The Bharat Rashtra Samithi (BRS) on Tuesday staged vigorous protests inside both Houses of the Telangana Legislature—the Legislative Council and Assembly—demanding justice for Lagcherla farmers arrested in a land acquisition case. The protest was led by BRS Members of the Legislative Council (MLCs) and Members of the Legislative Assembly (MLAs), who wore black clothes and even handcuffed themselves as a symbolic show of protest against the jailed farmers.
The agitation was prompted by the arrest of more than 40 farmers from Lagcherla village in the Chief Minister's constituency. These farmers were protesting against the acquisition of their lands for a pharmaceutical city. On Monday, BRS leaders, including Working President KT Rama Rao and MLA Harish Rao, also staged an assembly protest with placards demanding the immediate release of the arrested farmers and the withdrawal of all charges against them.
KT Rama Rao, while addressing the media, sharply criticized the Telangana government, led by Chief Minister Revanth Reddy, accusing the administration of targeting farmers to settle personal scores. "For the last 40 days, more than 40 farmers have been jailed because of the CM's bruised ego. Do people actually place tourists over farmers? We want these farmers freed immediately and their cases dropped," he said.
BRS protests increased the political fever in the state even more sharply, provoking cutthroat reactions from the opposition parties. TPCC chief Mahesh Kumar Goud accused the BRS government of failing to pay any attention to the development of state infrastructure for the past decade. The project of Lagcherla Pharma City was irresistibly placed beyond commissioning by Goud, someone who considered this project a 'closed chapter' as the BRS-led government had also done nothing about industrial infrastructure in the state.
The controversy stirred in November when many villagers from Lagcherla had been arrested for assaulting government authorities as they protested against land acquisition plans. The issue has since remained a hub around which government and opposition parties throw barbs at one another while leaving the plight of farmers in Telangana as the ruling political discourse.
