ECLIPSING HIGH COMMAND CULTURE

You may believe in astrology; or you may be a staunch rationalist. But the ground realities do not change depending on your beliefs. That is what we witnessed in 2009, especially in Andhra Pradesh. There were predictions early last year that, on account of three eclipses on a row, there could be disastrous consequences for the nation, especially for the ruler and the ruled. There can be any rounds of discussion on the rationality of such predictions which do not square up with science that we know or seem to know.

But, whoever does a round up of 2009, which has become more of a ritual with the media, one has to take note of the developments which are extremely bizarre, as predicted. May be, one can say, it is just a coincidence. Within three months of a decisive mandate from the voters giving yet another term of five years, Dr Y S Rajasekara Reddy disappeared from the scene under very tragic circumstances which even his arch rivals would not have expected in their dreams.

Soon followed unprecedented floods taking a heavy toll of life and property. Yes, floods is no stranger to the state, but the havoc it caused to the Kurnool town as a whole was something that one could not have imagined.

Not only head of government was taken away in a sad turn of events, but the head of state had to be removed not because of any unconstitutional conduct, but he conducted himself under most ignominious circumstances turning the Raj Bhavan into a place where women of doubtful morality frequented with impunity. This did not happen in the history of any Raj Bhavan in the country though there are folk stories about how the late Charan Singh washed the Raj Bhavan in Lucknow with water from the Ganges after its occupant, incidentally from South, vacated the place.
The issue of statehood for Telangana is not new. But it erupted all of a sudden in 2009, and in its intensity it has surpassed the earlier agitations. The agitation from both regions generated such a bitterness and animosity that It led to an unbridgeable divide between the people speaking the same language, sharing the same civilisational ethos, literature, culture, ethnicity and belief systems just because, by quirk of history, two regions were ruled by two different rulers.

The chain of events right from the day Telangana Rashtra Samiti chief, who was isolated within his own party subsequent to the electoral rout, sat on a drip-fast to salvage his political relevance till the Centre’s decision to convene a meeting of all parties, has thoroughly exposed the political bankruptcy of the Congress High Command. It appeared that the High Command is all powerful only so long as the Congressmen go down on their knees. That is what they did when the CLP passed a resolution entrusting the High Command to take a decision without knowing the pulse of their own electorate. When the core committee of the Congress thought sitting in Delhi that they can decide for the people of the state, things went haywire and the High Command did not know how to proceed.

What is puzzling everyone is this. How come all powerful High Command could not order or rather persuade the AP ministers and legislators not to precipitate the matters. Can we conclude that the High Command’s writ did not run when it involved an emotive issue? What happened to the parrot-like statements of Congressmen that they would always abide the dictates of the High Command? There is an unseemly tug-of-war between the chief minister and other Congress leaders. Even among the Telangana ministers there is no unity. While one section wants to take back the resignations, another group of ministers have a different song to sing. Has the High Command become the proverbial blind cat when rats start standing up? Or, is all this a drama to protect the interests of the party if a situation were to arise when Telangana became a reality? In the case of the latter possibility, the 125-year old party would have put the interests of the party over the people unmindful of the hardship and agony the agitation, whether orchestrated or spontaneous, has been causing to the people in various fields like business, industry, cinema, tourism, IT etc.

There are media reports that the Congress High Command is upset with its own nominated Chief Minister K Rosaiah for providing half-baked inputs which led to a calamitous situation in the state. This is again another unhealthy dimension of the High Command culture. High Command is infallible. If something goes wrong, it is the lowly mortals who have to take the blame. So, Rosaiah is on the dock. But who imposed him on the CLP without any recourse to democratic exercise? High Command never allowed collective political will of the people to prevail.

From the midnight of Dec. 9, the High Command functioned as a fire fighter shifting from one position to another just to douse the fire. Even the all party meeting in Delhi on Jan 5, seems to be one such fire fighting exercise since with the vertical split in both the major parties – Congress and the TDP – there cannot be any consensus. But the Union Home Minister does not agree. He says there is no flip-flop. Probably he thinks that his impeccable English can be a substitute for facts.
Chidambaram says that Telangana found a mention in the CMP of the Congress in 2004 itself and that all the parties were in favour of it in 2009 election manifesto.

Well, what did the Centre do for five and a half years? What did Pranab Mukerjee committee do for five years? Why did Chidambaram discover the “unanimity” only on the midnight of December 9 when he feared that the situation might go out of control? For his clarificatory statement on 23rd, he finds fault with the parties which made a U-turn forgetting that it was his party which started the turn-around game. Now, he invites all parties for “wide-ranging discussions” which he should have done on 9th itself. This is what is known as “flip flop”, Mr Chidambaram!

The only decisive action in the last one month was the decision to post a no-nonsense police officer in the Raj Bhavan who has started acting as though there is President’s rule in the state. There seems to be a clear brief to him to restore law and order since the imposed head of government has failed in the test. One can feel this in the utterances of the state DGP who is talking tough these days and has gone to the extent of warning the media for any violation of high court orders which wanted the media to exercise restraint in the coverage of agitations in the state.

An influential national English daily summed up the situation very well. It said “The Telangana issue spiralled out of control mainly because of the Centre kept postponing a decision on the statehood demand. It later succumbed to the Telangana Rashtra Samiti’s politics of blackmail. A repeat of the situation must be avoided.”