All-party call for peace. Andhra leaders’ meeting a small step forward

The joint appeal for maintaining peace and assisting the Government in controlling law and order issued by participants from eight political parties of Andhra Pradesh at their meeting in New Delhi on Tuesday is a positive step forward in dealing with the vexed Telangana statehood issue. After all the acrimony over the issue, it would have been unrealistic to expect a dramatic breakthrough in the very first meeting held to sort out the tangle. Union Home Minister P. Chidambaram who called the meeting can draw some satisfaction from the fact that politicians representing diverse interests at least met without any visible signs of acrimony and agreed to work for peace.

Evidently, there was acute realization of the fact that the situation could well go out of hand with the Naxalites itching to take advantage of the climate of uncertainty. The increasingly aggressive stance that the students had begun to take also drilled fear into the minds of politicians and their parties that they may lose control over the rival movements which they had fuelled guided as much by personal interest as by regional considerations. Whatever may be the motivation, any lowering of the temperature would be welcome considering that the State is losing so heavily on account of the bandhs and other forms of work stoppages and people at large are being so grossly inconvenienced by frequent disruptions. It is a relief that the Congress has been able to rein in its ministers who had submitted their resignations and were staying away from their ministerial responsibilities. The spearhead of the agitation, the Telangana Rashtra Samithi is also veering round to a less dogmatic position. It is time that other parties too work to sort out their position on the contentious issue in the overall interests of the state and its people.
Clearly, the positives from the January 5 meeting are that the political leaders have agreed to meet again within a “reasonable frame of time.” It is now vital that this limited gain be built upon and that the ‘wider consultations’ process be carried forward until a solution is found that meets with general acceptance. 

Source: The Tribune, Chandigarh, India.

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