Jagan’s ‘Policela Battalu Udatheeyistha’ Comments, A Bad Taste

Former Chief Minister YS Jagan has made it a habit of repeatedly threatening the Andhra Pradesh Police department at almost every public occasion. He did the same today during his visit to the Raptadu constituency in Anantapur district.

“A few police officers are forgetting that they should only salute the three lines on their uniforms and not bow to political pressures. But several of these officers are working like servants under Chandrababu. They’re saluting Chandrababu Naidu rather than their uniform,” Jagan stated.

The YCP boss further stated in Telugu, “Police vaalla battalu oodadeestham.” Jagan was extremely aggressive, warning that he would strip the clothes off police department officials and take coercive action against them.

Being a former Chief Minister himself and having had the entire police department under his control for five years, Jagan’s wild comments about the police department are hard to comprehend.

Issuing such wild and disrespectful threats to the police department will send a very wrong message to the public and could further encourage the cadres to undermine the police. This could potentially become a law-and-order problem if YCP cadres take it in the wrong way and discredit the police department.

The shocking part is that this is not the first time Jagan has made such wild comments and abusive statements about the police department. He made similar remarks in the recent past as well, and department officials rebuked him by asking him to maintain some composure while speaking about the department.

Usually, such language is associated with political warfare. But being an ex-Chief Minister, Jagan’s statement against the police department—crucial for the maintenance of peace in the state—is being negatively criticized among neutral communities.