By: Madabhushi Sridhar
Justice P A Choudary, an 88-year-old former Judge of the High Court of Andhra Pradesh, hailing from Guntur, a city in coastal Andhra region, collected all his strength to go to the polling booth on 30 April to fulfill responsibility as a voter. When his grandson asked him about his choice of party, it was reported that he said he would vote for Car, symbol of Telangana Rasthra Samithi (TRS). He is reported to have said, “TRS fought for self-determination for people Telangana. The demand is perfectly democratic and constitutional, I support it on the principle of autonomy and self-rule.”
Generally 99 per cent of the migrants from Andhra, in spite of residing in Telangana for generations, do not identify with Telangana and voted for parties that opposed Telangana, as indicated by loss of TRS candidates in 21 of 24 seats in greater Hyderabad. But the Constitutional lawyer Justice Choudary stood apart and appreciated the struggle for separate statehood for Telangana. He breathed his last on 17 May, 15 days before ‘appointed day’ for formation of Telangana, after TRS was voted to power with absolute majority.
This is the dream of four crore people since more than 60 years being realised. Ten districts have been put together to form the 29th state of the Indian Union after a prolonged struggle. While 369 people fell to police bullets during the 1969 agitation, procrastination practiced by the rulers frustrated 1,200 persons to commit suicide between 9 December 2009 and January 2014.
Courtesy: The Statesman