(Audrey) Just when you think things are starting to get boring in the world, India comes up with a crazy idea: let’s make a new Indian state. India currently has 28 states, and it may soon have 29. The government announced a few days ago that it’s going to seriously move forward with the idea to create Telangana. Telangana is currently a region in southern India that is part of Andhra Pradesh. Here you can see it’s location in the country—
As I said, Telangana is currently within Andhra Pradesh, a well-established state. But some in Telangana want to change that, notably one big-wig politician in the area by the name of K. Chandrasekhar Rao, who went on a nearly 2-week hunger strike in order to promote the issue. In short, he got thin and sick, the Indian government got scared, and now we’re seriously looking at state #29. But take a look at what Telangana will carve out of Andhra Pradesh. See any immediate problems?
That’s right, Hyderabad is going with Telangana. Hyderabad is the capital of Andhra Pradesh, a city of several million, known for its pearls, has some great tourist spots, is part of the tech boom, and is sometimes called Cyberabad… in short—it’s culturally, politically, and financially important. It isn’t leaving Andhra without a fight, that’s for sure.
The central government is already hedging so maybe Telangana state will die on the vine. A few who aren’t sure have decided to fight fire with fire and have begun their own hunger strike against Telangana. I can’t say I have any stake in this one way or the other, but let me note something for both sides—hunger strikes may have a long, time-honored history in India, but they also have a long, time-honored history of being ineffective. This goes all the way back to Gandhi really, the master of the art. Gandhi famously went on a hunger strike to protest Partition, which of course happened anyways. So, whether you’re pro-Telangana or against, don’t take the outcome too hard, alright?
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