Revanth Reddy Cabinet wants state emblem, design of Telangana Talli, and the state code, TS, for vehicles registered in Telangana changed.
The Telangana Cabinet has decided to change the emblem of the state government, the design of Telangana Thalli (pictured), and adopting poet Ande Sri's Jaya Jayahe Telangana as the state's anthem. (Abdh266/Wikimedia Commons)
Is Telangana Chief Minister A Revanth Reddy silently working to hit the BRS where it hurts the most: To disassociate K Chandrashekar Rao’s role in whipping up the people’s regional sentiments and making the state of Telangana a reality?
Apparently so. Revanth Reddy is unobtrusively working to establish that Chandrashekar Rao — or KCR as is popularly known — did more harm to Telangana than good. He is projecting his political rival as the one who minted millions by exploiting the people’s support.
A recent Telangana Cabinet meeting made a few decisions to erase KCR from people’s memory whenever they recalled the Telangana movement, a struggle demanding a separate state that often turned violent.
The decisions included changing the emblem of the state government, the design of Telangana Thalli, adopting poet Ande Sri’s Jaya Jayahe Telangana as the state’s anthem, and changing the state code on vehicle registration plates to TG from the present TS.
Nirmal resident B Venkataramana Chari drew inspiration from KCR questioning Telugu Talli (Andhra Mata) during his struggle for a separate state and designed Telangana Talli and installed it at the KRS (now BRS) headquarters at Jubilee Hills in 2003. It was later redesigned to look like the ‘Bharat Mata’.
Telangana Talli became the symbol of the Telangana agitation. Wearing a crown and holding maize in one hand — reflecting the prosperity of the region — and Bathukamma, the unique, cultural symbol of Telangana, in the other, Telangana Talli represented the Goddess of Telangana and the Telangana dialect.
Revanth Reddy later justified the Cabinet’s decisions. “The Telangana Thalli statute, in its present form, does not symbolise the Telangana women. The Telangana women have a fighting streak in them. They fought against injustice, like Chakali Ilamma.”
Telangana CM Revanth Reddy. (Supplied)
Ilammam was an ordinary Rajaka woman, who later became a source of inspiration for fighting for her rights when the then zamindars tried to usurp her land in the erstwhile Warangal district.
The chief minister explained that the Telangana Thalli symbolised only feudal women. The Telangana Thalli in its present form was an unrealistic representation of the Telangana woman or Telangana sentiment.
“It symbolises the class that exploited the people,” the chief minister said.
On Telangana’s state emblem, Revanth Reddy said it did not represent the people’s struggles for the creation of the Telangana state. It was born out of the feudal mindset, he said, and pointed out how KCR had decided on TS as the state code for vehicles registered in Telangana.
After the formation of Telangana in 2014, the Centre suggested TG as the state code for vehicle registration. But KCR preferred TS, which according to Revanth Reddy, was done to remind the people of TRS.
“At the peak of the Telangana movement, the youths had tattooed TG on their bodies and wanted Telangana to have TG as its acronym. It was the wish of the people of Telangana, but KCR, with scant regard for the people’s sentiment, changed it to TS with narrow political interests in mind,” he said.
Another Cabinet decision was to adopt Dalit poet Ande Sri’s Jaya Jayahe Telangana as the state’s anthem.
Revanth Reddy said since Telangana lacked an anthem, he decided on Ande Sri’s poem because it inspired millions during the Telangana movement. The poem could not find favour with KCR. By adopting the anthem, his government wanted to honour the Dalit poet, he said.
Expectedly, the BRS took strong exception to the proposed changes. Its resentment found an echo in the state Legislative Assembly on Wednesday, 14 February. BRS member Kadiam Srihari lashed out at the Congress government for contemplating changes to the emblem.
Kakatiya Kala Thoranam. (B Sridhar Raju/Wikimedia Commons)
“Kakatiya Kala Thoranam and Charminar, whose images are on the state emblem, were not constructed by KCR. Jaya Jayahe Telangana, which is being notified as the state anthem has lyrics that praised Kakatiya Kala Thoranam and Charminar,” he said, adding that making the changes amounted to insulting the people of Telangana.
Kakatiya Kala Thoranam is a historical, ornamental arch in Warangal.
Rubbing salt into the BRS’s wounds, the state government laid the foundation stone for former prime minister Rajiv Gandhi statue in front of the state Secretariat.
Objecting, BRS MLA Palla Rajeshswar Reddy said that the previous government wanted to erect the statue of Telangana Thalli at the place where the Congress government had laid the foundation stone.
“We could not do it because by then the elections for the Assembly had arrived. The Congress government is trying to efface the identity of the Telangana movement on the advice of Andhra leaders. We are demanding that the government withdraw its decision to install Rajiv Gandhi’s statue in front of the state Secretariat,” he said.
A couple of days ago, former MP B Vinod Kumar said that the state government’s emblem included Kakatiya Kala Thoranam and Charminar.
“Can anything else replace them to represent Telangana?” he asked while interacting with the media. He said the Kakatiya dynasty represented the rulers from Backward Classes.
Charminar. (Wikimedia Commons)
“They ruled the Telugu people, earning appreciation from all sections. Also, no one can separate Charminar from Hyderabad. They are intertwined and inseparable,” he said.
The interlinking of lakes, a great concept in the conservation of water, was the initiative of the Kakatiyas and now an attempt was being made to make the people forget the contribution of the Kakatiya dynasty in enriching the Telangana society, he said.
The fulcrum of Revanth Reddy’s campaign for the Assembly elections was the injustice done to the kin of those who had laid down their lives for Telangana state and the injustice meted out to them after the creation of Telangana. The chief minister appeared to be painting KCR as one who was inimical to people’s struggle.
As most of the Telangana protagonists were marignalised by the KCR’s dispensation after the formation of Telangana, Revanth Reddy found it right to plot KCR’s fall. He kept stressing on how KCR had dumped Prof M Kodandaram, whose contributions made a separate state a reality.
Revanth Reddy, after coming to power, recommended Kodandaram’s name for appointment as an MLC under the Governor’s quota, as an act of reparation for the mistake committed by KCR. But the process hit a roadblock with the high court ordering a stay on his nomination.
The chief minister frequently mentions the late balladeer Gaddar — Gummadi Vithal Rao — who was born into a Scheduled Caste family and dedicated his life to fighting for the rights of the underprivileged.
Balladeer Gaddar. (Supplied)
Though his struggle for Telangana was widely known, KCR did not entertain Gaddar. Revanth Reddy used to speak of how KCR made Gadar wait outside his official residence, Pragati Bhavan (now Praja Bhavan), under the scorching sun for three hours.
In honour of Gaddar, Revanth Reddy recently announced that the Nandi Film Awards, which the state presents annually, would henceforth, be named after Gadar. He also ensured a Congress ticket for his daughter GV Venela in the Secunderabad Cantonment Assembly constituency. She lost to the BRS candidate.
Even on the day of his swearing-in at LB Stadium on 7 December last, he felicitated the Telangana protagonists and the kin of the Telangana martyrs. He had a separate dais set up for them, in deference to their contribution to the Telangana movement, which was intended to expose the callous and insensitive nature of KCR when he was in power for 10 years.
The desire of the people of Telangana, who faced discrimination for decades, for a separate state took the form of an organised struggle for the first time in 1969.
It turned violent and several youths died in police firing. After the then prime minister Indira Gandhi ended the agitation with her eight-point programme, a memorial was built in front of the Public Gardens in Hyderabad. Called Gun Park, it was in memory of 363 people, mostly youth, who fell to police bullets during the agitation.
It may not be easy for Revanth Reddy now to obliterate the memories of KCR leading the second phase of the Telangana movement. It was KCR who rekindled the dormant desire for the Telangana state in the people in 2001.
Opposition leader K Chandrashekar Rao. (File pic/Supplied)
He resigned as deputy speaker of the Andhra Pradesh Legislative Assembly the same year and fired the opening salvo for the second phase of the Telangana movement by founding the Telangana Rashtra Samiti the same year at Jala Drishyam, on the banks of Hussain Sagar Lake in Hyderabad.
KCR, after he raised the banner of revolt for Telangana in 2001, quickly found traction among the people who were probably just waiting for the right leader to lead them. After more than a decade of struggle, KCR ensured the formation of the Telangana state in 2014 and became the identity of the movement.
In the heady days of the formation of Telangana state, KCR did not find it difficult to ride to power as people backed him as a token of gratitude. His TRS won 63 of the 119 seats in Telangana Assembly and when he sought the mandate in 2018, Telangana sentiment turned into a MacGuffin, necessary to win the election.
Though the Telangana state was by then a fait accompli, he drew on the memories of the movement to ride back to power.
Revanth Reddy who rode to power on the anti-incumbency wave in 2023, has been seeking means to efface the image of KCR from the emotive issue of the Telangana movement. It may not be easy.
KCR always succeeded in stirring a riptide of emotions in people whenever he recalled the days of struggle, as he did on Tuesday, 13 February, at Nalgonda.
He readied people for another agitation for protesting Telangana’s interests in the Krishna water issue. His call appeared to have found traction with the people though it was the same people who defeated the BRS in the 30 November Assembly elections.
The BRS has been keeping its powder dry ready to foil Revanth Reddy’s strategy. BRS leader T Harish Rao stated in the state Assembly that if Revanth talked about the Telangana movement, it would be like the devil quoting the scriptures.
His argument was based on the premise that during the peak of the Telangana movement, Revanth Reddy was with the Telugu Desam Party which was against the division of the state.
The BRS would keep recalling Revanth Reddy brandishing a gun before leaving the TDLP office in the Assembly when the local Telangana leaders tried to obstruct TDP leader N Chandrababu Naidu’s programme in the Medak district.
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