Darsanam Venkataiah of Chinna Mupparam village in Mahabubabad grabbed political limelight in Telangana with expletives targeted at the Chief Minister, A Revanth Reddy. He regrets his words but the story behind his anger, frustration and helplessness deserves to be heard.
Published Apr 09, 2025 | 4:00 PM ⚊ Updated Apr 23, 2025 | 8:45 PM
Darsanam Venkataiah
Synopsis: Darsanam Venkataiah, whose video of using expletives at Telangana Chief Minister A Revanth Reddy went viral and landed two women journalists in jail, speaks his truth. He was frustrated at the state breaching his trust, besides breaking the promise made while taking away his land where he grew corn. The farmer — who now regrets the expletives — narrated his tale to South First.
Darsanam Venkataiah grabbed the political spotlight unintentionally — and with an explosive effect.
The frail 77-year-old Dalit farmer was unknown to Telangana until he gave vent to his frustration in expletives targeting Chief Minister A Revanth Reddy.
Pulse News, a digital media platform, amplified Venkataiah’s uncut frustration. The expletives at the chief minister spread on social media, dividing netizens in a politically charged atmosphere.
The police acted swiftly. On 12 March, Telangana woke up to a viral video of Pulse News CEO Pogadadanda Revathi, informing of her arrest around 5 am. Reporter Tanvi Yadav, too, was arrested for airing the profanities voiced by the farmer.
Venkataiah came to know of the case the Hyderabad Cyber Crime Police had registered for attempting to incite enmity and the arrests much later.
The arrests caused a furore in the state. The media, too, focused on the merits and demerits of the arrests, even as Venkataiah remained an invisible presence.
The cause for his frustration was not adequately probed.
“The police might pick me up and take me. So I thought I should tell everybody,” Revathi said in the video. “One thing is clear: Chief Minister Revanth Anumula wants to silence or threaten me or put pressure on my family,” she alleged.
Revathi and Yadav were arrested based on a complaint by a Congress member. Following the complaint, the police also inspected the Pulse News office and seized laptops and hard drives.
Additional Commissioner of Police Vishwa Prasad claimed the investigators had uncovered a ‘nexus’ between Pulse News and the Opposition BRS.
“The preliminary investigation has established a nexus between a political party and Pulse News,” Prasad said.
Police also said that the octogenarian, then unknown, seen in the video would face legal consequences. Subsequently, on 19 March, following the remand of both journalists, the police identified and picked up Venkataiah from his residence in the Mahabubabad district.
His detention caused much anger online, with people deeming it oppressive. He was dropped back at his residence at about 2 am the next day.
Venkataiah lives at Chinna Mupparam, a village six kilometres from the nearest bus stand between Thorrur and Mahabubabad.
Venkataiah’s house at Chinna Mupparam.
Venkataiah’s hut, with an entrance too short for anyone with an average height, is located close to an Ambedkar statue in the village.
When South First visited the man, he was sitting under the shade, his eyes following his grandkids playing around the house.
A bag — one provided by a textile showroom to carry home new clothes — occupied prominent space in a corner of the house. It held the tale of Venkataiah’s two decades battle for his land.
Pointing at the bag that has several laminated original documents, Venkataiah explained his anger and what had pushed him to lash out against the chief minister.
“I belong to the scheduled Madiga caste. Since my grandfather’s time, we had about five acres in Chinna Mupparam. It had been providing us with livelihood for generations. We grew corn there,” he reminisced.
“One day in 2006, I was told to give it up. The Revenue Department told me that my land was a part of the forest. I had to give up my only source of income. I was promised compensation,” he continued.
The news clipping and the letters
However, despite losing his land, it took an additional five years before Venkataiah received a replacement plot.
“The SC Corporation sanctioned ₹60,000 for me under the Land Purchase Scheme in 2006. It took until 2011 for me to receive land in Somakunta. The ₹60,000 didn’t help much. I ended up with two acres some 20-odd kilometres away. Even then, I didn’t complain. I could finally make an income again,” Venkataiah explained.
However, even this little happiness was short-lived. “Around 2015, the government took back this piece of land. They allotted us a plot that would flood easily and had good groundwater reserves. Hence, they dug up three wells on that plot and prevented me from cultivating the land. I was told to give up my livelihood for a greater cause,” he added.
Venkataiah supported his claim of the government taking away his land with a copy of the government’s response to a 2021 complaint made to the State Human Rights Commission.
Responding to the commission, the government stated that the land allotted to Venkataiah was shikham — state-owned — and hence could not be left in his possession anymore due to the presence of the wells.
Additionally, the state requested the commission to dismiss his complaint as it could not “identify suitable replacement land”.
“Since 2015, I’ve been roaming government offices, trying to request the officers to notice my plight. It was fruitless,” he explained, showing the copies of various letters he had written to the Revenue Department and the Mahabubabad Collector.
“The only time I came close to a resolution was in 2019. Namasthe Telangana reported my issue. The Joint Collector came here and took me to the nearby two-BHK project. He made me sign something, took a few pictures, and sent me back,” he said.
While Venkataiah hoped for something concrete, nothing happened.
Whenever he had to make a formal request, he had to shell out extra money to get an application written, since he had had little education.
Venkataiah claimed to have met Revanth Reddy personally.
“In September 2023, I took a train to Hyderabad. I got off at the Begumpet Station and walked to Revanth Reddy’s residence in Jubilee Hills. After a long wait, I met him. I fell at his feet and requested him to solve my problem. He promised to look into it,” the farmer said.
“This happened with his predecessor YS Rajasekhara Reddy also. He, too, assured me that something would be done. He ensured that I was sanctioned ₹60,000 from the SC Corporation,” he added.
Venkataiah did not hide the fact that he was inclined toward the BRS.
“I like the BRS. They were a part of the Telangana movement, and I respect KCR. However, even they couldn’t do much for me. When I spoke of my trouble, KTR once assured me that he’d also look into it and sent me home with a sack of rice,” he revealed.
Venkataiah has been living at Chinna Mupparam ever since he was born, like his wife and parents. Interactions with fellow villagers are often loud and colourful, where expletives are used to accentuate points.
While walking around the village, relatives and friends greet him, poking fun at their lives without much filter. However, urban societies often perceive such language as crass — and often abusive.
On the day the video was shot, Venkataiah had taken a train to Hyderabad and walked about six kilometres to Telangana Bhavan from the Begumpet Railway Station. It was K Chandrashekar Rao’s birthday.
At Telangana Bhavan, Tanvi Yadav of Pulse News approached him for a byte.
“I feel bad for what I have said. I was deeply anguished over my land. When I got the opportunity to be heard, I lost control and scolded the chief minister, hurling abuses. I do not disrespect people. That day was a very bad one for me,” he regretted the abuses.
Subsequently, on 19 March, after the FIR had been registered, the police showed up at Venkataiah’s house.
“I was having lunch. They said we have to leave immediately. I told my wife not to worry, took my bag, and went with them,” he said.
The man said the police personnel treated him well.
“They ensured that I ate food after reaching Hyderabad and were kind to me. They asked me only a few questions. They asked me if I gained any monetary benefits from speaking in the video. I did not. Then they asked me if I had any enmity towards the chief minister. I explained my predicament. Then, they let me go, dropping me off at home around 2 am,” he described the experience.
“The police told me not to speak for such videos in the future,” he added.
As Venkataiah narrated his story to South First, his 50-year-old wife Darsanam Lakshmi kept interjecting.
Venkataiah and his wife Lakshmi at Somakunta.
“We used to work in our fields and make ends meet comfortably until about 20 years ago,” she explained.
“Today, my husband’s pension of ₹2,000 keeps us going. However, it is not enough. So we both work as farmhands in another’s field for ₹250 a day. People in the city talk about having a day off. For us, a day off is a day without food,” she continued while grinding peanuts, chillies, and tomatoes into a paste.
On most days, it is the only ‘curry’ they can afford to have with rice bought from the ration shop.
“Even the daily wage work we depend on is available only for about five months. During the remaining months, we do odd jobs to make ends meet,” she sighed.
The couple has two daughters, Kalyani and Dharani, both married with children.
Kalyani’s visits to Chinna Mupparam with her children are happy occasions for the family. However, this time it was different.
“Her husband beat her and sent her with kids back to us because the land we gave as dowry is unusable,” Lakshmi said as her eyes welled up.
“Does he think we’d be ashamed of our daughter being home? She is our daughter. She’ll never be a burden. She will stay here as long as she needs to,” Lakshmi asserted.
Venkataiah has no intention to let his land go. “In January, I went to the court to try and file a petition regarding my land. I will continue the fight until I get something to leave behind for my children,” he said firmly.
“I’m 77. It’s only by god’s grace that I can still work. Recently, my abdomen hurts while working and I am worried. Who knows how long I have left? I don’t want to pass on before I see my struggle bearing fruit,” he said, his light brown eyes fixed at a distance.
(Edited by Majnu Babu).
