Andhra farmers end 5-year protest after Chandrababu Naidu takes over as CM

Amaravati: Just a few hours after Chandrababu Naidu was sworn in as the Chief Minister of Andhra Pradesh, the farmers in the state ended their 1,631 days-long protests against the tri-capital move proposed by the previous YSR government, The celebrations, on the return of Chandrababu Naidu, were on display as farmers danced in joy, distributed sweets, and sprinkled colours.

Farmers celebrate Chandrababu Naidu’s win

For the farmers, Naidu’s comeback is also the comeback of Amaravati as the state’s sole capital and there is revived hope for the city’s long-overdue development. A day before his swearing-in, Naidu had announced that while Amaravati would be the sole capital of Andhra Pradesh, Visakhapatnam, and Kurnool would be developed as economic powerhouses and seed hubs respectively.

In May 2024, state assembly elections were held in Andhra Pradesh. The polls were not just about electing representatives in the assembly but also the quest for the state’s new capital.

Looking back, Amaravati’s story has witnessed a fair share of twists and turns.

Amaravati: What happened in the last 10 years?

It all began in the 2014 state elections run-up when Naidu pitched Amaravati as the state’s capital. This was done after the erstwhile state of Andhra Pradesh was bifurcated into Telangana and Andhra. The Andhra Pradesh Reorganisation Act 2014 stated that Hyderabad would be Andhra Pradesh’s capital for 10 years only, which ended on June 2nd, 2024.

Considering this, Naidu kickstarted the work on his dream project when he became the state’s Chief Minister in 2014. A year later, in 2015, Prime Minister Narendra Modi laid the foundation stone for Amaravati. With that, the work on the project – whose estimated cost was a whopping Rs 21,000 crore – had begun.

As per the initial plan, the city was spread over 217 square kilometers – which roughly translates into 53,622 acres. Out of this, farmers from 29 villages in Andhra Pradesh had pooled 33,000 acres via a land pooling system. Not just this, Naidu had done door-to-door campaigns to make farmers believe in his vision of making Amaravati an epitome of ambition and modernity.

However, the tide turned in 2019 when the Naidu-led government was ousted. In the 2019 state elections, YSRCP’s Jagan Mohan Reddy became the Chief Minister. During his tenure, the construction work came to an abrupt halt and Amaravati was reduced to a ghost city with barren land, isolated, under-constructed buildings, and empty roads with no population.

The halt on the construction works irked farmers hoping to see Amaravati being built as a grand capital. In addition, Jagan Mohan Reddy took another decision that sparked an agitation. He reversed Chandrababu Naidu’s earlier decision and proposed a tri-capital formula with Visakhapatnam as the administrative capital, Kurnool as the judicial capital, and Amaravati only as the legislative capital. This reduced the advantage of Amaravati to a fraction and led to farmers’ protests.

With Chandrababu Naidu back as the state’s chief minister, and a clear decision on Amaravati being the sole capital, farmers feel a sign of relief hoping that the ghost city of Amaravati will spring back to life.