Anguished by the idea of three capitals in Andhra Pradesh, as proposed by Chief Minister YS Jagan Mohan Reddy, and the shifting of capital from Amaravati to Visakhapatnam, the farmers of the region have written a letter to President Ram Nath Kovind seeking "stall this process of shifting capital city" or else granting "permission for mercy killing."
"Sir, we are deeply pained by the sinister attitude of the Government of Andhra Pradesh. Our pride has been mocked and our hearts are in deep pain. In this context, we request your Excellency to intervene and stall this process of shifting the capital city from Amaravati. Else, we request your Excellency as the Constitutional Head, to grant us permission for mercy killing," the letter written by farmers to President Kovind read.
"We intend to die because all doors for a solution have been closed and the Government of Andhra Pradesh is pursuing revenge against the people of Amaravati," it added.
The letter began by saying that the farmers had come "forward voluntarily to provide lands for Amaravati" after the state's division in 2014. The finalisation of Amaravati as the capital was done by all the political parties unmously passing the resolution in whose backdrop the farmers gave their lands, according to the letter.
Reminding the promise made by the incumbent Chief Minister, the letter said, "During 2019 election campaign, the present Chief Minister YS Jagan Mohan Reddy congratulated us and promised that Amaravati would be continued as the capital city of Andhra Pradesh. However, once he came to power Jagan has backtracked."
Through the letter, the farmers accused the ministers, MLAs of the state government of not paying heed to their woes and of "issuing irresponsible statements like Amaravati is a desert, graveyard etc." and of using brute force to crush the protest being staged by them.
It ends with a heart-rendering appeal, "Probably, never in the history of the world, no community would have applied for collective mercy killing. We are asking this supposedly strange demand only to highlight our plight."
( With inputs from ANI )