BJP, CPI Oppose Move To Shift Dharna Chowk

Telangana State BJP president Dr K Laxman today reiterated that his party would stoutly oppose the proposed shifting of Dharna Chowk from Indira Park.

Speaking to mediapersons on Thursday, Dr Laxman said that Dharna Chowk at Indira Park was the place where the Telangana supporters had organized dharnas in support of separate statehood, and which gave life to various agitations.

The government wanted to shift Dharna Chowk to prevent any resentment in the people from gaining mileage, he alleged, and said that the government's proposal, if implemented, would amount to curbing the rights of the people, employees, students and political organizations. He demanded that any move to shift Dharna Chowk be withdraw.

BJP floor leader in the Telangana Assembly G Kishan Reddy echoed similar views. He said that Dr Babasaheb Ambedkar provided the right to the people through the Constitution to protest peacefully in support of their demands. It was not proper to shift the place where the people tried to draw the notice of the government to their problems peacefully by organizing dharna and protests, to an obscure and far-off location.

"This is not the Nizam period, and dictatorial attitudes will not be tolerated," he said.

The CPI, too, asked the Chief Minister to withdraw the proposal to shift Dharna Chowk from Indira Park, and warned him against trying to suppress the voice of the democracy.

CPI national general secretary Suravaram Sudhakar Reddy addressed a letter to the Chief Minister in this regard on Thursday.

He said in the letter that the leaders of various people's organizations and MLAs addressed the dharnas staged at Dharna Chowk by various people primarily becaue Dharna Chowk was located in the centre of the city and thus very accessible. Top leaders addressing gatherings there also resulted in the media publishing about and transmitting the proceedings.

And this was exactly what the Chief Minister was trying to scuttle, he claimed. By shifting Dharna Chowk to the city's outskirts, he wanted to see that the dharnas did not attract crowds and media coverage.

He termed the move as an atrocious and anti-democratic act. Organizing dharnas was common in a democratic country like India where the elected governments often failed to fulfill the aspirations of the people. The people would express their dissent in various forms by organizing meetings and dharnas, conducting press meets etc.

Trying to directly or indirectly throttle these avenues would result in people getting angry and organizing such activities without taking permissions, leading to friction, he said. He pointed out that the Central government allowed people to stage dharnas at Jantar Mantar right in Parliament Street.

He warned that the leaders that they would lose their power if they attempted such undemocratic activities, and asked the state government to withdraw its move to shift Dharna Chowk.

In the Assembly, Congress Legislature Party leader K Jana Reddy too protested the shifting of Dharna Chowk from Indira Park.