Samaikyandhra Student Joint Action Committee has described any attempt to bifurcate the State as an affront to the sentiments of Andhras and Telugu-speaking people and a blow to their self-respect.
JAC performed “ksheerabhishekam” (worship with milk) of the statue of Potti Sriramulu, who laid down his life for carving out Andhra Pradesh as a linguistic State.
In an open letter to UPA Chairperson Sonia Gandhi the committee recalled that Indira Gandhi had declared unequivocally in 1972 that she would rather quit the Prime Minister post than dividing Andhra Pradesh. As an heir to that political legacy Ms. Sonia Gandhi’s was not justified in dividing the State.
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The country had reposed faith in her and UPA was voted to power twice. The decision to carve out a separate Telangana State was contrary to the respect bestowed on her as a matriarchal figure and being called “Amma,” JAC chairman A. Mahesh and founder-convener L. Govinda Rao said in the letter.
While the promise to carve out the separate State was being described as keeping the word given, what about the promise made on December 23, 2009, that the State would be kept united, they asked.
They also opposed the reported move to bifurcate the State keeping electoral calculations in view and also any attempt to muzzle the opposition to dividing the State deploying heavy security forces.
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