Protests to greet Modi in Telangana on Saturday, all Left parties, national trade unions backing it

Even as Prime Minister Narendra Modi landed in Visakhapatnam on Friday, starting his short tour of the Telugu States, protests against his visit to Telangana on Saturday grew louder with several organisations staging protests on Friday and others calling for more protests on Saturday.

In Peddapalli district, where the Ramagundam Fertilizers and Chemicals Limited is located, and where Modi is slated to address a public meeting on Saturday, Singareni trade unions, which have decided to observe a Ramagundam coal belt area bandh on Saturday, took out bike rallies in Godavarikhani town on Friday. Telangana Boggu Ghani Karmika Sangham (TBGKS), AITUC and the CPI took out the rallies, raising slogans saying ‘Modi Go



Back’.

All Left parties, national trade unions and Singareni employees have also decided to block the PM’s tour to RFCL in protest against privatization of coal blocks and the anti-workers policies of the Centre. Left wing student union AISF gave a call for closure of all educational institutions in the erstwhile Karimnagar district on Saturday, while AITUC activists staged a protest and burnt an effigy of Modi at Kaman Chowk on Friday.

On the other hand, the All India Students’ Federation (AISF) announced that it would block Modi’s tour, with AISF Hanamkonda District General Secretary B. Santosh saying that Modi had no right to enter Telangana without implementing assurances made in the AP Reorganisation Act.