Vijayawada: Leaders of the Congress party, including some former Union Ministers, were arrested on Wednesday while trying to garland a statue of Mahatma Phule on the eve of his 191st birth anniversary.
Former Union Ministers M.M. Pallam Raju and J.D. Sheelam, Rajya Sabha member K.V.P. Ramachandra Rao, APCC Chief Dr N. Raghuveera Reddy, Kanumuri Bapiraju and C. Ramachandraiah arrived at Tummalapalli Kalakshetra on Wednesday morning to garland the statute. However, they were prevented from doing so. They were told by the police, the Chief Minister was scheduled to garland the same statue later that day, and that they would not be allowed to garland it before him.
The Congress leaders and members of the cadre began raising slogans against the police and sat on in the road in protest against the police’s action of not allowing them to garland the statue. When the police tried to make them get up, a verbal duel ensued. It eventually led to a scuffle, and the police resorted to a lathi charge.
The police then forcibly took the leaders to the One Town Police Station. After their arrest, the leaders continued to stage a protest at the police station until they were released.
Mr Ramachandra Rao said that the people would soon teach Mr Naidu a lesson.
Speaking to media persons at Andhra Ratna Bhawan later in the day, Dr Raghuveera Reddy asked how the government could arrest leaders of the Congress party for attempting to garland the statue of Mahatma Phule. He said that by doing so, Chief Minister Chandrababu Naidu had insulted the Dalits and oppressed communities. The APCC chief demanded that the Chief Minister tender an apology to the oppressed sections of society for the unfortunate incident.
“The police told us that nobody would be allowed to garland the statue until the CM garlanded it. Is this democracy?” Mr Reddy asked.
