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UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 03 HYDERABAD 000002 
 
SENSITIVE 
SIPDIS 
 
DEPARTMENT FOR SCA/INS 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: PGOV PREL PTER PINR KDEM IN
SUBJECT: TELANGANA - A BANDH AND A ROAR STIR A UNITED RESPONSE 
 
REF: REFS: A) HYDERABAD SITUATION UPDATE DEC 31, B) HYDERABAD SITUATION UPDATE 
DEC 29, C) HYDERABAD 121 
 
HYDERABAD 00000002  001.2 OF 003 
 
 
¶1. (U) SUMMARY: Two "bandhs" (strikes) and a rally over the past 
week brought different regions of Andhra Pradesh (AP) to a 
standstill.  Facing down significant government opposition, the 
"Vidyarthi Garjana" (Student's Roar) rally organizers pulled off 
a well attended and peaceful protest in Hyderabad.  Local law 
enforcement insists "anti-social" elements are assisting the 
students.  Universities begin to develop contingencies to 
prevent the loss of the academic year due to campus closures. 
Both pro- and anti-statehood student groups pledged to continue 
demonstrations throughout AP on January 5 even as the GoI 
convenes a meeting of all recognized political parties in the 
state to discuss the issue. The success of this all-party 
meeting in addressing the equities of these different groups 
will determine the prospects for calm in the following days and 
weeks. END SUMMARY. 
 
 
Sequential Shutdowns Lead to United Action 
------------------------------------------ 
 
 
¶2. (U) Two "bandhs" and a rally over the past week brought 
different regions of AP to a near standstill.  On December 30, 
the bandh called by the Joint Action Committee of political 
parties (JAC-P) advocating separate statehood for the Telangana 
region resulted in wide-scale business closures throughout 
Hyderabad and the Telangana region (Ref A). Following on the 
heels of this largely peaceful strike, the Telangana student 
JAC's (TS-JAC) faced down local authorities to hold a "Vidyarthi 
Garjana" (Student's Roar) rally on January 3 endorsing the same 
cause.  Meanwhile, the student JAC of the "United Andhra" 
(JAC-UA) movement answered both events by forcing a general 
strike on both the Coastal Andhra and Rayalaseema regions on 
January 4 to underscore their resistance to bifurcating the 
state. [NOTE: There are three regions in AP comprising 23 
districts. Hyderabad, the state capital, is one of ten districts 
located in the northwestern Telangana region. The smallest 
region, Rayalaseema, includes the four districts to the 
southwest of the state. The Coastal Andhra region contains all 
nine districts along the Bay of Bengal. END NOTE] Both pro- and 
anti-statehood student groups pledged to continue their 
demonstrations throughout the state on January 5 and beyond even 
as the GoI convenes a meeting of all recognized political 
parties in the state to discuss the issue. 
 
 
Telangana Students Roar But Don't Bite 
-------------------------------------- 
 
¶3. (U) The TS-JAC invited students from colleges throughout the 
region to participate in the January 3 "Vidyarthi Garjana" rally 
on the campus of Osmania University (OU) in Hyderabad.  Student 
organizers had predicted that a massive mobilization would bring 
as many as 500,000 people to the rally.  In the end, 
approximately 80,000 students participated in a surprisingly 
well organized and peaceful outpouring of support for groups 
championing Telangana statehood. 
 
¶4. (U) The TS-JAC first announced plans for the rally on 27 
December, in the midst of a standoff with the state government 
and local law enforcement over attempts to both take a number of 
hunger-striking students into protective custody and to close 
the OU student hostels housing many of the protesting students 
(in order to discourage further civil unrest).  The JAC-P 
appealed to the students to protest peacefully and at the same 
time asked police to show restraint when interacting with the 
students.  The deadlock was broken on December 28 when the 
deteriorating condition of the students forced police to take 
the hunger-strikers to Gandhi Hospital for medical care and the 
AP High Court struck down a second government order closing the 
student hostels. (Ref B) 
 
¶5. (U) In order to forestall further incidents of civil unrest 
 
HYDERABAD 00000002  002.2 OF 003 
 
 
by "anti-social elements," local authorities refused permission 
for the January 3 rally and actively took measures to prevent 
participants from coming to Hyderabad (similar to those taken on 
December 10 (ref C)).  These included establishing roadblocks on 
the major arteries entering Hyderabad and monitoring regional 
road and rail transportation routes in order to turn back or 
detain groups of protesters.  Undeterred, the students 
petitioned the High Court to allow the protest to go forward. 
As tensions rose, additional police personnel arrived from 
neighboring districts to reinforce the police attempting to 
check the steady flow of people onto the OU campus.  On the 
evening of January 2, the High Court directed local police to 
allow the rally to proceed for two hours in the afternoon with 
the stipulations among others that only students could attend 
the rally and that political leaders could neither participate 
in nor speak at the event. 
 
¶6. (U) The day was not completely free from invective.  Some 
student leaders incited the crowd with inflammatory statements 
such as warning political parties of severe consequences if they 
blocked statehood for the region, and threatening to prevent the 
return to Hyderabad of people who visit family in other regions 
during the Sankranti/Pongal holiday in mid-January. [COMMENT: 
This appeared to be the latest invective against the "settlers" 
from Coastal Andhra and Rayalaseema, many of whom have lived in 
Hyderabad for generations. END COMMENT] Still, the crowd stayed 
peaceful as other student leaders made more concrete demands 
including: the dismissal of all legal cases against students; an 
INR 10 lakh (USD 25,000) payment to the families of those who 
have died or committed suicide during the protests; that all 
political parties make their position on the Telangana issue 
public prior to the January 5 meeting in New Delhi; and that 
this meeting set a clear timeline for the formation of a 
Telangana state (that does not include passing a resolution in 
the AP State Assembly).  The assembled students also declared 
2010 as the year of "Telangana Sadhana" (Achieving Telangana) 
and proclaimed that no student would be allowed to take exams 
until statehood is attained. 
 
 
The Lost (Academic) Year 
------------------------ 
 
¶7. (SBU) Even as the organizers made their demands, many 
students began to voice concerns about possibly losing a full 
academic year due to university shut downs.  K.C. Reddy, 
Chairman of the AP State Council of Higher Education (APSCHE), 
told Congenoff that a University Grants Commission (UGC) of 
India rule requiring that students attend a minimum of 75 
percent of classes "will not be compromised."  He said that if 
the student agitations do not settle down by January 18 - after 
the Sankranti holiday - that a meeting of University Vice 
Chancellors will meet to determine if the academic schedule can 
be extended and if exams can be postponed (for a third time) 
until April or May.  However, the APSCHE Chairman averred that a 
solution would be found and cited the 1969-1971 Telangana 
student agitations.  At that time state-sanctioned universities 
extended the length of all degree programs by one academic year 
(forcing student to postpone post-academic plans by one year). 
 
 
Radical Leaders Exhort Students to Action 
----------------------------------------- 
 
¶8. (U) In addition to student leaders, certain other speakers 
managed to enter the OU campus and address the rally.  JAC-P 
Chairman Professor K. Kondanda Ram exhorted the gathering to 
continue leading the movement in support of statehood and not to 
be deterred by (anti-statehood) Coastal Andhra Member of 
Parliament (MP) Lagadapati Rajagopal's "money power" or 
Rayalaseema MP Y.S. Jagan Mohan Reddy's "muscle power."  Vara 
Vara Rao, a revolutionary writer who acted as an intermediary 
for the CPI(Maoist) in talks with YSR Reddy's new Congress state 
government in 2004, noted that the agitations would take a 
 
HYDERABAD 00000002  003.2 OF 003 
 
 
"serious turn" if statehood was not granted.  M. Krishna Madiga, 
President of the Madiga Reservation Porata Samiti (MRPS), 
claimed that the demands for a separate state would result in 
more water, jobs, and self-respect for the people of Telangana. 
[NOTE: On April 30, 2009 in Hyderabad, MRPS activists disrupted 
an election rally being addressed by Congress President Sonia 
Gandhi at the same time MRPS members attempted to torch the 
Congress party's state headquarters. Krishna Madiga's son died 
of burns sustained during the attempted arson. END NOTE] 
 
 
Police Fear a Return of the Naxals 
---------------------------------- 
 
¶9. (SBU) Local contacts and press report that law enforcement 
believes CPI(Maoist) elements are helping to organize some of 
the TS-PAC activities.  Deputy Speaker of the AP Legislative 
Assembly N. Manohar told CongenOff that the police are convinced 
that, like in 1969, the current unrest over Telangana statehood 
will result in a successful recruiting campaign by Naxalite 
forces in the region.  He noted that many former Naxalite 
leaders emerged from the earlier agitations and they garnered 
significant sympathy throughout Telangana due to their support 
of statehood.  Manohar, who represents the Tenali constituency 
in Coastal Andhra's Guntur district, also remarked that many of 
the "radical members" of the TS-JAC are 30-plus year old 
students from the Madiga community, who are well past future 
career concerns and will continue to agitate whether or not the 
current academic year is lost. 
 
 
Students Organizing Into an Independent Political Force 
--------------------------------------------- ---------- 
 
¶10. (SBU) COMMENT: Over the past month, a plethora of JACs have 
emerged around AP to represent the interests of different 
groups.  The JAC-P enables pro-Telangana political parties to 
agitate while ensuring that none can claim to be the sole 
champions of statehood.  It also allows them to work together to 
call peaceful bandhs that attempt to wrest the initiative from 
the hands of student groups.  Meanwhile, the leaders of the 
TS-JAC (students) appear unconcerned about little other than the 
goal of achieving statehood as quickly as possible.  Their 
successful organization of a large, peaceful rally in the face 
of significant government opposition and without any charismatic 
politicians to attract participants shows their growing strength 
and sophistication.  On the other hand, the anti-statehood 
JAC-UA statements make clear their interest lies in continued 
access to the vibrant employment and investment opportunities in 
Hyderabad.  Unlike the TS-JAC, which is concentrated in 
Hyderabad, the JAC-AU is dispersed across two regions and has 
not been able to organize anything on the scale of the 
"Vidyarthi Garjana."  Still their bandhs have effectively shut 
down significant parts of both Coastal Andhra and Rayalaseema. 
The topic of statehood for Telangana has resulted in competing 
groups formed into two grievously polarized camps, each with the 
proven ability to disrupt daily life in the state - and quickly 
foment violence if they believe it serves their ends.  Whether 
the all-party meeting in New Delhi can address these groups' 
demands will determine the prospects for calm in the following 
days and weeks.  The national leadership of the Congress party 
has its work cut out. END COMMENT. 
KEUR