Opinion: Revanth Reddy, KCR and the politics of reinventing Telangana Talli

Through the decade when the Bharat Rashtra Samithi (BRS, which was earlier Telangana Rashtra Samithi) was in power in Telangana, its supremo K Chandrasekar Rao was hailed by the party faithful as the ‘Bapu’ of the state, the person who made Telangana possible. Not entirely off the mark given that it was sustained pressure mounted by KCR through a series of politically smart moves between 2009 and 2013 that forced the then UPA government to bifurcate Andhra Pradesh.

That branding has been sought to be dismantled by his successor in the chief minister's chair, Revanth Reddy, ever since he took charge last December. The latest step in that direction is Reddy's decision to install the Telangana Talli (The Mother of Telangana) statue on the premises of the State Secretariat. That stirred a hornet's nest because the new statue looks very different from the Telangana Talli statue that was designed during the statehood movement and installed at the BRS party office.

The statue installed now, is a commoner version minus the crown, the Bathukamma flower arrangement and the jewellery that she adorns is less elaborate. The BRS argues that the crown represents the pride of Telangana, while the Bathukamma that is displayed by women during Dussehra is a symbol of the culture of the state. An objection has also been raised to the positioning of the right hand, almost as if to remind people of the Congress party symbol. That is why the new statue has raised the hackles of the BRS, whose leaders taunt Reddy for insulting the socio-cultural milieu of Telangana and changing the image of the mother just to score brownie points over KCR. They went to town performing milk abhishekham (offering) to the original statue of Telangana Talli installed at the BRS office.

In the defence of the Congress, the new statue bears close resemblance to a common mother or a village woman in rural Telangana, unlike the earlier image that was designed like a Goddess. The chief minister, in fact, labelled the earlier statue as an unrealistic representation of the Telangana woman and symbolic of a feudal class that exploited the people. Its leaders also question the BRS criticism, asking why KCR, despite having built the Secretariat by demolishing the earlier structure that served as the Secretariat of united Andhra Pradesh, did not install the Telangana Talli statue on the premises when he was in power.

But there is more to it than meets the eye and goes beyond statue politics. One of the first decisions Reddy took on taking over as chief minister was to change the vehicle registration number plates from TS to TG. KCR had opted for Telangana State - shortened to TS instead of the more logical TG - and critics believed it was because TS aligned with the then party name, TRS. Reddy made it a point to honour Dalit poet Ande Sri who composed the song ‘Jaya Jayahe Telangana’ and made it the state anthem of Telangana. The name of the Nandi awards, which are presented every year to members of the Telugu film industry, was changed to the Gaddar awards, named so after the late balladeer Gaddar.

The choice of December 9 to install the Telangana Talli statue was significant as well. Not only is it Sonia Gandhi's birthday, but also the day in 2009 when the then Union Home minister P Chidambaram announced that the process of the formation of Telangana would start. It is an attempt to remind the people that but for the Congress, Telangana would not have been a reality. This is part of the mission to appropriate the Telangana legacy and dehyphenate KCR from the tag of the founder of Telangana.

Further raising the hackles of the BRS, Reddy installed a statue of Rajiv Gandhi outside the State Secretariat. The opposition party vowed to remove both statues if and when they came to power. The Congress, however, believes that Rajiv Gandhi, as the person who ushered in the tech revolution in India in the mid-1980s, has a place of pride in Hyderabad which, along with Bengaluru, is the epicentre of technology in the country. Its leaders believe that the party let KCR run away with the Telangana narrative and therefore the Congress icons are now needed to build a narrative in its favour.

BRS insiders believe that Reddy is aggressive in making the Congress synonymous with Telangana because he is aware of the power of Telangana sentiment. They also bemoan KCR's decision to give up on the Telangana name in TRS and convert the party name to BRS, spurred by national ambitions which eventually came to nought.

It is not an easy task for Reddy because, through the movement for statehood for Telangana, he was associated with the Telugu Desam, a party seen as opposed to bifurcation. His past association with Chandrababu Naidu is often used by his political rivals to critique him. So, Reddy's move to aggressively play the Telangana card is also with an eye to establish himself as a son of the soil, out to claim Telangana's place under the sun.