Opinion: Chandrababu Naidu’s ignorance that isn’t bliss

Chandrababu Naidu is back in the game of narrating the old tales of his patronising Telangana in the united Andhra Pradesh

By JR Janumpalli

Hyderabad: N Chandrababu Naidu is back in the game of narrating the old tales of his patronising Telangana in the united Andhra Pradesh. His latest litany is that the people of Telangana ate rice for the first time only after the TDP came to power.

He said, “before the advent of TDP, the people ate only maize, ragi and bajra in Telangana. They had the privilege of consuming rice only after the TDP’s rice scheme”. He also said the TDP is the reason for wealth creation and good living standards in the region. It is a black lie.

TS’ Contribution

Records show that Telangana had more than 40,000 minor irrigation tanks constructed from the medieval ages. Each village has one or two such tanks, under which, in kharif season, only rice can be cultivated in the wetland ayacut of the tanks and no other crop. People were eating rice for as long as these tanks have come into existence. Other millet crops were grown in rain-fed dry lands and millets also formed a part of foodgrain as in the case of other parts of Andhra Pradesh. It is not like everybody was eating rice in Andhra and in Telangana, people started eating rice only after the advent of the TDP. It is a very ignorant and arrogant statement, reflecting the unbridled Andhra chauvinism of the TDP chief.

If he is referring to more rice production in the Andhra area, it was confined mostly to Godavari and Krishna delta areas in 3-4 districts. The rest of the areas in Rayalaseema, North Coastal and some upland areas of central coastal districts were as good or as bad as the agricultural lands of Telangana. Moreover, the delta lands produced coarse paddy like Akkullu and Hamsalu, which were poor in quality. Whereas, in Telangana, super fine rice varieties like Samabarlu/ Warangal rice (Hyderabad Rice-35) were grown for agro-climatic reasons. Even some semi-scented rice like Chitti mutyalu, Kakirekkalu kalabath were also grown and eaten in Telangana. Even Andhras who wanted to eat fine rice had to mostly get it from the Telangana region.

Distorting Facts

If the TDP chief says that the rice scheme made the commodity affordable for the poor to eat, it could have made some sense. But saying that the whole of Telangana had the privilege of eating rice after the TDP’s rice scheme is nothing but a cheap political statement. His claim that the TDP was the first to introduce the affordable rice scheme is also a lie as it was introduced by the Congress in Andhra Pradesh before them.

Anyway, what is the need for launching ‘intintiki Telugu desham’ programme in Hyderabad and crowing this false rice story in the separate Telangana State now after nine years of the State’s demerger? Today, the TDP has no relevance in Telangana. The TDP led by Chandrababu Naidu had been the arch-enemy of the separate Telangana State. He was the reason for stopping, for around four-and-a-half years, the Telangana State declaration and causing the deaths of about 1,200 Telangana people. The people of Telangana rejected the TDP in 2014 and 2018 and the party is dying its natural death in the State.

Financial Strength

In the united State for 58 years from 1956 to 2014, the State budget was balanced without serious imbalance. But in 2015-16 after AP was demerged, residual Andhra Pradesh reported a big deficit of over Rs 6,000 crore whereas Telangana showed a Rs 238-crore surplus. Government statistics from 1956 to 2014-15 show that the per capita revenue of Andhra and Telangana was in the ratio of 1.00:1.43. The population of both regions are in the ratio of 5.0:3.5. If we analyse the Budgets of the two States from 2015-16 to 2020-21, for which the CAG audit is completed, the State own Tax Revenue (SOTR) of AP and TS is in the ratio of 1.00:1.60. Telangana’s SOTR is around 73% while AP’s only 51%. This shows the financial strength and difference in dependence of the two States on the Centre’s devolution and grants.

That is broadly the configuration of the financial status of the two States. It all says that the Andhra region was not financially sustainable in its own State between 1953 and 1956 but was stable in the united State. After the demerger, Andhra State is again in the financial doldrums. Telangana is travelling comfortably with its balanced Budget, making rapid progress economically, like it was before the merger.

Thus, the Andhra politicians saying that they have taught lessons or provided things to Telangana makes a mockery of the truth. While politicians or self-centred can say anything, what about the civil society or intelligentsia of Andhra which has a certain reputation to keep? People who judge the issue with objectivity based on verifiable facts are scarce. This chauvinism neither does justice to their State nor to themselves. A good example is Chandrababu Naidu himself who grew big because of the exploitation of Telangana and fell out because of its sabotage to it. He still cannot afford to leave it, yet denigrates it at will.