BRS, Congress, BJP celebrate own versions of Sept 17

While the BRS commemmorated the day with the National Integration Day celebrations at Telangana Bhavan, the Congress-led State government organised its version as the Telangana Praja Palana Dinotsavam

Hyderabad: Telangana on Tuesday saw three different celebrations of the same event, the merger of the erstwhile Hyderabad State with the Indian union on September 17, 1948, as each of the three major political parties in the State had their own versions for the day.

While the BRS commemmorated the day with the National Integration Day celebrations at Telangana Bhavan, the Congress-led State government organised its version as the Telangana Praja Palana Dinotsavam.

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The BJP, on the other hand, was part of the Centre’s version of the day, the Hyderabad Liberation Day, as part of which programmes were organised at Parade Grounds.

Chief Minister A Revanth Reddy, speaking at the State’s official celebrations of Telangana Praja Palana Dinotsavam, warned against any attempt to derive political mileage from the Telangana armed struggle and said it would be akin to ignoring the sacrifices of Telangana martyrs of yesteryear by calling it Integration Day or Liberation Day.

Interestingly, his party’s headquarters, Gandhi Bhavan, celebrated the day as Integration Day. Similarly, many district units and leaders of the Congress continued to call it Integration Day. Not just Gandhi Bhavan, even the official X handle of Telangana Congress @INCTelangana also called it Integration Day.

Sharing a few images and videos on X, the @INCTelangana said “Telangana Integration Day celebrations at Gandhi Bhavan. TPCC president Mahesh Kumar Goud, Khairthabad MLA D Nagender and others participated…”

Addressing party leaders at Gandhi Bhavan, TPCC president Mahesh Kumar Goud said the Congress was celebrating the day since September 17, 1948, as Integration Day. However, the BJP, which was not even established then, was demanding to celebrate it as Liberation Day, he said. A few district Congress units, including those in erstwhile Nalgonda and Warangal, also celebrated the day as Integration Day.

Meanwhile, union Coal Minister G Kishan Reddy, speaking at the Hyderabad Liberation Day programme of the Centre, alleged that successive governments refused to officially celebrate the occasion on September 17, due to appeasement and vote bank politics.

The BRS, which had officially celebrated the National Integration Day while in power, on Tuesday continued the same version with party working president KT Rama Rao hoisting the national flag at Telangana Bhavan here.

Earlier, he performed a “palabhishekam” to the statue of Telangana Talli on the Bhavan premises to mark the State-wide protests launched by the BRS, opposing the State government’s installation of a statue of former Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi in front of the Secretariat, where the previous government had plans to install a statue of Telangana Talli.

Stating that Revanth Reddy installed Rajiv Gandhi’s statue to appease the Congress leadership while ignoring Telangana’s sentiments, Rama Rao said the Chief Minister had insulted the people of Telangana by unveiling Rajiv Gandhi’s statue in the place specifically earmarked for Telangana Talli’s statue.

Reiterating that once BRS returned to power, the statue would be removed and sent to Gandhi Bhavan with full honours, he said it would be replaced with the statue of Telangana Talli.

Rama Rao also ridiculed Revanth Reddy’s comments on Rajiv Gandhi’s contributions to India’s technological advancements. Stating that the Chief Minister lacked basic knowledge, he said it was not Rajiv Gandhi, but Charles Babbage who invented the computer.

“Similarly, it wasn’t Rajiv Gandhi who introduced computers to India. The Tata Institute of Fundamental Research Automatic Calculator (TIFRAC) started computer services in 1956 when Rajiv was just 12 years old,” he said, dismissing Revanth’s remarks as uninformed rhetoric.

The BRS working president also demanded the immediate release of BRS student leaders who were arrested during protests against the installation of Rajiv Gandhi statue.

“These students protested peacefully against the disrespect shown to Telangana’s heritage. They must be released immediately,” he said.