Kodavas’ whose history dates back to 888 A.D," he said, speaking to the Deccan Chronicle. Some 1.6 lakhs ethnic Kodavas are believed to inhabit an area that stretches across 4,102 sq kms in the Malnad region of Karnataka.