Published Jun 06, 2026 | 7:30 PM ⚊ Updated Jun 06, 2026 | 7:42 PM
Telangana Chief Minister A Revanth Reddy.
Call it a Saturday storm kicked up with little rhyme or reason.
I have taken inspiration from Hitler, Telangana Chief Minister Revanth Reddy proclaimed at an event in Bengaluru.
Revanth dropped this shocker when asked about HYDRAA (the Hyderabad Disaster Response and Asset Protection Agency), which his government claims has recovered ₹1.26 lakh crore in lands and assets in the state.
“Poor people encroaching upon lakes and nalas, I can understand that. Nowadays, rich people are encroaching upon water bodies because of their farmhouses, because of their luxury. They are connecting their drainage connection to the water bodies. I’ve noticed all those issues. Then I have decided to establish a task force. So, I have given HYDRAA (sic),” the Chief Minister said, while beginning an answer innocuously enough, at The Hindu huddle co-sponsored by the Telangana government.
But he would soon deliver his bombshell before the interviewer, N Ram.
Diligently carrying out his responsibility of helping the CM highlight his government’s ‘achievements,’ the veteran journalist had touched upon HYDRAA. The CM felt compelled to explain the inspiration.
Without flinching in the slightest or pausing even for a moment to reflect on the damage he was about to inflict, the Congress leader continued, “Hydra, the word is Hitler’s favourite word. His core team was called Hydra, who could assassinate anyone. So, I have taken inspiration from Hitler and named it as ‘HYDRAA’.
“I have established an organisation with a senior IPS officer. I have given 3000 retired army people and others. Today, ask anyone if they can dare to encroach upon a water body in my state or Hyderabad. I demolished like anything. You can go to Iran. You can go to Israel. You can compare those demolitions with this,” he went on.
The Telangana CM seemed to have forgotten that invoking the mass murderer and Nazi supremacist who killed over six million Jews during the Holocaust is no joke. The almost equally problematic comparison to the demolition carried out by Israel and in Iran compounded his original gaffe.
Ram could only burst out laughing in response. But then again, there was possibly an etiquette to follow with co-sponsors. So, at the end of the answer and his laugh, the veteran went back to his papers.
So, did Hitler actually have a Hydra team? No, he did not.
Revanth, in fact, might have been inspired by the comics.
It was in a Marvel Comics story that the neo-fascist fictional terrorist organisation Hydra made its appearance. With “cut off one head, two more shall take its place” as its motto, it had at its head the super villain Baron Wolfgang von Strucker, a former Nazi officer. Stan Lee and Jack Kirby were behind the creation.
The Telangana CM might have conflated this memory and associated Hydra with Hitler.
The original Hydra reference was in Greek mythology and alluded to the Lernaean Hydra, a multi-headed serpentine terror that could regrow two heads where one was cut off. These remarks might turn out to be the multi-headed Hydra as far as Revanth is concerned.
Also Read: Does HYDRAA have no faith in the rule of law?
