It Has Been A Year...

It has been a year since the leader of opposition and YSRCP president YS Jagan staged indefinite hunger strike at Guntur in demand for sanction of special category status for AP state. BJP that had promised to sanction the status and TDP that had promised to achieve the status had deceived the people of AP. The promises made in the parliament and at Tirupati by Lord Venkateswara had been broken. When the PM of that time suggested that the status would be sanctioned to AP for five years, BJP leader Venkaiah Naidu and Arun Jaitley opined that the status should be sanctioned for 10 years instead and Chandrababu Naidu proposed that it should rather be given for 15 years. Sanction of SCS to AP was also mentioned in their election manifestos. But after coming to power, they forgot all about the promise, leaving the people betrayed.

Then the leader of opposition and YSRCP president took the responsibility on his shoulders to fight on behalf of people. He staged an indefinite hunger strike on Nallapadu road close to Guntur on the 7th of October in 2015. A huge number of people of AP reached Nallapadu, extending their solidarity to the people's leader who put his life at stake for their sake. Together they roared in support of sanction of the status and raised slogans against the central and the state Governments.

The state Government trembled with fear after looking at such unity and determination from people. A scared Chandrababu tried to stop the status from being sanctioned. In spite of deteriorating energy levels, YS Jagan greeted everyone who came in support of his struggle. His mother YS Vijayamma, wife Bharathi, sister Sharmila and YSRCP leaders, activists and a huge number of followers visited the camp and were moved to see his health condition. He cared the least for the party leaders' suggestions to call off his strike. He considered the people's welfare more important than his health. In light of PM Narendra Modi's upcoming visit to the state, TDP Government started to plot conspiracies to dilute the struggle. In order to silence the voice of the people, they drove the police. The police attacked the camp on the seventh day of his strike and at the midnight they disturbed his strike by force. YS Jagan was then shifted to the Government Hospital. He continued his strike even in the hospital but the doctors at the hospital gave him fluids by force.

YSRCP held struggle at New Delhi and in the state many times in many phases. It held many dharnas, deekshas, bandhs and conducted programmes like Yuvabheri in order to raise awareness among the public. It fought relentlessly in the assembly and outside. It insisted for the sanction of special category status to the state. Still the state and the central Governments stayed indifferent. Having been caught red-handed in Cash for Vote case, Chandrababu mortgaged the status to the centre. He deceived five crore people in a cold-blooded manner. Instead of himself fighting for the sanction of the status, he ridiculed those who fought. He stated that SCS was no wonder drug and questioned if the state would become a paradise with its sanction. Passing unjust, unethical and mutually-conflicting statements everyday, he used double entendre to water down the issue as much as possible. The centre then went back on its thought of sanctioning the status, thinking that the state would not need it if the CM was so unconcerned about it.

The deception of the central and the state Governments watered down the hopes of the people of AP. They grew more furious when Chandrababu welcomed the midnight announcement made by Arun Jaitley about sanction of special package instead of special category status. BJP is showing lame excuses for not sanctioning SCS and TDP is blindly accepting whatever the centre has to say. People are confronting Babu for accepting the offer on behalf of the state against their wishes. They are proclaiming that SCS is their right and are condemning special package.

YS Jagan opined at various occasions that SCS would lay a smooth way to the youth of the state by improving employment opportunities. He is uniting people in the fight against the deception done by the Governments and for struggle in achieving the status. He also stated that achievement of SCS was possible if that of separate Telangana state was possible. He consolidated struggle in the direction of bringing pressure on the Government.