The Kapu Ikya garjana, which was called to protest the delay in including the Kapu caste in the list of Backward castes on Sunday, turned violent this afternoon with protagonist Mudragada Padmanabham suddenly giving a call to observe Rasta roko on the Chennai-Kolkata national highway near Tuni,East Godavari district.
The Kapu leaders had given a call to organize the Ikya Garjana, a public meeting of members of the community, in which leaders of the community from two Telugu States participated, to exert pressure on the government to accord BC status to Kapu caste.
During the meeting, Mudragada Padmanabham gave a call to the people to observe rasta roko till their demand of inclusion of the caste in the BC list was accepted. Following the call, people, who attended the meeting in thousands, staged a sit-in on the road. Mudragada himself led the rasta roko and sat on the national highway causing traffic jam.Some people boarded the Ratnanchal Express stationed in the Tuni station and torched a bogie. In no time, the flames spread to the other bogies. Another group of people even attacked the rural police station and set it on fire. In melee a constable is said to have died of injuries.
The sudden eruption of violence led to the cancellation many trains in Vijayawada itself. According to the police, traffic came to a grinding halt on the national highway as a result of rasta roko.Railway officials held talks with Mudragada to pacify the protesters.
The sudden turn of the events into violent agitation took the state government by surprise. Chief minister Chandrababu Naidu reviewed the situation with DGP and other senior officials. CM summoned all the ministers available in Vijayawada for an emergency cabinet meeting. He requested the protesters to observe restraint and cooperate with the help official in bringing the situation to the normality.
The situation got out of hand even though state government deployed about 2000 police personnel to take care of the law and order. Hundreds of passengers of Ratanchal express stranded at Tuni station.
Apprehending spread of agitation to other parts of the state, many express trains were halted at Samarlakot Rajamandry, Eluru, Vijayawada, Kovvuru, Pithapuram, Kakinada and Vishakapatnam, Amudalavalasa. Railway officials said all steps had been taken to provide emergency items to the stranded passengers especially women, old persons and children. As a precaution, trains had been stationed at major railway stations to avoid causing inconvenience to the passengers. SCR general manager Ravindra Gupta appealed to the agitation to allow the trains to reach destitination as halting the trains small station would cause serious inconvenience to the passengers especially to the children and elderly people.
State HRD minister Ganta Srinivasarao, a Kapu leader from ruling Telugu Desam Party, accused Opposition YSRC and Congress of fomenting trouble in the state by resorting to violence. He said these two parties were responsible for the violence. He asked the organizers of Ikya Garjana not to take sudden decisions like rasta roko.
Mudragada warning
In the meantime Kapu leader Mudragada Padmanabham said Kaps would not call off their agitation till a GO was issued according BC status to Kapus. ” I won’t go home till the government announces the decision, come what may,” he said.
