The ugly politicking over the tragic suicide of four members of a Muslim family in Nandyal due to alleged harassment by the police in Nandyal in Kurnool district last week has become the talk of the town.
While the opposition Telugu Desam Party tried to gain maximum political mileage from the incident by making a hue and cry in its favourite media, the ruling YSR Congress party sought to neutralize the impact of the suicides by not only quickly suspending the cops responsible for the incident, but also getting them arrested.
The Jagan government paid ex-gratia of Rs 25 lakh to the family of Salam, who jumped before the train along with his wife and two kids.
The YSRC launched a counter-attack on the jTDP by exposing the latter’s double standards, as it was the TDP leader-turned-lawyer who had got the bail for the arrested cops.
The TDP also shot back saying the accused were arrested under weak sections of the IPC, so that they could get the bail easily. It also sacked the lawyer who argued for the accused cops.
Even as the controversy started subsiding, the Bharatiya Janata Party on Monday came in the defense of the arrested policemen.
State BJP president Somu Veerraju added to the controversy saying it was not proper to arrest the Nandyal cops for the mass suicides of a Muslim family.
“The police have done their duty by interrogating Salam, as they suspected him in the theft case. It was unfortunate that the family had committed suicide, but how can the police be blamed for it? Can you arrest the chief minister, if the farmers of the state commit suicide in distress?” Veerraju asked.
He alleged that both chief minister Y S Jagan Mohan Reddy and former chief minister N Chandrababu Naidu were politicizing Nandyal suicide incident.
“Are they interested only in Muslim votes? Are they not indulging in communal politics?” he asked.
The BJP president said when his party raised the issue of injustice to the Hindus and questioned the irregularities in Tirumala Tirupati Devasthanams, it was being criticized for doing Hindutva politics.
“Why? Are Hindus not human beings? Are they worried about only Muslim lives? Why are they doing vote-bank politics? Why are we branded communal and given Hindutva stigma?” he asked.
