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Journalism of Courage
The Bhim Army chief and Azad Samaj Party president, Chandra Shekhar Aazad, has invited Telangana Chief Minister and Bharat Rashtra Samithi (BRS) supremo K Chandrasekhar Rao or KCR to be the chief guest at the Bhim Army Mahasabha to be held in Jaipur on August 26.
During his current visit to Telangana, Aazad called on KCR. They held a long discussion over the Dalit issues in the country, including atrocities against the community.
Aazad was invited by the BRS government to visit the 125 feet tall statue of B R Ambedkar in Hyderabad.
He lauded the state government’s flagship scheme, “Dalit Bandhu”, under which a financial assistance of Rs 10 lakhs is given to the Dalit beneficiaries.
According to an official release, Aazad “hailed” KCR’s efforts for the uplift of the weaker sections. He called the KCR government’s welfare schemes for the welfare and development of the Dalit community a “model”, hoping that it would be replicated across the country. He also praised the installation of the 125-foot Ambedkar statue besides the naming of the new Telangana Secretariat complex after Ambedkar.
KCR and Aazad also discussed issues related to social discrimination and division in the name of caste and religion in the country.
The Bhim Army founder also met BRS MLC K Kavitha, the daughter of KCR, who told him that her party would stand by his campaign to press for the naming of the new Parliament building after Ambedkar and for installation of Ambedkar’s statue there.
Kavitha said they discussed their respective political policies and the programmes being undertaken by the BRS government for the welfare of Bahujans and Dalits in Telangana. Kavitha assured Aazad of the BRS’s support in his struggle for the cause of the vulnerable and marginalised communities, underlining KCR’s commitment to the uplift of weaker sections like the Scheduled Castes (SCs), Scheduled Tribes (STs), Backward Classes (BCs), and the minority communities.
Aazad also raised the issue of the Manipur crisis, calling it the “worst thing to happen in the country”, demanding the BJP-led Centre’s intervention for its resolution.
On June 28, Aazad survived an attack when he was shot at by several assailants in Uttar Pradesh’s Saharanpur. He has been in talks with the Samajwadi Party (SP) and Rashtriya Lok Dal (RLD) for an alliance in UP for the 2024 Lok Sabha polls.
With Telangana slated for Assembly polls in December this year, KCR has stepped up outreach to his various support bases, including BCs, SCs and minorities, lining up several new sops and welfare schemes for them. On July 23, the BRS government extended a new economic support scheme for BCs — with the provision of a financial assistance of Rs 1 lakh for a beneficiary — to Muslims and Christians too.
Dalits account for about 16 per cent of Telangana’s population. In the undivided Andhra Pradesh, the Dalit community largely used to support the Congress. However, since its bifurcation in 2014, the Dalit vote has shifted almost entirely to the BRS in Telangana. In the 2014 Assembly elections, the BRS (then Telangana Rashtra Samithi) won 10 of the 14 SC seats while the Congress could win 3 and the TDP just 1 in the state. In the 2018 polls, the BRS won 16 of the 19 SC seats as against the Congress’s 2 and the TDP’s 1. In the Munugode bypoll held last October, the BRS defeated the BJP partly due to the Dalit vote as the Dalit Bandhu scheme was rolled out there as a pilot project.
