Hyderabad, January 07: Nothing short of Telangana with Hyderabad as its capital will satisfy the people of the region, Telangana Rashtra Samiti chief K Chandrasekhara Rao has asserted.
Reacting to the report of the Justice BN Srikrishna Committee here today, the separatist leader said: “We want the Telangana that existed prior to 1956 with Hyderabad as capital. The other options that the committee had suggested mean nothing to us.”
Addressing protesters at a dharna organised by the Telangana Joint Action Committee (TJAC) at Indira Park here today, Rao said that for the Centre to introduce a bill in Parliament, the key lay with the Congress MLAs and MPs. “You resign and get out of the Congress. Only then will Telangana formation be possible,” he said, adding that now onwards it should be the responsibility of the people’s representatives to take the lead. “People have fought long enough. They have made sacrifices, gone to jails and braved lathi blows. Now the politicians have to come to the fore,” he said.
“People’s representatives belonging to the Congress should take the lead now. Youth are sacrificing their lives. Only today a youth in Banswada committed suicide,” he said and appealed to the youth and students not to resort to such extreme acts as it would dent the moral courage of the leaders in taking the movement forward.
He described as most atrocious the suggestion that Hyderabad along with a few districts of Telangana be made a Union territory. “Have we been fighting for a few districts of Telangana?” he asked and appealed to people to take up agitations as decided by the Joint Action Committee. “We want a separate state because we want self-rule and self-respect. Nothing else can substitute it,” Rao said and made an appeal to the prime minister to take steps for introduction of a bill in Parliament in accordance with the promise made to the people on the night of December 9, 2009 and to both Houses of Parliament the day after.
He dismissed the proposal for providing guarantees to Telangana like constitution of boards in a united Andhra Pradesh as not at all acceptable. “We have seen enough number of boards and enough number of agreements. Nothing has worked. The government should realise that AP experiment has failed,” he said and wanted the government to realise that even the Srikrishna Committee, by suggesting mechanism to address deficiencies in the sectors of education, employment and health, admitted that injustice had been done to the region.
Rao said the government should understand that it would not be able to deter people by deploying forces. “Agitation and sacrifices are not new to Telangana people. In 1969 30,000 to 40,000 people went to jail, fighting for Telangana,” he said and pointed out that if the government thought that it could crush the movement with force it would be like inviting trouble to itself.
JAC chairman M Kodandaram, TRS ideologue K Jayashankar, BJP leaders Ch
—Agencies