Amaravati: The announcement of the bills that led to farmers' protests and uproar in Andhra Pradesh are -- AP Decentralisation and Inclusive Development of All Regions Bill, 2020, and the AP Capital Region Development Authority (CRDA) Act (Repeal) Bill.
Thereafter, Amaravati farmers launched an agitation against the trifurcation of capital, while the state government piled up cases against farmers under various sections of IPC to deter their spirit and tone down the agitation in the last two years.
Despite the government exerting pressure on the farmers, the protests have been going on for 807 days, until on Friday, when the Andhra Pradesh High Court ruled in favor of Amaravati as the sole capital of the state. So far, around 377 farmers and women attending the protests have been detained.
The issue erupted in December 2019, when Chief Minister YS Jagan Mohan Reddy unveiled his plans for trifurcating the state capital-- Executive Capital in Visakhapatnam, Legislative Capital in Amaravati, and Judiciary Capital in Kurnool. The controversial plan to strip Amaravati of its sole capital status was challenged in the court.
Later, the Andhra Pradesh Assembly in 2021 passed a bill to repeal the Decentralisation and Inclusive Development of all Regions Act, 2020, that was intended to realize the three-capital formula for the state. Reddy told the Assembly that his government would bring a "comprehensive, complete and better" Decentralisation Bill.
The move came when the farmers of the Amaravati region, who had been fighting the three capitals decision for more than 700 days in November 2021, and others are on a 'Maha padayatra' to Tirupati protesting against the decentralization policy.
Along with farmers, even women in large numbers joined the agitation and hit the streets with slogans like 'Jai Amaravati'. Unmindful of threats, arrests, and also participated in hunger strikes. They protested for months to retain Amaravati as the state capital. Ahead of International Women’s Day, the court’s order on Thursday came as a respite for them as they rejoiced their win.
"Losing a single yard of our plot during road widening would be so upsetting. We gave up 33,000 acres of fertile land for capital development. To ensure a better future for 5 crore citizens in Andhra Pradesh. In fact, we parted with our livelihood. One state - One capital, is our motto,” said protesting women. The ruling party representatives have mocked our protests referring to us as 'paid artists. "We took every insult in our stride," they added.
