Ruling BRS president and Telangana Chief Minister K Chandrashekar Rao, also known as KCR, in a veiled attack on the BJP, said stoking religious and caste fanaticism and divisiveness in society will lead to a Taliban-like situation like that in Afghanistan.
“If religious and casteist fanaticism are promoted, people are divided, such are the policies followed, it will become like hell. It will become like a Taliban-like affair, like in Afghanistan, and lead to a terrible situation. Due to this hatred, circumstances in which the country’s lifeline itself would get burnt would arise. So, especially, youth should be alert,” the CM was quoted by PTI as saying.
Addressing public meetings after inaugurating an integrated district collectorate at Mahabubabad and Kothagudem, he said the country and state can achieve progress only if there is a progressive-minded and “impartial” government at the Centre. He favoured Telangana, showing the way forward for the entire country in future politics.
He alleged that the Gross State Domestic Product (GSDP) of Telangana did not grow as it should have as the incumbent government at the Centre failed to perform on par with the state government.
The GSDP of Telangana was Rs 5 lakh crore at the time of state formation in 2014 and it rose to Rs 11.5 lakh crore today, Rao said.
“Due to the Centre’s inefficient policies, Telangana alone lost Rs 3 lakh crore,” he said. These figures are given by economists, RBI and CAG, he claimed.
The GSDP should have been Rs 14.50 lakh crore, but it stood at Rs 11.50 lakh crore due to the Centre’s policies, he alleged.
Speaking at Bhadradri-Kothagudem, Rao said the party and government that takes care of all citizens equally would be a “great one” and that hatred caused among people along communal and casteist lines would hurt the country.
“If the country faces such a disturbance, if we become like the Taliban, will investments come? Will there be jobs? Will the existing industries remain? How will society be if disturbances occur and an atmosphere of curfew, lathi-charge, and firing prevails? You all are observing what is happening today, how evil attempts to put the country on the wrong path are taking place,” he said.
Though the country is endowed with vast resources of water and electricity, there are inter-state water disputes and water shortages due to the bad policies of the Centre, he claimed.
It is shameful that the supply of drinking water and electricity is improper even in the national capital, Delhi, he said.
While this is the prevailing situation, high-sounding speeches are made which serve no purpose, he further claimed.
Referring to the public meeting proposed to be organised by the BRS at Khammam near Bhadradri-Kothagudem on January 18, he said the meeting had been planned to raise people’s awareness towards ‘saving the country’.
BRS party sources had earlier said Rao is extending an invitation to Chief Ministers of Delhi, Punjab and Kerala, Arvind Kejriwal, Bhagwant Mann, and Pinarayi Vijayan respectively, along with Samajwadi Party chief Akhilesh Yadav and former Karnataka chief minister HD Kumaraswamy to share the dais with him.