Protests by Amaravati farmers and people against shifting of capital reached 250th day on August 23. The farmers of Amaravati have been staging protests and fasts for the last eight months demanding that the state government drop its 3-capitals plan and retain Amaravati as the capital. The government, however, is not taking note of the protests and going ahead with its plans. In this backdrop, farmers have decided to intensify their agitation and take up various protest programmes in the name of ‘Rajadhai Ranabheri’ on August 23.
According to Amaravati Joint Action Committee (JAC), the farmers are taking up 11 different programmes with the theme of ‘One State-One Capital’. All the people of 29 villages in the region, including women and children, will take part in the programmes. Apart from begging, torch rallies, they are going to enact a play titled ‘Batuku Jatkabandi’ explaining the developments that had taken place in Amaravati from land pooling, construction of buildings to the current government’s move to shift capital.
They want the cooperation and support of people from all the 13 districts for the ‘Rajadhani Ranabheri’ agitation. They say the agitation is not for themselves but for the future of the entire state. Farmers even celebrated Vinayaka Chaviti at their protests camps. They prayed to the Lord to bless the government with some sense.
The people of the capital region are appealing to the state government and the people of other regions to ponder how just it is to betray them when they had sacrificed 33,000 acres of land for the capital of the new state. They are lamenting that the government is not giving two hoots to their agitation going on for the last 250 days with even women and children participating. Moreover, they said the government is harassing them by foisting false cases.
