The much-hyped Telangana March ‘Sagara Haaram’ on Sunday ended on – literally – a damp note. Though the march seemed to have started on a big bang, by evening, the crowds thinned out rapidly. While this can be attributed partly to intermittent rain, the lack of any cohesive action plan on the part of the organizers – especially TJAC chairman Kodandaram – was evident all through the event.
While at least 3 lakhs were expected to throng the Necklace Road, an estimated 40,000 supporters gathered at the venue by evening. A large section of them are TRS cadres and students, while New Democracy, CPI and BJP workers besides many belonging to various local JACs such as lawyers, Singareni workers and employees too added to the numbers.
However, the gathering started petering out as night fell with barely 2000 people left by 10 pm. TRS leaders including Harish Rao left the venue by 9 pm, saying that his party was not consulted on continuing the agitation beyond the stipulated timings set by the government.
This move obviously had its impact with TRS cadre too leaving the venue in large numbers. Clearly, TRS and Kodandaram’s TJAC were not exactly on the same path in this crucial march. Curiously, the CPI and the BJP cadre which made a show of their respective flags on the roads earlier in the day were the first to leave the venue.
What is not clear to any observer is why Kodandaram chose to give a call to the agitators to stay put at Necklace Road till the Centre came down to concede their demand for separate state. He repeated it ad nauseum as if it was a pre-planned strategy intended to catch the powers-that-be by surprise.
With few agitators remaining at the venue by 11 pm, it was evident that Kodandaram’s bravado about replicating an Egypt and an Arab Spring on Necklace Road was just wishful thinking and not based on ground reality. He did not seem to have prepared even a handful for an overnight stay, since spending the night on a damp and dark Necklace Road is not an easy thing to do.
While the March in itself cannot be termed as a failure, it did not exactly set the waters of Hussain Sagar on fire as TJAC leaders so boastfully declared several times in the past few days. The strong undercurrent for a separate state of course was manifest among the thousands who made it to the March.
But what belittled it was Kodandaram’s mission impossible – of a sit-in till the demand was met – knowing fully well that such an extended rally required much more preparedness.
In all this, few who closely monitored Telugu news channels would have missed the collective frenzy created by them without actually providing truthful information. Even at midnight, most of the channels did not dare to mention that less than a couple of thousands actually were left at the venue.
It was as though telling the truth would hurt the Telangana sentiment. But wouldn’t the people who actually participated in the March know the reality?
PS: Even as news channels were not willing to give the bad news, it fell upon Kodandaram to announce just before midnight that TJAC was calling off the indefinite sit-in in view of incessant drizzle!
