Adivasis torch Integrated Tribal Development Agency office in Telangana

The ongoing tussle between aboriginal Gond community and the Lambadas in Telangana over the Scheduled Tribe (ST) reservations took a violent turn on Thursday as the activists of Adivasi Joint Action Committee set the Integrated Tribal Development Agency (ITDA) office on fire in remote Medaram village, the abode of tribal deities Sammakka and Saralamma.

Trouble started when Adivasi activists protested the presence of two Lambada members in a 11-member Medaram festival trust board appointed by the state government for the conduct of popular Sammakka Saralamma temple festival.

The activists blocked the vehicles of these members when they arrived at Medaram on Thursday to take oath as members of the temple trust along with other appointees.

Adivasi groups stone-pelted the vehicles of Lambada members before the police brought the situation under control, according to the reports reaching here.

One of the Lambada members targeted by the agitators was the son of state tourism minister Chandulal while the vehicle he was travelling was damaged by the angry protesters.

This was the first violent incident in the just launched agitation by Adivasi associations demanding the removal of Lambadas from the ST list. The activists and members of Gonds and other marginal tribal population claim that all the reservation benefits were being cornered by Lambadas, whom they also see as the outsiders.

On the other hand, over a lakh members of Lambada community gathered at a rally in the city on Wednesday as a show of strength to counter the the demands being raised against them.

The rivalry between Lambada and non-Lambada tribal communities in the state came to the fore within months after Telangana government had announced that it would raise the reservation percentage for STs from the present 7 per cent to 12 per cent and also sent an enabling legislation for the consent of the Centre.