Hyderabad, February 27: The Andhra Pradesh government finds itself in a cleft stick on its claim before the Supreme Court about the presence of Maoists on the Osmania University campus, which has become an epicenter of the ongoing movement for a separate Telangana State.
Having come under flak for deployment of paramilitary forces on the campus, both in the High Court as well as the apex court, the government sought to justify its action citing infiltration of Maoists but is caught in a quandary with the Supreme Court seeking evidence of the same.
There is more than one reason for the government’s weak defence: a) none other than Tirupati Rao, Vice- Chancellor of the Osmania University, has himself denied Maoist presence on the campus; b) The Maoist-sponsored Telangana bandh on Jan 2 was an utter failure while similar calls by students and political parties evoked total response; c) extremist violence in 2008 and 2009 has been the least in the State since the emergence of CPI–ML and the Maoist group itself has admitted having lost its base in Telangana; d) in the past three months, neither has there been any evidence of the arrest of any Maoist nor any student has been caught with any weapon; e) on various occasions, the State government has claimed that Maoist presence in the State, Telangana in particular, is negligible and, in fact, Delhi has started citing Andhra Pradesh as a model for other States in checking Naxal activity.
The government, it appears, is preparing to highlight the statements issued by some Maoist leaders in support of a Telangana State as a pointer to their active participation in the movement but whether it will cut ice with the judiciary remains to be seen. The matter is coming up for hearing on Friday. In fact, a section within the government is of the view that the government is playing with fire by using unwarranted force on students taking out peaceful rallies on the campus, creating further unrest among a section that is already frustrated for a variety of reasons.
In the long run, this approach may prove counter-productive too, one of the officials reasoned.
He is not off the mark. This is precisely what had happened in the late 60s when the then government crushed the separate Telangana movement with brute force, a process which saw the death of more than 300 students in firing or lathicharge.
The anger and frustration caused by the deaths resulted in substantial recruitment into the Naxalite movement and a majority of the current top ranking Maoist leaders are those who joined it in the early and mid 70s.
Between 70s and now, there is also a marked change in social class of the students.
While a majority were from the upper classes then, the students, who are bearing the brunt of the police force now, are mostly from the backward classes and Dalits clamouring for a rightful share in the socio-economic structure.
–Agencies