Tension escalated between the Brahmin and Vysya communities and the weaker sections, after the Vijayawada Police refused permission for meetings by groups supporting Prof. Kancha Ilaiah and those opposing him at the same venue on Saturday.
Prof. Ilaiah has kicked up as storm with his new book by calling the trading community ‘social smugglers’. While his sympathisers booked the Gymkhana Grounds in the heart of the city for a meeting to express their solidarity, critics of the book calling themselves the Vysya-Brahaman Ikya Vedika also sort permission to hold a meeting at the same venue on the same issue, forcing the police to refuse consent to both groups.
Prof. Ilaiah has joined issue by going on record saying that not allowing a meeting in Vijayawada would be “historic mistake”.
Communist Party of India (CPI) state secretary K. Ramakrishna and BC Jena Sena president G. Gangadhar met Commissioner of Police Gautham Sawang on Friday and asked him to grant permission to hold an indoor meeting in a auditorium adjoining the Gymkhana Grounds.
Dr. Gangadhar said that sympathisers of Prof. Ilaiah wanted to show solidarity to the author in the light of the death threats he received. It was the responsibility of the police to offer protection to those who were not indulging in anything unlawful. The police should curtail those who were trying to disturb the peace, he told the Police Commissioner.
Since the Intelligence Department reports said there was likely to be a breakdown in law and order, Prof Ilaiah’s sympathisers decided to abandon the procession and were ready to conduct the meeting indoor. Mr. Gautham Sawang told the leaders that he would inform them on Saturday.
