Protest against Sai Baba for opposing separate Telangana

“Sai Baba, who celebrated his 81st birthday recently, had declared at the age of 15 that he was no ordinary human being, but had come to the earth to fulfil the wishes of the saints and sages.”

By IANS, [RxPG] Hyderabad, Jan 22 - Protesting the remarks of spiritual guru Satya Sai Baba here Monday opposing a separate Telangana state, people went on a rampage at a Sai Baba temple while his followers called a shutdown in Puttaparthi town of Anantapur district to condemn remarks on the guru.Shouting slogans against him, dozens of students belonging to Telangana Rashtra Samiti - barged into a Sai Baba temple near Osmania University here, pulled down the huge cut outs of Sai Baba and set them afire after trampling on them.

An effigy of Sai Baba, who termed attempts to bifurcate the state ‘mahapapam’ -, was also burnt.

Addressing a function in Chennai Sunday, Sai Baba said there was no demand for a separate Telangana state from the people of the region.

‘Dividing the people or the country is not good. Bifurcating the state is mahapapam,’ he said.

Sai Baba, who claims to be reincarnation of Hindu God and preaches love, understanding and universal brotherhood, has thousands of followers in India and abroad including several heads of state, eminent politicians, military officials, judges, film stars and sportsmen.

During last few decades, he has built a vast empire worth billions of rupees transforming a small village of Puttaparthi, his birthplace into a modern town with a state-of-the-art airport, education and health facilities.

The reaction to his comments was sharp from the protagonists of separate Telangana.

TRS president K. Chandrasekhara Rao asked Sai Baba to confine himself to religion.

‘Is Sai Baba blind to the suicides by farmers in Telangana region? Is he blind to the fact that the region was subjected to exploitation?’ asked Rao, who is leading the movement for separate statehood comprising 10 districts including Hyderabad.

Congress MP from Nizamabad Madhu Yaskhi Goud wondered what Sai Baba knew of the problems of Telangana.

‘He is from Rayalseema region and what does he know about the problem of fluorosis in Nalgonda. He is funding the water projects for Rayalseema and Chennai,’ said Goud.

Revolutionary balladeer and Maoist sympathiser Gaddar, who is also actively participating in the movement for separate Telangana, criticised Sai Baba for opposing the demand.

Meanwhile, a shutdown was being observed in Puttaparthi town in Anantapur district to condemn the remarks of Telangana leaders against Sai Baba. Shops and business establishment were shut down and Sai Baba’s disciples set afire effigies of Chandrasekhara Rao, Madhu Yashki Goud and Gaddar.

The streets around Prashanti Nilayam, the abode of Baba, wore a deserted look.

Sai Baba, who celebrated his 81st birthday recently, had declared at the age of 15 that he was no ordinary human being, but had come to the earth to fulfil the wishes of the saints and sages.

Sai Baba also used to perform miracles like producing gold out of thin air but about a decade ago he stopped doing them in the wake of a controversy and a challenge by rationalists to prove his miracles in their presence.

An ex-bitsian’s worry about IIT-Basara and Tela

Subject:   An ex-bitsian’s worry about IIT-Basara and Telangana…
From:   manikeshwar
Date:   Tue, January 23, 2007 6:22 am
To:   madhu@madhuyaskhi.com
Hi Madhuji,

This is Manikeshwar Thota,working for Wipro Technologies
bangalore(native place is NZB)..
Just want to share my inner feelings with you…I read an article
related to Telangana Dhoom dhaam at Nalgonda the other day and i was
very happy
to see our Constituency MP speaking so openly about Telangana and
Telangana problems..I just sent the same article to my room mate who’s
from Nalgonda and he just gave me big treat after reading the
article….

and we(all telanganites) really appreciate your respone to that
Donga Baba’s comments the other day..That baba is fooling ppl since many
decades..

I have become an active member of TDF discussions
after you took up the Telangana stand.I feel very proud when telangana
ppl from other districts say “We want a MP like Madhu”..I just have one
query,i.e On the other day i read in andhrajyothy newspaper(NZB edition)
that
there is an Airport coming up at NZB also..Is it true??? and if it is
true then it is almost sure that IIT would be setup in Basar…And
finally,
as a BITS-pilani ex-student(which doesn’t have an Airport and not even a
medium city near by,
and to buy even a pencil we had to travel to Delhi which is 250Km from
Pilani)
Iam very happy that,You are the only congress leader who is supporting
for IIT at Basara…If you a have a minute to reply,can you please tell
me
about the possibility of setting up IIT at Basara???because Iam
sleepless and
restless since YSR gave a statement saying,”we are shifting the IIT from
Basara
to Medak dist..”…

Vibhajana ‘Madhanam’

 

Stage set for APCC meet

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YSR set to highlight `Jalayagnam’ and `Bhhoyagnam’
Telangana statehood, Karimnagar bypoll to figure in talks
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HYDERABAD: The stage is set for a two-day brainstorming session of the State Congress Committee beginning Thursday to review the Congress Government’s performance.

Behind The Scene: Madhu Yaskhi’s remarks irk Digvijay?

AICC general secretary and in charge of Andhra Pradesh affairs Digvijay Singh reportedly expressed dissatisfaction with the remarks made by Nizamabad MP Madhu Yaskhi about the Telangana Regional Congress Coordination Committee (TRCCC) meeting.

Mr. Singh on Sunday spoke to APCC president K. Keshava Rao to get feedback on the meeting. He was understood to have taken serious view of the remarks that the TRCCC meeting was undemocratic, as several leaders from the region were not invited for the meeting. Dr. Rao was said to have echoed similar sentiments.

The reported remarks by MLA P. Janardhan Reddy about alienation of valuable lands to various industrial houses also cropped up during the discussion. Dr. Rao is understood to have pointed out that issues not discussed in the meeting were leaked to the media. The APCC president also apprised Mr. Singh that majority members had expressed satisfaction with developmental works undertaken by the Y.S. Rajasekhara Reddy Government.In an informal chat with reporters, Dr. Rao said that the two-day brainstorming session on January 4 and 5 would discuss various issues including the outcome of the Karimnagar by-election, development activities and land issues apart from organisational matters.

Yaskhi questions locus standi of TRCCC

HYDERABAD: Congress MP from Nizamabad Madhu Yaskhi has said that the Telangana Regional Congress Coordination Committee (TRCCC) was the not the real representative of the party in Telangana.

Peeved at not being invited for Saturday’s meeting, he told The Hindu that the TRCCC had become `defunct’. “The TRCCC, which claims to represent the interests of the leaders and people of Telangana, has become inactive. How can party MPs from the region be kept away from the meeting when MLAs are automatically members of the Congress Legislature Party and the AICC. “Is the TRCCC a much bigger organisation that the AICC or the CLP?” he asked.Mr. Yaskhi questioned the use of the meeting when leaders, who raised relevant issues, were absent. The party high command had been advising leaders to refrain from openly airing their views and to speak only in party meetings.

Pothireddypadu issue

Meanwhile, the TRCCC meeting on Saturday witnessed heated arguments for a brief while when Congress legislator P. Janardhan Reddy raised the issue of Pothireddypadu head regulator claiming that it would adversely impact the people of Telangana. Mr. Reddy reportedly expressed concern over the moves to release water through Pothireddypadu once the reservoir level reaches 841 ft.

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The Hindu - 31/Dec/2006