Hyderabad: The Telangana Joint Action Committee’s efforts to use the same tactics from the 2011 Million March at Tank Bund, with the Unemployment Rally, has proved useless.
TJAC leaders, who later reviewed what had gone wrong on Wednesday, realised that repeating the “same 2011 strategy” for the unemployment rally had been a mistake.
They believe that TRS leaders who were part of the TJAC then, and who had played active roles in making the 2011 march a success, knew in advance how things would unfold and they “helped” police to foil the rally.
TRS leaders T. Harish Rao and K. Kavitha had successfully breached the security cordon in 2011 — with Mr Rao reaching Tank Bund by boat from Necklace Road. He arrived at the venue riding pillion on a bike. Prof Kodandaram had reached the 2011 venue by changing multiple vehicles to escape police action.
But ahead of Wednesday’s rally, the police took “advance measures” by taking Prof Kodandaram into custody from his home itself.
Similarly, they carried out extensive checks of RTC buses and two-wheelers coming in from the districts, a day prior to the rally.
With an effective cordon in place, not many could make it to Indira Park — the planned final point of the unemployment rally. At the Park, the TJAC had planned a massive demonstration against the failure of the TRS government in providing jobs to youths. All the roads leading to Indira Park were blocked using police barricades.
TJAC activists who had managed to break through the cordon in 2011, were on Wednesday stunned by the police presence — with many unable to even reach the rally’s starting point at Baghlingampally.
A few individuals who had made it to the city on two-wheelers from nearby districts tried to take out rallies from the Secunderabad PG college and Nizam College. They too were stopped by police.
TJAC’s chairman Prof Kodandaram had himself toured all districts of the state and had set up 25 “strategy committees” to devise a plan for Wednesday but the cops, acting on “expert help”, were able to checkmate his every move.
Police prevent self-immolation attempt at OU
The Osmania University campus, once the hotbed of the Telangana agitation, had turned into a warzone on Wednesday.
Sandeep Chamar, a student leader poured petrol on himself in front of the OU Arts College in an attempt to self immolate but the cops were quick to intervene.
Around 10 am, students who are part of the Nirudyoga JAC and other organisations started a rally from the Law College, but police intercepted them at NCC gate.
Arguments soon broke out between the groups and students even resorted to stone-pelting. But cops brought the situation under control and shifted several protesters to the Amberpet police station.
Several protesters slammed the police action and claimed that they were arrested without reason. Others have promised that protests against the TRS administration will continue at the university’s campus.
