Hyderabad (Telangana) [India], January 17 : Bharat Rashtra Samithi (BRS) MLC Dasoju Shravan slammed the Telangana government for denying permission for a party rally, alleging that the administration has initiated a "brutal police raj" by curtailing the opposition's democratic rights in the state.
Speaking to ANI, Shravan alleged that the Congress government has detained thousands of protesters. He also claimed that a massive police presence has been deployed at Telangana Bhavan to prevent BRS workers from holding a peaceful demonstration.
"... The Telangana government has started a brutal police raj by curtailing the democratic rights of the opposition party. The government is expanding the geographical limits of Greater Hyderabad from 650 km to almost 2,050 km without any consultation or democratic dialogue..." said Shravan
"He (Revanth Reddy) unleashed his police force to detain thousands of our workers and our innocent people in the Secunderabad area. Thousands of people were detained, and even in front of Telangana Bhavan, hundreds of police were deployed so that we could not go out and then participate in the peace rally. I am questioning Revant Reddy, which constitution are you following, sir? Do you believe in the Ambedkar Constitution? You say Jai Samvidhan across the country but in Telangana, Samvidhan should not be implemented. What nonsense is this? To express dissent and to participate in a peace rally or to conduct a peace rally, peaceful demonstrations is fundamental right which you are scuttling," added Shravan.
Earlier, the BRS party launched an agitation demanding the formation of a separate Secunderabad Municipal Corporation.
BRS MLC Dasoju Shravan termed the government's refusal to grant permission for the rally the "first dictatorial act" of the current administration. He further alleged that CM Revanth Reddy intends to reorganise Greater Hyderabad into several entities, including "Cyberabad," "Malkajgiri," and "Hyderabad" municipal corporations, thus allegedly scuttling the name and identity of Secunderabad.
"That was the first dictatorial act of this government. Number two is that Greater Hyderabad is known for its identity, its existence, its culture, its tradition, and its historical existence. Now this man is classifying this entire Greater Hyderabad into one called Cyberabad Municipal Corporation, the second called Sikandrabad, Malkajigiri Municipal Corporation, third called Hyderabad Municipal Corporation and then he is scuttling the name of Secunderabad," said Shravan.
The BRS MLC further alleged that Revanth Reddy is dictatorial and wants to merge Secunderabad into the Malkajgiri Municipal Corporation, as the Malkajgiri constituency elected him as its Member of Parliament.
"Secunderabad has a history of almost about 220 plus years of history, culture, and tradition of Secunderabad that in one stroke, Revanth Reddy dictatorially wants to merge Sikandrabad in the Malkajigiri Municipal Corporation just because Malkajigiri has elected him as Member of the Parliament. He wanted to demonstrate his token of gratitude by naming him Municipal Corporation in the name of Malkajigiri and scuttling the very identity of Secunderabad, which is very undemocratic," claimed Shravan.
Echoing similar sentiments, another BRS leader, Madhusudan Chary, said that the peaceful protest was planned to save Telangana from the alleged dictatorial acts of the ruling Congress government.
"... We planned a peaceful rally against the dictatorial Revanth Reddy government... It was a peaceful protest to save Telangana from the current governmnet. Now that the permission is denied, we will see how the public reacts..." Chary told ANI.