An Open letter to the President of India

Please take legal opinion on AP Re-organisation Bill, 2014 and return it to Parliament to make it Constitutionally and Legally Valid.

Shri Pranab Mukherjee photo: tribune.com.pk

(MUMBAI) - The following is an open letter to Indian President Shri Pranab Mukherjee.

February 26, 2014

To,

Shri Pranab Mukherjee,

Hon’ble President of India,

New Delhi.

Sub: Please take Legal opinion on AP Re-organisation Bill, 2014 and return it to Parliament to make it Constitutionally and Legally Valid.

Sir,

Greetings.

The entire country wants you to take a legal opinion on the undemocratic, illegal, un-constitutional and draconian Andhra Pradesh Re-organisation Bill, 2014, which was arbitrarily passed by both Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha last week, before giving a final nod on it.

I would like to convey you that not only the people, especially Youth of Andhra Pradesh, but the entire country is stunned with the arbitrary way this Bill was passed by the Parliament. The Media has been very critical of this Bill and this will be a blot on our country if it takes the shape of an Act for the formation of Separate Telangana.

Hence, at the outset, I humbly request you, as you are the First Citizen and Constitutional Head of India, to take opinion on it and return this controversial Bill to Parliament for its reconsideration.

I would like to convey in brief about the illegality of this Bill:

1. The decision of the Congress Party, UPA, Union government, to divide Andhra Pradesh to form a separate Telangana State is politically motivated and it is aimed at deriving political mileage out of it.
2. The Bill is against the wishes of the majority people of Andhra Pradesh as 80 per cent of the state Population is still against the formation of Telengana. The rejection of the Bill by Andhra Pradesh State Assembly is a testimony to the wishes of the people of Andhra Pradesh. Around 158 MLAs out of the total strength of 294 MLAs have submitted affidavits to reject the undemocratic and unconstitutional Bill.
3. Indians have never witnessed such kind of an undemocratic proceeding of Parliament since Independence. It is a blot on Indian democracy and will be registered as another phase of undeclared Emergency in India after June, 1975.
4. Interestingly, the main Opposition party has termed this Bill illegal and unconditional, still they choose to support the Bill, the reasons better known to them.
5. There is a large number of illegality in the Bill on which I am sure you are getting lot of feed back from various quarters. The AP Re-organisation Bill is totally one-sided. The ruling party has played a partisan role in the formation of this Bill. They have sided with the Telangana region and totally ignored the interest of the people of non-Telangana region of Andhra Pradesh. There are a large number of facts and figures to prove this point. The most important example of doing injustice to non-Telangana region is making Hyderabad, the Common Capital for 10 years.

In this regard, I would like to draw your attention on few points:

(a) It is known to all that the Hyderabad was developed through the sheer hard work and investment of all citizens of Andhra, and the Citizenry of Seemandhra have played a primordial role in transforming Hyderabad into a flourishing Metro City. On what grounds, the Sixth largest city of the country was donated to Telangana?

(b) As per the Bill, Hyderabad will be a common capital for ten years for both the regions without making this city a Union Territory. There is no provision in the Constitution for a state having its State Capital in another state without its being UT. Hence, making the Common Capital without making the City a UT is not only illegal and unconstitutional, but also an attempt to demean the self respect / esteem of more than five crore people of non-Telangana region of Andhra Pradesh.

(c) It took 60 years to shape up Hyderabad to the current stage. The construction of similar Capital for the residuary state in Ten years will require a huge capital of three lakh crore to five lakh crore rupees. The provision of this huge capital has not been made in the Bill. It appears that the Union government has an evil design to betray the people of Andhra Pradesh in not allocating funds on the pretext of burgeoning fiscal deficit in future. This may lead to a situation like Punjab and Haryana where Chandigarh remains the joint capital of the two states even after forty years of the formation of the two separate states.

In the above context, I would like to quote the statement of Shri Naresh Gujral from Punjab on February 20, 2014 in Rajya Sabha.

“Sir, a lame duck and thoroughly discredited Government is playing dirty politics with the emotions, sentiments and aspirations of the people of Andhra Pradesh. Sir, this is the worst kind of divisive vote-bank politics which the Congress is infamous for perpetuating for a long time. Sir, 45 years ago, Punjab was divided. At that time, we were told that Chandigarh, for five years, would be a Union Territory, and, thereafter, it would come to Punjab. The Punjabi-speaking territories were to be restored to Punjab. But till today, nothing has happened. I want to repeat that that was the cause for terrorism in Punjab where 50,000 lives were lost. I warn this House that we are going to do a similar thing in Andhra Pradesh. We are making empty promises. We are bound to witness violence in Andhra Pradesh the way this Bill is being framed. Sir, I don't want to take too long. But I want to say only one thing that the way this Bill is being framed, it is vague and it is going to do injustice to Telangana as well as to Rayalaseema. Also, Sir, I am even questioning the constitutional validity of this Bill. You are conferring police powers on the Governor without a constitutional amendment. Sir, I have given a notice for a Motion under Article 88 to summon the Attorney-General of India tomorrow. Let him give his opinion whether this Bill is constitutionally valid or not because there is no point in passing a Bill which will later be struck down by the courts in India”.

Sir, in this background, I would like to convey you that the people specially the youth of non-Telangana region is very agitated. In line with the apprehensions of Shri Gujral in the above statement, the murmurs of an Independent Seemandhra Country is being heard both Offline as well as Online.

There is a strong pressure tactics by the vested interest that has managed the realization of the Bill in Parliament. I urge you to exercise your conscience, in the best and judicious interests of the People of Andhra Pradesh and India, and NOT allow this vicious-evil design to succeed.

Let me also convey you that the youth are questioning now: “If the President of India can return the Ordinance pertaining to giving exemption to the convicted MPs and MLAs to fight poll, than President of India can also return the illegal, unconstitutional and draconian Andhra Pradesh Re-Organisation Bill, 2014 to the Parliament for its reconsideration”

Sir, therefore, I humbly request you NOT to put your final Stamp on the Bill and use your discretionary powers to return the undemocratic, illegal, unconstitutional and draconian Andhra Pradesh Re-organisation Bill, 2014 to Parliament for its re-consideration.

Looking forward to your kind attention to my plea in the National Interest.

Satyamev Jayate!

With Warm Regards,

Sai Prasan

An Indian Citizen,

Founder Member,

Janata Vikas Manch,

Mumbai.