Agitation fatigue forces Telangana leaders to scale down month-long protests

While normal life continued to be affected in most parts of Telangana region of Andhra Pradesh on Monday, there were signs that agitation fatigue was setting in and normalcy could soon be restored.

The Telangana Joint Action Committee (TJAC), which had urged all sections of society to launch an indefinite strike, has gradually started scaling down the protests. While it had launched a three-day 'rail roko' agitation on Saturday (See: 130 trains cancelled due to Telangana rail roko), the committee decided to cut it down to a two-day blockade of trains.

While the rail roko was called off, the TJAC called for a day-long shutdown across Telangana on Monday to protest against alleged police excesses over the past two days, when hundreds of protestors were arrested. Indian Railways had cancelled about 130 trains passing through the region, adversely affecting services across its nationwide network.

The impact of the shutdown was minimal in Hyderabad, the capital of Andhra Pradesh, but in the remaining nine districts of Telangana, most establishments were shut and even buses were off the roads.

However, normalcy is expected to be restored across the region from Tuesday, as teachers, transport employees, government servants and students are expected to return after the more than month-long agitation.

Importantly for the central government and for several states suffering a power crisis, employees of the Singareni Collieries have also decided to negotiate with the management to bring an end to the crippling strike. With coal supplies from Singareni having stopped for the past month, many thermal power stations across India have been running precariously low coal stocks, resulting in an acute power shortage.

Employees of the Andhra Pradesh State Road Transport Corporation called off their strike on Sunday, while the Telangana teachers' JAC also decided an end to their agitation and have promised to return to work on Tuesday.

TJAC leaders admitted on Monday that with large sections of employees showing eagerness to return to work, they would now have to fight for a separate statehood through political means.

The month-long strike has affected the prospects of hundreds of thousands of students, deprived teachers and other employees of their wages and brought life to a standstill in the Telangana region.