Unbecoming outbursts, indeed!

Aham Brahmasmi. In a nutshell, this is how one can sum up the speech of caretaker Chief Minister K Chandrashekar Rao in Nizamabad on Wednesday. Chandrashekar Rao, who is known for his fiery speeches, made all out attempt to once again rake up the T sentiment and criticised the Opposition leaders. There could be two reasons for this.

One, as the party leaders say, it was meant to enthuse the cadre or he has sensed that unless he takes on the Opposition spitting fire, the alliance in the offing could cause some damage to the pink party though at this stage the Opposition does not appear to be in a position to come to power. Agreed that he was playing to the gallery but being in a responsible constitutional position, it is unfortunate that Chandrashekar Rao had used a language which does not behove a person holding such high office.

Rao is highly educated, a poet, a writer, a great visionary. He says he too has foul mouth but being the Chief Minister, he was showing restraint. Fine, but then the restraint went for a toss as the speech progressed. He left none from his attack. He alleged the former Union minister and senior most Congress leader S Jaipal Reddy did nothing for Telangana. No one did anything for the State, he said adding that his efforts led to the formation of Telangana. While it is a fact that Chandrashekar Rao did lead the agitation to its logical conclusion, it is not proper to say that no one did anything and that the Centre bowed under his pressure. Even if the TRS considers the Congress and the BJP as devils, they too should get their due share of credit.

Coming back to the Nizamabad meeting. Rao took strong objection to the reported usage of the word ‘Battebaj’ by TPCC president N Uttam Kumar Reddy. But then he called Uttam Chillargallu (Urchins). He also questioned their lineage. Rao was so angry that he said “Hum se Jamana hai, Hum Jamane se nahi.” “It is for the people to show who is Battebaj. People know which party consists of donkeys and which party has camels.”

He also fired salvo on TDP president N Chandrababu Naidu. He said the Congress was bending before “Telangana Drohi and Andhra Rakshasi’ and wanted to have alliance. Naidu has promised them to give three helicopters and Rs 500 crore, he said. “Thu! What a life is yours. If the Congress had begged, we would have given you those four seats,” was his expression. What Rao wanted to say was that people of Telangana cannot be subservient to anyone. They want their own rule and refuse to play second fiddle to Delhi or Amravati. Fine, that is appreciable. Telangana pride has to be upheld at any cost. The fight for a separate State was to regain Telangana pride.

In the last four-and-a- half years, Chandrashekar Rao had succeeded in creating an atmosphere of confidence among all those who had come from other States and settled down here that they are all part of Telangana. But then, the way he spoke on Wednesday definitely has the potential to rake up T sentiment once again which the Opposition can play with. The TRS leaders may say the percentage of such people is not much. But then in elections, even one vote makes a big difference and that certainly is not the way to get Praja Ashirwadam. Malice towards none should be the policy. That in fact was the confidence he had created ever since he became the Chief Minister and should not allow it to be disturbed or lost.