It was year 1952 when one gentlemen and an eccentric Gandhian by name Potti Sriramulu started a fast unto death whipping up mass frenzy towards a demand for a separate 'Andhra' . Madras Presidency and the Central government procrastinated way too long and finally the whole issue erupted into a mass movement. Chaos and bedlam ensued. Still the centre paid no heed to the protesters. Finally, it directly affected the election results and Congress lost considerable ground in the general elections .
Now the Congress took notice and by the time Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru decided to act on the problem, Potti Sriramulu was dead and the region was in the grips of violence.
After Andhra Pradesh was created, the other regions soon followed suite demanding their own states carved on the basis of linguistic organizations.
The flood gates had been opened and Pandit had no choice but to initiate a committee to analyze these demands resulting in reorganization of regions and redrawing of Indian map as we now know it.
fifty years on, Andhra Pradesh is now witnessing a similar demand now based on no logic other than economics that is at best a theory! We are once again witnessing the central government ignoring the issue and muddling up decisions. Once again politicians are whipping up mass frenzy costing the exchequer and private establishments crores of rupees.
Where will this lead to? Even if the centre finally gives into the demand and creates a Telengana and the 'Rest of AP' as two states, it would set a precedent for other such demands. The politicans with no issue to cook up are only waiting in the wings for an excuse such as this.
After all what better way to win an election than by whipping up mass movements for a 'cause'.
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