Protesting farmers halt Amaravati Padayatra for four days after altercation with cops
In the wake of an altercation with the police on Saturday, October 22, the organisers of the Amaravati farmers’ Maha Padayatra temporarily halted the foot march at Ramachandrapuram town in Ambedkar Konaseema district for four days. The protest organisers made the decision in the wake of police interference in the Yatra, which had allegedly triggered a stampede that injured many farmers including women. The police had stopped the march and asked the protesters who had gathered at a hall to produce their identity cards, citing a High Court order directing that only 600 farmers can take part in the Yatra. This, however, did not sit well with the organisers, which in turn led to the altercation.
The foot march protest to Arasavalli in Srikakulam district was launched by the farmers of Amaravati in Guntur district on September 12, demanding that the state government drop the proposal of three state capitals and develop Amaravati as the only capital. The plan is to rally through 16 districts before arriving in Arasavalli on November 16. The farmers had arrived in the Konaseema district on Friday, completing 40 days of the foot march.
Earlier on Friday, while hearing a petition filed by the Amaravati Parirakshana Samithi (APS) secretary Gadde Tirupati Rao against the alleged attacks on farmers participating in the Yatra, the Andhra Pradesh High Court had said that the foot march should not consist of more than 600 farmers, whose details had already been furnished to the police, and four vehicles. The single bench of Justice Raghunandhan Rao also said that those who wished to show their support for the farmers can do so by standing along the sides of the road.
The court further forbade the supporters from participating in the rally, as it could disrupt law and order. Additionally, it instructed the police to make sure everything went smoothly, and especially ensure that ‘rival’ groups were not present in the proximity of the aggrieved farmers. It was reportedly in the wake of these directives by the court that the police stopped the members of the Padayatra and demanded their identification. The court has set the next hearing for October 27, when the protest is set to resume as per the farmers’ latest decision.
“The march has always been peaceful. We haven't had to show our ID cards to anyone in 40 days. Besides, there have been no new orders from the court. Instead, the court’s directives were misinterpreted by the police, who also placed restrictions on our personal movements,” said Tirupati Rao. He alleged that the police action was a violation of their fundamental rights, since the police have now forbidden the supporters from even speaking to the marching farmers, despite the Yatra's sole objective being to raise awareness of the problem. “The farmers think the court's ruling will be in our favour,” he added.
Meanwhile, the Maha Padayatra Joint Action Committee has also alleged that the cadre of the Yuvajana Sramika Rythu Congress party had attacked the Yatra at Rajamahendravaram, besides impeding the march on foot.
Earlier in 2014, the farmers had voluntarily offered 33,000 acres of land to the then state government led by the Telugu Desam Party (TDP), to establish Amaravati as the state's capital in 2014. But as per the decentralisation plan of the new YSRCP government, Andhra Pradesh will have three state capitals — Amaravati, Visakhapatnam and Kurnool. This decision sparked protests from Amaravati’s farmers, who were hoping to reap the economic benefits of giving up their land for the capital. All the opposition parties in the state, including the TDP, Jana Sena Party, Congress and the Left, have announced their support to the Padayatra.
Watch: Nayanthara and Vignesh Shivan may not have broken the surrogacy law