VIJAYAWADA: It is the politicians who gain popularity by encouraging innocent youths to participate in two-wheeler rallies and the party meetings. Sunday’s motorcycle rally, organised to celebrate the victory of Komma Koteswara Rao Chowdary--who was elected as Gollapudi Agricultural Market Committee (AMC) Chairman, explains how the opportunistic political leaders take the benefit of their position by influencing youth.
However, when the question of who loses in the political game arises, the answer is always the young people, who take part in such rallies upon being given Rs 200, some money for fuel and a biryani packet.
By letting the turbulent youth violate traffic rules, the political leaders display their hegemony to the public. “It could be fun for them, but not for us. They showed us what they can do with the government’s support. It is a bad trend. The political leaders are using youngsters for their gain and ruining their valuable career,” rued Lakshmi from Gollapudi, who had a miraculous escape from a road mishap during the rally at Gollapudi.
“Most of the youth who participated in the rally were riding in an inebriated state. They were driving rashly near school zones and temple premises. If any untoward incident had happened, who would have been responsible?” she questioned. Usually, in such incidents cases are registered against the motorists and not the leaders, who organise such rallies and public meetings and create public nuisance. The same was the case with the rally on Sunday.
Instead of filing cases against the organisers of the rally, which was denied permission by the city police Commissioner Gautam Sawang, the police registered cases against the participants (youngsters) and impounded their vehicles. “Cases were registered against participants at five police stations and their motorcycles were impounded for violating traffic rules and creating public nuisance. Shockingly, not even a single case was registered against the organisers,” a senior police officer said on condition of anonymity. With the TDP in power, its leaders take the advantage and do not obtain the required permissions to organise such rallies.
“A decision to stop giving permission for such rallies was taken following multiple requests by the public. Bike rallies cause much inconvenience to the public,” the city Police Commissioner said.But do the youths who take part in such rallies fear the law? “Whenever the police catch me, I approach our local leaders. They help me in getting released. Else, I pay a trivial fine of `200 under IPC section 290 and get out,” said Suresh (name changed), a resident of Gollapudi.