Coalition govt silencing dissent

Guntur, Sept 26: YSR Congress Party leaders have strongly condemned the arrest of social media activist Vajrala Tarak Pratap Reddy, calling it a blatant attack on the freedom of expression by the coalition government. Former Minister Jogi Ramesh, YSRCP Guntur City President Noori Fathima, and YSRCP State Legal Cell President Manohar Reddy met Tarak in Guntur jail and expressed solidarity.
Speaking to the media, Jogi Ramesh said, “The coalition government is trampling upon the constitutional right to free speech. An activist was jailed simply for posting about urea shortage on social media. When Y.S. Jagan Mohan Reddy laid the foundation for 17 new government medical colleges to strengthen public health, this coalition is trying to sell them away for private profit. Their anarchy will soon be recorded in history as a dark digital book of failures. Once YSRCP returns to power, we will not spare anyone who misused authority.”
Targeting the Assembly developments, he added, “The Assembly is supposed to be a sacred temple of democracy. Can one bring ‘mention house’ politics into such a temple? And Balakrishna, let him clarify, is he heir to the Nandamuri legacy or to the Nara family? If he truly were NTR’s heir, he should have been the president of Telugu Desam Party. But since Chandrababu is its president, Balakrishna is no heir of NTR; he has long reduced himself to being Chandrababu’s stooge.”
Manohar Reddy termed the ‘Super Six’ program an utter flop. “Instead of implementing promises, this government files false cases against activists. Despite High Court orders that no arrests should be made under sections with punishment below seven years, police are slapping fabricated cases. Recently, a ganja case was filed against activist Savindra Reddy, and now Tarak has been booked under Section 111 as if he were part of a terrorist gang,” he said.
City President Noori Fathima said the government is misusing police to silence critics. “Tarak’s only fault was being active on social media and questioning failures. Filing such illegal cases will not deter people from raising their voice,” she said.
YSRCP leaders said such attacks on democracy will not be tolerated, and the people will soon teach the coalition a fitting lesson.