Hyderabad: Ahead of state elections scheduled to be held later this year, Telangana Chief Minister K. Chandrashekar Rao Friday inaugurated a 125-feet statue of Dr B.R. Ambedkar on the banks of Hussain Sagar lake in the state capital.
Terming Ambedkar as ‘vishwamanavudu’ (universal man), KCR said that it is our responsibility to carry forward Ambedkar’s principles, hinting that the party has chosen the path of social justice.
“Ambedkar Jayanti does not only mean that we sing songs and dance on the day, but to work on implementing his principles and prepare a frame work accordingly. Ambedkar’s relevance is still there and it is our responsibility to fulfil his dreams,” the CM said, while inaugurating the statue on Ambedkar’s 132nd birth anniversary.
“I did not build this statue because someone asked me to or because someone demanded. There is a strong message here,” he added.
The statue lies at a few feet’s distance from the state’s newly-built (yet to be inaugurated) Secretariat, which the KCR government named after Ambedkar. It is also oversees the statue of Buddha — who Ambedkar believed in.
“Every minister coming to the Secretariat should see the statue and think of implementing his principles,” KCR said.
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‘KCR identified with feudal mentality’
Notably, last year, KCR renamed his party from Telangana Rashtra Samithi (TRS) to Bharat Rashtra Samithi (BRS), in order to take on the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in the Lok Sabha elections next year.
Political analyst Telakapalli Ravi says that there is also a political message behind unveiling of the statue by the CM.
“Statue politics work the same everywhere. What (PM Narendra) Modi tried to do with Statue of Unity (statue of Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel in Gujarat’s Kevadia), KCR is doing with Ambedkar statue. BRS is trying to show that they’re identifying with backward communities. This is a social engineering exercise and they’re building a narrative of social justice. Telangana has one of the highest SC/ST and backward section population, so this is a welcome move,” Ravi told ThePrint.
The statue itself might not convert directly into votes but that’s just one part of the exercise, said Ravi.
According to 2011 census, Scheduled Castes constitute 15.4 per cent of the state’s total population, and Scheduled Tribes around 9.5 per cent.
“KCR has always been identified with the feudal mentality — with the ‘dora’ (feudal lords) culture. He is trying to shed it off with this,” he added.
KCR hails from the Velama (zamindar or landlord) community.
“There will be a lot of criticism on how a statue can change the social status of a community and how statues matter when ground reality is different. But, that applies to every statue then and yet politicians keep doing it,” Ravi said.
Calling KCR a ‘Dalit drohi,’ Telangana BJP chief Bandi Sanjay Kumar said that the CM is chanting Ambedkar’s name for votes.
“He promised to make a Dalit as CM and did not fulfil it, he failed to give them three acres of land (as promised during Telangana movement). A person, who in the last eight years, has never attended any Ambedkar Jayanti program is now using his name for votes,” he said. The BJP MP from Karimnagar further accused KCR of killing ‘democratic environment in the state’ by opposing protests and talks about implementing Ambedkar’s principles.
Senior Congress leader Komatireddy Venkat Reddy also asked that if KCR was so concerned about the Dalit community, why does he not have a minister from the community in his cabinet.
‘Ambedkar award’ for excellence in social service
Last year, KCR had announced a massive sop for the Dalit community in the form of the Dalit Bandhu scheme providing Rs 10 lakh cash assistance for eligible Dalit families.
The CM, Friday, said that so far, 50,000 Dalit families have received assistance from the Dalit Bandhu scheme, and this financial year, the assistance will be extended to 1,50,000 families.
D. Saidulu, a beneficiary of Dalit Bandhu who had come from Karimnagar district to Hyderabad to attend the event, told ThePrint: “I purchased two autorickshaws with the money. Our local MLA told us about this event and we came here with his help. We are happy with our CM, he is thinking for our community.”
To make the event a massive success, BRS leaders were also given the responsibility of mobilising Dalit community members to the event.
Ambedkar’s grandson and former Lok Sabha MP Prakash Ambedkar, also attended the inaugural upon CM’s invitation, and pitched that Hyderabad should emerge as the second capital of the country.
During the event, KCR also announced ‘Ambedkar award’ that would be distributed annually to people excelling in social service, adding that a sum of Rs 51 crore will be set aside for the same.
(Edited by Anumeha Saxena)
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