After Six Guarantees, Revanth Reddy’s ‘Seventh Guarantee’ too now under question

Recent developments, especially the arrests of farmers and women, the way they were treated in custody, and other police excesses, raise several questions on Revanth's 'Seventh Guarantee' - restoration of democratic values in Telangana

Hyderabad: Even as Chief Minister A Revanth Reddy continues to claim restoration of democratic values in Telangana through his ‘Seventh Guarantee’, what is happening in the State indicates exactly the opposite. Recent developments, especially the arrests of farmers and women, the way they were treated in custody, and other police excesses, raise several questions on his assertions.

On one side, people are being arrested and taken into preventive custody without following due procedure, while on the other side, anyone who protests is being targeted with cases, and permission is being denied even to elected public representatives from visiting government schools and hostels, villages and other places.

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On Friday, the Chief Minister while speaking at the programme of a national television news channel, claimed that he Congress government believes in democracy. “People are being permitted to stage protests at Dharna Chowk. We have revived democracy in Telangana and that is our first success in the last one year,” Revanth Reddy said, even as film actor Allu Arjun was arrested from his house at Jubilee Hills here on Friday in an undemocratic manner. Despite the actor requesting the police to allow him to change his dress and shoes, they denied him permission to do that till he persisted.

“I will adhere to the rules and support you but you cannot barge into my bedroom. This is not correct,” Allu Arjun told the police at his house.

This is not an isolated incident. On December 5, Huzurabad MLA Padi Kaushik Reddy also faced a similar situation, when police arrived at his house in Kondapur and wanted to arrest him in connection with a case. Former Minister T Harish Rao was not permitted into Kaushik Reddy’s house. Noticing the police at Kaushik Reddy’s bedroom, he raised objection over their functioning.

“How can police enter a MLA’s bedroom and arrest him? There has to be a procedure for everything,” Harish Rao argued.

Similarly, there was a widespread outrage after the police from Sangareddy jail shifted Lagacherla tribal farmer Heerya Naik in handcuffs to a hospital on Thursday. The farmer had suffered a heart stroke on Wednesday night and the handcuffs were not removed even on the hospital bed.

On November 19, a Joint Action Committee of women organisations was denied permission to visit Lagacherla and Rotibanda Thanda. They wanted to speak to the aggrieved families of tribal farmers, who were arrested and put up in jail at Sangareddy. In the melee, the police allegedly tore the clothes of a woman member.

In another instance, several BRS leaders, including former Ministers and MLAs were placed under house arrest ahead of the Chief Minister’s visit to Nalgonda on December 7.

In a classic case of police excess, a row erupted after Accredited Social Health Activist (ASHA) workers were arrested on December 9. They wanted to submit a representation to the Director of Medical Education (DME), Koti demanding a salary hike. However, the police, especially male officers, prevented them from staging a protest. With utter disdain, the police dragged ASHA workers from the DME office campus and bundled them into vehicles. One of the women got hurt in the process and responded with a slap on an official, which only provoked the cops further, with male officers then handling the protesting women in a rough manner.

Two days back, former Ministers P Sabitha Indra Reddy and Satyavathi Rathod and other BRS leaders were stopped from heading towards Tandur to enquire about the Saipur Tribal Welfare Girls Hostel students, who were undergoing treatment for food poisoning. Squatting on the road, Sabitha Indra Reddy said even parents were not being permitted from speaking to their children. “Chief Minister A Revanth Reddy talks about reviving democratic values. Is this democracy?” she asked, echoing what is in the mind of several others in the State, given what has been happening under Revanth Reddy’s watch.