Leaders pay rich tributes to Basheerbagh martyrs

The two State governments must first reduce duration of power cuts before boasting of their plans for 24-hour supply: B V Raghavulu

Hyderabad: Several political parties on Thursday observed the 14th anniversary of the police firing at Basheerbagh and paid tributes to those who laid down their life while protesting against the power tariff hike by the then Telugu Desam government, led by N Chandrababu Naidu, in 2000.

Leaders of the YSRCP and Left parties and the Congress, while paying tributes to the martyrs, criticised that the successive governments for exploiting common people in the name of power reforms. Leaders of CPI-M, CPI and YSRCP spoke after paying tribute to Basheerbagh martyrs.

CPI-M leader B V Raghavulu said the AP and Telangana governments must ensure that duration of power cuts are reduced before boasting of their plans for 24-hour supply.

CPI leader K Narayana criticised AP Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu and Opposition leader Y S Jagan for their failure to mention the Basheerbagh incident in the Assembly.

YSRCP president and Opposition Leaders led his party members in paying homage to martyrs. Speaking on the occasion, Jagan said the then chief minister had ordered police firing on farmers protesting against power tariff hike.

TPCC president Ponnala Laxmaiah cautioned the governments of both AP and Telangana against hike in the power tariff, especially when people were facing drought situation. On August 28, 2000, as the police had opened fire on the protesters who took out a rally from Indira Park and were on way to Assembly. The police stopped them at Basheerbagh crossroads and in the pitched battle and violence that ensued, the police opened fire on the protesters, killing two of them on the spot. Bala Swamy and Rama Krishna died of bullet injuries.

One head constable also suffered grievous injuries when he was attacked by the protesters, while 119 other policemen had suffered minor injuries in the incident.