Both the United Andhra Pradesh and Telangana agitations share a common feature. In both the movements, the 16.2% of scheduled caste (SC) and 6.6% of schedule tribe (ST) followed by 45% backward castes (BC) of the total state population are the worst victim. The per capita income of the deprived section is also much lower than the 22% population of the upper castes who are most influential in the state. The deprived section are the foot solidiers and the vanguards of both the movements though the upper castes are steering the same at both ends of the state.
Though the national media has widely covered the recent attack on the house and business establishments of Botcha Satyanarayana, a minister in Andhra Pradesh government as well as the state president of the Congress Party and his family in Vizianagaram district of North Andhra, but, it could not identify the main reasons for the uncontrolled mob fury against the Congress leader and how the politically controlled district administration has muzzled the democratic rights of the agitating people who majorly comprised from the SC, ST followed by BC community.
It was virtually undeclared emergency imposed in Vizianagarm since the mob violence that erupted in the district following the Union Cabinet’s decision to pass a note on October 3, 2013 on the division of Andhra Pradesh for the formation of Telangana.
Contrary to the general perception, the national media could not covey properly that it is not only the rich which wants United Andhra Pradesh, but the common man of the non-Telangana region is also not in favour of the division of the state because of several reasons.
In fact, Justice Srikrishna Committee report has empirically demonstrated that North Andhra districts – Srikakulam, Vizianagaram and Vizag – and all the four districts of Rayalseema are more backward than Telangana region. And, interestingly, there is a contrary trend witnessed in all the three regions. All ten districts of Telangana region which are closer to Hyderabad want a separate state while the districts of North Andhra Pradesh and Rayalseema which are much distant from the state capital Hyderabad want a United Andhra. The movement for United Andhra Pradesh intensified in these two regions after the decision of the Congress Party to divide the state in the last week of July this year.
Coming to the main issue why the people were angry on Botch Satyanarayana was that the Congress leader could not understand the sentiments of the people of Andhra Pradesh specially of his own home district. He could not understand that the people are emotionally connected with the state capital because a large number of the comman man goes to the state capital in search of job.
Moreover, Hyderabad is the sixth largest city in India and all the important industries are located in the city. Around 75% of the revenue of the state is generated from the state capital Hyderabad alone whereas it is only 15% from Seema Andhra including north Andhra and rest from Telangana as well as Rayalseema region.
Without understanding the and ground reality and psyche of the people, Bostch Satyanarayana welcomed the party High Command decision for the division of Andhra Pradesh in July which irked the people of the state including the local people of Vizianagarm district. He failed to figure out that the Infant Mortality Rate (IMR) in Vizianagarm district is the highest in the state and the Rellies, a sub-caste of SC who have a good presence in the Vizianagarm district are the most backward community among the Dalit community of the state, are opposed to the division of the state.
Perhaps the lure of chief ministeryship in the proposed new Seema Andhra state has prompted Satyanarayana to ignore a statement in the Justice Srikrishna Committee report, “Some prominent SC organizations, particularly those from North coastal Andhra, in addition to their demand for a united state, have demanded a special economic package as they feel they are extremely backward”.
It was not that the people were happy with him and his family members before the division of the state. They were angry with the dictatorial style of the functioning of his and his family. They witnessed the steep rise of the Botcha family both in political life and business operations in the last one decade while the common man was suffering and struggling for his existence due to the backwardness of the region where the employment opportunities are absent.
Apart from being a MLA from Cheepurupalli in Vizianagaram district, Botch Satyanarayana is also a state minister in the Andhra Pradesh government as well as the state president of Congress party. He has also inducted his close family members into the electoral politics by using his influence in the party. His wife Botcha Jhansi Laxmi is the Lok Sabha member from the Bobili constituency which he had represented earlier.
Satyanarayana’s brother Botcha Appalanarasaiah is a member of state legislative assembly from Gajapathinagaram constituency in Vizianagaram district. And, another family member is also the assembly member from Nellimarla constituency in Vizianagaram.
Botsa Satyanarayana’s and his family operation is a matter of concern for all in the district and in the state. People in the area allege that his business, run by his close family members, range from liquor to mining and educational college. They do not follow the rule of the law and use their political clout to coerce district and state officials to do the unlawful work. He makes money in the business by hook or crook to invest during elections and follows the principal of power – money begets power and power begets money – and does not care the common man after poll.
It was a discussion point among the angered and frustrated people over a period of time. He has been successful in crushing his opponents within and outside his party by using all kinds of means. This behavior pattern of his and his family in maintaining the political and business interest has annoyed one and all.
The people of Vizianagarm district were registering their protest after announcement of Congress party in the last week of July. They were getting frustrated that inspite of their peaceful protest, neither the Union government or the national media was paying any attention to them.
The Cabinet passing a note on October 3 was the trigger point. The people came on the street to express their anger and frustration. The mob also was directionless because the top leadership of the main opposition parties – Telugu Desam Party and YSR Congress were absent in the district. The TDP senior leaders like Ashok Gajapati Raju, a former finance minister, were either inactive or co-opted by Botcha Satyanarayana by entering into business deals with them.
Thus, the leaderless mob targeted the Botcha Narayana’s business entities and college. They disobeyed the curfew also and came on streets to express their cumulative anger against him and his family members.
Instead of taking the people into confidence and defusing the tension, Botcha Satyanarayana used his political connections and prevailed over the district administration to muzzle the dissent. The police arrested several hundreds of minors and youth mostly ranging in the age of 14 to 25 years.
There were allegations that the police violated all the human rights and raided the houses of these youth at the mid-night and detained them in the police stations for couple of days without any food or water before producing them in the court. They picked up the kith and kin of the family members if a particular youth was not present at home. They used third degree methods to extract statements about their and others involvement in the violence on multiple charges.
Interestingly, a majority of the arrested youth belong to SC community followed by the backward castes. Actually, the SC, ST and BC youth of not only Vizianagaram district but the entire Andhra Pradesh and India is restless now as in the post-globalisation, the economy got modernized. The semi-skilled and skilled jobs wither away from the industry. And, due to poverty, they are not able to get the benefits of the private education system and jobs which is available in the market economy. Not only the youth of the deprived community, the youth of upper caste are also currently under stress and strain due to the global meltdown which further squeezed the job market in last couple of years.
The Vishal Andhra Mahasabha, one of the people’s platform, which is part of the United Andhra movement has filed a petition before the Andhra Pradesh Human Rights Commission (APHRC) last week. They alleged that false cases have been filed against the youth peacefully protesting against the division of Andhra Pradesh.
In the petition, Vishal Andhra Mahasabha (VAM) stated, “Botsa Satyanarayana and his political associates are using their connections with government and influenced the local administration to impose curfew to suppress the integrationist movement by curtailing the fundamental rights guaranteed by the Constitution of India”.
Curfew was clamped on peace loving democratic people of Vizianagram since October 5, 2013. Since then, people are being harassed and abused physically and mentally by the henchmen of Botsa Satyanarayana. Though such issues are being brought to the notice of police, and they are not at all taking any action”.
After the petition of the VAM, APHRC has directed the district administration to give a detailed report soon on the status of their action against the United Andhra demonstrators. The majority of youth from the SC and BC community are still languishing in jail as they are not able to deposit the surety money required for getting bail in multiple cases.
Whatever happened in Vizianagaram was a dance of democracy at the cost of people. The district was virtually turned into a police district where the human and fundamental rights were muzzled. The political leadership should act to protect the fundamental rights of the youth of Vizianagaram district.
The state chief minister Kiran Kumar Reddy should immediately order a judicial probe to investigate the cause of the violence in Vizianagaram. The timeframe of the judicial inquiry to give its report should be fixed one or two months. The inquiry needs to look into why the police officials violated the human and fundamental rights of the common man of the Vizianagaram. And, the judicial probe should also recommend the action to be taken against the guilty officials.
The state government should drop Botcha Satyanarayana from the ministry and the Congress high command should remove him from the PCC president post for a free and fair inquiry by the judicial commission.
At the same time, apart from APHRC, the State and National SC&ST Commissions should take suo-motto congnigence of the atrocities that took place against the innocent SC and Tribal community and do the needful to deliver justice to the deprived section of the society.
All need to work to protect the basic fundamental rights of the comman man specially of Vizianagaram district and restore their faith of the people in the democratic system. The state government and political parties should work to create a democratic space in the political system and allow the people to democratically express themselves on the division of Andhra Pradesh. Otherwise, there is a danger of the youth getting off the track and resort to the militant methods in search of justice.
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