Form of words:
Hyderabad: Telangana Chief Minister K. Chandrashekhar Rao They staged a sit-in in the state capital on Thursday, protesting against the central government for the first time since coming to power in 2014. Decision Not to purchase the remaining five lakh metric tonnes of paddy produced in the state, Ministers, MLAs, MLCs and Telangana Rashtra Samithi (TRS) party workers joined the dharna.
Incidentally, KCR chose the same place for his dharna. Where he once banned protests, Dharna Chowk, which is Jantar Mantar for Hyderabad for Delhi – a designated protest site with a more than a decade-long history, especially during movements for the state of Telangana.
state government has been To ask To discourage paddy cultivation, the CM asked farmers not to grow paddy in the Rabi season as the Center would not procure it.
KCR had earlier written to Prime Minister Narendra Modi seeking a direction to the Food Corporation of India to procure the remaining 5 LMT rice produced in the Rabi season 2020-21. He also wanted the procurement target to be confirmed for the upcoming Rabi season.
This is the second protest by the ruling TRS at the same venue within a week.
The latest protest comes in the backdrop of the TRS’ recent defeat to the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in the Huzurabad bypoll. However, experts point out that there are several ways to read this protest, with KCR now feeling the heat in the state from the BJP.
The loss was related to BJP candidate Eatala Rajender, a former minister sacked from his cabinet by KCR, who has a strong hold on the constituency. but win was certainly an impetus for the BJP and A fight was lost for KCR, who had campaigned as a grudge match against his former colleague.
“This protest is an attempt by KCR to regain his lost prestige. KCR himself made it a high-stakes battle and the party lost despite using all his might. More than the defeat of the candidate, it was seen as a voice of discontent against KCR’s regime,” senior analyst Suresh Alapathi told ThePrint.
Another senior political analyst, Telakapalli Ravi, explained how the protest did not receive an overwhelming response on Thursday, adding that it could also be an attempt to change the negative perception among farmers.
“Procurement of paddy is a serious problem for the farming community and KCR spent crores of rupees on farmer schemes, irrigation projects and still if with this one issue the farmers feel that they have not done enough or struggled for their If so, it would be of no use to them. So this movement can also happen because he wants to show the farmers that he is fighting for them.
“Also, there is no overwhelming response as it seems people are not really convinced that this is a serious fight against the BJP,” Ravi said.
Speaking on the dharna, the Chief Minister said that if necessary, TRS would take up the responsibility of leading the farmers’ agitation at the national level. He also said that all the paddy left for purchase would be dumped in the BJP office.
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escalating fight
The protest is the latest chapter in KCR’s fight with the BJP. CM last week Held First time press meet after Huzurabad Result. He criticized the BJP government at the Center on the issue of paddy procurement. He also attacked issues like poor GDP growth, rising fuel prices, anger over agricultural laws, and said the BJP government was incompetent, anti-farmer and unable to stop China’s encroachment into Arunachal Pradesh.
Hinting at the Lakhimpur Kheri incident in October in which eight people, including four farmers, were killed, KCR even accused the BJP government of crushing farmers under the wheels of a car if they raised their voice. . Ashish Mishra, son of Union Minister of State for Home Ajay Mishra ‘Theni’, is the main accused in the case.
KCR also rejected the talk of the BJP being strong in the state and said that he would go to Delhi to protest against the farmers in the state.
Another senior analyst, Prof. Nageswara Rao told that the ruling TRS may have to face defeat in the bypolls.
“You can take any regional party in the country, they supported the BJP when needed and opposed it depending on the situation,” he said. Be it Uttar Pradesh or West Bengal, when BJP presents a challenge, these parties fight it.
“There could be many reasons why he is attacking the BJP. , One can change the perception that TRS lost to BJP in Huzurabad, not only in one bypoll but the performance of BJP in 2019 Lok Sabha elections and next elections, which would have made KCR think about BJP’s rising image in the state,” he said. .
Most analysts also pointed out how KCR’s focus on the BJP and its state chief Bandi Sanjay could be an attempt to divert attention from Congress’ newly-appointed state chief Revanth Reddy, who is also considered a staunch critic of the CM.
Huzurabad’s victory leaves no arithmetic gap in the 119-member Telangana Assembly, where the TRS has 103 seats. But the BJP’s efforts to sell the narrative that it is the Modi-led party is the major opposition in the state and the Congress is not, Say specialist.
The BJP also won the Dubbaka bypoll over the TRS last year, and won 10 times more seats in the Greater Hyderabad municipal election last year than its previous tally in 2016.
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KCR banned dharna chowk, but has now come to the same site
The history of Dharna Chowk, about two kilometers from the state secretariat, began 15 years ago.
GS Singhvi, the then Chief Justice of undivided Andhra Pradesh in 2005, Caught In traffic jam due to heavy protest. The next day, the judge called Dinesh Reddy, the then Hyderabad Police Commissioner, to identify a designated protest site for Hyderabad like Jantar Mantar in Delhi. This is how ‘Dharna Chowk’ in Hyderabad came into existence.
In 2017, KCR announced its decision to close the site, saying that the government had received several representations from residents and pedestrians that such frequent protests were causing great inconvenience.
Opposition leaders and intellectuals, who called the decision a step to curb voices of dissent in the state, moved the High Court and reversed the decision in 2018.
“During the assembly session, there are around six protests in a day at Dharna Chowk. Such is the mindset of KCR – he believes that he is the hallmark of the struggle of Telangana movement and does not tolerate opposition voices. He does not allow disagreement anywhere. Not only opposition parties, farmers also wanted to protest (on some issues); He imposed Section 144 several times,” KCR’s aide-turned-critic and Telangana Jana Samiti founder Prof. M. Kodandaram told ThePrint.
(Edited by Amit Upadhyay)
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