Telangana Joint Action Committee (TJAC) chairman M Kodandaram has been planning an 'unemployment rally' for quite some time now. In fact, the professor's first application to the state government to conduct the same was made on February 1.
The rally was to be held yesterday. But with the professor's arrest on Tuesday night and with no permission by the government, it really seemed that the government did not want this rally and was 'scared' what Pandora's Box this rally would pop open.
In fact, this would have been the first rally involving students against the Telangana Rashtra Samiti (TRS) government demanding jobs for youth had it took place. It had also managed to garner support from student organisations and Opposition parties.
Meanwhile, the police arrested students and their leaders amidst incidents of violence across Hyderabad and Telangana. Students are demanding release of those arrested. The students accused the government of not fulfilling its promise of providing 1.07 lakh jobs and are demanding for jobs in the government and in public sector undertakings.
The TJAC had filed a case in the Hyderabad High Court where it was said that though they had given two representations for permission to hold the unemployment rally, with the first one being on February 1, the government had not responded. The idea of the TJAC was to have a rally starting from Sundaraiah Vignan Kendra concluding at the Indira Park, also known as the place for all dharnas.
The Telangana state government had refused permission for the TJAC rally in Hyderabad on Wednesday alleging presence of members from extremist organisations in the group. The government gave several reasons – one of them being, Indira Park could not accommodate more than a thousand people. It also said since it was a working day, the rally would create more law and order issues.
The government also went on to suggest other venues such as Samshabad, Miyapur, Abdullapurmet, Nagole, Gandipet and Cherial in Keesara mandal of Ranga Reddy district where more open spaces are available.
The TJAC was ready to conduct a meeting instead of a rally but they insisted that it should be in Hyderabad city in places like Nizam College grounds, NTR Stadium, Necklace Road and LB Stadium, among other places.
The court, had then, suggested the Nizam College Grounds and asked TJAC to shift the protest date to February 26.
However, the Hyderabad police said they were stopping the protest because they did not want an agitation on the line of the jallikattu in Chennai. Blaming the TJAC, the police said they could not control the protesters in the earlier rallies, leading to much damage to police personnel and private property.
The TRS leaders are now trying to defame the professor saying that apart from “criminal cases”, he also has alleged “Maoist connections”. The leaders are agitated with the professor questioning the failure of the TRS government in providing government jobs to the youth in the new state.
The party had promised government job to one member of each household, during the separate statehood agitation. However, Panchayat Raj minister and the CM's nephew Harish Rao later denied this. He went on to say, “Will anybody say that? Is that possible? Is there any state in the country which could do that?” he had asked.
While the government has been claiming that it has already filled 28,627 jobs by conducting recruitment exams and another 75,000 jobs are in various stages of recruitment, the TJAC claimed it as “jugglery of figures”. Prof Kodandaram said, “Official data reveals that they have only filled 5,936 jobs through the TSPSC. Another 10,000 jobs were filled in corporations like Singareni, RTC and electricity department. For the rest, either only announcements were made or notifications issued.”
However, TRS leader Palla Rajeshwar Reddy argued that notifications amount to filling up of vacancies.
Interestingly, both the TRS and TJAC had fought shoulder-to-shoulder to achieve statehood for Telangana during 2009-13, and have obviously, become rivals. In fact, the professor also said the TJAC would not hesitate to float a new political party to offer an alternative to people if the situation demands so. This was the turning point. However, KCR and his party (TRS) came to power, thanks to the students.
