Vanchit Bahujan Aghadi (VBA) chief Prakash Ambedkar questioned Telangana chief minister K Chandrashekhar Rao on the case of violence against two youngsters in Mancherial on the suspicion that they stole a goat.
Pointing out the National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB) data on atrocities against Dalits in Telangana in the tenure of chief minister KCR, Ambedkar said that he was ‘horrified’ by the ‘sheer cruelty of the caste atrocity.’
“Absolutely barbaric. I am horrified by the sheer cruelty of the caste atrocity. Are we not thought of as humans? What’s happening in your state,
@TelanganaCMO? A total of 12,643 Dalit atrocities happened in Telangana under your tenure (NCRB 2014 to 2021),” he said in a post on X on Sunday, August 3.
One of the two youngsters belongs to the Dalit community.
The two victims were allegedly tortured and hanged upside down on a pole for stealing a goat in Mandamarri, Mancherial district on Saturday, September 2.
According to the media reports, the accused Komurajula Ramulu, his wife Swarupa, and their son Srinivas of Angadi bazar in Mandamarri, were rearing a herd of goats at Ganganeellapampula on the outskirts of the town and one of their goats was missing 20 days ago.
They suspected Teja aged 19, a shepherd boy, and Chilumula Kiran aged 30, a Dalit man of being involved in the theft.
The incident came to light on Saturday after Teja and Kiran, who had suffered serious injuries, went home and narrated the incident.
Post that, Kiran’s aunt, Nitturi Sarita reached the police and lodged a missing report.
The police booked a case against Ramulu and others under the SC, ST Atrocities Prevention Act. The case is currently under investigation.
As the state elections are approaching and the VBA chief’s interest in expanding the party’s presence in Telangana, the remarks against KCR gain significance.
Speaking to Siasat.com in August, Ambedkar didn’t entirely strike out the possibility of a possible alliance with the Bharat Rashtra Samithi (BRS).
“Whoever is against BJP-RSS… we are open to an alliance with them. Let’s say that in 2024 our target is to see that the BJP-RSS does not come to power,” he had said.
