Deities and Regional Divide
Telangana Chief Minister Revanth Reddy Sparks Political Row Over Deities and Delimitation
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Telangana Chief Minister A. Revanth Reddy contrasted the BJP’s frequent use of “Jai Shri Ram” with the South’s association with Shiva worship, describing Shiva as the “God of the poor” and Ram as the “God of the rich” and casting the contrast in Dravidian-Aryan terms. He also criticized what he called the central government’s favoritism toward Gujarat and warned that population-based changes to parliamentary constituencies could widen the representation gap between northern and southern states. The BJP condemned his remarks, accusing him of dividing religious and regional communities for political gain.
Key Points
1
Reddy illustrated his delimitation concern with a comparison between Kerala and Uttar Pradesh: he said their current Lok Sabha seat counts of 20 and 80 would become 30 and 120, respectively, under a 50% increase.
2
BJP leader and Union Minister Bandi Sanjay Kumar countered Reddy by pointing to Prime Minister Modi’s association with Kashi Vishwanath and his visit to Vemulawada; Kumar also said Telangana has sites known as Dakshina Kashi and Dakshina Ayodhya.
3
Reddy argued that Ram is historically associated with kings and rulers, while Shiva represents the common working class, and connected that distinction to his description of the BJP as a party aligned with the wealthy.
4
Reddy claimed that former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh supported Gujarat’s development when Modi was Gujarat chief minister, and contrasted that with what he characterized as a lack of comparable cooperation for Telangana from the current Union government.
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