Telangana Pradesh Congress Committee (TPCC) working president Mahesh Kumar Goud said the police under the Bharat Rashtra Samiti (BRS) government were handcuffing farmers while taking them to the courts as if they were criminals while BRS leaders were claiming the government to be farmer-friendly.
At a press conference here, he said any government that handcuffed farmers did not have a right to claim itself as doing good to farmers. The way the farmers were being treated as criminals was an indication of the mindset of that government, he said, referring to Bhongir police taking farmers to the court in handcuffs.
It was shameful that the farmers who tried to meet the BRS leaders and officials were charged with criminal cases and taken to the court in handcuffs and more shameful was the way police and the BRS leaders were trying to defend their decision, the Congress leader said. This was not the first time that such an incident happened, he said, and recalled how chilly farmers seeking remunerative price for the produce in Khammam were handcuffed.
Mr. Goud said Chief Minister K. Chandrasekhar Rao was going to other states promising to bring a farmer-friendly government but was not tolerating the farmers protesting when their lands were being snatched. “How can they talk of bringing a farmer-friendly government,” he asked.
Stating that farmers were facing the worst kind of suppression under the BRS government, he said those who were taking away land using the Dharani portal were being encouraged by the government and officials. He alleged that some Collectors were crossing their limits forgetting their duty and were directly supporting feudal lords who were taking lands of poor people.
‘Worst records management’
TPCC general secretary Kota Neelima, in a statement here, sad Telangana had one of the worst digital land records management system in India. Dharani portal was an example of how the State government could misuse its power to harass common citizens, while benefiting friends of those in power, she said.
She said the comments of the Chief Minister to throw the parties questioning the Dharani portal into the Bay of Bengal only reveal his arrogance, lack of commitment towards public service, and utter disregard for the well-being of common people.
Criticising the CM’s ‘misleading’ statements that Congress would bring back the old system of registrations, she said the Dharani portal would be replaced by a transparent, scientifically advanced and people-friendly portal when Congress came to power. She said the CM was also misleading people stating that the Congress would scrap Dharani and the Rythu Bandhu beneficiaries would stop getting the money.
TPCC president A. Revanth Reddy had made it clear about this, she said and added that only Congress had recognised tenant farmers in Telangana and issued Kisan Credit Cards to them. Mr. Revanth Reddy had also asserted that Rythu Bandhu was being given to farmers since 2018, which was much before the implementation of Dharani portal.
