In an ironical twist of events that would be hard to ignore, the ruling TRS government, which once banned protests at the Dharna Chowk, has now called upon its leaders and cadre, as well as farmers to stage dharnas in protest against Centre’s decision not to purchase paddy from state, at the site near Indira Park in Hyderabad.
The TRS government said that it was invoking its democratic and Constitutional right to express its dissent against the Centre for failing to give clarity on purchase of paddy and the fact that Union Ministers were speaking in different voices creating confusion among the farmers.
It may be recalled that the TRS government, in 2016, just two years after it came to power, banned all kinds of protests at the Dharna Chowk evoking strong criticism from all people’s organisations.
Several Public Interest Litigations were filed by political leaders, including V Hanumantha Rao of Congress, Chada Venkat Reddy of CPI and PL Vishweswar Rao, against the government’s diktat.
The High Court in 2018 ordered lifting the ban on protests at Dharna Chowk stating that dissent was a process through which democracy survives and thrives.Dharna Chowk, as its name suggests, became synonymous for protests for decades in the capital city as the venue was close to the Secretariat, the seat of administration.
Recently, TRS Ministers Mahmood Ali and Talasani Srinivas Yadav visited Dharna Chowk to supervise the arrangements for the proposed State-wide dharnas on Friday, November 12.
Minister Srinivas Yadav said that the farmers across the State were staging dharnas against the BJP’s anti-farmer policies and TRS too would stage a massive protest at Hyderabad on November 12 in support of farmers.
He said the extent of cultivation increased in Telangana and the State grew as the rice bowl for the country. “But instead of encouraging the State, the Centre was subjecting the State to severe inconvenience,” the Minister said.
He alleged that the BJP government in the Centre brought the controversial farm laws that would be detrimental to farmer interests and the State BJP leaders were speaking irresponsibly. Srinivas Yadav said that all opposition parties would unite to stage dharnas in Delhi.
Home Minister Mahmood Ali too gave a call to make the dharna in support of farmers a resounding success. Several TRS MLAs accompanied the Ministers to Dharna Chowk. #KhabarLive #hydnews
