Present imperfect, future 'tense'!

Telangana activists call for Bandh What else can we expect? The popular saying "United we stand, divided we fall" holds true even today. Although the government had given a conditional nod to carry out the Telangana March peacefully, the result turned out to be anything, but that!

The 'T' activists were allowed to conduct their march between 3pm and 7pm. However, looking at the sea of humanity gathered on the Necklace Road, it didn't look likely at all. And things have only worsened.
The March that was supposed to be peaceful turned violent and the action started, no prizes for guessing, at the Osmania University campus! However, students who were part of the March acted hardly like those in pursuit of learning. What followed were chaos, ugly scenes and violence all the way.
The Telangana activists were seen pelting stones at the policemen who used tear gas shells and rubber bullets to disperse the crowd. But all their efforts to bring the situation under control went in vain.
Thousands of policemen and para-military forces were deployed across the city to maintain law and order situation. However, with the Telangana leaders signalling people not to move, the scene turned into a veritable battlefield. The stubborn activists did not budge although it started raining.
Now, who is to be blamed? Obviously, it is the incompetent government which did not have the foresight to see what was coming and blinked. Knowing the kind of situation the earlier Telangana agitations had created, it was only sensible for the government to understand the consequences of allowing such an event!  Instead, it buckled and the results are there for us to see. Wasn't this a disaster waiting to happen once permission was granted and that too on the eve of such a major summit. Couldn't the government understand that these protestors were not planning a Sunday picnic at the Necklace Road? Weren't the earlier protests proof enough for the kind of damage one could expect?
More importantly, this is happening at a time when a prestigious event such as the Bio-diversity meet is scheduled to take place — what timing! Thousands of rupees spent on last minute beautification of the city was perhaps a useless effort. When the delegates arrive here, what they will see is not how beautiful the city is, rather how stable or safe the place is! What happens to the state's reputation of playing host to such international events?

It's a well known fact that big MNCs shifted base to other cities owing to instability in the state. Can we again afford such losses because of miscalculations?
That brings us back to the question — do we need such leaders who lack vision and experience to handle such situations?
It would be only fair to recall that a leader of the stature of Dr YS Rajasekhara Reddy always stood for united Andhra and made sure that justice was done to people of all the regions of the state. Perhaps, he was one of those who learnt from history — that partition/division would only hamper development and spoil peace. Probably that was the reason why the state was more prosperous and certainly at peace. One dreads to think of where we are heading.
Reshmi@Sakshipost