Actor-politician Pawan Kalyan on Friday spoke about the history of caste violence in Vijayawada and how it peaked with the murder of Congress leader Vangaveeti Mohan Ranga.
“We can’t talk about Vijayawada politics without making a mention of the caste clashes, particularly the Ranga episode, as thousands of families of all castes suffered a lot in the wake of his killing, which was itself a wrongful act as there were laws to punish if he had done anything that made his rivals take a revenge by killing him in broad daylight when he was unarmed. It is time people rose above the caste feeling if Amaravati is to shape up into a world-class capital city”, Mr. Kalyan was quoted as saying.
The Jana Sena Party chief remarked that though multi-storeyed buildings were seen all across the city today, the mindset needed to go a long way.
“Unless all of you live together like brothers caring for one another, development would remain a mirage. Amaravati would not materialize, if caste dissensions continue in Vijayawada just as the way they did in the 90s. The caste division which existed after the murder of Ranga continues even today. We are not able to come out of the morass created by hatred for other castes. There may be huge buildings now and the look of the city may have changed. But our hearts have not changed,” he added.
Vangaveeti Mohana Ranga, a leader of the Congress party, who belonged to the Kapu community, was murdered in 1988 when he was on a hunger strike.
The murder set off unprecedented violence in Vijayawada and other parts of the Krishna district as well as neighbouring ones.
While more than 40 people were killed, property worth over Rs 100 crore was damaged.
The violence abated after then Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister NT Rama Rao made his Telugu Desam Party (TDP) legislator Devineni 'Nehru' Rajasekhar surrender. Then Home Minister Kodela Sivaprasada Rao also had to resign.