Police foil million march, arrest TJAC chief Kodandaram

HYDERABAD: The police foiled the plans of Telangana Joint Action Committee and other organisations to hold the ‘Aata, Paata, Maata’ programme planned at Tank Bund on Saturday. About 2,000 police officers were posted in and around Tank Bund.

The programme was planned on the lines of ‘Million March’, held during the struggle of formation of Telangana. The police as a preventive measure arrested about 3,500 persons of the committee, CPI, CPI-ML (new democracy) and other organisations across the State.

TJAC chairperson Prof. Kodandaram was taken into custody from his house and later shifted to Bolaram police station. Several police officers were posted outside his house. The first ‘Million March’ was held on March 10, 2011, to highlight the demand of the people of Telangana for a separate state.

Around afternoon, when Mr Kodandaram came out and started for Tank Bund, police took him into custody and shifted to the station.

Prior to his detention, he told mediapersons that Chief Minister K. Chandrasekhar Rao wanted democracy at the national level. “But when we want to hold protest, he is behaving like a dictator and intends to rewrite the history of Telangana statehood in a way favouring him.”

He added that the Chief Minister did not want the people to know that Telangana was an outcome of people’s struggle. “Though the police had prevented us from holding the event, we have a moral victory as thousands of people were planning to turn and few dared to get arrested by the police,” he said.

Several activists were also rounded up at railway stations, bus stations and MMTS stations while they were on way to participate in the programme.

The police had set up several check points on roads leading to the city from various districts.