In their 10th day today, the Seemandhra agitations to keep Andhra Pradesh united are only intensifying, with the people leading their leaders.
In their 10th day today, the Seemandhra agitations to keep Andhra Pradesh united are only intensifying, with the people leading their leaders rather than the other way round.
The agitations that started the day after the Congress-led UPA government announced its decision late last month to carve out a separate state of Telangana from Andhra Pradesh, are gathering more steam with each passing day.
People of the 13 districts that form the Seemandhra region - as Rayalaseema and Coastal Andhra are collectively referred to - are raging at being ridden over roughshod by the Union government, which they claim is completely trampling over their opinion about their own state.
Despite continuous and loud proclamations by Congress leaders like Digvijay Singh and Chacko that the government is firm that it will divide the state, clearly intended to snuff out any spark of hope in the people of the Seemandhra region that their agitations might yield fruit, the movement is continuing to grow.
People from all walks of life are now coming on to the streets in the 13 districts, and remonstrating against the injustice that they believe is being meted out to them, in what is widely being described as a popular movement led by the people themselves.
From Srikakulam to Chittoor, each day sees a near-complete halt to economic and administrative activity in these districts, and tens of thousands of people dedicating themselves to protesting on the roads and outside government offices.
People are brushing and showering, tending to their livestock, cooking and eating, all on the streets.
While mock-funerals for KCR, Digvijay Singh and Sonia Gandhi (and even some local leaders who refuse to resign) are now a staple, each day also sees new varieties of protests. People parade half-naked, shave half their hair and faces, wear weird masks, and involve animals innovatively in their protests.
The movement has no clear leadership yet - all three main political parties of AP (TDP, YSR CP and Congress) agreed to create Telangana, and none of them is thus left with any moral authority over the issue.
The fact that most ministers, MLAs and MPs refuse to resign despite a clear popular desire that they do - Chiranjeevi, Kavuri Sambasiva Rao and Daggubati Purandeswari being prominent among them - has resulted in their inability to face their own constituents, and the people assuming leadership themselves.
In a public meet with several other Seemandhra leaders, Lagadapati Rajagopal, one of the MPs who has resigned and who is unequivocal about his support for a united Andhra Pradesh, conceded as much today, when he said that he felt ashamed that the people are doing such a massive agitation by themselves after their political leaders failed them.
Interestingly, no leading English dailies in the state capital appear to be featuring the most massive protests to hit Andhra Pradesh yet, in any prominent place.