When I was President of the Andhra Provincial Congress Committee–an office which was thrust upon me–during the regime of the first Congress Ministry, we came to an understanding with the Ceded Districts or Rayalaseema on certain principle and on a very good basis. There it was a question of give and take. The people of the coastal districts, who are more advanced and who enjoy deltaic cultivation, are in every way more prosperous and have got the better of the people of Rayalaseema in trade, in commerce, in industry, in education and in public service, tough the whole of the Andhradesa itself is behind-hand, taken as a whole, when compared to the people of the southern part of the province. As between the two parts of the Andhradesa, the coastal regions are highly advanced and the other areas are highly backward. In these two parts, even the soil conditions are totally different. On cut side you cannot even get a stone with which to drive away a dog, and on their side, you cannot get a clod of earth for any purpose whatsoever. That side is stony and mountainous and its three-fifths of the area is inhabited by only about one-third of the population; and the rest of the territory, two-fifths in area is inhabited by two-thirds of the total population. Apart from the cultural, social commercial, industrial and economic advance, taking mere numbers into consideration, we are two times more numerous and more dense per square mile than they. If that be so, is it not a matter deserving the consideration of this House? Are you going to adopt your principles and your policies on the basis of the steam road-roller which levels down the tall oaks to the height of the short poppies? That is not desirable.
