Union Home Minister Amit Shah got his facts wrong and included Indian revolutionary and freedom fighter Alluri Sitarama Raju into the Telangana struggle, while speaking at a meeting organised by the culture department headed by Union minister for tourism and culture G. Kishan Reddy, in Delhi. The programme was organized marking the Telangana Formation Day. In fact, Sitarama Raju belonged to Andhra Pradesh and he fought for the rights of the tribals, so called ‘Manyam Veerudu’.
Shah went on and listed out the names of Komaram Bheem, Ramji Goud, poet Dasaradhi, Swamy Ramanand Teerth, Pandit Narendra, Suravaram Pratap Reddy, former Prime Minister late PV Narasimha Rao and said that they fought with the Nizam rulers and made heavy sacrifices for the liberation of Telangana from the clutches of the Nizam rulers.
Shah’s remarks kicked up a controversy because minister and TRS working president K.T. Rama Rao took to Twitter and ridiculed the BJP for linking Alluri with the Telangana. “BJP is a party that has no history of democratic struggle; neither in India’s freedom nor in Telangana formation. Their only strength is the double engine of Jhoot & Jhumla,” wrote KTR.
KTR said that the BJP does not have a history of a democratic struggle and that their only strength is the double engine of ‘jhoot’ and ‘jhumla’. Reacting to Shah’s speech, KTR said that it was the side effect of being coached at WhatsApp University.
Surprisingly, an exhibition organised at the meeting also displayed Alluri’s painting along with others.
Also, KTR retweeted a post by TRS social media convenor Krishank Manne. “Neither Home Minister of India nor Cultural Minister has any sense of History of Telangana. Not just in speech of Amit Shah mentioning Shri Alluri, there was a photo exhibition. Can someone tell What is Alluri garu to do with Hyderabad or Telangana ? Did they name Rajamowli too,” tweeted Krishank, who posted a picture of Amit Shah going around the photo exhibition.
“This is why Education is important, otherwise Idiots will not hesitate to distort History. Our whole Telangana Struggle was for our Identity. With all due respect what has Alluri garu to do with Hyderabad or Telangana ? This is what happens if BJP wants to make Films as History,” read an earlier tweet by Krishank, who is also chairman of Telangana State Mineral Development Corporation (TSMDC).
It is worth mentioning that recently, renowned filmmaker Rajamouli made a movie ‘RRR’, a fictional story about revolutionaries Alluri Sitarama Raju and Komaram Bheem.
Chief Minister K. Chandrasekhar Rao and the TRS leaders are already annoyed with the Centre for disabling the state to go for more loans and pushing it into a deep financial crisis by also keeping several other grants and rightful share of the state in pending. They have not been leaving any opportunity and chance to lambast Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his coterie. They also have been fuming at the BJP leaders in Telangana too.