As the central and state governments continue to ignore the elephant in the room, the elephant for once decided to do something to force the Governments to acknowledge its presence. Despite the relentless agitation for Telangana, the governments decided they would just ignore and pretend that the issue does not exist. In every instance, they are aggressively trying to suppress the agitation by brute force. They simply pretend there is no such issue. They don’t want the TVs to show anything about it and they think the issue will just disappear. The suicides, the continuous postponement of exams, the Rachabanda debacle, the non-cooperation movement, nothing seems to make the government at least take up a token discussion on Telangana in the ongoing assembly session. So what are the choices Telanganites is left with?
Telanganites have decided they did enough waiting. First, they unleashed the Non-Cooperation movement and caught the State govt unawares. Then, they called the 2 day Telangana bandh and marked their protest by blocking anti-telangana electronic media for 2 days. Now they have gunned for the central Govt and called for a day-long Rail-Roko calling it ‘Palle Palle Pattaalameedhiki’ (Let the Villages move onto train tracks). Like all other programs that have been creatively designed to show their protests, this protests would happen mainly on tracks in villages rather than those in railway stations. While this would mean more participation from Telanganites, it would also mean difficulty for the police to foil the Rail-Roko which would affect all trains between North and South India.
All townspeople and villagers would occupy the adjoining tracks from 6 AM to 6 PM. Their cattle, their fodder will be moved on to tracks. Teachers would teach children on tracks. Doctors would keep medical camps on the tracks. Cultural troupes will perform on tracks. People from all walks of life like Washerman, Blacksmith etc will practically live and work on the tracks on March 1st, 2011. If the police gets into their usual oppressive lot with the agitators, the tracks may be disarranged and the trains may end up stranded for 48 hours before the repairs get done.
For all the ruthlessness and insensitivity this state government is capable of, Telanganites do not expect a quick solution for their agitation but the tyrannical rulers ended up strengthening their resolve so much they wouldn’t budge until they get rid of these rulers – the 3 visible tyrants CM, Governor, DGP and the invisible group of plutocrats backing this government. By not allowing any scope for dialogue and by not allowing any debates over the issue in Assembly and the Parliament, the state and central governments have pushed Telangana to the brink. And it is them who should bear all responsibility for the events that happen henceforth. For now, Telangana goes camping onto the tracks.
Thanks Amar for sharing
