Harish Rao Slams Government Over Library Gag Orders

Senior BRS MLA and former minister Harish Rao today criticised the State government for "imposing prohibitory orders" at public libraries, and called it an attempt to silence the frustrations of Telangana's unemployed youth.

He mocked the ban on protests in universities and public libraries, and said that such measures would not erase the dissatisfaction felt by the unemployed.

Rao said that Congress leaders including Rahul Gandhi had previously used public libraries to mobilise young voters in support of their agenda, but after coming to power they were imposing prohibitory orders to restrict access to libraries.

The MLA also accused the Congress of deceiving the unemployed youth regarding the benefits it had promised them if it came into power, and of suppressing dissent by filing unlawful charges against protesters.

He alleged that the government was using restrictions to suppress dissent among students and job seekers, and accused the Congress of betraying its commitment to democratic governance in the State and reverting to the authoritarian mindset of the Emergency era.

The BRS leader also criticised the government for "failing to fulfil" its job creation promises. He said that the so-called job calendar had become a jobless calendar, with only 12,000 posts filled so far, despite claims that 60,000 vacancies would be addressed during the Congress regime. He urged the government to release a job calendar and issue notifications to fill two lakh government vacancies, as promised by the Congress during its election campaign.