Violent turn to the stir over the issue of “Dharna Chowk” or the venue of public protests in Hyderabad has left the Telangana Rashtra Samiti Government red faced as its handling of the matter turned out to be a big fiasco.
From the chaos and clashes on Monday, which left several Opposition activists injured, it was the Government and the police which have emerged as the clear losers even as the Opposition parties and the Telangna Joint Action Committee have drawn their first blood.
Though the controversy triggered by the TRS Government’s decision to scrap Dharna Chowk from the busy Indira Park area and shift it to the city outskirts was brewing for quite some time, it came to a boil with the JAC led by Prof Kodandra Ram enlisting the support of major opposition parties for its program “Capture Dharna Chowk”.
Much to the surprise of everybody Hyderabad city police took a last minute decision not only to allow the JAC to organise the protest demonstration at Dharna Chowk but also to a rival demonstration in support of the Government’s decision.
The other demonstration was apparently organised by the “local residents” on the ground that the location of Dharna Chowk in their area has made their lives miserable but the fact was that it was a Government organised show with most of the participants drawn from the TRS.
Most surprising was the presence of many plain clothed police personnel holding placards opposing the location of Dharna Chowk in the area. One of them — Circle Inspector Sridevi hurriedly left the place after she was photographed posing as a protestor carrying a placard. later she reappeared in her uniform at the same venue.
The gathering of the TJAC workers as well as the supporters of Congress,CPI, CPIM and Jana Sena party of film star Pawan Kalyan on one hand and their opponents on the other created a tension and soon slogan shouting led to physical blows in which stones were pelted at each other and chairs were thrown. The police resorted to baton charge leaving many Opposition workers injured.
Prof Kodandaram said that the TRS Government was acting in a dictatorial manner to crush any voice of dissent. “Their move to scrap Dharna Chowk betrays their anti-democratic mindset”, he said.
Alleging that the TRS had instigated violence during the protest, he vowed to continue the protest along with the other opposition parties.
“If the government does not withdraw its move, we will further intensify our agitation”, he said.
TRS on the other hand blamed the TJAC and the left parties for the violence. Home Minister N Nrasimha Reddy alleged that the CPI and the CPIM workers had attacked the local people. “The local people want the Dharna Chowk shifted”, he said.
However the local residents were seen serving drinking water to the same opposition workers during the protest program.
Questions have also been raised about the rationale behind police decision to allow two rival demonstration at the same place and the same time. Home Minister defended it saying the permission was granted for peaceful demonstration.
Meanwhile the chief Minister K Chandrasekhar Rao met the governor ESl Narasimhan and briefed him about the issue. While denying any orders were issued to close Dharna Chowk, he said that some vested interests were behind the violence.
While both the sides were counting their losses and gain from yesterday’s incidents, it was clear that Dharna Chowk has provided yet another opportunity to the opposition to come together against the TRS.
Interestingly the same Dharna Chowk was the regular venue of protests by the TRS during the separate Telangana agitation and the TJAC which was now fighting against the TRS government was part of TRS led Telangana agitation.