The Hindu : Andhra Pradesh / Hyderabad News : The arduous wait of a hopeful

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Friday, Nov 02, 2007
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Andhra Pradesh

Andhra Pradesh - Hyderabad

The arduous wait of a hopeful

Suresh Krishnamoorthy

Mohd. Jamaluddin and his associates have been visiting the Telangana Martyrs’ Memorial every year on State Formation Day since 1969

— Photo: Mohd. Yousuf

On a mission: Jamaluddin and others at the Telangana Martyrs’ Memorial in Hyderabad on Thursday.

HYDERABAD: It is an agonising wait for Mohd. Jamaluddin. Another year has passed by and his dream is yet to be realised. Mr. Jamaluddin, president of the Telangana Retired Employees’ Association, and his associates have been visiting the Telangana Martyrs’ Memorial at Gun Park in front of the Legislative Assembly every year on the State Formation Day since 1969, the year of the ‘Jai Telangana’ agitation.

‘Lack of will’

Mr. Jamaluddin, accompanied by the association vice-president M.A. Qayyum and general secretary T. Ganesh Rao, spent long hours at the memorial this year too. He said all that was required for statehood for Telangana was political will and regretted that the Governments of the day lacked it.

Mr. Jamaluddin’s visit to the place was preceded by a dharna staged by Telangana Rashtra Samiti leaders and activists who observed Thursday as ‘Telangana betrayal day.’ Waving black flags and shouting slogans denouncing the integrated State, they said the development of Telangana was possible only through a separate state.

The TRS delegation was led by Musheerabad MLA Nayani Narasimha Reddy. Balladeer Gaddar and the Telangana Intellectuals Forum led by president M. Kodanda Ram made speeches demanding separate Telangana.

Widespread protests

In Karimnagar, TRS activists tried to obstruct the State Formation Day function that was attended by Ministers J. Ratnakar Rao and T. Jeevan Reddy.

As the police blocked their entry to the venue, they took out the rally that culminated in a dharna in front of the district collectorate.

TRS urban unit president D. Vinay Bhaskar and his followers were taken into custody at Hanamkonda in Warangal district when they tried to block the official celebrations of State Formation Day at Kakatiya University.

The police, in the process, also took into preventive custody senior leader and MLA Mandadi Satyanarayana Reddy.

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