Identifier
Created
Classification
Origin
10HYDERABAD2
2010-01-05 13:01:00
UNCLASSIFIED//FOR OFFICIAL USE ONLY
American Consulate Hyderabad
Cable title:  

TELANGANA - A BANDH AND A ROAR STIR A UNITED RESPONSE

Tags:  PGOV PREL PTER PINR KDEM IN 
pdf how-to read a cable
VZCZCXRO0892
PP RUEHAST RUEHBI RUEHCI RUEHDBU RUEHLH RUEHPW
DE RUEHNEH #0002/01 0051301
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
P 051301Z JAN 10
FM AMCONSUL HYDERABAD
TO RUEHNEH/AMCONSUL HYDERABAD PRIORITY 0245
RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC PRIORITY 0237
INFO RUCNCLS/ALL SOUTH AND CENTRAL ASIA COLLECTIVE
RUEHBJ/AMEMBASSY BEIJING 0029
RUEHRL/AMEMBASSY BERLIN 0028
RUEHLO/AMEMBASSY LONDON 0028
RUEHMO/AMEMBASSY MOSCOW 0028
RUEHFR/AMEMBASSY PARIS 0028
RUEHVI/AMEMBASSY VIENNA 0012
RUCNDT/USMISSION USUN NEW YORK 0028
RUEHGV/USMISSION GENEVA 0021
RUEKJCS/SECDEF WASHDC
RHEHAAA/NSC WASHINGTON DC
RHHMUNA/USPACOM HONOLULU HI
RHMFIUU/USCENTCOM CCJ5 - PERSONAL FOR MACDILL AFB FL
RUEIDN/DNI WASHINGTON DC
RUEAIIA/CIA WASHDC
RHMFISS/JOINT STAFF WASHINGTON DC
UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 03 HYDERABAD 000002 

SENSITIVE
SIPDIS

DEPARTMENT FOR SCA/INS

E.O. 12958: N/A
TAGS: PGOV PREL PTER PINR KDEM IN
SUBJECT: TELANGANA - A BANDH AND A ROAR STIR A UNITED RESPONSE

REF: REFS: A) HYDERABAD SITUATION UPDATE DEC 31, B) HYDERABAD SITUATION UPDATE
DEC 29, C) HYDERABAD 121

HYDERABAD 00000002 001.2 OF 003


UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 03 HYDERABAD 000002

SENSITIVE
SIPDIS

DEPARTMENT FOR SCA/INS

E.O. 12958: N/A
TAGS: PGOV PREL PTER PINR KDEM IN
SUBJECT: TELANGANA - A BANDH AND A ROAR STIR A UNITED RESPONSE

REF: REFS: A) HYDERABAD SITUATION UPDATE DEC 31, B) HYDERABAD SITUATION UPDATE
DEC 29, C) HYDERABAD 121

HYDERABAD 00000002 001.2 OF 003



1. (U) SUMMARY: Two "bandhs" (strikes) and a rally over the past
week brought different regions of Andhra Pradesh (AP) to a
standstill. Facing down significant government opposition, the
"Vidyarthi Garjana" (Student's Roar) rally organizers pulled off
a well attended and peaceful protest in Hyderabad. Local law
enforcement insists "anti-social" elements are assisting the
students. Universities begin to develop contingencies to
prevent the loss of the academic year due to campus closures.
Both pro- and anti-statehood student groups pledged to continue
demonstrations throughout AP on January 5 even as the GoI
convenes a meeting of all recognized political parties in the
state to discuss the issue. The success of this all-party
meeting in addressing the equities of these different groups
will determine the prospects for calm in the following days and
weeks. END SUMMARY.


Sequential Shutdowns Lead to United Action
--------------



2. (U) Two "bandhs" and a rally over the past week brought
different regions of AP to a near standstill. On December 30,
the bandh called by the Joint Action Committee of political
parties (JAC-P) advocating separate statehood for the Telangana
region resulted in wide-scale business closures throughout
Hyderabad and the Telangana region (Ref A). Following on the
heels of this largely peaceful strike, the Telangana student
JAC's (TS-JAC) faced down local authorities to hold a "Vidyarthi
Garjana" (Student's Roar) rally on January 3 endorsing the same
cause. Meanwhile, the student JAC of the "United Andhra"
(JAC-UA) movement answered both events by forcing a general
strike on both the Coastal Andhra and Rayalaseema regions on
January 4 to underscore their resistance to bifurcating the
state. [NOTE: There are three regions in AP comprising 23
districts. Hyderabad, the state capital, is one of ten districts
located in the northwestern Telangana region. The smallest
region, Rayalaseema, includes the four districts to the
southwest of the state. The Coastal Andhra region contains all

nine districts along the Bay of Bengal. END NOTE] Both pro- and
anti-statehood student groups pledged to continue their
demonstrations throughout the state on January 5 and beyond even
as the GoI convenes a meeting of all recognized political
parties in the state to discuss the issue.


Telangana Students Roar But Don't Bite
--------------


3. (U) The TS-JAC invited students from colleges throughout the
region to participate in the January 3 "Vidyarthi Garjana" rally
on the campus of Osmania University (OU) in Hyderabad. Student
organizers had predicted that a massive mobilization would bring
as many as 500,000 people to the rally. In the end,
approximately 80,000 students participated in a surprisingly
well organized and peaceful outpouring of support for groups
championing Telangana statehood.


4. (U) The TS-JAC first announced plans for the rally on 27
December, in the midst of a standoff with the state government
and local law enforcement over attempts to both take a number of
hunger-striking students into protective custody and to close
the OU student hostels housing many of the protesting students
(in order to discourage further civil unrest). The JAC-P
appealed to the students to protest peacefully and at the same
time asked police to show restraint when interacting with the
students. The deadlock was broken on December 28 when the
deteriorating condition of the students forced police to take
the hunger-strikers to Gandhi Hospital for medical care and the
AP High Court struck down a second government order closing the
student hostels. (Ref B)


5. (U) In order to forestall further incidents of civil unrest

HYDERABAD 00000002 002.2 OF 003


by "anti-social elements," local authorities refused permission
for the January 3 rally and actively took measures to prevent
participants from coming to Hyderabad (similar to those taken on
December 10 (ref C)). These included establishing roadblocks on
the major arteries entering Hyderabad and monitoring regional
road and rail transportation routes in order to turn back or
detain groups of protesters. Undeterred, the students
petitioned the High Court to allow the protest to go forward.
As tensions rose, additional police personnel arrived from
neighboring districts to reinforce the police attempting to
check the steady flow of people onto the OU campus. On the
evening of January 2, the High Court directed local police to
allow the rally to proceed for two hours in the afternoon with
the stipulations among others that only students could attend
the rally and that political leaders could neither participate
in nor speak at the event.


6. (U) The day was not completely free from invective. Some
student leaders incited the crowd with inflammatory statements
such as warning political parties of severe consequences if they
blocked statehood for the region, and threatening to prevent the
return to Hyderabad of people who visit family in other regions
during the Sankranti/Pongal holiday in mid-January. [COMMENT:
This appeared to be the latest invective against the "settlers"
from Coastal Andhra and Rayalaseema, many of whom have lived in
Hyderabad for generations. END COMMENT] Still, the crowd stayed
peaceful as other student leaders made more concrete demands
including: the dismissal of all legal cases against students; an
INR 10 lakh (USD 25,000) payment to the families of those who
have died or committed suicide during the protests; that all
political parties make their position on the Telangana issue
public prior to the January 5 meeting in New Delhi; and that
this meeting set a clear timeline for the formation of a
Telangana state (that does not include passing a resolution in
the AP State Assembly). The assembled students also declared
2010 as the year of "Telangana Sadhana" (Achieving Telangana)
and proclaimed that no student would be allowed to take exams
until statehood is attained.


The Lost (Academic) Year
--------------


7. (SBU) Even as the organizers made their demands, many
students began to voice concerns about possibly losing a full
academic year due to university shut downs. K.C. Reddy,
Chairman of the AP State Council of Higher Education (APSCHE),
told Congenoff that a University Grants Commission (UGC) of
India rule requiring that students attend a minimum of 75
percent of classes "will not be compromised." He said that if
the student agitations do not settle down by January 18 - after
the Sankranti holiday - that a meeting of University Vice
Chancellors will meet to determine if the academic schedule can
be extended and if exams can be postponed (for a third time)
until April or May. However, the APSCHE Chairman averred that a
solution would be found and cited the 1969-1971 Telangana
student agitations. At that time state-sanctioned universities
extended the length of all degree programs by one academic year
(forcing student to postpone post-academic plans by one year).


Radical Leaders Exhort Students to Action
--------------


8. (U) In addition to student leaders, certain other speakers
managed to enter the OU campus and address the rally. JAC-P
Chairman Professor K. Kondanda Ram exhorted the gathering to
continue leading the movement in support of statehood and not to
be deterred by (anti-statehood) Coastal Andhra Member of
Parliament (MP) Lagadapati Rajagopal's "money power" or
Rayalaseema MP Y.S. Jagan Mohan Reddy's "muscle power." Vara
Vara Rao, a revolutionary writer who acted as an intermediary
for the CPI(Maoist) in talks with YSR Reddy's new Congress state
government in 2004, noted that the agitations would take a

HYDERABAD 00000002 003.2 OF 003


"serious turn" if statehood was not granted. M. Krishna Madiga,
President of the Madiga Reservation Porata Samiti (MRPS),
claimed that the demands for a separate state would result in
more water, jobs, and self-respect for the people of Telangana.
[NOTE: On April 30, 2009 in Hyderabad, MRPS activists disrupted
an election rally being addressed by Congress President Sonia
Gandhi at the same time MRPS members attempted to torch the
Congress party's state headquarters. Krishna Madiga's son died
of burns sustained during the attempted arson. END NOTE]


Police Fear a Return of the Naxals
--------------


9. (SBU) Local contacts and press report that law enforcement
believes CPI(Maoist) elements are helping to organize some of
the TS-PAC activities. Deputy Speaker of the AP Legislative
Assembly N. Manohar told CongenOff that the police are convinced
that, like in 1969, the current unrest over Telangana statehood
will result in a successful recruiting campaign by Naxalite
forces in the region. He noted that many former Naxalite
leaders emerged from the earlier agitations and they garnered
significant sympathy throughout Telangana due to their support
of statehood. Manohar, who represents the Tenali constituency
in Coastal Andhra's Guntur district, also remarked that many of
the "radical members" of the TS-JAC are 30-plus year old
students from the Madiga community, who are well past future
career concerns and will continue to agitate whether or not the
current academic year is lost.


Students Organizing Into an Independent Political Force
-------------- --------------


10. (SBU) COMMENT: Over the past month, a plethora of JACs have
emerged around AP to represent the interests of different
groups. The JAC-P enables pro-Telangana political parties to
agitate while ensuring that none can claim to be the sole
champions of statehood. It also allows them to work together to
call peaceful bandhs that attempt to wrest the initiative from
the hands of student groups. Meanwhile, the leaders of the
TS-JAC (students) appear unconcerned about little other than the
goal of achieving statehood as quickly as possible. Their
successful organization of a large, peaceful rally in the face
of significant government opposition and without any charismatic
politicians to attract participants shows their growing strength
and sophistication. On the other hand, the anti-statehood
JAC-UA statements make clear their interest lies in continued
access to the vibrant employment and investment opportunities in
Hyderabad. Unlike the TS-JAC, which is concentrated in
Hyderabad, the JAC-AU is dispersed across two regions and has
not been able to organize anything on the scale of the
"Vidyarthi Garjana." Still their bandhs have effectively shut
down significant parts of both Coastal Andhra and Rayalaseema.
The topic of statehood for Telangana has resulted in competing
groups formed into two grievously polarized camps, each with the
proven ability to disrupt daily life in the state - and quickly
foment violence if they believe it serves their ends. Whether
the all-party meeting in New Delhi can address these groups'
demands will determine the prospects for calm in the following
days and weeks. The national leadership of the Congress party
has its work cut out. END COMMENT.
KEUR