Bouquets, brickbats for new Telangana state

Expatriates hailing from the southern Indian state of Andhra Pradesh, particularly those from the capital city of Hyderabad, have been keenly watching the developments back home following the decision taken by the Congress-led United Progressive Alliance (UPA) to carve out a new state of Telengana.
Several expatriates hailing from the state capital are concerned about the future of Hyderabad. Till the 1950s, Telangana was part of the erstwhile princely state of Hyderabad ruled by the Nizam.
While there is little support for a separate Telengana state from Hyderabadi expatriates in Saudi Arabia, a majority of those hailing from the region are supporting the cause.
Abdullah Reddy, a civil engineer who works in Riyadh, recalled his participation in Telengana agitation in 1969. “As a student leader, I had participated in the movement for separate Telengana state, and now it has become a reality when my children are students.”
M. Mallaih, 68, hailing from Karimnagar district and working as a farm laborer nearby Jubail for the last 19 years, said his 27-year-old son Mahesh had immolated himself for the cause of Telangana in February this year.
Mohammed Mozzam Ali, who heads a Telangana organization in western province, said: “Telangana finally becoming a reality is emotional.”
Indian expatriates from the state in the Kingdom, however, are concerned with the fluctuating value of their investments in real estate, besides the possibility of rise of communal forces in the new state. Due to the Telangana agitation, residential prices in Hyderabad had stagnated since 2009 and driven investors to Benglauru, a city in neighboring Karnataka state.
Syed Zaheeruddin, who works in Makkah said: “The Telangana agitation for the last couple of years hampered development of Hyderabad. I purchased some property there but due to the agitation and apprehensions over the future of the city, I am unable to get the price I was expecting.”
Mohammed Aqueel, a Telangana supporter who works in a cosmetic shop in Riyadh, said, “It was due to the imperialism of Andhra region that a huge number of youth, especially from the minority community, had to leave home to work in Saudi Arabia and other parts of the Gulf.”
Muslim expatriates from the region living in the Kingdom don’t find any reason to rejoice. According to Universal Peace Foundation, a voluntary organization of people from Hyderabad (which will be the joint capital of Andhra Pradesh and Telangana for 10 years) said that the geographical division of Andhra Pradesh to form the 29th state is a political decision with an eye on elections next year.
“Faced with defeat in Andhra Pradesh in the upcoming elections, the Congress has steamrolled opposition within the party to take the decision in haste for political gain,” said Sirajuddin, a member of the foundation who works here in the telecom sector.
Azeemullah Quadri, a Riyadh-based businessman, said the decision may help political parties to score against each other, but it is not going to solve the condition of the minority community in coastal Andhra Pradesh. “Their condition will only deteriorate since in a united Andhra, the community was seen as a major force. It is electoral politics,” he said.
According to Siraj Ahmad, a software engineer from Hyderabad: “The bargaining power of Muslims may come down in both the regions, which will be certainly to their disadvantage.”
“The community may lose its identity as a strong political force at least in Andhra region,” said Zubair, a social activist in the Kingdom helping expatriates. “It is not clear whether reservations for the community in educational institutions and government jobs, which benefited thousands of families in the last seven years, will continue in the new state. It is a major question haunting the community members now,” he said.
“Every year, more than 10,000 students benefit from the quota in educational institutions offering professional courses like medical, pharmacy, engineering, and business administration. Now, Muslims of coastal Andhra will be at a disadvantage as most of the minority professional colleges are located in Hyderabad and other Telengana districts. The division will make it difficult for minority students from Andhra areas to secure admissions in Telengana,” Mohammad Shakeel, an IT executive in Riyadh, said.