Columnist S Gurumurthy on Sunday observed that the delay in creation of Telangana was creating divisive feelings.
Answering questions posted by audience at a meeting organised by the Bharat Vikas Parishad here, Gurumurthy said that Telangana should have been formed a long time ago.
“There is nothing wrong in division of States. When Chhattisgarh was created nothing happened. However, holding back the decision to bifurcate Andhra Pradesh is creating contra feeling among people, which is dangerous”, he added.
To a query on Naxalism, he pointed out that the Naxalites issue was dealt with an iron hand in Andhra Pradesh with huge investments in the Telangana region and it changed the situation. Stressing that the problem pertaining to Naxalites is the fall out of driving tribals out of forests, he said, their livelihood and herbal production were taken away.
“In most of the tribal States, non-tribals are intruding into their area. About 50 per cent of the population in Jharkhand were outsiders,” he stressed. Tribals, he said, have their own God, religion and society and lead a contended life, but intrusion by others made them react in such a way.
Earlier, addressing the gathering on the topic ‘Role and Responsibilities of Elites’, Gurumurthy said that India must be looked from the Indian perspective. Despite liberalisation policies implemented since 1991 to attract foreign investments towards India, facts showed that Indians have made a majority of the investments.
According to statistics, 98.8 per cent of investments in the country were made by our people, whereas only 1.2 per cent of investments came from abroad, he noted.
Gurumurthy recalled that India was a leading economic power of the world for about 1,700 years, and the Gross Domestic Product GDP) contribution began to decline only after colonial exploitation.