Letters: Divide and rule

This refers to the report "Decks cleared for a Telangana State" (July 31). Given the present travails, the nation ought to be undergoing a political catharsis of sorts, but what we get is an opinion poll scenario, that confirms the electorate is either at its wits end or has simply given up. If it is the latter, then the nation will be set back many a decade. If the poll is any precursor to our evolving political quality, each process of division would bring in a new regional strap to add to an already scattered central leadership. The resultant game of numbers and escalating costs of appeasement thereof are sure to permanently damage our "operative democracy " and the economy. More so as the nation is saddled with two "national" parties: one with an indifferent record on governance and the other totally lacking discretion on what to oppose. Smaller states could make for better administration but at the cost of a weak federal structure. If the nation is destined to divide and sub-divide itself into smaller states, it must then simultaneously work towards the presidential form of federal governance. Otherwise, we will all be too split and hard put to unite for the preservation of our identity as a land that traces its history in multiples of millennium.

R Narayanan Ghaziabad

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