ANDHRA PRADESH

CPI(M ) Agitates For Drought Relief

M Venugopala Rao

  PROTESTING against the utter failure of the state government in coming to the rescue of the drought-affected people in Andhra Pradesh, the CPI(M) and mass organisations have launched agitations in various forms, demanding the government to provide drought relief and ensure food security to the people.  The government itself has admitted that the present drought is the most severe one facing the state since the last forty years.

The CPI(M) has started five  gruel centres in the four severely affected districts in the state. The very fact that the poor and hungry, especially the old people and children are thronging these gruel centres in large numbers is a testimony to two facts. One, the magnitude of the drought relief required and two, the utter failure of the government in providing succour to the starving people. The CPI(M) has appealed to the people to donate liberally to run  more gruel centres.

Responding to the call given by the CPI(M) and several mass organisations, rasta rokos, dharnas, picketings and conventions were organised on March 12 in  more than 300 mandals demanding the government to come to the rescue of the drought-affected people. Women, tribals, old people, artisans and others participated in these protest programmes on a large scale. They resented the indifference of the government to their plight despite their agitations for the last several months.  At some places the police arrested the agitating people. 

At the call of the state unit of the All India Democratic Women’s Association (AIDWA), women in large numbers laid siege to the godowns of Food Corporation of India (FCI) in the state and tried to break them open in order to distribute foodgrains to the drought-affected and hungry people. This programme, held on March 8 – the international women’s day – drew brutal police repression. At several places the police resorted to lathicharge, misbehaved with women and arrested hundreds of agitators. Several women were injured in the lathicharge and had to be admitted in hospitals for treatment. 

Protesting the police highhandedness and arrests, women resorted to rasta rokos at several places. They raised slogans demanding the government to distribute the large stocks of foodgrains in the godowns of FCI to the starving people, instead of allowing the foodgrains to rot.

A delegation of the state committee of AIDWA while condemning the police action against women, met the leaders of opposition parties in the legislative assembly requested them to raise the issue in the ongoing session of the House.  They also demanded withdrawal of all cases foisted on the women and take action against the CI of Mahaboobabad for his cruel behaviour with the women. They also met the state home minister made the same requests.

PICKETINGS

On the call given separately by the CPI(M), A P Rythu Sangham, A P Agricultural Workers’ Union, CITU and other mass organisations, hundreds of people conducted picketings at district collectorates last month, demanding the government to take up drought relief measures immediately.  The police resorted to repressive measures and indiscriminate lathicharge on the agitating people at the Rangareddy, Warangal, Nizamabad and Guntur district collectorates.  The police did not spare even the old people and women. Hundreds of agitators, including several leaders of the CPI(M) and of mass organisations,  were arrested and cases foisted on them.

In the picketing at the Rangareddy district collectorate, about 100 agitators were injured in the lathicharge while at Warangal it was 50 people.  At several collectorates, the agitators obstructed the staff from entering their offices till afternoon. Protesting against brutal lathicharge by the police and arrests, rasta rokos were conducted at several places.

The state leaders of the CPI(M), P Madhu, D G Narasimha Rao(Hyderabad), K Venkatayya, S Veerayya (Warangal), M A Gafoor (Kurnool), Ch Narsing Rao, M V S Sarma (Visakhapatnam), M Krishna Murthy (Vijayanagaram), V Easwar (Mahaboobnagar), M Gangadharappa (Nizamabad),  and K Murali (Chittoor) were among those who were arrested during these picketings.

The CPI(M) state secretary, B V Raghavulu, leader of the opposition in the assembly Dr Y S Rajasekhar Reddy, CPI(M) legislature party leader, N Narasimhayya and many others strongly condemned the indiscriminate police lathicharge and arrests of  people and cadres. The issue was raised in the legislative assembly in the form  of an adjournment motion moved by the CPI(M) members. With the speaker refusing to admit the adjournment motion and no response coming from the government on the issue, the CPI(M) members, N  Narasimhayya and S Rajaiah,  went to the podium and sat there displaying  placards and raising slogans, while the Congress members stood up at their seats displaying placards.  With arguments and counter arguments, the proceedings of the House were stalled for nearly one hour.  Ultimately,  normalcy was restored only after the government agreed to make a statement on the issue.  In the afternoon, making a statement, the minister for home said about 1000 workers of the CPI(M) were taken into custody and later released on bail, besides registering cases against some of them,  in connection with the dharnas conducted at the district collectorates.        

Meanwhile the left parties, including the CPI(M) and the CPI, held a dharna  at Indira Park in Hyderabad on March 4, protesting against the callousness of the government in coming to the rescue of the drought-affected people in the state for the last six months.  They demanded the government  to release funds immediately and take up relief measures under the monitoring  of all-party committees at various levels.  They criticised the government for whiling away its time by resorting to gimmicks like special janmabhoomi on drought issue, without taking specific measures to alleviate the sufferings of the people. CPI(M) Polit Bureau member Koratala Satyanarayana, CPI state secretary S Sudhakar Reddy, Biswas (MCPI), Kotaiah (CPI(ML) Unity Initiative), Murahari (SUCI), Sankarayya (CPI(ML) Janasakti), G Diwakar (CPI(ML)  New Democracy) and others addressed the dharna. They demanded the government to stop forcible collection of dues from the drought-affected people, make budgetary allocations for drought relief measures and take up new projects for utilisation of river waters going waste into the sea.