Youth sets himself ablaze to protect temple land

Nalgonda: A youth set himself ablaze and rushed onto the stage at a BJP meeting, where Telangana State BJP president G Kishan Reddy and several party leaders were sitting, sending them into a state of shock. He resorted to the extreme step alleging that the police were harassing the youth of his village in connection with a dispute over a temple land.

The BJP district unit on Wednesday conducted a meeting on the outskirts of Nalgonda town on the occasion of one year completion of Narendra Modi government. When Kishan Reddy was speaking, the youth, Barishetti Shankar, resident of Kesarajupalli suddenly doused himself with kerosene and set himself ablaze.

Raising slogans he rushed onto the stage, on which several BJP leaders were sitting. Alerted by his shouting, some BJP workers extinguished the flames. The incident has created utter chaos in the meeting hall and people, who attended the meeting, rushed out resulting in mild stampede.

Shocked with the incident, Kishan Reddy abruptly stopped his speech and shifted the youth to the government hospital. As doctors and required medicine were not available at the hospital, the BJP State president expressed anger with the hospital staff. Later, the youth was shifted to a private hospital in the town.