Protesters March 10 km Seeking Sole Capital Status for Amaravati

Thousands participated in the march organised by the Amaravati Joint Action Committee.

With the ongoing protest at Amaravati entering its 20th day, the protesters on 6 January, led a huge march covering a distance of about 10 km from the Thullur village to Mandadam. Protesters have been camped at multiples sites at the villages of Thullur, Mandadam and Velagapudi, in close proximity to the secretariat, ever since Chief Minister Jagan Mohan Reddy announced the proposal to shift the administrative capital to Visakhapatnam on 17 December.

According to reports, nearly 10,000 protesters participated in the march organised by the Amaravati Joint Action Committee and the Amaravati Parirakshana Samithi (Amaravati Protection Committee), raising slogans to ‘Save Amaravati’ and ‘Save Andhra Pradesh’.

While the expert committee constituted by the government, as well as the Boston Consulting Group (BCG) roped in to study the issue of the capital at Amaravati have both recommended the relocation of the capital, the final decision has been deferred to a High Powered Committee which is expected to announce its decision in about two weeks.

For the past 20 days, protesters have been employing various forms of protest to bring attention to the issue, including drawing rangolis and writing ‘mercy killing’ petitions to the President. On Monday, the Amaravati JAC reportedly called for colleges and schools in Guntur to be closed to protest the three capital proposal.

Former Chief Minister and TDP chief Chandrababu Naidu, who had proposed to set up the capital in Amaravati on a massive scale, called for the people of all districts of Andhra Pradesh to stand in support of the people of the 29 Amaravati villages who had contributed land for the capital, expecting developed plots in return.

“Farmers who had voluntarily sacrificed their land for the capital are in distress today. The entire state has the responsibility of standing with them. The sacrifices of these women must inspire all of us. ‘Save Amaravati, Save Andhra Pradesh’ must become the war cry of the 5 crore people of the state,”

Chandrababu Naidu, TDP Chief

TDP Chief Naidu was referring to the reported contributions from some of the women protestors who gave up their gold ornaments to fund the JAC.

(Published in an arrangement with The News Minute.)