Regionalism

Our Prime Minister Dr. Manmohan Singh has outlined regionalism as one of the threats to Indian National Integration along side of terrorism, naxalism and poverty. India is not a homogeneous country like many other. It is the largest democracy in the world with varied cultures, languages and regions. The strength of our country has always been its tolerance and its ability to absorb different influencing cultures and create its own.

No other country in the world has such diverse regions, cultures, languages and religions co existing together for centuries. India has with stood the onslaught of Moslems from persia and Afghanistan and it with stood the cultural hara kiri done by the Britishers. These are the best examples for the resilience and the adaptability of the Indian Nation.

Recently there have been incidents which threaten the sensitive national fabric of the country under the veil of nationalism and sons of soil movement. I believe that India is for all Indian citizens and they are at a liberty to pursue their profession any where in the country. This is the right that has been granted by our constitution.

There have been incidents which have been roused by the selfish political parties to create divisions among the people and to leverage on them to garner votes. These divisive forces should not be given a toe hold in our mind as they tend to destroy its sane thinking and to provoke people to do dastardly acts of violence.

People are inherently good and they strive to do good for the society unless or until acted upon an external force. The present Telangana Movement is the zenith of the divisive politics by some political parties which are fighting for their existence and they are stoking the emotions of the people to achieve their own selfish ends.

Just 4 months ago when YSR was alive and kicking there was not even a single voice raising the "Telangana" slogan and suddenly the landscape of the entire state of Andhra Pradesh has changed with agitations and dharnas which stifle the normal life and create innumerable difficulties for ordinary people... "aam aadmi"

The Congress party which lost the most influential leader at the top wanted to destroy the foundation on which Telugu Desam Party is built and by announcing on midnight that the procedure for Telangana has started. But it did not expect the public retribution and back tracked its statement. As you will sow, so you will reap. The strategy of the COngress has been to deliver two blows with one punch one was to marginalize TDP in Andhra Pradesh and the other was to prevent Jagan from becoming the Chief Minister.

It has not achieved its objective and to gain its selfish ends it has created divisions in a peaceful state and made our state a burning conundrum. The political parties have divided according to regional lines and they are pursuing their own motives.

In the end the looser of the whole drama is the aam aadmi and the industries in Andhra Pradesh which are loosing their valuable man days.

This is the scenario in Andhra pradesh and in Maharashtra MNS on the plank of Marathi Manoos or Marathi self respect is driving terror into the minds of simple minded Maharashtrians to kick out the people who don't speak Marathi out of Maharashtra/Mumbai.

Recently when I was traveling a person who works for state Government of Karnataka has asked me where are you from?
I told him I'm from Hyderabad. He told me why did you come to Bangalore and do a job here rather than in Hyderabad.
His attitude has miffed me. Here is a person who is highly educated and "Cultured" asking me to go to my home town rather than working in other place. If this is the case with an educated person, my worry is what about the masses. This has got me wondering where our New India is headed to.

In Karnataka I see all the sign boards in Kannada. In Tamilnadu and Maharashtra it is the same case. Language is a sensitive issue but it should not be at the level where it would hurt others feelings and sentiments. One has to love his own language but these political parties has turned it to Hate all other languages.

We have to be tolerant to other cultures and respect them, this is what our long last heritage has taught us. United we stand divided we fall. If in every region people only want their own people to live then the India that our fore fathers has envisioned is short lived. We have to be broad minded and accept other people and cultures. That is the essence of the co existence in this flat world.