A mob of angry protesters in Andhra Pradesh's Amalapuram town set state Transport Minister P Viswarup's house on fire on Tuesday over the proposed renaming of the newly-created Konaseema district as BR Ambedkar Konaseema district.

The situation deteriorated after the police lathi-charged people protesting against the proposed renaming of the district. Incensed, the protesters allegedly took to stone-pelting and arson. A number of police personnel were left injured.

Prohibitory orders under Section 144 were clamped in Amalapuram and additional police forces were rushed in to bring the situation under control.

State Home Minister Taneti Vanitha said instead of feeling proud about the inclusion of BR Ambedkar’s name, anti-social elements were inciting violence, even set on fire a private school bus.

"It is unfortunate that over 20 police personnel sustained injuries in the incident. We will conduct a thorough investigation into the incident and bring the culprits to book," Ms Vanitha added.

The Minister alleged that some political parties and anti-social elements apparently instigated the arson.

Last week, the YS Jagan Mohan Reddy government issued a notification seeking to change the name of Konaseema district into Dr. B R Ambedkar Konaseema district. The notification called for any objections and suggestions to be submitted to the collector within 30 days.

In fact, Konaseema district is a new district, carved out from erstwhile combined East Godavari with Amalapuram as its headquarters, as part of reorganisation of 13 districts into 26 with effect from April 26. Konaseema region, known for its greenery and coconut plantations, has a sizeable population of the Dalit community which has been demanding that a district in the state must be named after Dr. BR Ambedkar.

However, a large section of youth in the district reacted strongly to the renaming of the district, stating that the Konaseema name should not be prefixed with any other name. They formed a joint action committee under Konaseema Zilla Sadhana Samithi and have been protesting against the renaming of the district.

After the law and order situation spiralled out of control in Amalapuram town of Andhra Pradesh on Tuesday, Opposition parties in the state hit out at the ruling YSR Congress Party over a “complete failure” in taking control of the matter.

Image source: Hindustan Times