Less than a year after an angry mob violently opposed the naming of Konaseema district after Dr BR Ambedkar, leaving many people injured and properties damaged, the Andhra Pradesh government decided to withdraw all cases booked over the incident. Twenty police personnel were injured in stone-pelting, the houses of a minister and MLA were set on fire, and many vehicles were gutted in the Amalapuram arson incident of May 2022. The ugly eruption of caste violence, mainly by members of the powerful landholding Kapu community, and the OBC communities Settibalija and Nagavamsam, will now go unpunished.
The decision was announced by Chief Minister YS Jagan Mohan Reddy on March 28, after consultations with his party MLAs and a few community leaders from the BR Ambedkar Konaseema district. Sharing the news, CM Jagan reportedly said, “You all have been living together in the same region for generations… When some incidents happen amidst strong emotions, you must forget them and live in harmony like before... If we keep dragging this on, people will grow apart…we must let go of such minor scuffles and misunderstandings… We are making all this effort to unite you.”
The main opposition parties — the Telugu Desam Party (TDP), Jana Sena Party, and even the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) — haven’t vocally opposed this decision, which would mean taking a stand against the communities involved in the violence. Several Dalit and human rights groups in the state, however, have slammed the move terming it a betrayal by the YSR Congress Party (YSRCP) government.
The incident occurred less than a week after the state government announced in May 2022 that the newly formed Konaseema district would be renamed Dr BR Ambedkar Konaseema, following requests from various Dalit organisations. After a couple of days of sporadic protests against the move, a rally was planned towards the Collector’s office in Amalapuram, the district headquarters, on May 24. Prohibitory orders were clamped, but amid heavy presence of police personnel deployed to thwart the rally, hundreds of men thronged Amalapuram that day. Although the riots were not led by any prominent face or openly backed by any major political outfit, protesters gathered in the name of Konaseema Sadhana Samithi and other organisations, demanding that the district’s name be retained as Konaseema alone.
As the situation escalated, police resorted to lathi-charge, and some protesters pelted stones at police vehicles. Over 20 police personnel were injured in the violence, and several vehicles were damaged. Later, the houses of Minister Pinipe Viswarupu and YSRCP MLA Ponnada Satish were set on fire by miscreants. The situation was soon brought under control, but the region remained on edge for weeks, with tensions bubbling beneath the surface. Internet was shut down for a few days, the only such instance recorded that year among south Indian states and union territories.
A blame game followed, with the opposition parties criticising the YSRCP for failing to foresee and curb the violence, while YSRCP alleged that TDP and Jana Sena had colluded to instigate the violence.
A few days after the Jagan government announced its decision to withdraw all the cases registered over the violence, Minister Pinipe Viswarupu — who represents the Amalapuram (SC reserved) Assembly constituency — addressed a press conference in Amalapuram on April 7. He said that CM Jagan took the decision only after consulting him and MLA P Satish, whose houses were attacked by the culprits. The Minister claimed that the police had apprehended innocent bystanders while letting the actual perpetrators get away. The Ministers' statements raise questions about the investigation done by the police, who had claimed that the arrests were based on strong evidence.
Following the incident, the police initially detained around 46 people, and eventually arrested at least 19 people. The police had said that they found the violence to be “pre-planned and orchestrated”, with instructions circulated on WhatsApp groups. Director General of Police KV Rajendranath Reddy had assured that the guilty would be brought to book.
The police had said they had substantial evidence to prove the role of those arrested. They also acknowledged that the protesters were mainly from Kapu, Settibalija, and Nagavamsam communities. According to the 2011 census, about 25% of the population in the Konaseema region are from Scheduled Castes, with the remaining population predominantly composed of Kapus and Settibalijas.
The police have not revealed the caste composition of the arrested persons. Responding to Minister Viswarupu’s remarks faulting the police probe, a senior police official told TNM that there was nothing the police department could now say or do against the government’s decision.
Minister Viswarupu also defended the Jagan government’s decision saying it was intended to prevent friction among different communities. “I have taken Kapu and Settibalija leaders to meet the CM,” the minister said, adding that he would take Dalit leaders to meet Jagan only after Ambedkar Jayanti on April 14.
While leaders of Dalit organisations are upset over the government’s decision, alleging that it was taken without consulting them, Viswarupu has dismissed their concerns. “We condemn the statements of Dalit organisations’ leaders that the cases were withdrawn due to vote bank politics,” he said.
CM Jagan himself has downplayed what appears to be a manifestation of deeply ingrained casteism as “minor scuffles,” and asked the people of Konaseema to simply forget them and “live in harmony like before.”
Reacting to the government’s decision to withdraw all the cases, BR Ambedkar Jilla Sadhana Samithi convenor Janga Babu Rao told TNM, “Dalit organisations were not called for the discussions before the decision was announced. Mummidivaram MLA Satish and Minister Viswarupu will stand by their party for their political benefit, as they have to contest elections from the same constituencies. They also need the support of dominant community leaders to win elections.”
“But what about our community? What example does the government want to set for marginalised groups? That we have to keep living in fear, because any violence against us or our acts of assertion might be overlooked for political benefits?” Janga Babu questioned. His organisation had played a key role in urging the government to name the district after Ambedkar.
Despite the violence, the government officially renamed the district BR Ambedkar Konaseema in June 2022. “Even after the riots, when the government issued the order, we decided to campaign for the YSRCP at the household level. Now, with the cases being scrapped, Dalits in the state feel betrayed by the Jagan government,” Janga Babu said.
Pavan Kumar, a senior journalist and political analyst, questioned why the government registered the cases in the first place, if it was only going to scrap them within a year. “How would the Dalits in Konaseema feel about it, after facing such hostility for merely seeking to add Ambedkar’s name to the district,” he questioned. Pavan also pointed out that such implicit sanction of violence by privileged castes is not unprecedented in Andhra Pradesh.
In January 2016, an agitation by Kapus seeking inclusion in the Backward Classes list in Andhra took a violent turn. Thousands of protesters went on a rampage in Tuni town of Kakinada district, setting fire to a passenger train, a police station, and several police and private vehicles. Scores of cases registered against those involved in the violence were later withdrawn by the YSRCP government.
TDP and Jana Sena have both remained quiet on the issue. Interpreting this silence, political analyst and activist Ch Krishnanjaneyalu said, “Jana Sena only has some nominal might. More importantly, it is Jana Sena chief Pawan Kalyan’s Kapu community that was involved in the riots, and they are his primary voter base,” suggesting that both TDP and Jana Sena were wary of upsetting the privileged communities involved.
Human Rights Forum (HRF) has also condemned the move to withdraw the cases, calling it a “mockery of the rule of law”. “The decision fortifies the notion that communities with strong social and political ties can get away with committing unlawful acts… Such steps will weaken the legal and police institutions, and promote anarchy,” the organisation said in a statement.