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Riane Menardi is reporting for The Cram while studying abroad at the University of Hyderabad in India.
Fresh agitation from pro-Telangana protesters last Saturday brought Hyderabad to a standstill. Students from Osmania University organized a march to the Andhra Pradesh State Assembly on the first day of its budget session, demanding the resignation of Telangana legislators. To pre-empt the protest, more than 20,000 police officers set up barricades across the city. For more than 10 hours, armed forces closed roads, blocked trains and prevented businesses from opening, restricting groups of five or more people from entering the city.
The Telugu people have long felt oppressed and exploited by the much wealthier neighboring regions of the state of Andhra Pradesh. They feel they have been cheated out of natural resources, money and representation in government, and theirmovement for a separate state has often spilled over into violence.
Sara Austin, a 22-year-old Ball State student studying abroad in Hyderabad, ventured into town during the protests to see her parents at a place less than 10 kilometers from Osmania and the State Assembly. She said the severe restrictions made the city of 6 million people seem like a ghost town. She passed several police barricades consisting of razor wire fences and metal posts dug into the concrete.
"I start walking down the road and it's abandoned," Austin said. "I have not seen anything so deserted. It was like a zombie movie."
As the rest of the city lay desolate, there was building tension at Osmania University. In late afternoon, Siripuram Yadaiah, 19, lighted himself on fire at Osmania's front gate, yelling "Jai Telangana." As people rushed to put out the fire, police and protesters clashed, and nearly 300 students were arrested.
Yadaiah was taken to the hospital, where he died on Sunday. Videos of his immolation have been circulating on the Internet, and his suicide note reportedly said that if a separate Telangana were created, people like him could have better jobs. He was an orphan, and accounts differ on whether he was unemployed or working part time.
Since Yadaiah's death, three more young adults are reported to have committed suicide for Telangana.
The January issue of the "University of Hyderabad Dispatch" reprimanded students for being pawns for pro-Telangana politicians. "We are not going into the merits and demerits of the separate state demand, but we are disturbed by the series of suicides of our brethren," the opinion page reads. "The moot point is: What does the suicide of a student do to resolve the issue?"
Unlike the urban Osmania University, the atmosphere at the University of Hyderabad on the outskirts of the city has been relatively calm. There have been no rallies or demonstrations on campus, and the Joint Action Committee tent in the middle of campus has been empty for weeks.
Pressure is also mounting in the capital city of Delhi, as the first Parliament sessions of 2010 opened last Monday (click here to read more about how the Telangana movement relies on central government action).
In her opening remarks, President Pratibha Patil didn't mention the Telangana state or the unrest in Andhra Pradesh. Telangana members of Parliament from the ruling Congress party stood up in the middle of her speech in protest, holding placards with pro-Telangana slogans. Nearby, hundreds of lawyers rallied, saying, "We will suffer baton and bullets but will take Telangana." The nationwide budget will be announced on Friday, and the session will conclude on May 7.
The Srikrishna Committee -- the five-member panel appointed by the Indian government to examine Telangana statehood -- has until Dec. 31 to submit an analysis of Telangana's bid for statehood. The team, led by retired Supreme Court Justice Bellur Narayanaswamy Srikrishna, will talk to people and politicians affected by the Telangana dispute through July, then start drafting a report.
Students have been protesting outside the homes of prominent politicians, demanding their resignations. At Osmania, exams have been postponed for the sixth time in two months as agitation continues. Exams are now scheduled to take place on March 3, and protests have consistently flared up around test dates. Facing delay and silence from those in power, the students and other supporters of Telangana show no signs of relenting as their movement grows.
Fresh agitation from pro-Telangana protesters last Saturday brought Hyderabad to a standstill. Students from Osmania University organized a march to the Andhra Pradesh State Assembly on the first day of its budget session, demanding the resignation of Telangana legislators. To pre-empt the protest, more than 20,000 police officers set up barricades across the city. For more than 10 hours, armed forces closed roads, blocked trains and prevented businesses from opening, restricting groups of five or more people from entering the city.
The Telugu people have long felt oppressed and exploited by the much wealthier neighboring regions of the state of Andhra Pradesh. They feel they have been cheated out of natural resources, money and representation in government, and theirmovement for a separate state has often spilled over into violence.Sara Austin, a 22-year-old Ball State student studying abroad in Hyderabad, ventured into town during the protests to see her parents at a place less than 10 kilometers from Osmania and the State Assembly. She said the severe restrictions made the city of 6 million people seem like a ghost town. She passed several police barricades consisting of razor wire fences and metal posts dug into the concrete.
"I start walking down the road and it's abandoned," Austin said. "I have not seen anything so deserted. It was like a zombie movie."
As the rest of the city lay desolate, there was building tension at Osmania University. In late afternoon, Siripuram Yadaiah, 19, lighted himself on fire at Osmania's front gate, yelling "Jai Telangana." As people rushed to put out the fire, police and protesters clashed, and nearly 300 students were arrested.
Yadaiah was taken to the hospital, where he died on Sunday. Videos of his immolation have been circulating on the Internet, and his suicide note reportedly said that if a separate Telangana were created, people like him could have better jobs. He was an orphan, and accounts differ on whether he was unemployed or working part time.
Since Yadaiah's death, three more young adults are reported to have committed suicide for Telangana.
The January issue of the "University of Hyderabad Dispatch" reprimanded students for being pawns for pro-Telangana politicians. "We are not going into the merits and demerits of the separate state demand, but we are disturbed by the series of suicides of our brethren," the opinion page reads. "The moot point is: What does the suicide of a student do to resolve the issue?"
Unlike the urban Osmania University, the atmosphere at the University of Hyderabad on the outskirts of the city has been relatively calm. There have been no rallies or demonstrations on campus, and the Joint Action Committee tent in the middle of campus has been empty for weeks.
Pressure is also mounting in the capital city of Delhi, as the first Parliament sessions of 2010 opened last Monday (click here to read more about how the Telangana movement relies on central government action).
In her opening remarks, President Pratibha Patil didn't mention the Telangana state or the unrest in Andhra Pradesh. Telangana members of Parliament from the ruling Congress party stood up in the middle of her speech in protest, holding placards with pro-Telangana slogans. Nearby, hundreds of lawyers rallied, saying, "We will suffer baton and bullets but will take Telangana." The nationwide budget will be announced on Friday, and the session will conclude on May 7.
The Srikrishna Committee -- the five-member panel appointed by the Indian government to examine Telangana statehood -- has until Dec. 31 to submit an analysis of Telangana's bid for statehood. The team, led by retired Supreme Court Justice Bellur Narayanaswamy Srikrishna, will talk to people and politicians affected by the Telangana dispute through July, then start drafting a report.
Students have been protesting outside the homes of prominent politicians, demanding their resignations. At Osmania, exams have been postponed for the sixth time in two months as agitation continues. Exams are now scheduled to take place on March 3, and protests have consistently flared up around test dates. Facing delay and silence from those in power, the students and other supporters of Telangana show no signs of relenting as their movement grows.
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