NALGONDA: A day after Chief Minister K Chandrasekhar Rao vented his spleen at Dalit activists for disturbing his public meeting at Halia in Nalgonda district, police on Thursday slapped cases against 10 Dalit Shakti activists.
According to sources, police let the activists go after seizing their cell phones and ordering them to be present before them whenever summoned. However, they remained tight-lipped all day about the IPC sections under which the cases have been booked. In fact, they were not ready to part with a copy of the FIR despite it being a public document.
The sources also said that as those at the receiving end of the Chief Minister’s torrent of invective were Dalits, police wanted to keep the details of the cases under wraps. But they disclosed that the cases were registered under Section 341 of the IPC (restraining wrongfully). Though this is a simple case, they are worried that it might become a political powder keg since it involves Dalits.
Police are apparently cagey about revealing details fearing that it would form a fertile ground for a fresh controversy. This comes at a time when the Chief Minister had announced that he would create a sub-plan of Rs 1,000 crore for the SCs and that he would monitor its implementation himself.
On Wednesday, police rounded up the activists as soon as KCR ordered their removal. The demonstrators were raising slogans and flashing papers, demanding that action be taken against Parakal TRS legislator Ch Dharma Reddy for passing derogatory comments on Dalits a few days ago. The MLA had said Dalit employees were no good and that they did not know anything about the work they were doing, at a meeting in Warangal recently.
KCR, who grew restive when he saw the Dalit activists trying to draw his attention by raising slogans, lost his composure and let out a stream of abuses against them. Under the impression that they were propped up by the BJP, he called them ‘dogs’ and that he would not care if they barked at him. He also told them that they were just a handful in number and the TRS, if it really wanted to teach them a lesson, could easily take them to task and wipe them out.
The Chief Minister also warned them that they were testing his patience and it too had a limit. “If you cross the limits, we know what to do. We will trample over you,” he said.
KCR didn’t spare BJP either
In the same vein, he called Congress leaders vultures for preying on farmers, while objecting to CLP leader Mallu Bhatti Vikramarka visiting farms in the State. “We are giving Rythu Bandhu to farmers but you have become a rythu rabandulu (vultures),” he said. KCR did not spare the BJP either, calling them rakshasalu (demons) and bokasulu (a slang for rakshasalu).