Bathukamma Festival lost its charm with Politics in NJ

Edison, NJ: With two rival groups conducting Bathukamma Festival on the same day in New Jersey this year, several well-wishers in the Telugu community are criticising the dirty politics being played in the name of the festival. 'If there are three Telugus, there will be two different groups' commented a senior community member. After a major split in the TANA couple years ago, there was a huge internal fight in ATA last year. Finally ATA Convention did not took place at all, which was a shame for the Telugu community in the United States.

These group politics are now spreading to the local level. Last year the Bathukamma festival was conducted at two different places in New Jersey one led by Telangana Development Forum (TDF) and the another one led by the opponents to the leadership of TDF. The opponent group is not using any name. Both the groups conducted the festival on two different dates last year - one on Saturday and the other on the next day.

This year, both the groups are conducting it on the same day on Sept 25th.

The TDF leadership tried to convince the opponent group to have their program on a different date, but the opponents didn't agree to them. It appears that the main reason for the conflict is generation gap - a similar issue in TANA. While the older generation of leaders wanted to control the organisation the more vibrand younger generation wanted to do things in their own way.

Natually the younger generation has more strength and number of members. TDF leadership in NJ tried to avoid the conflict with the opponent group but the otherside did wanted a head-on fight. The opponent group waited till the last minute without announcing their program and releasing their flyer. Now the TDF has no option to postpone their program.

Similar situation happend in TANA and NATS as they both announced their Annual Convention in 2011 in New Jersey. But later the TANA had to move their venue to Bay Area, California.

Well wishers and the community members who have been observing these developments are feeling sad with so many groups being created. Few people told TeluguPeople.com that they do not want to attend either of the programs as they both are using the Bathukamma festival for their personal gains and politics.

They suggested that the younger generation should give some respect for the seniors who created a platform and built the community in the US over few decades, and at the same time the seniors should encourage the youth and give out the leadership positions to the youth and remain as advisors.