The Konaseema District Administration on Wednesday imposed section 144, ceased the movement of public transport, and suspended the internet service after the protesters set ablaze an Andhra Pradesh minister’s house opposing the proposed renaming of the Konaseema district as BR Ambedkar Konaseema district.
#BreakingNews: Agitation opposing renaming #Konaseema district after BR Ambedkar in #Amalapuram town of #AndhraPradesh on #Tuesday turned violent with protestors setting ablaze couple of buses and resorting to stone pelting on #police @NewIndianXpress @Kalyan_TNIE pic.twitter.com/2cqP34bwn3
— TNIE Andhra Pradesh (@xpressandhra) May 24, 2022
The Police have increased the security and have deployed more than 500 police personnel in the area to maintain peace and harmony. According to the reports, violence gripped the town of Amalapuram as the demonstrators attacked the residential properties of State minister P Viswarup and MLA Ponnada Satish and protested against the idea of naming the Konaseema district as BR Ambedkar Konaseema. The protestors burnt several vehicles at the minister’s house, pelted stones and also ransacked the office. On the other hand, the house of MLA Ponnada Satish torched by the violent protoesters.
#WATCH | MLA Ponnada Satish’s house was set on fire by protestors in Konaseema district in Andhra Pradesh today, the protests were opposing the naming of the district as Dr BR Ambedkar Konaseema district pic.twitter.com/XzJskKqhz3
— ANI (@ANI) May 24, 2022
Not only were the residential properties of the Ministers torched, but the violent protesters also set the police vehicle and an educational institution’s bus on fire. Reportedly, the protest was organized by the Konaseema Sadhana Samiti (KSS) who had demanded the old name of the district be retained. This is after the YS Jagan Mohan Reddy-led Andhra Pradesh government on May 20 announced to rename Konaseema as BR Ambedkar Konaseema district.
Trouble escalated on Tuesday when the police allegedly prevented the members of KSS from going into the district Collector’s office for submitting a memorandum against renaming the district and resorted to a lathi charge. As police tried to chase the Samiti leaders and workers away, stone-pelting ensued. The incident of torching of properties and vehicles then followed.
The government condemning the protest, stated that the decision to rename the district was taken in the wake of demands from various organizations considering the aspirations of the Dalit people. Sajjala Ramakrishna Reddy, the advisor to the Government of Andhra Pradesh added that all the political parties had also supported it. “Ambedkar was a great leader and the state government doesn’t have any political interests in naming a district after him”, he was quoted.
Meanwhile, the state also slammed the oppostion leader, Telugu Desam Party chief Chandrababu Naidu for politicising the incident. “No one is above the law. Vested interests are responsible for the violence and the issue will be settled down soon”, he said. Naidu however blamed the police for the tensions in the region and stated that his party had no hand behind the violence. “It is not correct to blame the TDP for government failures”, he said.
Several Police officers including the Konsaseema district SP Subba Reddy sustained injuries on May 24 and many other police officers ran away from the spot as thousands of protesters pelted stones and torched the vehicles. At present section 144 has been imposed, movement of public transport has been ceased and internet service has been suspended in the region.
The Jagan Mohan Reddy government had promised to create new districts in Andhra Pradesh in the 2019 assembly elections. On the night of April 2, the state government issued a notification and officially announced the formation of 13 new districts. After this the said 13 districts came into existence on April 4. Now the total number of districts in the state has increased from 13 to 26.
