Sea of humanity converges at TRS meet in Andhra

WARANGAL - A sea of humanity descended on this Andhra town for a public meeting of the Telangana Rashtra Samiti (TRS), which is expected to announce the roadmap for achieving a separate state of Telangana.

The town came to a standstill as all roads leading to the venue were choked with vehicles. There was a 10-km long traffic jam on the roads connecting Warangal to neighbouring districts and several TRS leaders were among those stranded.

Thousands of people gathered at the 1,000-acre open ground for the massive public meeting to mark the completion of one year since the central government’s statement on the formation of a separate Telangana.

TRS leaders claimed that 2.5 million people from all 10 districts of Telangana, including Hyderabad, had turned up for the meeting, said to be the first of its kind in the country.

It was a massive show of strength by the TRS ahead of the Srikrishna Committee’s report to the central government on the demand for a separate Telangana state. The five-member panel is to submit its report before Dec 31.

TRS chief K. Chandrasekhara Rao said the meeting would serve an ultimatum to the central government to form a separate Telangana.

Swami Agnivesh, TRS ideologue Jayashankar, Telangana Joint Action Committee chairman M. Kodandaram, TRS MP and former actress Vijayashanti, Jamaat-e-Islami chief of Andhra Pradesh and Orissa unit Malik Motassim Khan, leaders of students, trade unions and women’s organisations were among the prominent speakers.

The public meeting was scheduled to be held Dec 9 but was postponed due to heavy rains.

On Dec 9 last year, following an 11-day hunger strike by Rao, Union Home Minister P. Chidambaram had announced that the process for formation of a separate Telangana state would be initiated.