Political parties have been asked to change their priorities or face the ire of the people who are spearheading an unprecedented movement to prevent the State from being divided.
Speakers at the ‘Mahila Garjana’ meeting organised by the Krishna District Samaikyandhra Joint Action Committee held in Vijayawada on Friday said that leaders of different regions who had different priorities, some of them extremely selfish and personal, were behind the proposal to divide the State. Social activist G. Satya Vani, who was the star attraction at the ‘Save Andhra Pradesh’ meeting, said the political leaders would be fooling themselves if they thought the people were not taking note of what they were doing.
She said the people of Telangana and Seemandhra should put aside their differences and try to live together as brothers. Often, brothers do not have the same capabilities and in such a situation the parents prevailed on the brothers and ensured that both brothers got a fair share of the fruits. The political leaders should do the same with leaders of both regions.
Krishna district Samaikyandhra JAC chairman and Seemandhra APNGO leader A.Vidya Sagar said the political leaders were getting sold for petty selfish interests. It was time that they changed their priorities and put pressure on the national leaders to grant to the people what they wanted.
The priority of the people working in Seemandhra was a guarantee that their children had a fair opportunity to attend the best educational institutions in the State and get jobs in the best institutions that were currently in Hyderabad.
If the State was divided the students from Seemandhra would lose these opportunities. Water for the Krishna and the Godavari Deltas would also be a big problem.
Poem released
He said the people of Seemandhra had been till now been kicked out of two capitals – Madras and Kurnool – and they were ready to be thrown out of the third.
The people of the region had the resilience to build yet another capital, but what was the guarantee that they would not be thrown out from there also in 30 to 40 years.
And where would they go for a new capital if that happened. With the precedence of Telangana all demands for new states had to be granted, he said.
A poem written on Samaikyandhra by former lecturer and leader of the agitation against proposed division M.C.Das was released at the meeting. Student JAC convenor Devineni Avinash, NGO leaders Annapurana Devi and Rajyalakshmi spoke.
Former Mayors Tadi Sakuntala, Mallika Begum, M.Ratnabindu, Montessori Mahila Kalasala correspondent and secretary Koteswaramma, IMA secretary Vellanki Sridevi, Assistant Civil Supplies Officer Komali Padma and others were on the dais.
Massive rallies
Thousands of womenfolk cutting across professions on Friday occupied the roads and took out massive rallies till evening,
Demanding that the State be kept united during the one-day ‘Mahila Garjana’ in district headquarters.
Women from all walks of life took part in the rallies and formed human chains from Zilla Parishad to Koneru Centre. A few teachers sung inspirational songs against the division of Andhra Pradesh.
While Machilipatnam Municipality employees joined the ongoing relay-hunger strike on their office premises, other women under several banners marched to the Koneru Centre.
They offered floral tribute to the statutes of national leaders and condemned the Congress Working Committee move to form Telangana State.
