Do not Divide Andhra Pradesh!!

Dear President, 
Indian National Congress

       We are non-resident Indians hailing from the great state of Andhra Pradesh. Telugu people’s struggle for a separate state is as old as Indian National Congress’ fight for India’s independence from the British rule. After fifty long years of struggle and the first death of a satyagrahi, Andhra Pradesh state was formed in 1956. Dividing Andhra Pradesh state will open a pandora’s box that will compromise India’s national integrity. Congress Party has historically been opposed to divisions that are rooted in hatred. Nehruji has fought against separation of Kashmir. Indiraji has fought against separation of Punjab. Rajivji fought against those that were seeking division of Srilanka. Clearly, Congress Party has a long history of fighting against separatist forces. 

       Residents of Andhra Pradesh have a strong desire to stay united. Just because there is no groundswell of protests against separation of Kashmir from India, it doesn’t mean that rest of India doesn’t care of about Kashmir. The silent majority will rise up when the threat of division is imminent. This was evident after the Home Minister made that infamous statement on December 9th favoring Andhra Pradesh’s division. Following that statement, the state saw unprecedented scale of protests against division, which forced the central government to retract its original announcement in a mere two weeks. There are huge unresolved issues in the state of Andhra Pradesh. The issue of over six million settlers living in the Telangana districts should be a cause for grave concern. There are bitter river water disputes between Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, and Maharashtra for many years. Division of the state will further exacerbate this problem as river water disputes between Coastal Andhra and Telangana are bound to come up and have the potential to turn violent. The Hyderabad quandary is almost impossible to solve. 

        For decades, people from all the regions of the state and all parts of the country have contributed to the development of the city. It is impossible to divide the crown jewel Hyderabad equitably. In light of all these issues, as the young and dynamic leader of emerging India, we urge you to take an unequivocal position to keep Andhra Pradesh united.

Thank you.