September 17, 1948 or June 2, 2014? Which should be celebrated as Telangana Day?
That is the tussle between the BJP and the Telangana Rashtra Samiti (TRS) in Telangana. The former was the day when the erstwhile princely kingdom of Hyderabad – pretty much modern-day Telangana – joined the Indian Union, 13 months after Independence while the latter is the day when Telangana became India’s 29th state two years ago.
The BJP wants to celebrate September 17 as Telangana Liberation day officially because the merger with India was made possible due to the then Union Home minister, Sardar Patel, a figure revered by the BJP and by Prime minister Narendra Modi, personally.
During the agitation, this was an idea supported by K Chandrasekhar Rao as well. But after coming to power, the TRS put the idea in cold storage. The BJP leadership believes this is because KCR does not want to annoy the MIM because Hyderabad MP Asaduddin Owaisi’s party founders were part of the Nizam establishment in 1948. Therefore any move to make September 17 as Telangana Liberation Day would embarrass Owaisi.
That is the wedge the BJP wants to drive as well. Which is why it made much noise about complaining about Owaisi to the Centre when he offered legal help to the seven youth who were arrested by the NIA on suspicion of being part of ISIS terror module in Hyderabad. With the Congress and the TDP weakened due to defections of its MLAs to the ruling TRS, the BJP believes a high decibel presence will help it occupy the opposition space in Telangana, as desired by its national president Amit Shah.
But the TRS has different ideas and wants to hit two birds with one stone. It wants to focus on June 2 because the formation of Telangana is associated strongly with KCR. Its effort in the long run is to ensure KCR gets his place under the sun as the father of Telangana state. So celebrating September 17 does not make any political sense to KCR or his party.
The BJP wants to pit Sardar Patel as the tall historical icon against KCR. Which is why Modi asked the BJP apparatus in Telangana to undertake the Telangana yatra till September 17, the day when Amit Shah is to address a public meeting in Warangal.
The BJP that has only one MP now in Telangana – Union Labour minister Bandaru Dattatreya – looks at the state as a catchment area for 2019. The plan is to consolidate itself while keeping the door just about open for a post-poll alliance with KCR should the BJP fall short of numbers. The religious-minded chief minister is in fact, seen as the most `Hindu’ of the chief ministers in India today, something the BJP will be very glad about.
