Farmers from the 29 villages that voluntarily surrendered thousands of acres for the proposed Andhra Pradesh capital Amaravati held yet another press conference this week, once again hitting the streets and accusing successive governments of betraying them. “We are being treated unfairly. We gave our lands with hope, but six years after Chandrababu Naidu returned to power, we are still waiting for justice,” the farmers said, echoing the same pain they have voiced since Y.S. Jagan Mohan Reddy’s government scrapped the single-capital plan in 2019–2024. Speaking in an interview conducted by a Telugu Youtube channel, veteran farmer leader and editor of Jameen Rythu magazine Vadrevu Srinivasa Rao offered a scathing yet balanced assessment of the decade-long Amaravati saga.

He alleged that Chief Minister Chandrababu Naidu lives in dreams – a habit  he has since day one day one. He reminded about all the talks about iconic bridges, futuristic cities and grand designs, but the project still being stuck in the planning stage even after one-and-a-half years of the present government’s term. On the other hand, Jhe also mentioned how Jagan Mohan Reddy turned Amaravati into a graveyard during his five years. The truth is somewhere in between – it won’t become the world-class capital Chandrababu dreams of, nor will it remain the cemetery Jagan wanted,” Srinivasa Rao said.

He reminded viewers that farmers had pooled over 34,000 acres without a single drop of blood being shed or a lathi-charge – a rare feat in India’s history of land acquisition disasters such as Singur and Nandigram for the Tata Nano plant. “We did it because we believed in Chandrababu’s vision. But today those farmers feel cheated,” he added.

He strongly argued that the biggest mistake was giving farmers huge returnable plots (2–2.5 acres each) that nobody can buy or sell. He mentioned how a common man cannot afford a two-acre plot to build a house. He opined that if the government allows subdivision into smaller 200–400 sq yard plots, the real estate market will open overnight,” the farmer leader stressed. He also criticised the rigid rules that prohibit construction of small houses or apartments for lower and middle-income groups. He made it clear that if only IAS officers, judges and the super-rich are building bungalows there, where would clerks, laborers, carpenters, masons and journalists live? Without all classes of society, Amaravati will remain a ghost city at night – just like Chhattisgarh’s new capital Nava Raipur, Srinivasa Rao said.

Srinivasa Rao accused the present bureaucracy of lacking the courage to tell the Chief Minister the ground realities. “During Jagan’s time, officers were happy to do nothing or destroy whatever existed because inaction was easy. Now Chandrababu wants work done, but officers are afraid to point out mistakes. They simply say ‘yes boss’ and let the dream drift,” he alleged. He warned that unless at least 50,000 permanent residents from all economic sections are settled in Amaravati within the next two years, the project would remain an elite enclave and eventually turn into another white elephant.

The conclusion- Chief Minister must come down from the clouds and walk on the ground. He has only three years left in this term. If he keeps flying in his dream world, even these three years will be wasted and the farmers of Amaravati will suffer the biggest punishment in history,” Srinivasa Rao reiterated. The farmers have announced that they will intensify their protests and meet Chief Minister Naidu directly if their grievances continue to be ignored. For now, the grand dream that once inspired thousands appears stuck between political egos, bureaucratic inertia and a planning vision that forgot the common citizen.