March to the Telangana Assembly in Hyderabad, called by the Telangana Democratic Front, left parties, mass organisations and the students organisations on Wednesday to protest against the recent encounter in Warangal district was foiled by the police by throwing a security blanket around the Assembly and blocking all the roads.
While the leaders and the participants of the “Chalo Assembly” (March to Assembly) were taken into custody to prevent them from moving towards the Assembly, a youth Rajkumar tried to commit self-immolation to protest against the arrests of the leaders.
The incident occurred even as the Telangana State Assembly was in session amid heavy security arrangements. The youth sneaked in to the Gun Park opposite the Assembly building and poured kerosene on his body. However, alert policemen pounced on him and stopped him from lighting the fire. He was arrested and shifted to Bahadurpura police station.
The March started from the State CPI office had the support of CPIM, several pro-Telangana mass organisations and 18 students organisations. They had called the protest against the September 16 incident in which the police had killed two Maoists including Vidyasagar Reddy alias Sagar and Shruti, a MTech student.
The police had said that the Maoists were killed in an exchange of fire but the left parties and Telangana organisations alleged that it was a case of fake encounter. The police had killed them after taking them into custody, they said.
Today’s protest had the support of several prominent personalities including Kodanda Ram of Telangana Joint Action Committee, renowned educationist Ch Ramaiah and revolutionary poet Vara Vara Rao.
Chukka Ramaih was kept under house arrest in Hyderabad to stop him from taking part in the March. Similarly, hundreds of leaders and activists were taken into preventive custody in different districts of Telangana to stop them from reaching Hyderabad.
In a reminiscent of the heyday of Telangana movement, tension prevailed in Osmania University campus as students clashed with the police after they were prevented from marching towards the State Assembly. Tension was also high at the Nizam College campus near the State Assembly.
TRS Government has come under fire from its own supporters including many pro-Telangana organisations over the trigger happy ways of the State police. This was the first incident of its kind since the formation of Telangana State.
Hyderabad City Police Commissioner Mahinder Reddy said that the permission was denied to the Chalo Assembly program as there were fears that Maoists may participate in it and create law and order problems.