Thursday, December 31, 2009

Interview with Vundavalli Arun Kumar And Jaya Sankar

There was an interview with Vundavalli Arun Kumar and Jaya Sankar in Sakshi about Telangana and United Andhra. Vundavalli Arun Kumar clarified all the points raised by Jaya Sankar about Telangana.

Few points in the interview: The text in italics is my commentary.

Vundavalli: There was Telangana movement in 1969, and In 1972, when we had Jai Andhra movement. During that time, there were four Chief Ministers from Telangana. (P.V.Narasimha Rao, Velagam Jangala Rao, Chenna Reddy and Anjaiah). Why did not they give separate Telangana, when we ourselves asked to separate the state. It was Telangana leaders that made us united.

Jaya Sankar: 68.5% of of Krishna River flows in Mahaboobnagar. 70% of fertile land is in Telangana. If we take the catchment area of the river, Telangana should get 68.5% of water. If we take the fertile land, we should get 70%. Bachavath tribunal gave 811 TMC of water to A.P. But, Telangana is getting only 100 TMC. Similarly, 79% of Godavari river is in Telangana. How much are we getting?

Vundavalli: I live on the banks of Godavari, and had seen many floods. When there are floods, I used to feel like, why Telangana people do not stop some water and take it. Every year, more than 3000 TMCs of water is flowing to the sea. Why don't they take that water? The reason is, in telangana, the height with respect to sea level is very high.

The heights with respect to sea level.

In Telangana
Nizamabad - 1296 ft
Warangal - 991 ft
Kareemnagar - 869 ft
Adilabad - 866 ft
Nalgonda - 1381 ft

In Rayalaseema,
Anathapuram - 1099 ft
Chittoor - 1093 ft
Kurnool - 899 ft
Kadapa - 463 ft

In Coastal
Vijayawada - 39 ft
Visakhapatnam - 16 ft
Rajahmundry - 46 ft

If the height is very high, then water has to be lifted. (It is very expensive to lift the water to the height of Telangana area.) Because of less height, even if coastal areas do not want to get water, still, we get lot of water. That is the reason, why there were no projects in Telangana, and many projects on Krishna and Godavari rivers in Coastal areas.

The irrigation area in 1956 and 2004 are as follows (in Lakh acres).

Telangana - 17.51 (1956) - 45.29 (2004) increased by 27.78
Coastal - 41.8 (1956) - 69.98 (2004) increased by 28.18
Rayalaseema - 9.07 (1956) - 16.23 (2004) increased by 7.16

The increase in the irrigation area is almost equal in Telangana and Coastal. In Rayalaseema, the situation is very bad, because of the height with respect to sea level.

Once the Jala Yagnam is finished, then Telangana would get water for another 57.56 lakh acres, Coastal gets 26.47 lakh acres and Rayalaseema gets 20.18 lakh acres. With that, the total irrigation area in telangana would be 102 lakh acres, Coastal - 96 lakh acres, and Rayalaseema - 36 lakh acres

Jaya Sankar: Telangana gets more than 50% of the revenue from excise, forest, mines etc. From the area or population wise, we should get 42%. But, we are not getting our share.

Vundavalli: If we take GDP Growth Rate, Per capita income, IAMR Reports, Human Index, Literacy rate or anything, Telangana is not backwards. For example, lot of water is required for producing rice. Godavari and Krishna districts have been in the first place for a long time. According calculations of FCI in 2009-10, after godavari districts, Kareemnagar is in third place. Nizamabad and Nalgonda are equivalent to Krishna district. If we take the districts which produce least, they are Visakhapatnam, Chittoor, Kadapa, Ananthapur, Prakasam. In the first 5 places, there are three districts of Telangana. In the last 5 districts, there are no districts of Telangana. Telangana is not backwards, and saying that United Andhra is the reason for its backwards is not at all true.

Jaya Sankar: Just take the G.O. that was released four days back. Nabard released Rs.130 crore to Andhra and Rayalaseema, and Rs.9 crore to Telangana. How many times do we have to beg them to give what we should get?

Vundavalli: Neither Central Government nor State Government have rights to spend money in whatever they want. Wherever the money is spent, there is Public Accounts Committee that manages this money. That is headed by opposition party member. That committee has right to validate all the proposals. Probably, the numbers that he is mentioning may be correct. Sometimes, few areas get more funds in few G.O.s and at other times, other areas get more funds. I can show you 100 G.O.s where Telangana got majority of funds. But, can we say that, only Telangana got entire money? For Nabard funds, we are yet to spend lot of money, and talking about it right now may not be correct.

Jaya Sankar: We are always looted in everything including jobs, funds, water etc.

Vundavalli: Was there any cabinet without ministers from Telangana? Did not we conduct elections in Telangana? Did we stop anyone from Telangana in anything? If something did not happen as expected, who should take the responsibility? Are the elected leaders in Telangana not responsible for that? Now, KCR is talking about Telangana. What did he do when he was in a prominent role in TDP at the time of NTR and Chandrababu? If he had really demanded then, atleast few would have solved by now. Did he talk even once about problems in Telangana before forming the party in 2001?

Jaya Sankar: Movement is not just by KCR. We have been doing it for the last 50 years.

Vundavalli: How many times, have you tried to solve the problems of Telangana in democratic way?

Jaya Sankar: Nobody cares even Supreme Court Orders. No need to speak of normal MLAs. Don't you know about the situation of Telangana? Do we have to ask specifically?

Vundavalli: Corruption, Cheating, Looting etc., are there in all the places. It is not specific to Telangana. There are many things done to reduce those. We are somewhat successful in that. That's why this increase in Human Index Rates. There are poor people everywhere. They can be from Vijayanagaram or Anathapuram or Adilabad. Government never considered the people from Coastal, Rayalaseema and Telangana regions differently. But, this has been colored and started injecting into people of Telangana that, "Coastal area people are looting Telagana people".

KCR is a Member of Parliament. He should raise the issues in Parliament. Instead of raising the issues there, he had chosen to do fasting and made the situation so bad. In my opinion, after 2009 elections, he faced problems everywhere. Whether is in the people's judgement, or from their party members. He wanted to be in limelight, and took up this. He knew that only with Telangana movement, he would be observed, and took up this fasting.

Jaya Sankar: Why did Hyderabad became capital of United Andhra? Since, they did not have a capital, and told us that we would have all the rights. That's why we allowed them. Now, they are saying that, they developed the capital, and are asking for making it as union territory. If we have to do that, then make Mumbai, Kolkatha and Chennai as Union territories first, and then ask for Hyderabad.

Vundavalli: When we say, Hyderabad is the capital, it means, we came to your home. For the last 50 years, we thought it as our capital. Eventhough we had problems in 1969 and 1972, still we are staying peacefully till 2000. Everyone knows that Telangana movement is strong in Telangana. But, you should not say that, you would move andhra people out of Telangana, or you would destroy andhra hotels, or you would stop andhra people from making movies.

There is a big difference between Mumbai, Chennai and Hyderabad. When Andhra state is formed, Telugu people had asked for a separate state, and that's why Andhra had to give up Chennai. When Gujarathis asked for a separate state, they had to give up Mumbai. Now, Telangana people want separate state, they are asking andhra people to give up the state. This is ridiculous. If we allow this kind of separation, and if the same thing repeats, then the country would be in very bad situation. For example, Telangana takes Hyderabad completely, and Andhra people formes the capital at Kurnool. After few years, if Rayalaseema people asks for separate state, do coastal area people have to give up capital again? If the same thing happens, and if we form capital at Visakhapatnam, and then if north coastal people demands for a separate state, do South coastal people have to give up the capital again? This is not sustainable. If anybody is asking for a separate state, they have to give up the capital. It should not be made even as Union Territory. The capital should exclusively belong to the people who are not asking for separate state.

Jaya Sankar: To develop the film industry, we gave land, water and current. According to government rules, the land should be used only for the given purpose. But, the andhra people are making it as real estate, and artificially increasing the prices. Because of that, now, we cannot buy any land. They did not encourage the artists of Telangana. Even there also, there is dynasty rule. Don't we have handsome people? Are they heroes, and are we fans? That's why these riots.

Vundavalli: That's why do you stop movie shooting, and destroy everything? There is government in India. Government should take action according to the rules. This is not the reason for riots. This is only an explanation for the riots. The only reason is, they are andhra people. It is absolutely wrong for a political party to support these riots. If we have these many problems even before division, what would be the situation after division?

Does Jaya sankar think that, the producers have so much respect for all the people of andhra, and give chance to only andhra people as the main artists? There is nothing stupid than that. If I am making a movie, without any second thought, I would give main roles to the people I like. Not the favorites of Jaya Sankar or KCR. Most of the time, the people I like would be in my relatives or friends. If I am from andhra, most of my relatives also would be from andhra. If I am from Punjab, then most of my relatives also would be from Punjab. Does he think that, when Allu Aravind is making a movie with a budget of Rs.40 crore, he should give chance to a Telangana person instead of his brother-in-law's son?

Jaya Sankar: This movement is going for the last 10 years. Did we do anything before. Now, only they are doing. Why? Because, they cheated us. If anyone normally comes and stays here, then we welcome them. What we are saying? If you come here for living, we will save you. If you try to rule us, we don't allow you.

Vundavalli: Maoists are extremists. They take lives of people. If you also say that, your philosophy is also same, then there is nothing that I can say. You say democracy, and then you do riots, and then you only say that, you would save us. How is it correct? Who are you to save us? In this country, anyone can go and live anywhere. If you are saying that, you would save in Hyderabad, it means you have created an environment, where one cannot live in Hyderabad. The sentence "We will save you" is itself dangerous. For better administration, we can separate. If you ask andhra people to leave, then obviously, there would be a question of Hyderabad. If you see the history, when andhra was separated from Madras state, people in Madras did not feel insecure. Even now, there are many andhra people in Coimbatore. Till some time back, even the MP there also was of Andhra. When Andhra was separated, there was problem with only language. But, there was no insecure feeling. But, the same thing (security) is not there in Hyderabad. That's why this became the main topic. Otherwise, Hyderabad would have been one of many topics. The real democracy is, in front of crores of Telagana supporters, one person should be able to raise and say that, he would support United Andhra. In the same way, in front of many United Andhra supporters, one person should be able to say, Jai Telangana.

Can anyone say Jai Samaikya Andhra infront of any TRS activist?

Courtesy: Sakshi


  1. Your commentary is completely biased. Jaya Shankar ave excellent counter to Arun in this interview, that's how I see it.

  2. Why is Arun so much obsessed with KCR? Doesn't he understand that Telanana is not just KCR, he is just a politician. It's people movement, it's a student's movement. 90% + Telangana people are in favor of our state back.

  3. Jayasankar is completely lost by Arun here.If u clearly follow the intervie wyou will come to a conclusion that this Telangana agitation is a humbuck.

  4. This is just a sensored version of Sakshi's interview. Please go through actual interview in Telugu.Here all the points picked up are not in the right context though few points are correct. And many points (like Jalagam vengal rao is not from Telangana and other Telangana CM's were not able to rule more than 2 years continuously due to Andhra lobbying)which are for Telangana which are more in number in the interview are missing here.

    Thanks to biased version of the interview.

  5. What ever it may be Prof. Jayashankar or any TG supporter must answer to Vundavalli questions. When development issue comes under every one says schools, hospitals, roads ..... But when we take on paper Telangana is developed more than Rayalaseema or Andhra. ForReference look in the Telangana - 17.51 (1956) - 45.29 (2004) increased by 27.78
    Coastal - 41.8 (1956) - 69.98 (2004) increased by 28.18 ; Rayalaseema - 9.07 (1956) - 16.23 (2004) increased by 7.16. Every one is saying its a 50 years struggle. Then whats about the gap between 1972 to 2001. If everyone wants TG then why they dont start movement before 2001 why they comes out only after KCR words. If TG given every andhra people raise a question what about hyderabad? Here every one comes due to its a capital of Anhdra Pradesh. But not the part of Telangana or any. If any leader who are asking for TG why they dont ask for funds why they dont ask for development. Takes KCR he is struggling from 2001 instead of that if he struggled for Development of TG, Central government or State government might be takens some decisions. Even some development may be come. If any one says Samikyandra TG supporters destroying their properties is it correct. Our country is not a Hitler capital our country is a Democratic country. Here every one can live every where in the country. Who are u to say go away. Think like a human being.

    1. Dear Brother,
      Still we are thinking like a human being, thats why the the people of andhra or seema are still staying here. If we forgot that u people are not our telugu's, than the situation will be worse.
      while talking/writing please keep ur words in control.
      u came to hyderbad for ur development and to work, not rule telangana people.

    2. Kriish; If you think as a human being you wouldn't have protested. Make the situation worse and you will come to know consequences.

  6. see if the land height issue comes for telangana region for its agri development...

    i know govt has don it as it would b better to projects at lower cost so andhra region is better to invest...

    But try thinking in dis context... if telangana was a separate state from 1956 as it was before ( 1948-1956 it was seperate state) then the irrigation projects in T region would hav completed and farmers there would hav developed... so Telagana state wen it is formed would use the 800 tmc water alloted for dem...

  7. mr arun u always talk like lawyer, but thing is that ur talking on telangana is like proverb.. deyyalu vedalu vallistunnatu. mr arun garu u should tell the reasons why state could be together and how it is possible to stay together.
    the telangana demand is absolutly appreciable and acctable. jai india, jai telangana.

  8. telagana can be realised only through dialougue and discussions not by spreading hatred between telugu speaking people and terrorising with violent reactions.After all India is democratic country not under the rule of Nijam.Everyone should be allowed to express their opinion freely and fairly.maaku againstga maatladite tantam kodatam ante idi adavi raajayam kaadu.Mahatam gandhi saadhinchi itchina swarajaya desam.

  9. Mr anonumous your views are positive. some of the people from telengana says we will save you if u not talk against us or u support us. extremists take lives of people. IF Your philosophy is also same, then there is nothing that one can say. India is a democratic country , and then do riots, and then only say that, would save people. Who are these to save others in a democracy?It is not the same old Nijam rule under which people of telangana region immensly suffered. In this country, anyone can go and live anywhere. If some people are saying that, you would save in Hyderabad, it means you have created an extremist environment, where one cannot live in Hyderabad.Do people think freedom means they an do anything.Is there no respect for law and order in this great country. The sentence "We will save people from other parts" is itself dangerous.Its indirectly threatning. For better administration, we can separate. To ask people to leave, then obviously, there would be a question of Hyderabad. believe in democracy and achieve your goals in democratic way not through violence.