Eight bogies of Ratnachal Express were set on fire by Kapu protesters in Andhra Pradesh. (Press Trust of India photo)
Members of the Kapu community in Andhra Pradesh had last night called off a
protest that turned violent, but their leader Mudraguda Padmanabham said on Monday that the agitation will continue if the state government does not respond to their demands by this evening.
The Kapus, a farmer community, want to be listed as a Backward Caste to draw benefit from affirmative action. Mr Padmanabham said he would begin an indefinite hunger strike if that demand is not met. "I will continue the fast even if I am jailed," he told reporters today.
More than 3,500 security personnel have been deployed after Sunday's violence in Tuni town of the East Godavari district, when protesters set fire to eight coaches of the Visakhapatnam-Vijayawada Ratnachal Express, two police stations and about 25 vehicles. 15 policemen and four railway employees were injured, two of them seriously.
The protesters had gathered for a public meeting addressed by Mr Padmanabham, a former minister of Andhra Pradesh's ruling Telugu Desam Party or TDP, who called for a road and rail blockade.
Prohibitory orders have been imposed across the district. The police has begun investigations and said they are investigating video footage to identify those behind the violence. Arrests are expected today, they said.
Kapu leaders told NDTV that the violence during the protests was not planned. Mr Padmanabham has blamed the TDP government saying the Kapus had to organise the protest as Chief Minister N. Chandrababu Naidu had failed to fulfil his poll promise to them.
Train services between Vijayawada and Visakhapatnam have been suspended since Sunday afternoon and the Railways is working to clear tracks of coaches burned down by the protesters, who ordered passengers to get off the train before setting fire to it.
"I am fully committed to Kapu reservation but I can't issue a government order that won't stand scrutiny in court, that can't be implemented," Chief Minister N. Chandrababu Naidu has said.
Kapus are an estimated 27-30 per cent of the population of Andhra Pradesh. Actor-turned-political activist Pawan Kalyan is believed to have brought the Kapu vote to the TDP.