Nalgonda: Police-Students Skirmish

With the police arresting some JAC leaders for the reason that they are mobilizing students to attend the Osmania Garjana today, and stopping buses carrying "students" from going to Hyderabad, students have started a rasta roko on the National Highway in Nalgonda near Suryapet.

While Nalgonda in general is rife with separate-statehood-related skirmishes, there are similar problems elsewhere, too. Medak and Nizamabad have also seen "students" being stopped from going to Hyderabad by police since they are not carrying identity cards. The HC has given strict orders that there cannot be non-students at the Osmania University students' meeting (Vidyarthi Garjana) today, and the police are insisting that students show proof - identity cards or bus passes - that they are indeed students.

"Students" almost everywhere who have been stopped from travelling to Hyderabad are stopping traffic on the national highways through rasta rokos. Several Telangana political leaders have asked for all arrested students to be freed, and even action against the police officers who have arrested them.

There is activity in the rest of Telangana, too, with peace rallies in villages, bike rallies by lecturers, rasta rokos by minorities and "bonalu rallies" by women, and effigies of Lagadapati and Nannapaneni being burnt. TDP MLA of Mulug, Seetakka, and TDP leader Gundu Sudharani were persuaded to withdraw their fasts for separate statehood for Telangana by other TDP leaders.

Meanwhile, a large gathering of students has already made it to the Osmania University campus, which is bristling with Telangana folk songs and charged announcements on the PA from pumped-up anchors. While the initial estimate of 5,00,000 students is a far cry now, thanks to there being a lack of clarity about the meeting even until yesterday, a few thousand vociferous students can do a lot for perception.