As the farmers of Amaravati have stepped up agitation for over 300 days against the three capitals proposal of the Y S Jagan Mohan Reddy government, the YSR Congress party has given it a new twist by launching a counter-agitation.
On Saturday, the YSRC leaders brought scores of Dalits from neighbouring villages, particularly Mangalagiri, Chinna Kakani and Guntur, to Amaravati in autorickshaws and put up a tent adjacent to the road for staging a dharna demanding allotment of plots in Amaravati.
Naturally, the local farmers of Amaravati stopped the autos and asked the passengers to go back, alleging that they were “paid artistes” of the YSRC to suppress the agitation for Amaravati capital.
This led to a tense situation and the police intervened and allowed the “Dalit farmers” to stage dharnas for the land distribution.
This has taken a turn of caste-conflict in Amaravati region, as the YSRC has alleged that the entire agitation is only to protect the lands of Kamma landlords.
The party leaders say majority of the farmers who have been running the agitation to retain the capital city at Amaravati are also Kammas and so, they don’t want their lands to be given to Dalits.
Now with the Dalit farmers coming to Amaravati and staging protests, it is feared that it might as well turn into Kamma-Dalit battle. Let us see, how far this will go.
