The Telangana Crisis: Condemn the Ruthless Police Repression on the Osmania University Students’ Rally of 14th Feb 2010!

The Telangana Crisis:

Condemn the Ruthless Police Repression on the Osmania University Students’ Rally of 14^th Feb 2010!

Expose and defeat UPA’s Deflective and Delaying Tactics!

March Ahead With the Demand for Telangana State Braving All Repression!

In view of the recent developments in Telangana and faced with the overwhelming evidence of discrimination and underdevelopment that the region has faced , it is clear that while the government is no longer in a position to deny statehood to Telangana, it has resorted to a range of tactics to delay and deflect. From its repertoire of tricks, the central government has pulled out an old favorite – yet another committee, this time headed by Justice Sri Krishna to look into the Telangana question. The ‘terms of reference’ of this committee, made public last Friday(12.2.10), have provoked outrage and a sense of betrayal among the people of Telangana, sparking a fresh spurt of agitations across the state.

There was an immediate call for a Telangana-wide bandh by the JAC (Joint Action committee, comprising political representatives from the region drawn from all parties) and the TSJAC (Telangana Students Joint Action Committee) the following day, Saturday 13^th Feb. The State government responded by imposing section 144 all over Telangana and massing paramilitary forces, Grey Hounds and Rapid Action Force in addition to CRPF, CISF and APSP Armed Battalions, Civil Police and Home Guards in Osmania. On Sunday evening, students had assembled in front of the Arts College on Osmania University campus to take out a rally. With the excuse that this was a breach of the just imposed section 144, the police launched a vicious and unprovoked lathi charge against the protesting students. Tear gas shells and rubber bullets were fired. Students and media persons were indiscriminately and mercilessly beaten. Several media persons sustained injuries, their cameras smashed and vehicles set on fire by the police. Women-students were not spared either and were among the worst hit. One girl-student lost an eye, another suffered head injuries, and another girl had both legs injured. Police violence and student-suicides have already resulted in over 200 dead during the current struggle.  While the High Court in Hyderabad has ordered the police out of the campus, students continue to face harassment from the continuing police presence. There have been complaints of abuse by the police from girl students.

Let us look at why the ‘Terms of Reference’ of the Srikrishna panel have aroused such widespread anger and despair in Telangana. The committee proposes to “To examine the situation in the State of Andhra Pradesh with reference to the demand for a separate State of Telangana as well as the demand for maintaining the present status of a united Andhra Pradesh” and to “To review the developments in the State since its formation and their impact on the progress and development of the different regions of the State.”

Shockingly, in the ToR there is no mention of a roadmap for the formation of the Telangana state or any concrete assurance of the modalities to be followed. Following their December 9^th announcement initiating the formation of a separate state in Telangana, the UPA government is now perceived to be backtracking on that promise. Despite one of the biggest mass, democratic movements of our times that has forced the government to its feet, the popular demand for a separate state has been disregarded. There already exists extensive research on the disparity of development in the state of Andhra Pradesh. The necessity of further study is questionable and appears more to be an attempt at delaying and deflecting the process.

The committee further intends to “examine the impact of the recent developments in the State on the different sections of the people such as women, children, students, minorities, other backward classes, scheduled castes and scheduled tribes” This point is unclear. By “recent developments in the state” if they mean the ongoing struggle for Telangana, then this would be superfluous, as it is these very sections who are struggling for statehood.

When a consensus has already emerged from Telangana for a separate state, wider consultations on the feasibility of the demand are unwarranted and a further subjection of the Telangana people to the will of other regions. The extended timeframe is also an attempt to diffuse the movement.

AISA appeals to all democratic sections of the country to strongly condemn the unprecedented repression that has been unleashed against the students and all sections of pro-Telengana people, rally with the democratic demand for a Telangana state and resist all diversionary and repressive tactics of the Congress government.