Andhra Pradesh chief minister Kiran Kumar Reddy made a forceful argument to the centre against dividing the state. He painted a scary picture of the law and order situation in the proposed state of Telangana, almost saying that it was an open invitation to revival of naxalism. Here is the full text of his presentation to the GoM on November 18 with minor editing interventions for the sake of clarity

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I have been repeatedly pointing out the adverse implications of the division on the lives of the people of Andhra Pradesh. A brief on the historical evolution of Hyderabad, complexities in sharing and managing river waters, power generation and distribution problems, concerns of the government employees and complications arising out of Article 371 (D) amendment to the constitution, concerns of private employees apart from future employment opportunities, inaccessibility to quality medical facilities and inaccessibility to institutes of educational excellence in Hyderabad in the short-run, are submitted once again for better appreciation.

It is not one region but both the regions that are going to face negative consequences. Moreover, the oft-quoted internal security issues, involving left wing extremism, terrorism, and communal sensitivity, gets compounded with the mutual distrust and ill-will generated between two large groups of residents specially in Hyderabad.

I reiterate that a beautiful state known for its dynamism is being thrown into a whirlpool of disputes, legal concerns, resource constraints and political uncertainties, knowingly, in spite of the fact that it is avoidable. I quote in this connection from the statement made by our former prime minister lndira Gandhi in parliament: “Merely talking of separation is not an end of the problem. It is the beginning of another very big problem, not for other states but also for that area; that state itself.”

I, once again, appeal to the wisdom of decision-makers at the national level to reconsider the whole issue in the interest of the well-being of the people of Andhra Pradesh and in the larger interest of the country.

Threat to internal security: Naxal violence

Currently, the CPI (Maoist) violence is mainly restricted to the districts of Khammam and Visakhapatnam apart from sporadic intrusions into the districts of Adilabad, Karimnagar, Warangal, East Godavari and Vizianagaram which are situated on inter-state borders with Odisha, Chhattisgarh and Maharashtra.
For almost two and a half decades (from 1980 to 2006) most parts of the Telengana region saw very intense Maoist activity and relatively less intense activity in some parts of the Seemandhra region.

During this time none of the political executive and landlords could venture to stay in their villages and started living in the nearest towns and cities under police protection. There was complete political vacuum resulting in the complete in?uence of Maoists on the voting pattern in these assembly constituencies.
It was only from 2006 onwards that most of the rural areas started getting free of naxalism, paving the way for the political executive to go back to their villages.

Since the successive chief ministers were representing assembly constituencies from non-affected areas, they were able to take a strong stand against naxals forcing them out of the state through a multi-pronged strategy of development, pro-poor welfare schemes, skill development and employment, followed by strong law enforcement.

Given the history of the Telangana armed struggle of the communists in 1946, naxalism found a ready fertile ground in this region (and Srikakulam district) in 1967 when it was born in Naxalbari of West Bengal. Naxalism in Andhra took off from where the Telangana armed struggle ended.

From Telangana, naxalism spread throughout Andhra and on to neighbouring states of Maharashtra, Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh and Odisha.  

The Telengana region today provides the top leadership of the Maoist movement across the country. This is especially true for Chhattisgarh, Maharashtra and Odisha. These highly affected states will border the proposed state of Telengana (apart from the residual state of Andhra Pradesh).

Given the social, cultural, political history and relatively smaller size of the legislative assembly with 119 seats in the proposed state of Telangana, there is a very definite possibility of political instability on a regular basis with several players from different political parties emerging as kingmakers in the formation of successive governments.

The political instability in turn will lead to a weakening of political will to fight naxalism, terrorism and communalism. This will be taken advantage of by naxals in re-establishing their writ in Telangana.

The limited resources of law enforcement in the proposed new state will be another obstacle in effectively countering relapse of naxalism in the state.
Given this background, once the Telangana state is formed, Maoist elements may force any government in power to take a lenient view towards them and thereby re-establish themselves in Telangana area within no time.

Once Naxalism reemerges in Telangana, it will automatically spread to Nallamala forest areas of Seemandhra and from there to the entire residual state of Andhra Pradesh as it once spread in the past.

Thus, in the event of a division, there will be resurgence of naxalism in both the states and both will find it a herculean task to fight it due to reduced resources.

Hyderbad city: terrorist and communal violence

The political power in Hyderabad state was vested in Muslim rulers for the last 400 years till Independence, unlike in the Andhra state which was under British rule. There has been a deep divide between Hindus and Muslims from the beginning in the Telangana region. This region has witnessed communal incidents since then.

However, in the Seemandhra region of Madras state, Muslims and Hindus had perfectly integrated themselves with each other over a period of time under British rule and independence movement.

In 1947, the Nizam wanted Hyderabad state to be either independent or merge with Pakistan. However, it was merged with the rest of India by the use of force by the union government in 1948.

Hyderabad as a communally hypersensitive city

Hyderabad city has been categorised as communally hypersensitive in addition to several other towns in Telangana region. Hyderabad witnessed communal flare-ups in the last 35 years, claiming about 400 lives and injuring more than 3,000 people.

Hyderabad as a potential target for terrorist attacks

This was exploited by terrorist organisations operating from across the border on a regular basis declaring that they would liberate Hyderabad from the Indian Union after the state of Jammu & Kashmir. Towards this end, terrorist organisations have been making efforts relentlessly.

During a conference at Muridke, near Lahore, in November 1999, LeT chief Ha?z Sayeed declared that Hyderabad (AP)  and Junagarh (Gujarat) [erstwhile princely states held by Muslim rulers] are their targets for “liberation” apart from Jammu & Kashmir.

Maulana Azhar Masood, founder of Jaish-e-Mohammed (JeM), stated that after liberation of Kashmir, the next target for jihad will be liberation of Hyderabad, Junagarh and other erstwhile princely states ruled by Muslim rulers before independence.

Thus, Hyderabad has been continuously targeted by terrorists for historical reasons taking advantage of the volatile communal atmosphere. Terrorist violence is a serious cause of concern for the safety of a large number of defence establishments located in Hyderabad city.

Impact of bifurcation of the state on maintenance of law & order in Hyderabad city

The government has been deploying a huge police force to maintain law and order in Hyderabad city on the eve of every important festival of either community. Any minor communal incident in Hyderabad city has a direct bearing on the communal situation in the entire state of AP, more so in about 8-10 districts.

The festivals which are hypersensitive from law & order point of view in Hyderabad city are also hypersensitive in other Telangana districts, requiring similar scale of deployment at district level.

On account of this reason, a large contingent of police forces is drawn from nine districts of coastal Andhra and four districts of Rayalaseema, as these districts don’t have any serious communal problems. For example, on the eve of Ganesh festival, a force of about 25,000 is drawn every year from these districts for a period of 15 days.

In the event of bifurcation of the state, the forces required for the maintenance of law and order in Hyderabad city (and presently being drawn from the 13 districts of the residuary state of Andhra Pradesh) will not be available.

The forces cannot also be drawn from the rest of the districts of Telangana as they are also communally hypersensitive during the same festivities.
The new state of Telangana, therefore, has to raise an additional force of 25,000 which will be about 40% of the existing force in Telangana resulting in huge additional expenditure.

Conclusion

With the ground situation being such, the expected political instability coupled with limited resources of law enforcement on account of the smaller size of the Telangana state will have serious implications for countering the threat of naxalism, terrorism and communalism.

The reemergence of naxal violence in Telangana state will automatically lead to an increase in naxal activity in the residual state of Andhra Pradesh too.
The law and order situation in Hyderabad city will come under severe stress and strain on a regular basis.

The division of the state has therefore dangerous implications to the safety and security of people of both the new states proposed, especially to the people of Hyderabad city.

Therefore the division of the state is not recommended in the overall interests of safety and security needs of people of both the regions.