By Krishank Manne After a visit to Hyderabad and Chennai, Prime Minister Narendra Modi on May 28 landed in Gujarat to inaugurate the world’s first Nano Urea Liquid plant. Last April, Modi visited Gujarat to launch projects worth Rs 20,000 crore, including the laying of a foundation stone for the Global Centre for Traditional Medicine, […]
By Krishank Manne
After a visit to Hyderabad and Chennai, Prime Minister Narendra Modi on May 28 landed in Gujarat to inaugurate the world’s first Nano Urea Liquid plant. Last April, Modi visited Gujarat to launch projects worth Rs 20,000 crore, including the laying of a foundation stone for the Global Centre for Traditional Medicine, which was shifted from Telangana to Gujarat.
It is understood that Gujarat is set to go to the polls but interestingly in just the last three years, Modi visited Gujarat 15 times whereas in 8 years of being Prime Minister, he has not visited Telangana even eight times. Is he only the Prime Minister of Gujarat or does he think that Telangana is not a part of India?
Niti Aayog’s Recommendation
The first time Modi visited Telangana after the bifurcation of Andhra Pradesh and as Prime Minister was on August 7, 2016. On that day he took part in the launch of Mission Bhagiratha, a Telangana government initiative and a brainchild of Chief Minister K Chandrashekhar Rao. Mission Bhagiratha later inspired the Centre’s ‘Har Ghar Nal Ka Jal’.
The Niti Aayog recommended Rs 19,205 crore for the scheme of providing piped drinking water but the Centre ignored those recommendations. Being the first visit of Modi, the people of Telangana expected to hear from him about his development mission or roadmap for Telangana, but in the BJP’s public meeting at LB stadium, all he did was speak on politics around Sardar Patel. There was no mention of what his BJP-led government at the Centre would do for the betterment of Telangana and its people. Two years after Telangana became a reality and after two years as Prime Minister, Modi’s speech was a disappointment.
In 2017, thanks to the Global Entrepreneurship Summit, the Prime Minister visited Telangana, the second time in three years, that was when the government of Telangana also requested him to flag off Metro rail from Miyapur to Nagole, the due share of funds in Metro Rail from the Centre to Telangana is pending. This was the only event Modi participated in that year and did not address either the pending promises in the AP Reorganisation Act or the ones promised during poll campaigns.
The following year 2018 saw Narendra Modi taking time out for Telangana in back to back meetings at Nizamabad, Mahbubnagar and Hyderabad, not surprisingly at all, it was for the Telangana Assembly election campaign. At Nizamabad, he neither spoke of the plight of turmeric farmers now their demand for Turmeric Board. At Mahbubnagar, he did not bring up the topic of feared granting national status to the Palamuru-Rangareddy Lift Irrigation project, which he had promised during the previous Lok Sabha elections.
Lacking Content
The Prime Minister’s speeches lacked content and exposed that he had no commitment towards Telangana. His focus was only to attack Chandrashekhar Rao. Still, it did not translate into votes, as the BJP could send only 1 MLA to the Assembly out of the 119 constituencies.
In 2019, Modi campaigned for the Lok Sabha elections and as part of the campaign visited Mahbubnagar and Hyderabad. Forgetting the old promises and the rightful demands of Telangana, he offered only verbal assault at Chandrashekhar Rao. He promised funds for the Narayanpet Textile project, but that contribution from the Centre is still pending. Once the elections were done, the Prime Minister never came back in 2019 and the promises remain just that.
No Funds
He came back only on Nov 28, 2020, for a ‘photo op’ at Bharat Biotech just a day before the GHMC elections. Modi didn’t want to share space with another leader, hence the PMO kept both Telangana and Maharashtra Chief Ministers away from the visit to Bharat Biotech in Hyderabad and SII in Pune. There was no visit in 2021. Modi, who took an aerial survey during the 2017 and 2021 Gujarat floods, did not care to take a similar survey when Hyderabad faced devastating floods in 2020. Neither the Prime Minister’s National Relief Fund (PMNRF) nor the NDRF has given a single rupee for Hyderabad floods to date.
This year, the Prime Minister visited Hyderabad to unveil the Ramanujacharya statue. And recently on May 26 to participate in the 20th anniversary celebration of the Indian School of Business. The public meeting at the Begumpet airport with the BJP cadre was used again only to attack Chandrashekhar Rao. Modi did not speak on what his government did for eight years or at least what it wished to do in the remaining two years. In the eight Budgets of the Centre, Telangana was not seen or heard in any announcement.
By visiting Telangana less than 8 times in eight years, the Prime Minister has proved that he has no interest in the welfare or progress of the State. It was always evident when Modi on several platforms criticised the separate statehood by stating that the mother was killed and the baby was given birth. As the Centre has not done anything, can they speak of any achievements? Whenever Modi visited Gujarat, he inaugurated projects worth thousands of crores unlike in Telangana, where his contribution is dismal. This is what makes Prime Minister Narendra Modi another political tourist to Telangana.
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