VIJAYAWADA: The bandh call given by Amaravati Parirakshna Joint Action Committee (JAC), which is opposing the AP Decentralisation of Governance and Inclusive Development of all Regions Bill-2020, evoked a lukewarm response in the capital villages on Tuesday.
While normal life was thrown out of gear in Mandadam, Velagapudi and Thullur as businesses remained shut, there was little impact of the shutdown in other capital villages despite personal visits by JAC members. Legislative Affairs Minister Buggana Rajendranath Reddy introduced the bill in the Assembly on Monday, and it was approved after discussions later in the evening.
As the Opposition Telugu Desam leaders raised slogans against the government, Speaker Tammineni Sitaram suspended 17 members for disrupting the CM’s address. The bill was passed by a voice vote.
Angered over the introduction of the bill—which recognises Amaravati as the legislative, Vizag as the executive and Kurnool as the judicial capital—women and farmers from all the 29 capital villages tried to stop the Assembly proceedings and were arrested by the police earlier in the day.
Intensifying their protests and expressing resentment over the State government’s ‘unilateral’ decision, the JAC gave a call for bandh across all the 29 villages and staged peaceful protests there. As part of the indefinite protests, which entered 35th day on Tuesday, villagers in Mandadam burnt copies of the bill and threatened Chief Minister YS Jagan Mohan Reddy of committing mass suicides if he did not withdraw his decision on the capital. “We won’t allow the government to shift the capital from Amaravati. Amaravati is our capital and we will go to any extent for it,” they said.
Meanwhile, hours after the passage of the bill in the Assembly, unidentified men set the statue of former CM late YS Rajasekhar Reddy at Dondapadu on fire.
However, the locals were able to douse the fire with the help of water and sand. They alleged that it could be a handiwork of TD leaders as the party president N Chandrababu Naidu was taken into police custody.
The JAC members also took out a rally at Patamata in Vijayawada, extending support to Amaravati farmers, and demanded that the government reconsider its decision on trifurcating the capital. “Jagan should reconsider his decision as the lives of thousands are connected with the bill. Instead of granting what the farmers want, he is announcing sops for them,” JAC president Ch Sudhakar said.