However, Osmania University Student Union leader Mallikarjun
announced that their strike would continue until a separate Telangana state
was achieved. At this point, it was an open secret that politicians from behind
the scenes were managing the student union leaders.
As the CM continued to concede to the Telangana students’ demands,
students from Andhra and Venkateswara Universities were alarmed. Seeing
the effectiveness of the pressure tactics of their peers in the Nizam Telangana
region, they jumped into the fray, claiming that the government had failed
to protect the properties and lives of the Andhra people living in the Nizam
Telangana region and gave a call for a boycott until February 10, 1969.
The following day, on January 25, 1969, violence erupted across the
Andhra region. Students attacked a sub-inspector’s residence in Sadasivapeta.
When police opened fire, several students were injured. They all were between
17 and 22. Two youngsters, 17 and 18, were critically injured.
Violence at this point caught on like wildfire. People were attacking
each other across the Andhra and Telangana regions, including Ellandhu,
Karaypalli, Kothagudem, Bhadrachalam, Ashwaraopeta, Dhaamapeta, Nirmal,
Bhimavaram, Manchiryala, Karimnagar, Medak, Suryapeta, and many more
places.
Student leader Mallikarjun was taken aback at the scale of violence. He
probably did not realize the power of his vitriol to incite people to commit
violent acts. A day after widespread violence across the state, Mallikarjun
called off the students’ strike. While ending the strike, he expressed sadness at
the protests organized by the Andhra and Venkateswara University students.
However, Mallikarjun’s decision to end the strike was a little too late. The
wildfire had been lit, and it was now unstoppable and had engulfed the entire
state.
In the Andhra region, agitators stopped trains in Bapatla, Bhimavaram,
Undi, Aravalli, and Tanuku. In Nandigama, police opened fire when the mob turned
violent. Eight hundred students attacked a police station near the Nagarjuna Sagar
right canal, and police opened fire, killing one student. An eighth-grade student,
Shankar, injured in the Sadasivapeta firing, succumbed to his injuries. Shocked by
the levels of violence, all activist groups in Telangana called off their strikes.
|
|
