Student unions across the State have formed the Andhra Pradesh Special Status JAC to launch an indefinite strike for realisation of the Special Category Status (SCS), from June 20 in Vijayawada.
With Rayapati Jagadeesh as the convener and G. Ravikiran as president of JAC, the student community is gearing up for a State-wide stir. Both the leaders, as separate JAC leaders, had spearheaded the Samaikhyandhra agitation opposing bifurcation of Andhra Pradesh.
“Through this agitation, we intend to highlight problems related to the student community and we will keep the movement apolitical till the end,” said Kota Sai Krishna, president of AP Training and Placement Officers’ Consortium and member of a steering committee that has been put in place to guide the students.
Other members of the steering committee include former Vice Chancellor of Acharya Nagarjuna University K. Viyanna Rao, writer and founder of Andhra Intellectuals’ Forum Chalasani Srinivas, Prof. P. Sadasiva Reddy from Sri Krishnadevaraya University, and another faculty Professor from Andhra University.
Sensing the need to bring the issue of SCS into the public domain and drum up people’s support for the cause, the steering committee members have drawn a three-month-long action plan.
It includes extensive awareness campaign by visiting colleges and explaining to students about the banes in the event of denial of SCS to AP.
Copies of a recently released analytical account Andhra Pradesh Pratyeka Hoda: Avasyakata authored by Viyanna Rao have been distributed to student leaders in the forefront of the proposed agitation for their better understanding of the crucial issue.
“We will let the students take the lead and fight for their cause making ourselves available at the periphery,” says Mr. Kota Sai.
Guest lectures on the issue in nearly 200 colleges to reach out to nearly 1.5 lakh students are planned besides a series of district and mandal-level protests. Street meetings and reaching out to farmers, doctors, lawyers, teachers and other sections will make the issue ubiquitous, he says, adding: “It’ll be something on the lines of Prime Minister Modi’s chai pe charcha where every individual would engage in a debate.”
Tech support
Technology is being brought into play by forming internal WhatsApp groups and strategising about the next course of action. “Students are well-versed with the latest technology and that has come as a boon,” he says.
The focus thereafter will be shifted to exerting pressure on AP Ministers to raise their voice from every possible platform against the raw deal meted out to the State.
To begin with, student leaders at State, district and mandal-level will stage an hour-long protest in front of colleges on June 20, to draw people’s attention to the issue.
“Our demand would be to amend the AP Reorganisation Bill to include the SCS clause in it,” he says.
