WikiLeaks reports the then Deputy Speaker Nadendla Manohar (now the Speaker) discussed with US consul general the situation in Telangana and the issue of a separate statehood. The files disclose that the US learnt through local contacts and press reports of a fear among the police that the Naxalites were on the path of resurgence in Andhra Pradesh by fomenting trouble during the Telangana agitation
That WikiLeaks has rattled the US administration by putting on its website secret US military and diplomatic documents is well-known. The organisation, which claims to be a non-profit set-up, publishes submissions of private, secret, and classified media from anonymous news sources, news leaks, and whistleblowers.
Headed by Australian scribe Julian Assange, it has started hogging the limelight since 2007 by leaking documents about the US role in Afghanistan and Iraq wars, as well as highly sensitive material from the US State Department.
As far as India is concerned, the WikiLeaks files that garnered a wide attention relate to black money, India’s ties with the US etc. However, it is little known that the website published files on the US administration’s focus on a regional issue like Telangana.
In the latter part of 2009 as TRS president K Chandrasekhar Rao spearheaded the movement for statehood for Telangana and the Centre acquiesced to his demands with a statement on the roadmap for Telangana, the US administration appears to have closely followed it and sought opinions of academics K C Reddy, the then chairman of
AP State Council Of Higher Educa tion, and Deputy Speaker Nadendla Manohar through its consulate-general.
In the expose on the US administration’s coverage of Telangana issue, the WikiLeaks speaks of US knowledge based on local contacts and press reports that law enforcement believes CPI (Maoist) elements are helping to organise some of the activities of Telangana student bodies. The WikiLeaks has published the cables sent on the situation by the Consulate General office in Hyderabad.
(Hyderabad's US Embassy Wire). The cables were sent in the name of Consul General Cornelis Keur. Nadendla Manohar, then Deputy Speaker of AP Legislative Assembly, “told CongenOff (Consulate General Office) that the police are convinced that, like in 1969, the current unrest over Telangana statehood will result in a successful recruiting campaign by Naxalite forces in the region.” Mr Manohar, as per the WikiLeaks, noted that many former Naxalite leaders emerged from the earlier agitations and they garnered significant sympathy throughout Telangana due to their support of statehood.
Mr Manohar, who represents the Tenali constituency in Coastal Andhra’s Guntur district, also remarked that many of the “radical members” of the Telangana students joint action committee were 30 plus year old students from the Madiga community, who were well past future career concerns and would continue to agitate whether or not the academic year was lost. The WikiLeaks also covers how the US files speak of active role being taken up by the student organisations and political joint action committee (T JAC).
One would expect the super power to keep tabs on major events across the globe, but not in so much detail. Its reportage deals at length on the Telangana-related issues since the events following the fast undertaken by Mr Chandrasekhar Rao in 2009. It kept itself abreast of the united State movement in Seemandhra as well. The details range from “invective” used by T stir protagonists to closing down of OU hostels to unrest among the united state supporters.
At one point the WikiLeaks files state: “Unlike the TS-JAC (Telangana students JAC), which is concentrated in Hyderabad, the JAC-AU (TS-JAC counterpart in Seemandhra) is dispersed across two regions and has not been able to organise anything on the scale of the “Vidyarthi Garjana.” Still their bandhs have effectively shut down significant parts of both Coastal Andhra and Rayalaseema. The topic of statehood for Telangana has resulted in competing groups formed into two grievously polarised camps, each with the proven ability to disrupt daily life in the state — and quickly foment violence if they believe it serves their ends.”
On the loss of academic year because of the students’ agitation “Prof K C Reddy, Chairman of the AP State Council of Higher Education (APSCHE), told Congenoff that a University Grants Commission (UGC) of India rule requiring that students attend a minimum of 75 per cent of classes will not be compromised. He said that if the student agitations did not settle down by January 18 — after the Sankranti holiday — that a meeting of University Vice-Chancellors would meet to determine if the academic schedule can be extended and if exams can be postponed (for a third time) until April or May.
“However, the APSCHE Chairman averred that a solution would be found and cited the 1969-1971 Telangana student agitations. At that time state-sanctioned universities extended the length of all degree programmes by one academic year (forcing student to postpone post-academic plans by one year),” the WikiLeaks thus quotes the US documents.
Sources: gr8telangana.com
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