Will AP 'demand' its special status at least now?

Politics is a dynamic situation. Depending upon the political needs any decision can be revived and hopes rekindled. What happens to its implementation of course would depend upon the many factors including outcome of the results of the elections that are knocking on the doors in north India and the general elections in 2024.

The NDA government which till recently has been claiming both inside the Parliament and outside that there was no question of special status category to any State and that it was a closed chapter has once again rekindled the issue when Niti Aayog released the first-ever Multidimensional Poverty Index (MPI).

It ranked Bihar, Jharkhand and Uttar Pradesh among the poorest States of India. As per the index, 51.91 per cent population of Bihar is poor, followed by 42.16 per cent in Jharkhand and 37.79 per cent in Uttar Pradesh.

Not just that the vice chairman of Niti Aayog, the government's think tank Rajiv Kumar even said that Niti Aayog will be closely examining Bihar's demand for special status and will provide all requisite assistance to the State.

While stating that Bihar had made "tremendous progress" across multiple sectors in the last decade, he said owing to its weak base in the past, it would take more time to achieve optimum growth.

"Niti Aayog is ready to help and support Bihar as much as possible, but as far as the issue of special status in concerned, we will have to closely examine the State's justification for it and determine that. It will be looked at, shortly," he added. Well this has been a 15-year-old demand from Bihar State which the Centre never considered.

Before last elections, Prime Minister Narendra Modi had announced Rs 1.25 lakh crore special package, but the package has still not been unwrapped perhaps because the BJP did not get as many seats as it expected.

We have seen how the promise of special status to residuary State of Andhra Pradesh continues to be a mirage to date, one must look at this aspect with little suspicion. It was the BJP leaders like the present Vice President M Venkaiah Naidu and others in Rajya Sabha who insisted on special status to the residuary State of Andhra Pradesh for a period of ten years. When the then Prime Minister Manmohan Singh announced it for five years, they said if voted to power they will extend the special status to ten years.

During election campaign, Narendra Modi himself promised at Tirupati meeting that the BJP led government would implement the assurance of special status to Andhra Pradesh. But later the issue was kept on back burner and finally a proposal for special package was designed and the then TDP government accepted it.

The then Union Finance Minister Arun Jaitley had said "Money has no colour." Instead of special status equal amount would be given to the State. But then later it turned out that the package had several conditions incorporated in it like floating a special purpose vehicle which made the process complicated.

This marked the turning point in AP politics and the opposition YSRCP made it a major issue and said that if people give them absolute majority in Assembly and 25 Lok Sabha seats, they would force the BJP government at centre to give special status.

Though they got the number of seats they had asked for, immediately after coming to power, they said Centre does not require their support and hence they can only urge the Centre and do nothing beyond that.

An interesting question now is whether AP is willing to join voice with Bihar. RJD MP Manoj Jha has given Suspension of Business notice in the Rajya Sabha to discuss the grant of special status to Bihar on Thursday.

The question now is how aggressive the members from Andhra Pradesh would be if the discussion was allowed and whether it will be just a demand or a proper projection of the similarities between conditions in Bihar and Andhra Pradesh which are backed by assurance of the previous government on the floor of the house.

Will it be just a request or a forceful demand which would make the Centre at least once again think about it? There is a difference between asking and demanding vociferously. The farmers who staged a protest braving all kinds of weather and situations for over a year on the Delhi border did not ask for repeal. They demanded for repeal of the farm laws and the government had to accept it whatever the compulsions be.

If the political parties and public representatives particularly the ruling YSRCP fail to utilise the opportunity and generate political heat and put pressure on the Centre, they will have to blame themselves if centre announces special category for Bihar and once again ignores Andhra Pradesh. It requires concerted fight not just request.

If AP was deprived of its capital Hyderabad and revenue because of bifurcation in 2014, Bihar was deprived of a major portion of its revenue with the carving out of Jharkhand. However, Bihar's demand was spurned in 2012 itself by the National Developmental Council on the ground that it did not fulfil the criteria.

In the case of the residual State of AP, the demand was turned down on the plea that after the advent of the Fourteenth Finance Commission, the provision got exhausted. If that were so then how can the Niti Aayog say that it would examine the demand of Bihar for special status?

This makes one wonder whether this was a political game plan to divert the voters and parties from issues that could cause damage to BJP in the ensuing polls for Uttar Pradesh and other north Indian States?

The Centre has always been claiming that if special status was granted to Andhra Pradesh, many other States would make similar demands. Tamil Nadu had also pitched in with such a demand some time back. If that were the situation, can Centre dare to announce special status for Bihar and ignore Andhra?

Will it not amount to discrimination if not divide between North and South? Does it also not mean that the oft quoted words of Narendra Modi, "Sab ka Saath, Sab ka Vikas," is nothing but just a mere slogan?

There are many similarities between Bihar and Andhra Pradesh. In terms of literacy, Andhra Pradesh is behind Bihar. While literacy rate in Bihar is 70 per cent in Andhra Pradesh it is around 64 per cent. In terms of industrial development, though Andhra Pradesh is better than Bihar, it certainly needs a big boost as it has lost the major revenue earning part called the Hyderabad which was the capital in the undivided State. The State is struggling to overcome the losses it suffered on account of bifurcation.

If special status is granted, besides tax breaks and other benefits, the State will get 90 per cent of all the expenditure on Centrally sponsored schemes as Central grant. The rest of the 10 per cent will also be given as a loan at zero percent interest.

Granting special status to a State would mean that the ratio of Centre-State funding of centrally sponsored schemes will be divided in the ratio of 90:10, as against the ratio of 60:40 in other States.

At present, there is no policy in the central government to declare any State as Special Category State. However, there is a provision for special assistance to States on a case-to-case basis. Any way an interesting political drama seems to be on the cards.