Hyderabad, January 04: Issuing a stern warning to the anti-Telangana Andhra lobby, the student community of Telangana has said that no person will be allowed to return from his or her native place in Andhra after the Sankaranti festival if Andhra leaders become a stumbling block to statehood to the region.
“The 30 lakh people, who visit their native places in Andhra for Sankranti, will not be allowed to return. The Andhra lobby should not lobby against our genuine agitation and against the aspirations of the people of Telangana,’’ speakers at the Telangana Vidyarthi Garjana said.
Addressing a massive gathering at the Garjana at the Arts College on the Osmania University campus today, Osmania University Students Joint Action Committee leader P Ravi said no political party, which speaks against separate Telangana, would be spared by the student community. “We will organise Chalo Delhi programme in February if the Centre does not pass a Bill on separate Telagana in the next Parliament session. The 50-year wait should come to an end,’’ he said and added that it was not a time for consultations and forming committees and the January 5 meeting should come out with a clear announcement on Telangana. Ravi said the student community had infused life into the separate Telangana movement after TRS chief K Chandrasekhara Rao had ended his indefinite fast. “Political leaders need not worry about their posts. If they fight for Telangana, we will ensure that they win back their seats,’’ he assured.
Lauding the involvement of students in the movement, Political Joint Action Committee (JAC) convener K Kodandaram said that the students had shown the path for politicians in the agitation. “Go to any university in Telangana, students are for Telangana. Even schoolchildren are joining the movement. It (separate Telangana) has become the heartbeat of the people,’’ he said.
On the government repression on the movement, he said that the OU campus had virtually turned into a police camp.
“Where is India’s border? Is it at Wagah or the OU campus?’’ he wondered.
Kodandaram termed the January 5 meeting as a clash between ‘Telangana slogan’ and ‘Andhra supremacy’. He also likened the ongoign movement to a fight between people’s aspirations of one region (Telangana) and those of the wealthy people of another (Andhra). The agitation can’t be stopped by the money power of Andhra MP Lagadapati Rajagopal and the muscle power of Rayalaseema leader (and MP) YS Jaganmohan Reddy, he said.
JAC leader M Anil Kumar lashed out at the government for trying to suppress the movement. “Hundreds of students were stopped in districts and also on the city outskirts from entering the OU. Power supply has been snapped in some north Telangana areas,’’ he alleged and warned that any politician who raised his voice against Telangana at the January 5 meeting would be “welcomed with swords’’ at the Shamshabad international airport.
Another JAC leader, T Srikanth Rao, demanded that the Centre come out with a road map on Telangana. Osmania University assistant professor of Telugu Khasim said the Samaikya Andhra slogan would be drowned by the clamour for separate Telangana.
Virasam leader Vara Vara Rao said the movement would take a serious turn if statehood was not given to Telangana.
MRPS president Manda Krishna Madiga said the movement was for water, jobs and self-respect of Telanganites.
—Agencies