Telangana Student Dies Of Self-Immolation

PTI

Hyderabad, Feb.21: A 19-year-old youth, who attempted self-immolation in the Osmania University campus in Hyderabad in support of a separate Telangana state, has died, police said on Sunday  .

 

 

S Yadaiah from Nagaram village in adjacent Ranga Reddy district, who had come to the university to take part in the students’ agitation for Telangana, had poured petrol over his body and set himself on fire on Saturday  evening.

He was rushed to the Apollo Hospital, where he succumbed to the burns on Saturday night, police said. Fearing a backlash from the student community, the Andhra Pradesh police got the body shifted to his native place early Sunday morning. City police commissioner A K Khan said Yadaiah’s post-mortem was conducted and the body taken to his village.

Yadaiah, who set himself ablaze shouting pro-Telangana slogans in the campus on Saturday , was identified with the help of some certificates found in his bag along with a suicide note.  The note, purportedly written by him in Telugu, said the government is not responding to the agitation for a separate Telangana.

"People like me will get jobs if Telangana state is formed. I am giving life for Telangana and please don’t stop this movement till Telangana is achieved," the note said.

The incident on Saturday night sparked off tension in the university area, where police sealed off the campus to prevent students from participating in the ’assembly muttadi’ (siege) announced by the Osmania University Students Joint Action Committee.

Irate students broke some barricades in their attempt to move out of the campus. Two state roadways buses were damaged and a private bus was burnt by some unidentified persons near Jamai Osmania railway station, police said.

Curfew-like situation had prevailed in most parts of the city as police had put up barricades and restricted vehicular movements on roads leading to the state assembly in view of the siege call.

The restrictions were lifted after the assembly, which was adjourned till Tuesday, finished its business in the afternoon. Students who raised pro-Telangana slogans near the assembly were detained by police.

With violence continuing unbated at the Osmania University (OU) campus, the varsity authorities  announced postponement of post-graduate exams which were scheduled on February 22 and 23, though the engineering exams would be conducted as per schedule.

Examinations for MBA, MCA, LLB, MEd, PG Diploma courses, MA, MSc, MCom, BCJ, MCJ, Master and Bachelor of Library Sciences examinations have been postponed, OU officials said.

However, the semester exams of various branches of Engineering courses would be held as per schedule on February 22 and 23 at five affiliated colleges of Osmania University in the city, an Osmania University official told PTI.  The revised date for the postponed exams will be announced shortly.

Meanwhile, the weekend contact classes of Prof G Ram Reddy Centre for Distance Education scheduled for Sunday  were also cancelled in view of the volatile situation on the campus.

 

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Hyderabad, Feb.20: It was a day when Hyderabad shut itself down, almost by force by the Andhra Pradesh police. The security personnel turned most parts of Hyderabad into a fortress to ensure the ’Chalo Assembly’ call given by the pro-Telangana students did not succeed. Students were not allowed to leave the university campus, and one of them attempted self-immolation. But in the middle of all this, the politicians have kept mum.

It was a tragic twist to the Assembly siege that was planned by students of Osmania University. When they were not allowed to set foot outside the campus by a virtual army of securitymen, a student called Yadaiah set himself on fire and suffered 80 per cent burns.

The University remains on edge, with several incidents of arson and violence reported from in and around the campus.

 
Commenting on today’s incident, Vinod Kumar, Professor, Osmania University said, "I am requesting the students, please write your exams and struggle for Telangana. Don’t struggle only for Telangana because life is very important for you.’’

 
The students are trying to keep their protests alive by shouting slogans and also singing songs. But the fact that today’s agitation did not get any support from any political party is perhaps an indication of things to come. These protests will now be seen more as a law and order problem than a political issue.

 
Much of Hyderabad, especially the area around the Assembly was turned into a fortress, with some 20000 policemen and paramilitary forces on duty. None of the tension outside was however, visible inside the House, where Chief Minister K Rosaiah was busy setting a record. He presented his 16th Budget.

 
And as if on cue, all the MLAs kept their focus strictly on the facts and figures of the Budget, rather than the anguish and emotion of the cries for Telangana on the streets.