KCR: browbeating Oppn, students, farmers, intellectuals

The slender built K Chandrasekhar Rao has almost decimated his opponents in Telangana, and is inching towards elections, early or as per schedule, with great vigour. Now nicknamed “Baahubali” in Telugu politics, after the mega-successful film, he has tried to ensure that his government’s welfare programmes touched people from all walks of life. And not just that. He wants to see that the fate of the opposition parties is sealed for a long time to come.

With the opposition on a losing wicket and KCR, as he is known, backed by the popular support, is browbeating students, farmers and intellectuals. Trying to be synonymous with Telangana, his word is final inside or outside the state Assembly.

The recent one-day special sitting of both the Houses of Telangana Assembly passed amendments to the Telangana Right to Fair Compensation and Transparency in Land Acquisition, Rehabilitation and Resettlement (Telangana Amendment Act 2016) on a Sunday in a span of 10 minutes. Members of the BJP and the Telugu Desam Party who vociferously opposed the bill were not allowed in the Assembly as the members were suspended during an earlier session. The Speaker also did not allow members of these two parties to attend the Business Advisory Committee (BAC) meeting starting a new convention.

The amendments were suggested by the Union Law Ministry while approving the Bill in December 2016. The 2016 Bill tweaks the 2013 Land Acquisition Bill of the UPA government. The Telangana bill gives the state government power to acquire land for projects, electrification, irrigation, housing, industrial corridors taken by the government and through public-private partnerships.

The TRS wanted smooth passage of the bill as Telangana wing of the TDP supported the agitation in villages earmarked for inundation at the Mallannasagar reservoir site in KCR’s backyard of Medak district. It was the first major blow to the TRS government after the formation of the separate state. The government had to impose Section 144 in a cluster of villages and restrict movement of outsiders for months to cool the temper of the farmers in those villages.

The party says that a TDP leader from Gajwel was behind the unrest. A major bill intended to decide the quantum of compensation to the oustees has been bulldozed in both Houses. The TRS, with its absolute majority in both Houses, could have allowed a meaningful debate before passing any bill, but it chose Sundays and gagged the opposition by other means.

A fortnight ago, again on a Sunday, the same House had passed the Muslim Reservation Bill hiking reservation to ‘backward Muslims’ from the existing 4% to 12%. Anticipating trouble from TDP floor leader Revanth Reddy, the lone but a strong critic of K Chandrasekhar Rao (KCR), Reddy was not allowed to attend the special session citing reasons that he was under suspension during the budget session and the session was not prorogued. While the BJP staged a walkout, the Reservation Bill found full support from main opposition Congress and the Majlis.

The Telangana Joint Action Committee known as TJAC, a partner of the TRS during the time of agitation for separate state, argues that KCR has strayed from the path that he initially wanted to tread on. “The separate state is not for the rich, it was for the poor farmers and the students who were subjugated by Andhra rulers,” TJAC chief Prof Kodandaram said. 

After the formation of the state, the TRS took all the credit for it to itself denigrating the TJAC and the role of Prof Kodandaram, its chairman. Kodandaram was kept under house arrest whenever he went against the government and even arrested him while he was on the way to meet agitating chilli farmers in Khammam.

Dharna Chowk, the designated place for protests near Indira Park close to the Telangana secretariat has finally fallen silent with the decision of the state government to shift the Chowk to the outskirts citing security reasons. The government also subdued protestors including Prof Kodandaram leading a march to save the Dharna Chowk.
Silencing voices

The Chowk was the rallying point for the pro-Telangana activists during the decade-long fight for the separate state agitation. “The KCR government is trying to silence the voices of people of Telangana as it has suppressed the democratic right by shutting down the Chowk which is close to all the people,” Kodandaram said.

“What is the point of protesting near secretariat while the chief minister never comes there? Now all the officials go to his lavish camp office which was built with tax payers’ money,” criticised Revanth Reddy. He says that the government has been splurging crores of rupees on unproductive ventures.

Reddy lashed out at the TRS for organising a mammoth public meeting in Warangal district recently on the completion of the party’s 15 years of existence, while chilli and turmeric farmers were out on the streets demanding better price.

The TRS functionaries say that KCR is making sure that the party stays in power in the coming decades to complete the agenda of ‘Golden Telangana’ he has envisioned. “It is the TRS which has got a long-term vision about the state. Other political parties in the state can’t match KCR’s vision,” former TRS MLC Satyanarayana of Sangareddy said.
With three members of KCR’s family including his son, daughter and nephew firmly behind the leader while being active in politics and leading the government, KCR, many see as invincible, at least for the 2019 elections. 

The Congress hopes that the turf war between KCR’s son and nephew would soon take a gigantic shape and eventually there will be chinks in the family armour. The BJP has grand plans for Telangana, and its national president Amit Shah will soon be visiting the state, but the national party knows that KCR is not ready to pick a fight with the Centre.