Opposing the formation of Telangana, Government employees from the Andhra-Rayalaseema regions gathered in thousands in Hyderabad amid violence, palpable tension and total shutdown in the disputed State capital.
Three people were injured in clashes between students and police on the Osamania University campus. Nearly 4,000 buses of Road Transport Corporation (RTC) stayed off the roads in Hyderabad and other districts of Telagnana as RTC workers joined the strike to protest the “Save Andhra Pradesh meeting”.
The meeting at lal Bahadur Shastri Stadium, organised by the APNGOs’ association, was seen as a last-ditch effort to scuttle or at least delay the formation of Telangana. The meeting was held under tight security under the vigilance of more than 5,000 police and para-military personnel.
A group of students from the Nizam College were arrested for holding pro- Telangana demonstration. Police resorted to ‘lathi charge’ to disperse the protesters. On the Osmania University campus, which remained a hotbed for the Telangana movement for many years, students tried to take out a procession towards lal Bahadur Shastri Stadium, but, were stopped at the university gates. Angry students pelted stones at police who responded with tear gas shells.
For Andhra-Seema employees, both working in Hyderabad and other districts, all roads ended at the stadium. In a well-organised show of strength, thousands of employees were brought to the city from as far as Srikakulam and Visakhapatnam in Andhra, and Chittoor and Anantapur in Rayalaseema. Despite ban on any procession, the Andhra employees staged a rally. As many as 600 women took part in the procession, shouting slogans for united Andhra Pradesh.
Police had made elaborate security arrangements, including patrolling of the highways and other roads linking Hyderabad to the districts. Tension prevailed at some places as some of the employees made provocative gestures, including “slashing of the neck”. A Telangana student, Balaraju, was allegedly beaten up by the participants of the meeting. Condemning the provocative gestures and police excesses, Telangana Joint Action Committee convenor Prof Kodandaram urged the people of Telangana to exercise restraint and not to get provoked.
T Harish Rao, senior MlA of TRS, described the meeting as part of a “conspiracy” to obstruct the formation of Telangana. Rao along with other MlAs, including Etala Rajinder, tried to hold a protest on the Assembly premises but the police stopped them at the gates. Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister N Kiran Kumar Reddy, who strongly opposes division of the State, spent the day meeting leaders from Rayalaseema and Andhra regions.
Meanwhile, APNGOs’ association president Ashok Babu, who was instrumental in organising the anti-Telangana meeting, said that ‘Save Andhra Pradesh meeting’ as “only a beginning”. The meeting was aimed at giving moral support to the people who were against the division of the State, he added.