Hyderabad: As news of the Lok Sabha passing the Andhra Pradesh State Reorganisation Bill by a voice vote was flashed on the news channels, celebrations broke out across Hyderabad and other nine districts of Telangana region.
The people in Telangana, facing nerve wracking suspense for the past several weeks, danced, sang and sprinkled colour on each other and burst crackers to celebrate the historic event of getting back their own state after a gap of 58 years.
It was in November 1956 that Telangana lost its identity and statehood as it was merged with Rayalaseema and coastal Andhra to form Andhra Pradesh as a state for “Telugu-speaking people”.
The formation of Telangana state was now a mere formality as after Lok Sabha, the bill was certain to be passed by the upper House, the Rajya Sabha, within two days. Later it will go to the President for his assent to become law.
Thousands of people gathered outside the headquarters of Telangana Rashtra Samiti (TRS), the champion of a separate state for nearly one and half decades and shouted slogans of “Jai Telangana”.
Some were beating drums and others throwing pink colour powder in the air to celebrate the occasion.
“I am dedicating this victory to Martyrs of Telangana”, said Professor Kodanda Ram, convener of Telangana Joint Action Committee, which led the mass movement for separate state. “I congratulate the people on this auspicious occasion”.
In an attempt to appease the sentiments of the people of Seemandhra he said, “we are separating as regions but will live together in peace as brothers”. He thanked Congress president Sonia Gandhi and the BJP leaders Sushma Swaraj and Arun Jaitely for their efforts to get the bill passed.
“It was all possible due to the leadership of KCR,” said one emotional youth Rajinder Kumar referring to the TRS founder and president K. Chandrashekhar Rao’s struggle for Telangana state.
Similar celebrations were also held at Martyr’s Memorial near the state assembly, built in memory of at least 300 people who died during the 1969 movement for separate state.
Students of Osmania University also celebrated the “victory” at the sprawling campus, which often witnessed battles between students and police over the past several years.
Students of Kakatiya University took out a victory procession on their campus in Warangal, another hotbed of the Telangana movement. The students also garlanded the statue of Chary, a student who had committed suicide for Telangana.
“We can never forget the sacrifices of more than 1,000 youth and students who committed suicide for Telangana state during the last five years”, said Raja Rao, one of the participants at the celebrations in Warangal city.
Even as the details of the historic Telangana bill were yet to emerge, celebrations were reported from all the district headquarters and major towns from Adilabad, Nizamabad, Karimnagar, Mehubnagar to Medak, Nalgond and Khammam.
“I had promised to set foot only in Telangana state and it is fuflfiled,” said Chandrashekhar Rao, who had left for New Delhi earlier this month declaring that he will come only after Parliament passes the Telangana bill.
K. Venkat Reddy, a former minister and Congress leader from Telangana said, “This is victory not one person but all those people who fought for the separate state”. He said that the Congress leaders from Telangana region and the BJP also fought for Telangana state.
Meanwhile, an atmosphere of gloom descended on 13 districts of Seemandhra region and their political leaders, who were shocked by the dramatic turn of events on Tuesday.
The efforts of central minister and MPs from Seemandhra region to stall the proceedings of Parliament and derail the process came to naught as, after several adjournments of Lok Sabha, Speaker Meira Kumar decided to complete the formalities ignoring the noisy interruptions and protests.
Union Home Minister Sushil Kumar Shinde and leader of the opposition Sushma Swaraj spoke on the bill when the House met at 3pm. Though Seemandhra MPs along with Trinamool Congress members rushed to the well of the House and one MP even uprooted the Speaker’s microphone, proceedings continued and the bill was passed by voice vote in 23 minutes.
The people across Andhra Pradesh waited keenly to watch the historic debate on Telangana bill in parliament from the morning to know the stand of different parties. But when the moment came the Lok Sabha TV channel went blank. Apparently the Speaker decided to stop the telecast in view of the trouble in the House.
