India is to carve a 29th state out of the southern region of Andhra Pradesh, after a week of violent protests that closed business in its capital, the information technology hub of Hyderabad.
The Government has agreed to create a state called Telangana, acceding to demands of a movement that dates from Indian independence in 1947, when states were demarcated roughly along linguistic lines. “The process of forming the state of Telangana will be initiated,” Palaniappan Chidambaram, the Interior Minister, said. The announcement followed an 11-day hunger strike by K. Chandrasekhar Rao, head of a party that had campaigned for the state on the ground that the regional government had neglected its northern areas.
“We are concerned about the health of K. Chandrasekhar Rao,” the minister said. “We request him to withdraw his fast immediately. We also appeal to all students to withdraw their agitation to help to restore normalcy.” Speaking from his hospital bed in Hyderabad, Mr Rao expressed his thanks to the Government.
The area has its own distinct dialect and culture, and used to be part of the princely state of Hyderabad, the largest in India, which was amalgamated with the rest of the country by force in 1948. Telangana could have a population of up to 30 million, mainly Telugu speakers.
A decision has yet to be made on whether the new state will include Hyderabad, which rivals Bangalore as a base for Indian and multinational companies including Microsoft and Google. Supporters of the new state argue that it should include Hyderabad, because of its historic link, but the regional government is anxious not to lose control of the huge investments it has made in the city.
Opponents of Telangana also worry that its creation could encourage similar movements, some of them violent, in regions across India, including West Bengal, Assam, Nagaland and Kashmir.
Last year the region around Darjeeling in West Bengal was paralysed by sometimes-violent protests by ethnic Gorkhas demanding a separate state called Gorkhaland. Three new states were created in 2000, when Bihar, Madhya Pradesh and Uttar Pradesh were divided to give rise to Jharkhand, Chhattisgarh and Uttarakhand.
It could take years, however, to create Telangana, as approval is required from both the Andhra Pradesh state assembly and the national Parliament.
Formed in 1956, Andhra Pradesh is India’s fifth-largest state in terms of territory, and sends 42 MPs to the 543-member Parliament.
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