Salman’s murder exposes village terror and caste persecution under coalition rule

Guntur, Jan 16: Former Gurazala MLA Kasu Mahesh Reddy said the brutal killing of YSR Congress Party activist Salman in Pinnelli village has exposed how villages are being turned into zones of fear, hatred and political persecution under the coalition government. After meeting Salman’s family at the Guntur Government Hospital mortuary, Kasu Mahesh Reddy, along with former minister Merugu Nagarjuna, told the media that Salman’s last rites will be conducted in Pinnelli village itself and warned that any attempt to stop them would not be tolerated. He said it is the responsibility of the police to ensure the funeral is conducted peacefully, and cautioned that if obstacles are created, former Chief Minister Y.S. Jagan Mohan Reddy himself would intervene.
He stated that since the coalition came to power, Pinnelli village has witnessed mass intimidation, forcing nearly 300 families to leave, while across the Gurazala constituency seven YSRCP workers have been brutally killed in the last 19 months. He said Salman, an SC activist who had been living away for 18 months due to threats, was attacked when he returned in an emergency to see his ailing wife, slipped into a coma, and died after three days of hospitalisation. Shockingly, he said, police first booked cases against Salman and his brother while he lay unconscious, and invoked only weak sections against the attackers, registering serious cases only when his condition became critical. He demanded the immediate suspension of the concerned CI and SI, strict punishment for all those responsible, protection and rehabilitation of displaced families through peace committees, and justice and support for Salman’s family. Former minister Merugu Nagarjuna said the coalition government has made attacks, social boycotts and caste-based persecution its “patent,” targeting Dalits, suppressing villages, and even attempting to stop Salman’s funeral, which he called an act of extreme inhumanity.