However, the differences take violent shape from time to time. Andhra Pradesh (the state my family is from) is undergoing tumult right now because part of the state called Telangana (the white districts on map) want to be a separate, 29th state of the Republic of India.
In other countries, this often lead to some political grandstanding, a referendum or two, and finally some sort of minor appeasement. In AP, this time, however, it has become an all-out war of sorts. By the way, people of Telangana speak the same language as the rest of the state and are not significantly different in terms of religious, caste background.
An NYT article today describes people that have immolated themselves for the Telangana state cause (below pic shows family of one such "hero").* How can someone be so passionate about a cause that has almost no impact on their daily life?
Ultimately, this is about money--who gets Hyderabad. Hyderabad is one of the richest cities in the country (home to Microsoft India, Satyam Systems, Reddy Labs etc.). The politicians from Telangana feel like they haven't gotten to eat as much of the Hyderabad development bribes as those from the rest of the state.
Meanwhile, everyone has to suffer, like those manipulated into suicide/homicide and the rest of us that have to live in or travel to Hyderabad/AP. I was planning on going to Hyderabad this Easter weekend for a family reunion but it is highly likely that there will be a city wide curfew the entire weekend which means we will have trouble going anywhere in town.
* Full disclosure, even though my family has settled in Hyderabad many years ago. We're not from Telangana.
An NYT article today describes people that have immolated themselves for the Telangana state cause (below pic shows family of one such "hero").* How can someone be so passionate about a cause that has almost no impact on their daily life?
Ultimately, this is about money--who gets Hyderabad. Hyderabad is one of the richest cities in the country (home to Microsoft India, Satyam Systems, Reddy Labs etc.). The politicians from Telangana feel like they haven't gotten to eat as much of the Hyderabad development bribes as those from the rest of the state.
Meanwhile, everyone has to suffer, like those manipulated into suicide/homicide and the rest of us that have to live in or travel to Hyderabad/AP. I was planning on going to Hyderabad this Easter weekend for a family reunion but it is highly likely that there will be a city wide curfew the entire weekend which means we will have trouble going anywhere in town.
* Full disclosure, even though my family has settled in Hyderabad many years ago. We're not from Telangana.
No comments:
Post a Comment