Basheer Bagh Firing: True Example Of Chandrababu Naidu's Dictatorial Rule Rule And Anti-Farmer Rule

Twenty years ago on this day in 2000, police firing near Basheer Bagh area in Hyderabad killed three protesters named Ramakrishna, Vishnuvardhan Reddy, Balaswamy. The parties including the Congress, CPI & CPI(M) were protesting against the then Telugu Desam Party (TDP) government's controversial decision to hike power tariff.

TDP supremo Chandrababu Naidu ordered police firing on the farmers, opposition leaders, and protestors who had gathered near the statue of Jagjivan Ram in Basheer Bagh to protest against the power hike. The Basheer Bagh event was a grim reminder of Chandrababu Naidu's rule and it is an example of his dictatorial and anti-farmer rule.

On August 28th, 2000, the protesters gathered near the statue of Jagjivan Ram in Basheerbagh, about one kilometre away from the buildings of the State Assembly.The protesters had tried to take out a rally towards assembly from Basheerbagh protesting the government's decision to hike power tariff. The Assembly Session was going on that day.

The activists, led by CPI(M)'s BV Raghavulu and CPI 's S Sudhakara Reddy, refused to obey the prohibitory orders and tried to elude the police cordon to go to the assembly.

Still, police managed to drive them back and they tried to disperse the crowd. But they finally resorted to firing for approximately 45 minutes. Many people were wounded and on that fateful day which is now known as a black day on democracy, three people died.

The Opposition gave a call for a State-wide bandh to protest against the undemocratic police firing on that day. TDP leader Chandrababu Naidu, however, blamed the extremist elements for the violence and criticised the Congress for allowing itself to be led into an alliance with Marxist- Leninist groups.

People termed the police firing as absolutely undemocratic and it was against the genuine people's protest. Many political leaders raised their voices against Chandrababu Naidu. S Sudhakara Reddy (CPI) said that the “Police response was brutal, instead of indulging in a lathi charge, teargas, water cannons, they straightaway resorted to firing on peaceful demonstrators, aiming at their heads instead of below the knee as required”.