Reacting to Home Minister Amit Shah's statement that Hindi should be accepted as an alternative to English, and not local languages, Telangana Rashtra Samithi (TRS) working president K T Rama Rao on Saturday warned that language chauvinism and hegemony in the country will boomerang.
Highlighting unity in diversity as India's strength, KTR, as Rama Rao is popularly known, tweeted, "India is a union of states and a true 'Vasudhaika Kutumbam'. Why don't we let people of our great nation decide what to eat, what to wear, who to pray to and what language to speak! Language chauvinism/hegemony will boomerang.
"I am an Indian first, a proud Telugu and Telanganaite next. Can speak in my mother tongue Telugu, English, Hindi and a little bit of Urdu too. To impose Hindi and diss English will be a great disservice to the youngsters of this nation who have global aspirations. #stopHindiImposition."
In many cases, sincere party workers are feeling ignored and sidelined. There are muffled voices that all this could boomerang at some stage. In Vizag district, Yadava, Velama, Gavara, Turpu Kapu and fisher-folk are politically dominant. The YSRCP has mainly focused on Velama and Yadava communities. It has given both the local bodies constituency MLC tickets to Yadavas and Velamas. Its candidates Vamsikrishna Srinivas and V Kalyani belong to Yadava and Velama communities respectively.
Even posts like Vizag mayor, DCMC chairperson and VMRDA chairperson posts have gone to the Yadavas, while DCCB post has gone to the Velamas. As a result of this policy, key leaders of the party, who belong to other communities, are getting disgruntled. For instance Madugula MLA B Mutyalanaidu, SC MLA Golla Baburao, Kapu leaders Gudivada Amarnath are also trying for ministerial positions.
There is a lot of speculation as to who would get the minister posts. These caste calculations are becoming a hot topic of discussion. The other castes are unhappy that the majority of posts are going into the kitty of one or two communities. If Jagan does not rectify this, it could prove costly for him, say analysts.
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