Tensions prevailed in Amalapuram town of Andhra Pradesh — the headquarters of the newly formed Konaseema district — on May 24, Tuesday, over the state government’s proposal to rename the district by adding the name Dr BR Ambedkar to it. It has been less than a week since the Andhra Pradesh government announced that Konaseema, carved out of East Godavari district, would be renamed as BR Ambedkar Konaseema district. A preliminary notification was issued in this regard on May 18, inviting any objections or suggestions to the proposal. Soon, sporadic protests emerged in parts of the district over the past week, objecting to the proposed move.
With the protests escalating, a rally was planned to the district Collector’s office in Amalapuram on May 24, Tuesday. In anticipation of the rally, the district police had imposed prohibitory orders under Section 30 of The Police Act and Section 144 of the CrPC (The Code Of Criminal Procedure). Konaseema Superintendent of Police KSSV Subba Reddy said on May 23 that no processions or agitations were allowed in the district over the next couple of days.
Despite restrictions and heavy police presence to prevent protesters from gathering in the town, many youngsters from the district thronged Amalapuram on the afternoon of May 24, to protest against the decision to rename the district. Under the name of Konaseema Sadhana Samithi and other organisations, hundreds of youngsters took to the streets, with the demand to retain the district’s name as Konaseema alone. Visuals showed police trying to control the crowd of scores of protesters.
#HighTension in #Amalapuram with hundreds of youths staged protests on Tuesday, #KonaseemaDist name change to #BRAmbedkar dist, leads to protesters pelting stones against the police, Police then resorted to #Lathicharge. #AndhraPradesh #DistNameChange #Konaseema #Stonepelting pic.twitter.com/aeun0kw3mB
— Surya Reddy (@jsuryareddy) May 24, 2022
As police tried to curb the rally by the protesters, tension escalated as police resorted to lathi-charge, and some of the protesters reportedly pelted stones at police vehicles. Several protesters and police personnel were reportedly injured due to the stone-pelting. A few buses were also burnt amid the protests, near the residence of state minister Pinipe Viswarupu who is also the MLA from Amalapuram, an SC reserved constituency. After demands from Dalit groups to name a district after Ambedkar, the decision to rename Konaseema was announced. After the announcement, Pinipe Viswarupu had called it a victory of the Dalits of Andhra Pradesh and thanked Chief Minister YS Jagan Mohan Reddy for heeding to their request.
As part of the district reorganisation which was made official earlier in April, 26 districts were carved out of the existing 13 districts in the state. Some of the newly formed districts were named after prominent personalities from the region, like NTR district, Alluri Sitharama Raju district, Annamayya district, and even Sri Sathya Sai district, named after a self-proclaimed godman whose unscientific claims were debunked by many rationalists.
Responding to the incident, Andhra Pradesh Home Minister Taneti Vanitha said, “It’s unfortunate that the naming of the district after a great intellectual like Ambedkar is being opposed. It was based on the wish of the people of the Konaseema district itself that the renaming of the district was proposed. Will investigate who was behind the protests and take action against them. Twenty police personnel were badly injured due to stone-pelting. A private school bus was set on fire. We believe someone has orchestrated this to disturb law and order.”