Author: Amarnath K. Menon
Publication: India Today
Date: June 9, 2008
URL: http://indiatoday.digitaltoday.in/index.php?option=com_content&Itemid=1&task=view&id=8980§ionid=23&issueid=56&latn=2
Activists of the Madiga Reservation Porata
Samithi (MRPS) armed with sticks and petrol bottles went on a rampage at the
office of the Telugu daily Andhra Jyothi.
They were protesting against what they call
an incorrect report on the corrupt practices of caste based organisations
and emerging caste-inspired political equations in the state published by
the paper.
In simultaneous attacks, MRPS cadres burnt
newspaper copies in front of the offices of Andhra Jyothi in Visakhapatnam,
Warangal and Sangareddy.
"Our daily does not have any community
bias and attacking the office is not a way to discuss an issue," says
Andhra Jyothi's Managing Director V. Radhakrishna.
The report did not name anyone but alluded
to leaders of caste cohorts who shifted stands and changed their demands for
financial and personal ends.
The MRPS contends that much of the reservation
quota for SCs in Andhra Pradesh is cornered by the Mala community.
"This newspaper is run by forward castes
who want to create friction among Dalits," says MRPS leader Krishna Madiga.
An embarrassed Information and Public Relations
Minister Anam Ramnarayan Reddy countered, "The press enjoys constitutional
protection and the state Government would take all steps to ensure freedom
of the press."
