YSR Telangana Party president Y.S. Sharmila has said the K. Chandrasekhar Rao government is adopting dictatorial policies in quelling the protests by opposition parties.
This was evident from the manner in which a large contingent of the police disrupted her peaceful dharna seeking justice to the family of the six-year-old victim who was brutally raped and murdered recently. Over 200 uniformed personnel raided the dharna venue and forcibly lifted the peacefully agitating YSRTP leaders and cadre from the spot and confined them in the name of house arrest.
“There is no democracy in Telangana. What we see is the dictatorial regime unleashed by this government,” she alleged at a press conference here on Thursday. Ms. Sharmila who launched an impromptu protest after calling on the victim’s family faulted the way in which police raided the premises in the midnight.
She said the situation in Telangana was akin to that of Afghanistan where Taliban took the reins. The government was resorting to house arrest of leaders and people who intended to stage protest against the government while those planning serious protests were being put behind the bars. “Is it the way the government deals with people who want to peacefully stage protests to express their dissent?” she asked, adding that the Chief Minister owed an explanation for the developments that followed the incident.
The YSRTP, she said, launched the protest against the “police inaction” into the heinous crime. The machinery responded only after the party launched the protest and Home Minister Mohd. Mahmood Ali gave instructions to police officials while the Chief Minister on his part directed the Home Minister and Minister Satyavati Rathod to visit the affected family.
Referring to the suicide committed by Raju, who committed the offence, she said the government’s failure to take stringent action against such persons was resulting in crimes being perpetrated against women. “It is nothing but failure of the Chief Minister and the government,” she said.
Ms. Sharmila attributed the increasing incidents of atrocities against women to rampant sale of liquor and drugs even as the government remained indifferent to the development. “Atrocities against women increased ever since Mr. Rao took over as Chief Minister. Crime against women increased by 300 per cent in the past few years,” she alleged. At the same time, revenue through liquor had increased from ₹10,800 crore in 2014-15 to ₹27,280 crore in 2020-21.
She stressed the need for creating awareness among people about the present state of affairs in the State and the government should at least now initiate steps to check occurrence of such incidents.
