Tension prevailed during Amaravati farmers’ Maha Padayatra in Andhra Pradesh's Ambedkar Konaseema district after the police stopped the march, leading to a stampede. A number of farmers including women were injured when the police used force to stop the Yatra at Pasalapudi village. The problems started when the police stopped the Yatra and directed the participants to show their identity cards, which led to an argument between the police and the organisers of the foot march.
While farmers questioned the police action on the ground that they have been participating in the Yatra for more than a month, the officers refused permission for the Yatra to move forward. At one stage, the police pushed back the participants. The farmers tried to move ahead with the slogans ‘Jai Amaravati’, and in the ensuing stampede-like situation, some of the participants including women fell down and sustained injuries. Leaders of the Amaravati Parirakshana Samithi (APS) and the Amaravati Joint Action Committee (JAC), the organisers of the Yatra, were among those injured. Protesting against the highhandedness of the police, the farmers sat on the road and raised slogans.
The Maha Padayatra from Amaravati to Arasavalli in Srikakulam district was launched last month as part of the farmers’ demand that the state government drop the proposal of three state capitals and develop Amaravati as the only capital. Pointing out that the Padayatra was launched after getting permission from the Andhra Pradesh High Court, APS leader G Tirupati Rao wondered why the police suddenly remembered the identity cards.
Since the court had laid down the condition that not more than 600 people should participate in the foot march, the police suggested that those who came to express solidarity do so by standing along the road. The JAC accepted the suggestion, which paved the way for the resumption of the Yatra. Tirupati Rao said the Yatra would continue despite all the hurdles being created by the government.
The organisers also alleged that the police and ruling YSR Congress Party (YSRCP) leaders had tried to disrupt the march at many places. At Rajamahendravaram, the ruling party cadres attacked the Yatra.
Meanwhile, the Andhra Pradesh High Court on Friday, October 21, directed the police to make sure that the Yatra continues smoothly and not to allow others to organise protests to counter it. The court gave the direction on a petition filed by the organisers about the attacks on Yatra. The court also asked the government to submit a report on the steps taken by the government to comply with its previous order, permitting the farmers to organise the long march subject to certain conditions.
The petitioner had named several ministers, MPs and MLAs of YSRCP, alleging that they were behind the attacks on the Padayatra. He said the supporters of these leaders were creating law and order problems, and that the police were not discharging their duties properly but were instead falsely implicating the farmers in false criminal cases.
The Padayatra with the slogan 'Build Amaravati Save Andhra Pradesh' began from Amaravati on September 12, and is proposed to conclude at Arasavalli in Srikakulam district on November 11 after passing through 16 districts. It is aimed at mounting pressure on the government to complete the constructions and infrastructure creation in Amaravati as ordered by the High Court on March 3 this year.
A bench of three judges had pronounced the judgment on March 3 based on 75 petitions filed by Amaravati farmers and others, challenging the government's move for trifurcation of the state capital. After coming to power in 2019, the YSRCP had reversed the decision of the previous TDP government to develop Amaravati as the only state capital, instead deciding to develop three state capitals — Amaravati, Visakhapatnam and Kurnool. This had triggered massive protest from farmers of Amaravati, who had given 33,000 acres of land for the capital and were hoping to reap its economic benefits.
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