JAC against celebrating AP Formation Day

Buoyed by the stupendous success of Telangana protagonists in the recent by-polls,Telangana Joint Action Committee convener Kodandaram sounded a warning against celebrating the Andhra Pradesh Formation Day on November 1. Speaking to TOI,Kodandaram said the people of Telangana consider November 1,1956 as the Vidroha Dinam (Betrayal Day).The time has come to stop this annual farce.We will ensure that the AP Formation Day is not celebrated in Telangana.Any attempt to do otherwise will be met with angry protests, he said. Now that people have given their verdict once again in favour of separate Telangana,the government should realise that it would be wrong to go against their wishes. Telangana people were never in favour of Andhra Pradesh.This was forced on them, the JAC convener said. On BJP and TRS demand that September 17 be celebrated as Telangana Liberation Day, Kodanda ram said: My personal view is that September 17 should be celebrated or marked as Integration Day.On that day in 1948,Hyderabad state was integrated with the Indian Union.That day,the state came out of the feudal rule.The struggle was not against the Nizam because he was a Muslim.The struggle was against the Nizam as he symbolised the feudal setup of the day.

The JAC would be meeting soon to discuss the question of Liberation Day with its member organizations as it would not like to divide the people on this issue.  We are not concerned about what the Srikrishna Committee is going to recommend.Our objective is to exert pressure on the UPA government to listen to the voices of the people and decide accordingly.Therefore,the next three to four months are crucial.To keep the issue burning,we would like to continue organizing protests in different forms from village to city level, Kodandaram said.

He is of the view that many of the leaders who left JAC due to pressure from their political parties would return to the JAC fold soon. The byelection results have changed the political scenario.The TDP did not respond to the ground realities and suffered humiliating defeats.The case was similar with the Congress.The lesson from these elections for the TDP and the Congress is that being snooty doesnt pay.If you go against public sentiment,they would never allow you to win, he pointed out. The fresh round of struggle that was triggered in December last year has changed public perception about democracy and social justice.People now want their representatives to be accountable.If these representatives do not fulfil their promises,they would face public wrath, Kodandaram warned.
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(source-toi)