Million March leads to Telangana arson

Scenes of violence were witnessed during the “ million march” in Hyderabad on Thursday. Protesters demanding a Telangana state attacked two Congress MPs and set police and media vehicles on fire. They also destroyed the statues of famous Telugu personalities erected on the Tank Bund on the Hussain Sagar lake bank and threw them in the water.

Defying prohibitory orders, thousands of people broke police barricades and participated in the march called by the Telangana Joint Action Committee (JAC). The JAC leaders had initially planned to lay siege to Hyderabad by bringing in five million people from across the Telangana region, but settled for a mere rally on the Tank Bund between 1 pm and 4 pm. This was to avoid inconveniencing the students appearing for various exams.

But the police imposed a ban on the rally and erected barricades and restricted traffic on the roads leading to the Tank Bund. Hundreds of Telangana activists and JAC leaders were arrested well in advance. The clashes began when a large police contingent at Osmania University — the centre of the Telangana agitation — prevented students from going towards the Tank Bund.

The students pelted stones at the policemen who retaliated with a lathi- charge and teargas shells. Around 1 pm, a huge crowd of people started marching towards the Tank Bund with cries of “ Jai Telangana”. The activists, holding flags of various parties, broke the barricades, removed the barbed wire fences and surged towards the Hussain Sagar lake. The outnumbered policemen watched helplessly.

Within an hour, the entire Tank Bund stretch was swarming with Telangana activists, including women who performed cultural programmes on the road and played games. The crowd included activists from different political parties, students, government employees, lawyers, doctors, teachers, journalists, writers and artistes.

Two Telangana Congress MPs — Madhu Yashki Goud and K. Kesava Rao, who had flown down from Delhi to participate in the march — were attacked as they reached the Tank Bund. The protesters were apparently angry at the MPs’ failure to resign in support of the agitation. The police whisked them away as they were pelted by water bottles and chappals.

The mob also booed Telangana Rashtra Samithi (TRS) president K. Chandrasekhara Rao, who had to beat a hasty retreat. JAC chairman M. Kodandaram, who was arrested in the afternoon and released in the evening, also managed to reach the Tank Bund. It was after the JAC leaders left that the agitators turned violent, attacking the statues of Andhra Telugu personalities, including those of saint- composer Annamacharya, poet Errapragada and the king Brahma Naidu.

The mob vented its ire on the media broadcasting vans, setting the vehicles afire and damaging the equipment of the “ pro- Andhra” channels. The mob also burnt two police vehicles and a makeshift tent. Describing the march as a success, Kodandaram said it reflected the aspirations of the people of the region.

“ The attacks on the Congress MPs and statues are not justifiable, but they could have been carried out by the people out of anger,” he said, adding that policemen in plainclothes could have had a hand in the violence. DGP K. Aravind Rao said the culprits would be brought to book soon.