Hyderabad: Telangana chief minister A Revanth Reddy on Monday announced that December 9 will be observed as Telangana Thalli reincarnation utsav every year.
Speaking of the new Telangana Thalli statue, the chief minister said that it is inspired by Chakali Ailamma and Sammakka-Sarakka. Addressing the winter session of the Telangana Assembly, Reddy said, “We are erecting the statue of Telangana Thalli which represents the culture of the state and it is also a form of upholding traditions.”
Elaborating on that, the chief minister said that Telangana Thalli represents a pregnant woman who will be a source of inspiration for the future generations, and she stands on a blue platform representing the rivers, wears green saree which denotes agricultural prosperity, wears a red blouse which represents enlightenment of the people and the golden border denotes wealth.
He also said that the chains of closed fists on the platform represent the fighting spirit of the people of the state in their struggles.
A discussion was held on the chief minister’s statement on the official Telangana Thalli’s form, and his declaration of celebrating December 9 every year as Telangana Thalli utsav.
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BJP Adilabad MLA Payal Shankar deviated from the topic and urged the state government to resolve the issues of government employees with regard to GO 317 and postings of employees as per their local status, and said that the government employees in the state were unable to draw their government provident fund. He said that the previous government had not
BC welfare minister Ponnam Prabhakar rose and said that there were many definitions of what constituted ‘local’and that it could be discussed with the Centre as well. he criticised the Centre saying that though the state government sought Rs 10,000 crore from the Centre for relief after the floods in Khammam this year, the Centre has given only a paltry Rs 400 crore to the state.
Talking about the BRS leaders commenting against the statue, Ponnam clarified that this was not a modification of the statue, but that this was the first time the state government was officially installing Telangana Thalli statue.
“Why didn’t they build the official statue for the past ten years? They didn’t even have an official state song all these years,”Ponnam noted, also suggesting installation of Telangana Thalli statues in all district collectorates and police stations.
He said that the BRS government had misrepresented the history of Telangana movement and the contribution of martyrs and artists even in the syllabus books during its rule.
Kothagudem CPI MLA Kunamneni Sambasiva Rao reminded the BRS that it was not possible for the state government to do everything as per their whims and fancies.
“Have you ever invited other party representatives while designing the Telangana Thalli statue in the past,”he questioned BRS chief K Chandrasekhar Rao (KCR).
He said that KCR always tried to claim whole credit for achieving Telangana, though it was only made possible through the contributions made by many sections of the society and leaders from various parties.
“If Sonia Gandhi had second thoughts about granting the state, Telangana wouldn’t have been a reality today. Even the history won’t forgive us if anyoen tries to create controversy about Telangana Thalli,”he opined.
He demanded the state government to officially celebrate September 17 as Telangana Liberation Day, as the liberation of the erstwhile Hyderabad state from the Razakars was made only through the struggles waged by communist leaders.
Roads and buildings minister Komatireddy Venkat Reddy, in his speech, said that the foundation for the formation of Telangana was laid in 1999 itself, when 41 MLAs from the region led by former minister G Chinna Reddy had represented to former chief minister Dr YS Rajasekhara Reddy, and had also met Sonia Gandhi in Delhi and urged her to support the cause for separate statehood for Telangana.
“That had prompted Sonia Gandhi to constitute the UPA’s committee on Telangana’s statehood headed by Pranab Mukherjee,”he said, also reminding that KCR himself had declared on the first day of assembly sessions after the formation of Telangana, that if not for Sonia Gandhi, statehood for Telangana wouldn’t have been possible.
Instead of joining the celebrations, he said that KCR was doing all crazy things outside. He said the day TRS became BRS, its leaders lost the right to speak about Telangana Thalli, as they had no relationship with Telangana anymore.
BJP MLA Palvai Harish, who also demanded the state government to officially celebrate September 17 as Telangana Liberation Day, said that initially a sculptor from Bengal had designed the statue of Bharat Matha, which had a woman holding a ‘Japa Mala’ in one hand, and a ‘Kalasa’ in another.
He mentioned that it was former prime minister Jawaharlal Nehru and some other Congress leaders, who had modified the statue of Bharat Matha during the Congress’plenary and included a crown, jewellery and a national flag in the hands of Bharat Matha.
His point was that the Congress trying to portray Telangana Thalli as a simple woman wasn’t in line with the ideas of the grand old party’s founding leaders.
“Just by changing the name of Telangana from TS to TG, and modifying the statue’s form wouldn’t change the plight of the people,”he noted.
BJP MLAs Rakesh Reddy and Venkata Ramana Reddy raised the issue of protocol violations in their constituencies, to which legislative affairs minister D Sridhar Babu responded requesting the speaker to convene a meeting of the privileges committee, so that their issues could be addressed.
