People sit in protest against the creation of Telangana and demand a unified state
MG Road in Vijayawada, usually pulsating with busy commuters, has not seen regular traffic for a month. Instead, it has morphed into the frontline of daily protests against the bifurcation of Andhra Pradesh.
On the 30th of July, the Congress Working Committee announced that one of the three regions of Andhra Pradesh, Telangana, will become India's 29th state in six months. The other two regions - Coastal Andhra and Rayalaseema, collectively referred to as "Seemandhra" have erupted in anger. The main constituent of their resentment is that the IT hub of Hyderabad and its financial clout - will be a shared capital between the old and new states for 10 years; after that, it will belong to Telangana.
On MG Road, the protestors are a motley crew, encompassing students, lawyers, teachers, bus drivers and government employees. When political leaders show up, they are heckled. Those leading the demonstrations say this is an apolitical movement and deride political parties for failing to protect the essential interests of "Seemandhra" - the 13 districts that will remain in Andhra Pradesh.
"How can one side get everything and the other nothing?" asks Ramaiah, a chartered accountant in his 40s. "They got whatever they wanted, Telangana, with Hyderabad. Whereas we have no assurances on water and no guarantee of any rights on Hyderabad to which we have an equal right. Wasn't Hyderabad our capital also for the last 55 years?" he asks, visibly agitated.
Divya joined a college in Hyderabad after passing out of class xii over two years ago. The continuum of protests there for state-hood meant classes were an aberration. So she transferred to a college in Vijayawada. Here, too, colleges are paralyzed now. "First, I was a victim in Hyderabad. Colleges were totally shut for one month and now the same happens here also. Literally students suffer anywhere, everywhere," she says.
But other college students believe the protests must not die down. In a classroom in a leading private college, a huge poster put up declares that the state must be kept united. ''Jai Samaikhyandhra'' is the slogan on everyone's lips.
Yashwant Sai says the future of lakhs of young people like him is on the line. "As students, our destination is to get a job. All IT sector companies are in Hyderabad. Then how can we get a job there because we would become non-local there?" he asks, referring to the concern that once the new state is created, outsiders will be kept out.
Protesters also point out that waters reach the rice bowl of the country, in Krishna, West Godavari and East Godavari districts, through the Krishna and Godavari rivers that flow through Telangana before reaching here. The worry is that once they become two states, waters would not be allowed to reach the coastal belt and Rayalaseema. For the farmers in Telangana, a sore point had always been the fact that though rivers flow through Telangana, the benefits only accrue to farmers in the coastal belt.
Government employees are upset because they claim attractive postings and higher salaries will accrue to those assigned to Telangana. "New jobs, seniority, pensions in everything we lose out. We won't even get the salary we are getting now because most of the revenue for the state government comes from Hyderabad," said one.
As a result of the strike, basic administrative functions have collapsed - for example, the registration of land sales has virtually stopped.