FINALLY the UPA government has decided to create a state of Telengana. In fact, the decision had been taken long ago. In 2009, the Centre intervened in a conflict over the issue in Andhra Pradesh. It dragged its feet intensifying resentments on both sides of the state. The cabinet has now spelt out the outlines of the division and a group of ministers will flesh in the details. The rumpus over Hyderabad is over. But the coming transition causes concern. Naturally, dissensions will arise over the sharing of revenue, water, state infrastructure and so on. Law and order will also be under threat in the coming weeks. Four Union Ministers have already resigned on the issue. The cabinet decision flouts the convention that the Andhra Pradesh Assembly should pass the relevant resolution. The convention was followed in the case of Jharkhand, Uttarakhand and Chhattisgarh. The demand for Telengana has been met following a hunger strike by the Telengana Rashtra Samiti leadership. For a number of years the Centre procrastinated. The reasons for splitting up a state can be many—administrative convenience coupled with the need to develop backward regions neglected politically, economically and sometimes culturally. But there was hardly a strong case for the division of Andhra Pradesh and the creation of the state of Telengana. It appears that the Centre has been arm-twisted into taking the decision.
The Telengana decision has had a ripple effect in other regions for some time. Protests demanding a separate state have mounted in Darjeeling, Bodoland and Karbi Anglong. The Centre is in a fix over these ramifications and is having differences with the state governments. It is entirely responsible for the handling of the partition giving birth to India’s 29th state. What is needed is smooth implementation and an efficiently managed break causing least dissatisfaction to the old and the new.