FOR T-STATE OU STUDENTS PLAN TO STRENGTHEN SUPPORT BASE

FOR T-STATE OU STUDENTS PLAN TO STRENGTHEN SUPPORT BASE

Hyderabad: Osmania University students Joint Action Committee (JAC) is planning to consolidate its support base and for starters has begun touring across the region with the message of a separate state.
There is a groundswell of support for the proposed state cutting across various sections of society. Politicians, government employees, professionals, farmers and the general public have all contributed to the agitation in their own ways. We want to assure them that future protests would be democratic and peaceful. There would be no disruption of the academic year , a leading member of the JAC, Kumar Swamy, told TOI on Tuesday. Swamy was arrested along with six other JAC members on various charges and sent to judicial custody. He and four others have now been released on bail while two members, P Ravi and Srikanth Rao, are still in jail. We have moved the high court for their release and are awaiting verdict soon, Swamy said.

Right now there is no need for mass protests. The Government of India has made a statement. We will wait for its next move, Swamy, a research scholar, told TOI. Sixteen student organizations are represented on the JAC which is working in tandem with the JACs in other universities. We have called on a whole range of leaders who actively supported us. We thanked them and sought their guidance for the future course of action. As we understand there is no need to rush with any plans , he said. According to sources, the JAC would like to press for two main demands: immediate withdrawal of all police cases against students and a time frame for the creation of Telangana from the Centre.

While Swamy talks of cautious steps, another JAC member Gouni Bhaskar feels that if the Centre does not implement the plan it has announced there could be trouble on a big scale. JAC foundermember G Kishore Kumar claimed that the slowing down of agitation is a tactical move. There are other methods the JAC has chalked out besides confronting the authorities with force.