Revanth unveils Rajiv Gandhi’s statue, BRS protests

Telangana chief minister A Revanth Reddy on Monday unveiled the statue of former Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi in front of the state secretariat building in Hyderabad, amid strong resistance from the Bharat Rashtra Samithi (BRS) as it termed the installation as an insult to the self-respect of Telangana and called for state-wide protests on Tuesday.

The statue was originally scheduled to be inaugurated by Congress MP Rahul Gandhi on August 20 on the occasion of the birth anniversary of the former PM. The BRS had protested then, too, stating that the island where Rajiv Gandhi’s statue was to be installed for meant for Telangana Talli (Mother Telangana), a symbol of Telangana pride.

Addressing the gathering after unveiling the Rajiv Gandhi statue, Revanth Reddy lashed out at the BRS leaders for belittling the sacrifice made by the former PM and trying to kick up Telangana sentiment all over again for petty political gains.

“These BRS leaders, who are playing cheap politics in the name of Telangana, had looted thousands of crores in the last 10 years of their regime. They have no idea about the sacrifices made by the Gandhi family. I want to remind them that it was the Nehru family which sacrificed its wealth for the country and fought for the freedom of the country,” he said.

Revanth reminded that Indira Gandhi had never aspired for any post or position as long as Nehru was alive. “When she became Prime Minister, she had taken several landmark decisions, like nationalisation of banks and introduced poverty alleviation programmes. She sacrificed her life to safeguard the integrity of the country,” he said.

Referring to Rajiv Gandhi, the CM said the former PM also had taken several initiatives like granting voting rights to people before 18 years, bringing in constitutional amendments to provide autonomy to the rural and urban local bodies, providing reservations to women in the local bodies and introducing technological revolution in the country.

Stating that Rajiv Gandhi, too, had been assassinated for the sake of country, Revanth said after the death of Rajiv Gandhi, either Sonia Gandhi or her son Rahul Gandhi never aspired for power. “Between 2004 and 2014, Sonia or Rahul had not taken any posts. Yet, these BRS leaders are talking about dynastic politics,” he said.

He lashed out at the BRS leaders for raising a hue and cry over the installation of Rajiv Gandhi statue in front of the secretariat. “The place had been lying vacant for the last 10 years. If they wanted to install the statue of Telangana Talli at this spot, who stopped them?” he asked.

He pointed out that BRS president K Chandrasekhar Rao had constructed his farmhouse at Erravelli village, his residence-cum-camp office Pragati Bhavan at Begumpet and the state secretariat during his regime, but not the Telangana Talli statue. “We are installing the Telangana Talli statue within the secretariat premises and we shall unveil it on December 9,” the CM said.

BRS working president K T Rama Rao said: “The CM has insulted the people of Telangana by replacing the symbol of Telangana’s identity with Rajiv Gandhi’s statue, driven by political motives.” He warned that those who undermine the sentiment of Telangana do not survive in the state politics for long.