Hyderabad: The Telangana police arrested author and activist Nagularapu Vara Prasad over alleged defamatory content in his yet-to-publish Telugu book “Kalpitha Nayakudu” (The Fabricated Leader).
A case was registered against him at the Central Crime Station (CCS), Hyderabad under sections 353(2) (statements causing fear or alarm), 196 (promoting enmity between groups), 350 (intentional insult or provocation), and 61(2) (criminal conspiracy) of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS), the CCS police said.
The police apprehend the alleged defamatory content against Ambedkar in the voluminous 730-page book would cause a law-and-order situation.
Prasad, alias Hamara Prasad, was arrested Thursday, a day before the scheduled launch of the book, after protests broke out in several districts. However, the arrest came to light only on Friday when police produced Prasad before the Telangana High Court.
With the book scheduled for launch on Friday, the High Court accepted a lunch-motion petition by Chandramouli, a petitioner, seeking to stall the book’s proposed launch. In his appeal, the petitioner objected to the book’s contents, title, and cover, claiming some portions could promote hostility between Ambedkar’s followers, also seeking to prevent circulation of PDF versions.
The court sought details from the state government on the steps taken to remove the book from all online platforms and bookstores, to which the government replied that several copies of the book were seized to prevent untoward incidents. Prasad is currently in judicial remand.
At the time of this story’s publication, both the author’s website (Hamara Publications) and Amazon displayed that the book was out of stock.
However, a few bound copies of the book and PDF versions that were already in circulation revealed that the book examines Ambedkar through “anti-national” and “anti-Hindu” references.
On his website, a description of the book reads thus: This first volume presents the author’s critical perspective on widely circulated political and historical narratives. Written in Telugu, it invites readers to question established accounts and to reflect on history, society, and national identity.
Hamara Publications calls itself an independent publishing house bringing bold Telugu and English voices to readers everywhere. “We champion writing that questions, informs, and endures. The Fabricated Leader is a work confronting the stories nations inherit and the figures history chooses to remember. (It is) a provocative literary work about power, public memory, and the myths we choose to preserve,” the website says.
In several social media posts, Prasad, the founder of the Rashtriya Dalita Sena, has said his work seeks to challenge personality cults and present what he describes as the “real history” of the country.
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Previous controversies
Hamara Prasad is not new to controversy. The police arrested him previously in 2023 after a video surfaced of him purportedly saying he would have shot Ambedkar the way Nathuram Godse shot Mahatma Gandhi.
This time around, with protests breaking out in Adilabad, Asifabad, Medak, and other places, the police resorted to stringent action, senior police officials told the media outside the HC on Friday.
The content of the book triggered protests in several districts. While Dalit organisations took out a rally on Thursday from Lumbini Deeksha Bhoomi to Ambedkar Chowk in Asifabad, Prasad’s effigy was burnt in Indravelli and Nirmal, where protesters demanded immediate legal action against him.
In several places such as Medak district’s Dubbaka and Kamareddy district’s Tadwai, Telangana Mala Mahanadu leaders and Ambedkar Association members approached the police, submitting a written complaint over what they described as objectionable remarks about Ambedkar, demanding Prasad’s arrest.
(Edited by Ajeet Tiwari)
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