Andhra Pradesh govt cites TDP rally stampede, bans public rallies on roads; Opp protests

Advisor to the state government Sajjala Ramakrishna Reddy said the order applies to all political parties, including the ruling YSRCP. “Roads are not meant for public meetings. The police will assess the safety aspect whenever a political party applies for permission for a public meeting or rally and will have the final say,” Reddy said, adding that the TDP could face consequences if it violates the law, as threatened by it.

Unlike the TDP and Jana Sena Party, the BJP welcomed the move, saying that “in view of public safety”, the rule should be in place for a few months.

TDP state unit president K Atchen Naidu called the government order “vengeful”, “issued only to prevent TDP chief Chandrababu Naidu’s public meetings, which have unnerved the state government”. “It is our right to hold public meetings,’’ he said.

The TDP has alleged “conspiracy” and “police laxity” behind the stampedes, and its leader and MLA Nimmala Rama Naidu said it was clear that the incidents were triggered just so to impose the road rally ban. “Chief Minister Y S Jagan Mohan Reddy is scared of Naidu now. People are thronging to Naidu’s public meetings,” the MLA said.

Leaders of the Jana Sena Party, whose supremo Pawan Kalyan’s rallies have also seen government restrictions, accused the government of trying to muzzle Opposition parties.

Differing from their stand, BJP Rajya Sabha MP G V L Narasimha Rao said that while everyone has the right to hold public meetings in a democracy, the government order was needed for now given the recent incidents in which people lost their lives. “At least for a few days, public meetings and road shows should not be held on roads,” he said.

In its order, the government said that the right to hold public meetings on public roads and streets was a subject matter covered by Section 30 of the Police Act, 1861, with the police the final deciding authority on whether a meeting could be a threat to public safety.

In the order, Principal Secretary (Home) Harish Kumar Gupta directed district administrations and police officials to identify “designated places away from public roads for conduct of public meetings, which do not hamper the flow of traffic, public movement, emergency services, movement of essential commodities, etc”. “The authorities should avoid permitting meetings of public roads. Only in rare and exceptional circumstances permission for public meetings may be considered, with reasons recorded in writing,” the Principal Secretary said.

In the order, Gupta highlighted the Kandukur incident of December 28, adding that “holding of meetings on public roads and road margins is leading to deaths and creating traffic obstructions”. Police take a long time to control the situation, he added.

A stampede had occured at Kandukur in Nellore district during a TDP roadshow in which eight people were killed. A couple of days later, on January 1 evening, three people were killed at a TDP gift distribution function in Guntur.