Telangana Political JAC chairman Prof Kodandaram says the founding task Political JAC is not finished. The JAC will continue to fight in order to ensure that the aspirations of Telangana people, farmers and youth fully fulfilled. But it needs the support from Osmania University.
The teacher turned activist is not ready to scrap up the TJAC ,whose principal objective, when it was created, was to take the T-message across to all sections of people and see that there was wider participation in the movement. The Osmania university professor still feels his Political JAC is still relevant even after achieving statehood to Telangana.
On the other side T Congress president N Uttamkumar Reddy, TDP leader A Revanth Reddy,both floor leaders in Assembly, have given a call to students to carry forward the T-spirit and continue their fight as the dreams of many youth and students ,who, according to them, wished that separate state would provide employment opportunities in full measure, had been shattered. The BC Welfare Association leader and TDP MLA R Krishnaiah also organized meetings with student and a gave a call to launch the movement till the government increases the vacancies notified under Group-2 to three thousand five hundred or so. He also demanded that the interview for the posts be done away with.
A section of students did in fact organize a rasta roko or two demanding the process of recruitment for all vacancies in the government be initiated immediately. Now and then the students attempt to go on march to Assembly and the police foil these moves.
And outside Osmania University, there has been no stir on the campuses . The student community of Telangana doesn’t appear to be compelled yet to take the lead for a post-Telangana movement. Or is it that the phase of campus political movements has come to an abrupt end following the formation of Telangana state? Otherwise, how can a university, which ignited the Telangana spark, be silent now if the student community really felt that they were given a raw deal in jobs by their own Telangana government?
The fundamental issues that engendered the Telangana separate state demand were three- Jobs, water and funds. Of all these lack of Job opportunities for youth of the region played key role in transforming the Osmania University into the hotbed of Telangana politics. It is difficult to understand the Telangana movement without the role of Osmania. It was the student community of this great university that kept the T-flame alive when the political forces beat a retreat. The location of the University in the capital city also imparted strategic importance to the university. This strategic location helped many of the students leaders attract the attention of Political parties, national and regional, who later became MLAs and Ministers. Even now, many of its Student JAC leaders are coopted into government ‘s program of building ‘Bangaru Telangana’ and were rewarded with important positions in the TRS government. Many more have eagerly been waiting to serve the people through TRS government.
The ruling TRS has been busy in creating Telangana Feel Good (TFG) factor across the state through its achievements such as IT revolution, cultural festivals, Irrigation projects, Drinking water projects, double bed room houses etc. The new state is hit by a tsunami of TGF created by propaganda machinery of government and the party, which is now in the full control of the media.
Osmania students, who, now and then, resort to some lightning protest programs, appear to be finding it difficult to garner support from the people from its catchment areas. In the past 50 years, ever since the first seed of separate state was sowed on the campus following the government’s attempt to remove a vice chancellor, at every step the students have enjoyed the support from their own villages, because for every household in the region, the distant Telangana dream looked like real salvation from the regions ‘backwardness’ and ‘poverty’. Now, the question is, having been surrounded by thick clouds of TFG factor, would it be possible for the student leaders and the opposition political parties to transform the campus again into a venue of post-Telangana movement? Is it the end of the road for Osmania leadership in Telangana politics?
