‘Will you be slaves or administrators?’

Former Secretary of Telangana Social Welfare Residential Educational Institutions Society R. S. Praveen Kumar officially joined the Bahujan Samaj Party, in the presence of Rajya Sabha member and party’s national coordinator Ramji Gautam, at the iconic N.G. College grounds here on Sunday.

At the Rajyadhikara Sankalpa Sabha, he was also declared BSP’s Telangana coordinator.

Mr. Gautam expressed the confidence that bahujans in Telangana would achieve the dream of B. R. Ambedkar through Mr. Praveen Kumar, the former IPS officer, starting 2023.

Mr Praveen Kumar, without mincing words, began his address with ‘Jai Bhim’ and said dalits and bahujans in Telangana would not remain slaves, but occupy Pragathi Bhavan, the official residence of Chief Minister K. Chandrasekhar Rao, and become administrators.

“Pragathi Bhavan is very near, we will go there,” he said, acknowledging shouts of people calling him ‘CM’.

Taking a direct shot at the Chief Minister’s Dalit Bandhu, the latest ₹10-lakh direct benefit transfer scheme, and other schemes, Mr. Praveen Kumar called them “a dominant caste’s conspiracy of distributing the loot from bahujans in the form of schemes, in turn to buy bahujans’ votes.”

“If you (KCR) love Dalits, distribute your assets. Dalits will work hard and decide their own future,” he said, adding education, quality health care and employment with skills were the ingredients of progress.

Flagging the poor state of health care, universities, recruitment (about 35 lakh children were away from quality education in the State), he said the TRS government’s assurances were hollow, “and still people are worse than slaves in this bangaru Telangana.”

However, with BSP in Telangana, he said, bahujans would get their equality, right of reservation in the private sector, quality education and avenues away from caste-based occupations and in varied fields of interest.

Describing the Dalit and bahujan population as “bahujan tsunami”, Mr. Praveen Kumar said social justice would only be achieved with the BSP and asked people to be aware of the power of the vote to change lives.

He asked the gathering, “Will you want to be crushed by the car (TRS election symbol), or ride the elephant (BSP symbol) to plant the blue flag on the Red Fort? What would you want to become, slaves or administrators?”