Former Lok Sabha Speaker Meira Kumar said that Congress leader Sonia Gandhi had an emotional connection with Telangana and the genuine concern emanated from the sincere desire of Telangana people with whom she had a lot of interactions that ultimately prompted her to take such a difficult decision even at the cost of losing political power in other states.
“I thank Sonia Gandhi from this platform for the creation of Telangana,” she said while participating in the celebrations of Telangana formation at Gandhi Bhavan on Friday. “We considered Telangana’s voice as God’s voice as we consider Democracy as the god. We gave a shape to their voice in the form of passing the Telangana bill in Parliament,” said Ms. Meira Kumar, who was the Lok Sabha Speaker when the Telangana bill was passed.
In a veiled attack on Prime Minister Narendra Modi, she said those questioning the method of passing the Telangana formation bill should get a befitting reply from Congressmen. “We followed all the democratic practices and principles while the passing the bill,” she said.
Praising the then Congress MPs like Ponnam Prabhakar, Anjan Kumar Yadav, Sircilla Rajaiah and Suresh Shetkar, she said they were no less than freedom fighters for their role in ensuring that the aspirations of the people were highlighted in Parliament. However, she rued that Telangana was now being ruled according to the whims of one man and his family while those surrounding him only benefitted.
Ms. Meira Kumar said Telangana needed Congress philosophy that promoted unity and development without discrimination. The development of Telangana was lopsided and confined to just Hyderabad, she argued. Earlier, she paid respects at the Martyrs Memorial recalling the sacrifices made by people for the Telangana cause.
Congress MP, N. Uttam Kumar Reddy praised Ms. Meira Kumar for ensuring the passage of the Telangana bill smoothly despite stiff opposition from some quarters. Her role in the passage of the bill was praiseworthy, he said and accused Chief Minister K. Chandrasekhar Rao of ignoring her services to the cause of Telangana.
Former Deputy Chief Minister Damodar Rajnarsimha said people were realising how they were being insulted in Telangana while they had lots of respect when Congress was in power. “You have given power to a family party twice and it is time to rethink,” he said. The AICC state in-charge Manikrao Thakare, AICC Secretaries Nadeem Javed, Rohit Chaudhary, V. Hanmanth Rao, Balaram Naik, Anjan Kumar Yadav, Kodanda Reddy, Feroze Khan, Rohin Reddy were among those present.
