Hyderabad: The police thwarted Bharatiya Janata Party’s (BJP) attempt to lay siege to the Telangana Assembly on Monday, March 23, by arresting hundreds of party workers, including its state president N Ramchander Rao.
BJP had called for “Chalo Assembly” on Monday, as a protest against the Congress government failing to implement its six guarantees, and to pressure the state government to implement Pradhan Mantri Fasal Bima Yojana (PMFBY).
Several BJP workers, led by Ramchander Rao, managed to get close to the Assembly and raised slogans against the state government. The massive police personnel presence near the Assembly swiftly acted and arrested all the protesters, later shifting them to various police stations.
“This protest is just the beginning. We will continue the struggle till this government is defeated,” said Ramchander Rao, even as he was being taken away in a police vehicle.
Addressing the media at Punjagutta Police Station, where he was taken to, Rao said that the Congress has deceived all sections of the people by not implementing its guarantees made for them.
He said that, except for the free bus rides for women, the people have not seen the benefits of any other guarantees given by the Congress in the various declarations it has made before the 2023 assembly elections.
Rao said that Rs 45,000 of Rythu Bharosa financial benefit to the farmers was still outstanding, and Rs 8,000 crore fees reimbursement dues were yet to be released, due to which the colleges have been withholding the certificates of the students.
He also accused the state government of not standing by its word on increasing the pension of the people with disabilities and women. He criticised the government for not giving retirement benefits to government employees.
“I have written several letters to the government raising all these issues, but the government has not responded. This is why we decided to take our protest to the Assembly. The arrest of 800 party workers, which includes 150 women, and lodging them in nine police stations in the city shows the repressive tactics being used by the Congress government,” he said.
Making it clear that the BJP will not be cowed down by such actions, he stated that it was atrocious on the part of the ruling party to “illegally arrest” those from the Opposition who were questioning the failures of the state government.
He said such arrests would only embolden them further to fight, and that the BJP would continue its struggle to uphold dharma rigorously for the resolution of the people’s issues.
Union Minister for Home Affairs Bandi Sanjay strongly condemned the arrests. In a post on X, he said, “Is raising a democratic protest on the 6 guarantees now a crime in Telangana? 27 months in power, yet Congress has failed to implement its promises. Instead of delivering, the government is pushing the state into debt with no intent to fulfill commitments.”
He demanded the release of Ramchander Rao and the BJP workers immediately and threatened that If the Congress government does not, the “BJP will intensify its protest across the state.”
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