BHUPALPALLY: The ongoing tussle over reservation between Lambadas and other ST communities, particularly Adivasis, took a violent turn on Thursday when Lambadas ransacked the Integrated Tribal Development Agency (ITDA) office, located at Medaram in the Jayashankar Bhupalpally district of Telangana.
The agitating mob hurled stones at the car of tourism minister Azmeera Chandulal's son Prahalad and even damaged few vehicles parked near the venue. They even torched some materials present in the office.
The incident has left the entire tribal belt of Eturnagaram area of the district in a tense situation. Police have sounded a high alert and have rushed forces to control the situation.
Recounting the incident, sources said few ST communities objected to the induction of a member of the Lambada community in the Medaram Temple Trust Board.
As soon as the meeting began, the representatives protested against the appointment and this led to a war of words which then turned aggressive.
Sensing trouble the police tried to intervene and almost controlled the situation. However, when minister Chandulal's son Prahalad arrived in the venue to take part in the meeting, a few people belonging to the Lambada community hurled stones on his car breaking his car's windshield.
The police immediately swung into action and took the people involved in the stone-pelting incident into custody and asked Prahalad to leave the venue.
According to Mulug DSP Raghavendra, the situation was under control and that the troublemakers had been disbursed. "There was some trouble during the board meeting. People belonging to a particular community ransacked the ITDA office and even damaged a few vehicles including the vehicle of minister Chandulal's son. We have brought the situation under control," the DSP stated.
Meanwhile, Prahalad lodged a complaint against a few people involved in the incident of damaging his car. It is learnt that the police had taken some persons involved in the incident into custody.
The Lambadas and other ST communities have been at loggerheads over the issue of reservations in jobs and education for the past few months.
The other ST communities, particularly Adivasis, want the government to remove Lambadas from the ST list "as they are better than other communities" in both education and getting employment. Both the communities have recently organised competitive public meetings in Hyderabad, the State capital, as part of flexing their muscles.
The other ST communities have already started boycotting Lambada teachers in tribal residential schools, run by the State government across the State.