Violence as a movement??

The road from Sarathi Studios (in Hyderabad) till NIMS in Panjagutta (where KCR is getting treated) is about 4 kms long. This strech of road is one of the most busiest roads in all times. Multiple shopping complexes, commercial buildings, small time shops ensure that the road is always busy(thus making it frustrating to travel too ;-) ).

I was stuck in one of those shops on Saturday, the 5th of December when some 100/200 students took out a rally in support of KCR and Telangana. This was also the rally in which some hooligans amongst the crowd decided to pelt stones at shops onwed by Andhra/non-telangana people. Literally 10-15 minutes after they did this, I, along with my parents, walked back home on the exact same route these miscreants took to NIMS. We saw that the glasses of two buses were damaged, but there was no commotion around. People were just beginning to get back to normalcy.

We come back home and switch on the TV only to be shocked at the kind of hype the media channels started giving to this incident. Much after the rally passed through the places, we had reporters screaming "there is war like atmosphere here"! Barely 5 minutes passed since we walked through that exact same spot, we had this reporter shouting about a "war like atmosphere". Within two hours, the entire city was shut down. I am not kidding at all. A bunch of 10 hooligans could hold the entire capital city of Andhra Pradesh to ransom for not just that one evening but for the next two days.

The reason I have dedicated three paragraphs to this issue is to underline the immense impact the hyper reporting of the media has on public psyche. Instead of trying to cool tempers, the media has day in and day out sought to glorify these ugly acts of violence. The Hyderabad incident has created such fear amongst the resident/shop owners that for the next two days(a bandh was called on sunday and monday) they chose to remain indoors. And this fear permeated through the government circles and now the impression being created that there is a huge movement infavour of telangana. Wah! Justifying this violence by asking people to emphatize with the Telangana cause is simply the most attoricious reason one can think of.

People's court is the ultimate decision making court in a democracy. Like it or not, they hand their verdict and for 5 years we are stuck with the verdict. In the latest election results handed out by the people just 6 months ago, all the political parties that supported a separate telangana had to bite the dust badly. TDP, PRP, TRS and the BJP all had to face embarassing defeats in multiple constituencies across the region. Isn't it clear enough that the majority people of the region have rejected the notion of a separate state by rejecting ALL parties that supported the cause?

Within six months of that decision, what really changed in the state so as to warrant a serious rethink about this issue? A bunch of hooligans? Ok, so some 3000\4000\5000 (ok fine, let's make it 10,000) people in a region of about 2-3 crores decide to boost up their sagging egos, and charter a course of violent reactions, we seriously rethink about the issue?

They decide to take law into their hands, impose a looslely existent separate state sentiment on the crores of people who don't give a damn, cultivate a fear in the minds of lakhs of innocent people watching on TV that they will spare no one, and we end up calling this a movement towrads telangana? From when did violent agitations start getting named as "movements"?

Every day, for the past 7-8 days, we have had leaders from the TRS trying to agitate the people with provocative statements and the state is just a mute spectator? KCR's son says thanks, on live TV, to those gaurding creamtion grounds in Nalgonda district for refusing to cremate/bury the bodies of those who opposed Telangana. Can it get any more sicker than this? MLA's provocate cadre by pouring kerosene on themselves, can it get any more cheaper than this? Students risk their careers for a person like KCR, can it get any more worse than this?

All along, the media was just more than happy to toe along the line of those agitating. Instead of denouncing the violent turn this whole plan has taken, the media is trying to project this as a genuine and impulsive outpour of emotions. The media is more than willing to lap it up! The media in AP does not just have a TRP agenda, but it has a huge political agenda too, so it is more sickening to watch channel after channel turn a 10 min stone throwing incident into a "war like situation."

The fact of the matter is that KCR alone is solely responsible for the mess the state is in right now. Just to revive his sagging political career, KCR raised the curtains for another drama, endangering the lives of scores of innocents, not knowing when to bring the them down. While he rests calmly in the ICU of NIMS, the common man/woman of telangana just hopes that saner sense will prevail upon these hooligans.

I wish to reiterate again. The people of Telangana region have overwhelmingly voted in favour of a united state just 6 months ago. We cannot allow a few thousand to hold the entire state to ransom. If that much cannot be understood by media/politcos/thinkers, it is a sad reflection of their mentality. The only thing that changed from then to now is the death of YSR. Buoyed by his absence, the clown KCR has taken up this farcial fast. It is time we denounce those who wish to classify violent agitations as "movements."

PS: Just imagine, if Telangana is okayed because of this kind of blackmail/violence, what kind of precedent is it going to set?