21/02/10

the only solution

those who study these things call suicide a permanent solution to a temporary problem. but, do those committing suicide see it as a temporary problem? yadagiri probably viewed it as his contribution to a cause that will bring in a permanent solution to all his and other telanganis' problems, temporary and permanent.

is telangana a permanent solution? ask prof.kodandaram, leader of the political joint action committee (constituted by all political parties and activists in telangana). ask the leaders of the various parties who are part of the jac. ask the hordes of professors, teachers, researchers, retired babus, lawyers etc who are part of the other jacs formed in the last two months. do they think it's a permanent solution to all the problems facing the people of telangana?
“Telangana now comes as a solution to all these problems. It says, okay, we can redistribute the existing water in Krishna and Godavari and with Telangana’s due share from canal waters and using that to fill up all the tanks, we can make agriculture profitable even in Telangana,” says Kodandaram.
from here. there are thousands and thousands of other occasions when prof.kodandaram, and scores of others like him, have presented telangana as 'a solution to all these problems'.

they've, over the years, emphatically made the point that a separate state is the only solution to a lot of problems that the people of telangana face. and over the years, in mostly rural, young, impressionable minds, the message of the activists that a separate state is the only solution to a lot of problems has slowly transformed itself into the conviction, through repeated dinning of the message into their heads, that a separate state is the only solution to all the problems that the people of the region face. and the leaders of the movement have done nothing to modify or change this perception. in fact, one suspects, they are proud of the job of indoctrination that they've performed. they seem too ready to quote, in front of any random camera or microphone, the rising numbers as proof of deep-rooted aspirations.

prof.kodandaram blames the government for the suicides. and also the politicians of the region for not doing enough to further the cause by resigning from their elected posts and creating a constitutional crisis in the region so that the centre would bend and create a new state without any committees or further delays.

does prof.kodandaram's argument in any way dilute the belief that a separate telangana is the only solution to all the problems that the people of the region face? no, it doesn't. it only reinforces the strong conviction i'd talked about earlier because it doesn't even talk about any other alternative solutions, anything beyond telangana. it only talks about the delays and difficulties in achieving the only solution. so, how can he blame the government or the opponents of separation for the suicides?

even if we believe in his logic, we can only conclude that the actions of the government or the opponents of separation only served as triggers for the suicides, not as the main cause. the main cause, of course, is the victims' shared belief that a separate state is the only solution to all the problems of the region. they've pushed the young, especially the most impressionable among them, to the edge of a cliff, in a manner of speaking, so how can they blame the cliff's edge for caving in and sending the victims to death?

the students committing suicide don't seem to stop to think: if a separate state is the only solution, then why aren't the leaders committing suicide? why aren't the activists, the professors committing suicide because the only solution doesn't seem achievable, the obstacles seem insurmountable? and the teachers don't seem to stop and think: if we repeatedly tell them, a separate state is the only solution, why would the students not believe it's the only solution? so, the students don't think suicide is irrational, because the professors don't seem to think panaceas are irrational.

shouldn't the professors/teachers be blamed for spreading the belief, the disease among the young? they're turning their victims into heroes, and this might push more young students towards suicide and martyrdom. i blame them for these suicides: prof.kodandaram for rationalizing the suicides as heroic protests, prof.haragopal for likening this movement to the 'french revolution' etc and driving up the hysteria among the young several notches higher, and scores of others like them.

13 comments:

Blueshift said...

I agree kufr.....innocent students who look at their future and these profs give them a bleak picture of their future unless T is formed...these innocent students are giving up their lifes falling prey to these lies...

Unknown said...

This kind of blind faith is the reason I believe seperate Telangana will march towards most militant leftist rule in not too distant future. When the hopes of the people are raised so high with false claims, any failure to deliver them will create an avalanche of fusrtartion and despair among people that no political party can stop. Just like TRS is losing control of the movement, all democratic institutions will lose control of the state. This is my biggest worry.

Space Bar said...

I'm not sure the TRS ever had control of the 'movement'. I refuse to believe in the innocence of students. Yes, it's possible to get caught up in some mass hysteria. Mostly, I think people like the feeling that they're making history. There's a shivery kind of excitement to it that regular, nitty-gritty administrative deliveries of justice will never bring.

When I ask some of these folks, what happens once (if) Telangana is a reality, they don't have an answer.

I think that's the scariest thing.

Anonymous said...

Andhra Are Colonizers
this what they can do

Bhanu Prasad said...

Kufr,

I, several times, out of my utter idiocy, tried to hold some rational discussions with Telangana Separatists. I tried that in Orkut forums and also as Sujai's blog.

But the answer I get is the same stuff written in T-JAC pamphlets and insulting rants of me being a Andhra Supremacist and COlonizer.

On a related note, Samuel P. Huntington, an eminent political scientist, notes that clashes based on culture seldom involve rational discussion. I strongly feel that this Telangana Agitation is clash of cultures. Most of the Telanganite middle class is vouching for a seperate state, not just the political leadership.

And add to them we have the liberal professors of universities. These men and women too decide on basis of emotion rather than logic and argument. Hence every anti-establishment disturbance is glorified as a struggle for independence.

kuffir said...

blueshift,

yes, they've narrowed down the future for the students.

ved,

'all democratic institutions will lose control of the state.'

the functioning of most democratic institutions already seems to have hit a low. agitators on all sides have lowered the role of the legislature and the state govt.

kuffir said...

space bar,

'I refuse to believe in the innocence of students.'

do you mean the agitating students in general or the ones committing suicide?

anon,

thanks for the comment.

bhanu,

clash of the middle classes--yes, i agree with that.

Kiran said...

yes, If kodanda ram has enough courage to say the obvious - that these problems can also be solved through debate and discussion and the "other" people are also humans - these suicides will stop. But when did a t separatist honcho - whether a topshot politician like chenna reddy or academic with a prominent position like kodandaram - ever care for the lives of these alaga janam ? After chenna reddy called off the movement in 1969 the TPS shunted out protesting students from their office saying they are not even students.

Yes - these people have blood on their hands.

Kiran said...

Kufr,

Something related to yadiah incident you may like to read
http://ibnlive.in.com/blogs/shaikahmedali/2200/61558/the-anatomy-of-telangana-agitation.html

Sridhar said...

This new petition in Supreme Court questioning separation of state appears very solid. It seems that Articles 3 & 4 permit new states, only based on reasons that are linguistic, administrative or economic. And that SK committee ToR do not delve into any of those. Neither did the Chidamabaram's initital statement. Any thoughts on how sound is the argument?

http://eenadu.net/panelhtml.asp?qrystr=htm/panel3.htm

Space Bar said...

the students in general. even in the midst of mass hysteria, we mustn't believe everyone is sheep-like, you know. that argument would invalidate many of the arguments about agency that you are making.

kuffir said...

kiran,

thanks for the comment and the link.

sb,

the picture that many of the separatists are trying to draw of the unlimited freedom with which the students seem to be acting is very deceptive. but their innocence, i've never talked about it, is also, as you say, questionable. only around 10% of indian youth get to higher education, or universities, and among the dalits and obcs it is much less,so these students aren't exactly incapable of looking after themselves.

Rama Mohan said...

Visit for the telangana favor sites
http://lifestyle-india.blogspot.com/2010/03/top-telangana-favor-sites.html

 
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