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Lalita Iyer
Lalita Iyer

HYDERABAD

Opposition stages protest over shifting of Dharna Chowk

PTI5_15_2017_000181A Left activists smash chairs during their Chalo Indira Park march for the reopening of the Dharna Chowk in Hyderabad | PTI

When the Telangana government shifted the Dharna Chowk from Indira Park to a place 40 km outside of the city, there were protests but they soon quietened down. But the murmur remained and rose once again on Monday when the popular venue was once again occupied by protesters. The Chowk has been shut down for the past two months now. 

The police did not give permission for the protest and so in order to keep the “save Dharna Chowk” protest alive, Prof. M. Kodandaram of Telangana Joint Action Committee (TJAC) chairman and others switched of their cellphones and were incommunicado to avoid preventive arrests. 

The 'Dharna Chowk' has seen a lot over a period of time and just in 2016 it saw 1,900 dharnas. With such a history, the TJAC and all the other Opposition parties got together despite prohibitory orders. The Congress, TDP, BJP and Left extended their support to the programme and there was the inclusion of Power Star Pawan Kalyan's Jana Sena Party. Parties made this an opportunity to attack the TRS government over a range of issues including the plight of farmers.

Some of the protesters were injured as the police resorted to lathi charge to bring the situation under control. 

Telangana TDP MLA Revanth Reddy went a step ahead against his bette noire, the chief minister, and said that some police personnel came in mufti to foil the protest. 

The TRS was quite well prepared and a huge posse of police was posted at the site at Indira Park. Morning walkers were not allowed to the park, even as all routes leading to the Dharna Chowk were blocked.

The government is also hiding behind members of the Walker's Association, which has 5 600 members, and people living in and around the Chowk saying they wanted it to be shifted because of the daily disturbance and noise pollution. The TRS is using the people's voice against the 'people's voice'.

According to a news website, a decade ago, then chief justice of the Andhra Pradesh High Court, Justice G.S. Singhvi was caught in a massive traffic jam on the roads of Hyderabad. The jam had been caused because of a public protest. Singhvi then decided that Hyderabad too needed a place to protest and thus was born the Dharna Chowk, and later a government order legalised it. In fact, during the Telangana agitation this space was used very often. 

Now some pundits say that the Dharna Chowk cannot be removed without a fresh government order superseding the earlier order which gave it legitimacy. 

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Topics : #Hyderabad | #Telangana

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