By IANS,
Hyderabad : Andhra Pradesh’s Telangana region was again on the boil Wednesday with four suicides triggering fresh protests for a separate state and a shutdown called by a student group taking a violent turn and paralysing normal life.
Violence broke out in Osmania University here as police prevented students from taking out a procession with the body of Venugopal Reddy, a final year MCA (master of computer applications) student who allegedly set himself on fire Tuesday to protest the delay in carving a Telangana state out of Andhra Pradesh.
The campus turned into a battle zone as police fired several gun shots in the air, lobbed teargas shells and cane-charged the students who were throwing stones.
Eventually, policemen seized the body of Reddy and took it to Nalgonda, his native district, for last rites.
The clashes erupted when police and paramilitary forces tried to stop hundreds of students from marching towards the city centre with the body. At least a dozen students and 10 policemen were injured in clashes.
The protesters set a police vehicle ablaze.
Hyderabad Police Commissioner B. Prasada Rao told reporters that the situation was under control by the evening. “We had to lathi charge and use tear gas after the students started pelting stones,” he said.
Sporadic incidents of violence were also reported from Warangal town where students of Kakatiya University laid siege to the house of state minister P. Lakshmaiah demanding his resignation in support of Telangana state. Police used batons to disperse the protesters and arrested some.
The students also laid siege to the house of former minister Konda Surekha, urging her to resign from the assembly.
Normal life in Hyderabad and nine other districts of the Telangana region came to a halt in response to the shutdown call by the Joint Action Committee (JAC) of students.
State-owned Road Transport Corporation (RTC) suspended bus services while shops, petrol pumps, cinema halls, ATMs and businesses and educational institutions were closed.
Political parties backed the shutdown, which was partial in Hyderabad and total in the rest of Telangana.
The JAC called the shutdown after Venugopal Reddy’s charred body was found Tuesday in Osmania University with a suicide note saying he was depressed over the delay in Telangana state’s birth.
Three more Telangana supporters including two students have ended their lives since then.
Suvarnamma, a first year BSc student, set herself on fire in Mahabubnagar district late Tuesday.
Anil Kumar, an undergraduate, ended his life in Nalgonda district Wednesday. In Warangal, an activist of the Telangana Rashtra Samiti (TRS) committed suicide.
The JAC, which earlier called a 48-hour shutdown, Wednesday said there would be no strike Thursday to avoid inconvenience to pilgrims coming for Sarakka Saralamma jatra, a tribal fair in Telangana.
Meanwhile, pressure is mounting on state legislators to submit their resignations. The JAC asked all of them to quit before the last rites of Venugopal Reddy this evening. It released the list of legislators including 13 ministers who have not yet submitted their resignations.
“Those who don’t resign are traitors to Telangana. We will not allow them to move around in the area,” a JAC leader said.
The separate politicians’ JAC — which includes all parties — backed the stand taken by the students. “Those who have not resigned should submit the same immediately. We will soon chalk out a strategy to press for the acceptance of the resignations of those who have already submitted their resignations,” its convenor M. Kodandaram told reporters.
As many as 77 out of 119 legislators from Telangana submitted their resignations last month.