Hyderabad, Mar 16 (UNI) Bharat Rashtra Samithi (BRS) Working President Shri K. Taraka Rama Rao (KTR) strongly condemned the Telangana Congress government’s decision to ban protests at Osmania University, calling it a direct attack on democracy.
In a statement released on Sunday, he questioned whether this was the "spirit of democracy" that Rahul Gandhi and the Congress had repeatedly championed while advocating for the right to protest.
“Is this the democratic right to protest that Rahul Gandhi and the Congress claimed to uphold? If Congress truly believed in democracy, why is it resorting to authoritarian measures to silence student voices?” KTR asked.
Criticising the Congress' apparent double standards, KTR reminded the public that the party, during its election campaign, had promised the right to protest as part of its ‘Seventh Guarantee.’ However, in just over a year, the same Congress government had betrayed that promise by imposing restrictions on student protests.
KTR also highlighted repeated instances of BJP-led Union and state governments cracking down on student movements in universities across the country. He accused the Congress of mirroring the BJP's dictatorial tactics in Telangana, proving that both parties were suppressing dissent in similar ways.
“Suppressing student voices is a clear symbol of dictatorship. The Congress government in Telangana is now revealing its true colours by curbing students' fundamental right to protest. Osmania University, which played a crucial role in the Telangana movement, is now being turned into a prison under this oppressive rule,” he said.
He further criticized the government’s misplaced priorities, pointing out that instead of addressing serious issues like contaminated food in university hostels — where students recently found insects and even razor blades in their meals — the Congress government was focused on stifling student dissent.
KTR warned that the Congress government’s undemocratic actions would not go unchallenged and that students and the people of Telangana would soon give a fitting response to its betrayal. He reaffirmed that BRS would stand by students and fight against any attempt to suppress their voices.
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