- Trust our political leaders to embrace any opportunities visible that could potentially help them to consolidate their assiduously built vote banks. Needless to mention, our elected representatives – as the words suggest – are elected by the people to not only take care of their daily lives in the form of several social welfare measures but also tasked to contribute to furthering the nation’s growth interalia. Ideally speaking, social service as a single most important motif should prevail over parochial considerations for elected representatives. But what happens on the ground is quite the contrary. Whipping up emotions, playing on polarizing viewpoints, creating communal frenzy, and of course, upholding caste equations define our realpolitik.
PC: freepik
- Throw in for good measure unrequited patriotism and uncensored nationalistic fervour, and the jingoism to divide the society on these unproductive grounds is complete. Indian citizens have witnessed umpteen such incidents over the years including demands for bifurcating established states on linguistic and/or caste lines. As we are aware, almost nine years ago, Parliament passed legislation to bifurcate Andhra Pradesh mentioning that Hyderabad will be the common capital of the successor states, Telangana and Andhra, for a decade. Subsequently, there will be a new capital for Andhra. Post-bifurcation the Andhra government moved fast. In April 2015, it passed an order notifying Amaravati as the Capital. A new capital city was to be built.
- However, almost eight years later there’s uncertainty surrounding Amaravati’s status. Will it continue to be capital or just one or three is the question being raised. Thus, the confusion embodies the state’s broken politics. Note that YSR Congress Party’s success in the 2019 assembly elections changed things. In 2020, the assembly approved a bill that allowed for a transition from one capital to three seats of governance. Amaravati would be the legislative capital, Visakhapatnam the executive capital, and Kurnool the judicial capital. Yes, you read it right. This was the proposal on the table. In no time protests from some farmers ensued and the matter reached the high court of Andhra. You see, how our political whims & fancies are at play here.
PC: freepik
- Meanwhile, in 2021, the YSR government repealed its own law on creating three seats of governance. The next year, the HC decided the Andhra government should stick to its original Amaravati plan. The state government took the matter to the apex court. The prevailing confusion over the capital represents wasted opportunities in the state and has harmed the investment climate. Dysfunctional politics, not unique to Andhra or the country, has led to disputes and judicial intervention. The SC, which stayed the HC verdict, will resume hearing the case later this month. CM Jagan Mohan Reddy has declared Visakhapatnam as the capital in the days to come. Hopefully, SC will put end to the confusion and Andhra can finally put the matter to rest. Did someone mention our political class lacks vision? You bet.
