Bengaluru: A government hospital doctor in Andhra Pradesh, who was suspended in March after he accused the Y.S.R. Jagan Mohan Reddy government of not providing adequate protective gear to medical staff, and sent to a mental health facility earlier this month for creating “nuisance” is now at the centre of a political row.
The YSR Congress Party has accused Dr Sudhakar Rao of attacking the Reddy government at the behest of opposition TDP, after two videos of him surfaced online. In the first video, Rao is purportedly heard calling Christians and Muslims “terrorists”. In the second, there is alleged CCTV footage of Rao exiting the house of a TDP leader.
@JoelTaylorhack
Dr Sudhakar called Christians and Muslims as terrorists.
You can clearly understand those words in the video
He was fully drunk and lost his sense and created this nuisance on road for more than an hour
Indian police responded the same way how UK police will do pic.twitter.com/lzQDhmtxTA
— LAWABIDINGCITIZEN (@LAWABID06200110) May 23, 2020
The YSRCP has also alleged that the TDP instigated Rao to shame the government, claiming that N. Chandrababu Naidu’s party used the fact that the doctor was a Dalit to paint the Reddy government as “anti-Dalit”.
“The TDP is using Dr Sudhakar to play the Dalit sentiment card and instigate people,” Andhra Pradesh Education Minister Adimulapu Suresh told ThePrint.
Suresh, a Dalit leader, also alleged that Rao had political aspirations and hoped to get a TDP ticket in the 2019 elections. “Dr Rao’s sister-in-law Ajitha Rao contested against me from the Santhanuthalapadu constituency and lost. Clearly, in the name of being a Dalit, he is being instigated by the TDP to create a wedge among us. The Dalits voted for the YSRCP this time and the TDP is unable to handle it,” Suresh told ThePrint.
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What happened to the doctor
Dr Sudhakar Rao was posted at the Narsipatnam Government Hospital in Visakhapatnam, when he was suspended in March on disciplinary grounds. The move came after he alleged that the Jagan Mohan Reddy government hadn’t been providing enough personal protective equipment (PPE) kits and N-95 masks to the doctors treating Covid-19 patients.
On 17 May, he was admitted to a mental facility, a day after he was allegedly manhandled by the police and arrested for creating nuisance in Visakhapatnam.
Five days later, the Andhra Pradesh High Court ordered a Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) probe into the police excesses in arresting Rao. The court took up the case suo motu based on a viral video that showed the doctor being beaten, his hands tied behind his back and dragged by police officers while he protested against his suspension in front of the state-run King George Hospital in Visakhapatnam.
The police claimed he was found to be in an inebriated state and so admitted him to the mental health facility after a medical examination. Rao is still in the hospital.
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The new videos and TDP stand
In the first of the two videos doing the rounds on social media, Dr Sudhakar Rao is seen sitting inside his car and speaking to people gathered around him. This video is alleged to have been shot minutes before the doctor stripped himself and lay on the ground in front of the government hospital in protest on 16 May.
“Shoot this video, do whatever you want. Send it to Jagan or PM Modi… I want to tell all those who are watching right now… Christians are terrorists, Muslims are terrorists. In India, Jagan Mohan Reddy is a **** working against Hindus in this country and KCR (Telangana CM K. Chandrasekhar Rao) is another one who is supporting him (Reddy),” Rao is purportedly heard saying in the video.
Shot by a bystander on 16 May, the video is being widely shared on social media.
The TDP, however, blamed the Reddy government and its policies for Rao’s state of mind.
“Jagan is responsible for flaring such religious sentiments and creating a divide in society in the name of religion. Dr Rao may have been hurt by Jagan’s actions where there have been occasions where special government orders have been issued to sell land belonging to Tirupati Tirumala Devasthanam, or propaganda of other religions is seen on tickets to go to Tirumala…” said TDP official spokesperson Pattabhi Ram Kommareddy.
“All this shows he is acting in a partisan manner and Dr Rao may have been hurt by this,” said Kommareddy. “When we were in government we treated all religions equally, that is not seen in the present government.”
The second video doing the rounds is a CCTV footage of Rao leaving the house of senior TDP leader Ayanna Patrudu on 6 April.
YSRCP has claimed that this clearly showed that the doctor was connected to TDP. But Kommareddy defended this saying several officials visit the house of TDP leaders. He said it was unfair to call the doctor a TDP man when he was not even a member of the party.
“When officials met Jagan Mohan reddy when he was in the opposition, did we make a scene? No. Anybody can meet our leaders to discuss issues, developmental work, etc. They cannot just imply anything they want to,” he said.
“When doctors and medical workers are being showered flowers for their selfless work… in AP it is shameful that doctors are being beaten, harassed and termed mentally ill,” he added.
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