TDF Lecture series-Atlanta Chapter
The TDF meeting in
The meeting attended was by about 35 people started off with the
screening of the documentary Telangana- "Still seeking justice"
which portrayed the raw deal meted out to the Telangana
in a unified state. It discussed the history of how the people of Telangana got into an unwanted matrimony with coastal
Andhra and how they have been discriminated since.
Mr Prabhakar
introduced Mr.Vidyasagar Rao
to the audience. Mr. Vidyasagar
Rao took over the proceedings with a well made
presentation and oration expressing his anguish and heartburn at the
helplessness of Telangana in a unified state. Mr. Vidyasagar Rao explained the
injustice to the Telangana region in the irrigation
front strongly backed with numbers and statistics.
Mr.Vidyasagar Rao
informed the gathering about his fight against Polavaram,
which drew comments from the CM recently. Polavaram
submerges more land than it irrigates. And the submerged land is in Telangana but the irrigated land is in Andhra. The
indifference of the politicians and the court led him to provoke the Orissa government to raise the issue in the Supreme court
and stop the project ! ! !
Later on Prof Harinath Rao spoke about the discrimination happening to Telangana in all sectors. He explained how the
discrimination is getting institutionalized at every level.
He has raised some serious points on various issues affecting Telangana.
The audiences completely acknowledged the need for a separate
state and have shown great interest in doing their bit for the cause. The
meeting was followed by a Q & A session, which was very interactive.
Mr.Dhiraj expressed his concern at the
lack of feel for the issue among the youth.
Mr Prabhakar called for a vision for the
Telangana NRIs and TDF to
take the issue further. He states that Telangana NRIs identify with the problems and discrimination
happening to the region and want to involve themselves in the development of the region. He felt
that they need a vision, direction and an action plan to channelize
their energy not only on the issue of separation but even further for the
development of Telangana after the formation of a
separate state.
Some people in the audience felt that the UPA govt will not give a separate state unless it becomes a
question of their existence in power. If the support of TRS was essential for
the Congress to have majority in the house then they would have conceded Telangana long ago. Mr Vidyasagar Rao
said that the UPA has only 8 MPs in excess of the majority and if all the
Congress and TRS MPs of the region stand firm to the cause, they can create
trouble for the government. He also elucidated on how Congress has suppressed
the politicians who tried to speak up for Telangana
with disciplinary action while ignoring the Andhra MLAs
who signed a petition against the cabinet decision on GO610, which is a much
bigger offense. He however expressed his faith in Ms. Sonia Gandhi and said
that she is sympathetic to the issue unlike what the media wants us to believe.
The meeting came to a close but the people were very
enthusiastic to speak with the speakers and interact with another. However, due
to the time constraints people had to vacate the venue. The meeting served well
to bring together the Telangana NRIs
in the