TELANGANA 2 LAST (BES30)

Telangana BJP chief K Laxman had recently claimed that Telangana BJP chief K Laxman had recently claimed thatduring the statehood movement, Chief Minister K ChandrasekharRao had said ‘Hyderabad Liberation Day’ would be celebrated ina grand manner, the way it was done in some districts ofKarnataka and Maharashtra. "But, due to pressure from the MIM (a Hyderabad-basedpolitical party led by Asaduddin Owaisi), this (TRS)government is not coming forward to celebrate it," he hadalleged. CPI general secretary S Sudhakar Reddy said his partyviewed the day as "liberation from feudalism" and added thatit was "certainly an occasion to be celebrated by thegovernment". "Till now, they were refusing to do this because theythought, even the previous Congress and TDP governments (inundivided Andhra Pradesh) were afraid of celebrating it,thinking it would annoy the Muslims," he said. "The MIM opposes it (celebrating the occasion), sayingsome Muslims were killed during that period (in policeaction). There was not even a single communal clash in entireTelangana (during that period). "There were some clashes in the Marathwada region (inMaharashtra) but not in Telangana," Reddy said, adding thatthere was no need now to give "value" to what the MIM thoughtabout it. "A large number of Muslims had also supported the struggleagainst feudalism, against the Nizam. So, the governmentshould celebrate it officially by calling it whatever(Liberation Day or Merger Day) they want," he said. Reddy alleged that the RSS was "afraid" of fighting theNizam and it did not even move a "single finger" against theNizam’s rule. "They (RSS) have no moral right to even talk about theliberation of Telangana," he told PTI. "It was the Communists, the state Congress and even theArya Samaj to some extent who fought against the Nizam’s rule.They (BJP) want to take political advantage now by trying toproject it as a ‘Hindu revolt’ against a Muslim ruler. "We do not agree with it. We feel, it was a battle of thepeople against feudalism. The Nizam was supported by Hindu’zamindars’ and ‘deshmukhs’ (landed gentry). It was a fightagainst feudalism," the CPI leader added. PTI RS RSYRCRDS