BRS condemns Congress govt’s suppression of unemployed protesters

BRS working president KT Rama Rao demanded the immediate release of a job calendar, noting that the dates promised by the Congress had already expired.

Hyderabad: The Bharat Rashtra Samithi on Friday condemned the arrests of unemployed youth and student leaders who took up a State-wide agitation for government jobs. The party accused the Congress of exploiting the unemployed for political gain before elections and then suppressing their legitimate demands once in power.

“Arresting student leaders who wanted to convey their demands peacefully is an evil act,” BRS working president KT Rama Rao said, condemning the arrests of protesters. He demanded the immediate release of a job calendar, noting that the dates promised by the Congress had already expired. He assured that the BRS would support all protest activities of the unemployed. He called for the unconditional release of the arrested student leaders and unemployed youth.

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In a statement, Rama Rao slammed the Congress party’s contradictory behaviour, noting that while they previously organised protest programmes with unemployed youth, they are now silencing the same group. “The Congress government, which claims to deliver ‘Praja Palana’ (people’s governance), is acting like a dictator, not allowing youth and students to even stage protests,” he said.

The police arrested several student leaders and members of the Bharat Rashtra Samithi Vidyarthi (BRSV) amid protests by unemployed youths in front of the Telangana Public Service Commission (TGPSC) office at Nampally here. The protests were part of the State-wide agitation by the unemployed to demand increased job opportunities.

The demonstrators, led by the Telangana Unemployment Joint Action Committee (JAC), have been advocating for a range of demands including an increase in group posts, a 1:100 ratio for Group 1 mains, and the cancellation of JV 46. The JAC had called for a siege of the TGPSC office and announced plans for an ‘Unemployed March’ with 30 lakh participants. However, the government has responded with stringent measures to prevent the march, including widespread arrests of youths traveling from the districts and heavy police deployment around the TGPSC office.

Former Ministers T Harish Rao, S Niranjan Reddy and several others condemned the arrests of unemployed youth and students, demanding for their immediate release. They denounced the arrests as a heinous act against democracy. “The unemployed have the right to protest peacefully in a democracy. Can’t they even have the freedom to express their woes by submitting a representation?” Harish Rao questioned.

Harish Rao said the Congress government dragged the students who were supposed to study, to the streets and forcing them to stage agitations. He vowed that the BRS party would continue to fight for the rights of students and the unemployed, demanding that the Congress government fulfill its electoral promises.

BRS leader RS Praveen Kumar stated that the barricades and barbed wire fences in front of the TGPSC reminded him of the international borders. He said unable to fulfill the just demands of unemployed youth, the Congress government was relying on the police, bouncers and also lies to tide over the situation. He hoped that the unemployed youth and government job aspirants who were misled by the Congress during elections, would realise the truth now. He stated that the Congress always treated people as mere voters and did not hesitate to kill them, citing the firings at Basheerbagh and Mudigonda as examples.

“While the K Chadrashekhar Rao government filled 1.6 lakh jobs i.e. 16,000 government vacancies every year, the Revanth Reddy government which promised to take up recruitment for two lakh jobs within a year, was able to notify only 6,063 jobs in past seven months. The Chief Minister who is busy poaching opposition legislators and Delhi visits, did not take any measures to resolve issues raised by the job aspirants till date,” he pointed out.