The Hindu : Andhra Pradesh News : TDP `cleanses' Gandhi statue with milk

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Monday, May 16, 2005

Andhra Pradesh

Andhra Pradesh

TDP `cleanses' Gandhi statue with milk

Staff Reporter

Congress cadre accused of infiltrating rally of Sunita and indulging in violence at Penukonda

Gandhi statue becomes the focal point Congress legislators offer prayers Telugu Desam accuses Congress of trying to create trouble in Penukonda Police come under TDP criticism

MARK OF PROTEST: Telugu Desam members cleansing the statue of Mahatma Gandhi on the Assembly premises with milk on Sunday. — Photo: Satish H.

HYDERABAD: For the second successive day, everything seemed to revolve around Mahatma Gandhi, or rather his statue.

The statue on the Assembly premises became the focal point for the Congress and the Telugu Desam Party to score political points in the wake of the police firing in Penukonda.

Congress legislators had offered prayers and took pledge in front of the statue on Saturday hoping that better sense would prevail on the TDP president, N. Chandrababu Naidu, and that he would stop provoking the party cadre to unleash violence.

110 litres milk used

On Sunday, the same statue witnessed TDP MLAs march towards it carrying 110 litres of milk to cleanse it. The TDP said it had strong reasons to do so as it felt that the Congress, which had been encouraging factionalism and killing political rivals, had defiled it.

Amid chanting of Vedic hymns, the TDP MLAs -- Errabelli Dayakar Rao, Devineni Umamaheswara Rao and G. Sayanna -- poured milk on the statue. After the `ritual,' they washed the statue with water and garlanded it. The legislators said they cleansed the statute to express regrets for the Congress leaders' action.

Later addressing a press conference, the TDLP deputy leader, Nagam Janardhan Reddy, accused the Congress cadre of infiltrating the rally of Paritala Sunita, who was on her way to file her nomination, and creating trouble. It led to police firing claiming the lives of six TDP men.

He said there was no need for the TDP to create trouble during the rally when it was confident of winning the bypoll.

YSR flayed

He objected to the Chief Minister, Y. S. Rajasekhara Reddy, and other Congress leaders charging him and his colleague, T. Devender Goud, with provoking the cadre to indulge in violence. He went on to charge Dr. Reddy with perpetrating violence in Penukonda.

He charged the Rayalaseema IG of police, R. P. Meena, and the Anantapur SP, R. S. Praveen Kumar, with trying to implicate the party cadre.

Congress hits back

Reacting strongly, the Congress Legislature Party alleged that TDP leaders resorted to cleansing the statue as if its party MLAs were untouchables.

Accusing TDP leaders, including its president of practising untouchability by resorting to such acts, the Congress MLAs -- Vatti Vasant Kumar, E. Pratap Reddy and N. Subramanyam demanded an apology from Mr. Chandrababu Naidu. They said it was highly reprehensible that Mr. Naidu used the Mahatma to revive the practice of untouchability.

They said Mr. Naidu, who had embraced factionalism firmly and was not desisting from practising it now, should ponder over whether it was right on his part to undertake cleansing process.

They alleged that the TDP had used milk from Heritage Dairy owned by Mr. Naidu's family to cleanse the statue. "Heritage milk is symbolic of the injustice heaped on thousands of farmers in Chittoor district. It is literally the sweat and blood of the farmers. Using such milk to cleanse the statue of Mahatma, who fought all his life for liberation from exploitation is ironical."

He condemned the act and asked Mr. Naidu to quit politics for stoking the fires of factionalism and "reviving untouchability."

TDP demand

The Telugu Desam Party has asked the Government to recover the expenses incurred on the `re-dedication day' programme from the Congress, as its leaders, Digvijay Singh, APCC president, K.Keshava Rao, and others had shared dais with Ministers.

Speaking to reporters here on Sunday, TDP legislators -- E. Dayakar Rao, G. Sayanna and Uma Maheshwara Rao -- took objection to the presence of senior Congress leaders at the official function.

They alleged that crores of rupees were spent by the Government for the meeting, which became a party affair due to the presence of the Congress leaders.

What right has the Government to invite Congress leaders to address the public meeting when it was an official function? "It is strange that the Chief Secretary was forced to share the dais with the Congress leaders," they said.

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