AP, Maharashtra agree to work together on key water project; ink deal

– Headline of a English Newspaper on May 6, 2012

Telangana, Maharashtra CMs ink pact on Godavari water projects
-Headline from the same newspaper on HYDERABAD, March 11, 2016

The signing of an agreement by Telangana chief minister K Chandrasekhar Rao and Maharashtra chief minister Fadnavis was celebrated as the triumph of Telangana separate state and it was presented to the people as if such success stories were possible only in separate states like Telangana and only when leaders like KCR were around.

The signing of the pact was given 100 pc Pink color. A hero welcome was extended to KCR upon return in Begumpet airport from Mumbai. Telangana folk cultural troupes were roped in to inject regional cultural flavor to the event. A massive T-Song and Drama had been staged to make people feel proud of cultural regionalism. The event saw a riot of pink color. Apart from folk elements, movies songs related to water and Bhagiratha had been used to invoke emotional elements into the event. People were brought in such a huge numbers that next day major headline in the newspaper was about how traffic had gone hay wire due to the sudden flood of TRS men into Hyderabad.

This can’t be faulted. Turning everything event into politics is an accepted modus operandi of politician world over. What is happening in Telangana and what chief minister KCR is doing is not different from what Narendra Modi did in 2014 and what Donald Trump doing in US now- indoctrination of people with a particular belief system in politics. In Telangana, what was witnessed in Begumpet Airport on March 8 was nothing but “T-ethnisisation”- converting everything into Telangana sentiment.
What is not taken seriously and what was conveniently covered up was that the fact that signing of Godavari water sharing pact between Maharashtra and Andhra Pradesh was not new. Only difference was that the first “historic” agreement was signed between two Congress chief ministers- N Kirankumar Reddy, the then CM of Andhra Pradesh, and Prithviraj Chavan, the then CM of Maharashtra.

The event was made to happen on May 6, 2012 in Mumbai , went off uncelebrated because there was no attempt to turn this signing of the accord into politics immediately. Apart from Kiran and Chavan, then union water resources minister Pawan Kumar Bansal was also present at the MoU signing ceremony . The MoU was related to the sharing of water for Dr B R Ambedkar Pranahita-Chevella Sujala Sravanti project. Then also the media dubbed this as “historic” event as it set to work out modalities for the ambitious Rs 43,300 crore Pranahita-Chevella project implementation. The project envisages diversion of about 160 tmc water by allowing a barrage constructed across river Pranahita, an important tributary of River Godavari. The inter-state board was thought to be constituted to ensure the implementation of the Kiran-Chavan agreement.

This first “historic agreement” between the CMs of united Andhra Pradesh and Maharashtra on May 6, 2012 needs to reminded to the people that March 6 agreement between Telangana CM KCR and Maha CM Fadnavis was not the first historic agreement.

Once the party in power changes, many things change. The meaning of politics, culture, nation, nationalism, sedition, the interpretation of history, designs of the projects, capital, project implementing agencies, allocations of projects, definition of progress and growth etc.,- everything changes with change of the party in power.

The TRS, which rode to power after long and protracted movement for for statehood, needs interpret everything in terms of Telangana and T-fervor. Nothing wrong. This happens everywhere. The more and intense is the sentiment , the greater will be the strength of the party in power.
So, the pact signed between KCR and Fadnavis acquired new meaning in the new historical and political context.

The KCR-Fadnavis agreement has been praised as path-breaking for the two states to work out mutually-agreeable specification on the construction of Medigadda, downstream of Kaleswaram and redesigned project of Pranahita-Chevella project along with four more projects. The second historic fact also envisages constitution of inter-state board for the implementation of the MoU like the first one.