Telangana JAC calls for bandh in the region

The Telangana Joint Action Committee has called for a bandh in Telangana region on Friday. Convenor Prof Kodandaram said that the strike was called in protest against the "disrespect" shown by the state government towards a Telangana youth M Yadi Reddy who committed suicide in New Delhi on Wednesday.

He said that the committee was upset with the threats issued by the state government to use the Essential Services Maintenance Act against Telangana government employees who have decided to do on strike from August 1.

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The JAC decided to call for a bandh after a day of high drama in New Delhi's Andhra Pradesh Bhavan over the way the body of Yadi Reddy was treated by the state government officials.

Alleging disrespect to a "martyr", Telangana supporters went on a rampage in AP Bhavan. A senior legislator of Telangana Rashtra Samiti T Harish Rao assaulted the officer on special duty demanding explanation why the body was not allowed to be brought to AP Bhavan.

They also pulled up the resident commissioner of Andhra Pradesh for writing a letter to Delhi police that Yadi Reddy's body should not be allowed in AP Bhavan and instead should be directly sent to the cremation ground after post-mortem.

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Several political leaders including TRS MLAs wanted him to explain why he tried to get the body cremated in New Delhi when Yadi Reddy's family was waiting for his body in Hyderabad.

Angry over the beating up of their colleague, the employees of AP Bhaban went on a flash strike. On the other hand Telangana leaders including half a dozen Congress MPs also staged a sit-in condemning the disrespect to Yadi Reddy's body.

Later in the evening, Yadi Reddy's body was flown to Hyderabad where Telangana leaders and supporters paid tributes to him at the Telangana Martyrs Memorial. Yadi Reddy, a resident of Moinabad Mandal near Hyderabad, committed suicide by hanging himself from a tree near the Parliament House in Delhi.

In a 12 page suicide note Reddy said that he was taking the extreme step in protest against the failure of the Center in the formation of Telangana state. He also blamed Congress president Sonia Gandhi, Union Minister Jaipal Reddy, several other leaders and the central government for the delay in the decision.

Though more than 600 Telangana students and youth have committed suicide for the Telangana cause during the last three years, it is first time that somebody did so in New Delhi.

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Meanwhile, the government employees and teachers of Telangana region have brushed aside the threat of the state government to invoke the Essential Services Maintenance Act against them if they go on indefinite strike.

Telangana Non Gazetted Officers Union and other unions have said that such threats will not make any difference to them because they have faced such threats many times in the past.

TNGOs leader Swamy Goud said that the employees of Telangana were ready to go to jail and make any sacrifice for a Telangana state. "Tomorrow we will meet with all the unions of the employees and teachers and finalise the dates of the strike", said Goud, who is also the convenor of the Joint Action Committee of the employees and teachers.

More than hundred unions of officers, employees and teachers have already served notices on the state government that if the central government does not announce a separate Telangana state soon they will go on indefinite strike after August 1.

Kodandaram said that the decision to call the bandh on Friday was taken in view of the undemocratic attitude of the state government in trying to suppress the rights of the people to go on strike.  

This is the second time this month that the TJAC has called for a strike in the Telangana region. The region observed a 48-hour strike on July 5 and 6 in support of a separate state.