In Gaddar, the people of Telangana have yet another weapon for the cause of a separate statehood. The revolutionary Telugu balladeer and vocal spokesperson for causes, Gummadi Vittal Rao, has been singing paeans to Telengana since 1969. How successful will he be in his new avatar as an advocate of parliamentary democracy? Will Telengana happen in his lifetime?

The young man who broke upon the scene in 1971 with ‘Stop Rickshaw-walla; I am coming; You work from morning to night, but your stomach cannot be filled; So much blood and sweat, yet you earn hardly anything’, that reverberated on the streets of Hyderabad for years, says he is ready to take his shepherd’s outfit into the high portals of parliamentary democracy, through the legitimate election route.

But how far is Gaddar going to be allowed to succeed? Can he reignite the spark of the ‘70s; give this 60-year-old movement the momentum it now needs?

Not long ago, he was labelled a supporter of the People’s War Group and his Maoist allies are reportedly unhappy with his formal announcement of the Telengana Praja Front (TPF formed on October 9, 2010). Others see Gaddar as leading the way with a prompt response to the government’s call to Maoists to come into mainstream politics. Gaddar’s new party arrives on the eve of the submission of Justice B. N. Srikrishna Commission’s report on the feasibility of a Telengana State. The report is to be presented to the government and a waiting Andhra Pradesh on December 31. The last political consultation by the panel is underway.

The lack of proper leadership was always a concern with the Telengana movement. Both Marri Chenna Reddy and P Indra Reddy (former Home Minister) were unsuccessful in taking up the cause for a separate Telengana. Several ayarams and gayarams used the platform for their political survival. The Telugu Desam Party and Chandra Babu Naidu’s support to a political party yet to be formed has raised eyebrows as it is well known that the TDP chief has always been firmly against the division of Andhra Pradesh.

Has the Congress put Gaddar up to it, in its effort to break the Telengana camp? If supporters of K. Chandrashekar Rao (KCR) are to be believed, both the Congress and the TDP are instigating Gaddar in order to cut ground from under KCR’s feet just when he is about to achieve Telengana.

Gaddar has become the rallying point now for the anti-KCR faction in the Telengana movement, who allege KCR has used the movement to feather a financial and political nest for his family.

In the past, Gaddar played an active role in many issue-based agitations. Pundits opine he cannot directly face elections as people may not take kindly to his direct political involvement. It is also uncertain whether the leaders who shook Gaddar’s hand a few months ago will continue to do so forever.

In the last 40 years Gaddar has, however, never tried to build his own separate Telengana movement, a movement that has cut across caste and creed. Everybody admits that Telengana’s time under the sun has come. The government has also indicated it is ready to accept in principle the Srikrishna Commission report.

Gaddar’s move may be seen - by those who are principally opposed to the creation of a separate state - as an opportunity to establish that Telangana does not arise from the passions of people but from certain divisive forces bent on splitting the state.

Can Gaddar be the final push that makes Telengana a reality at last?

By K Satyaraju