The Governor of Telangana, Dr. Tamilisai Soundararajan, on the occasion of the 74th Republic Day celebrations, at Raj Bhavan, in Hyderabad on January 26, 2023. Composer M.M. Honored Keeravani. Also seen are Director General of Police Anjani Kumar and others. , photo credit: Nagra Gopal
Organized by the Government of Telangana Republic day At Raj Bhavan on a direction from the High Court to observe the event at no cost with central guidelines.
The government did not want to celebrate the occasion for the third year in a row at Hyderabad’s sprawling parade ground citing Covid security measures.
An activist and businessman from Hyderabad, K. Srinivas had moved a luncheon motion in the High Court on January 25, seeking a direction to the government to hold the event in “its true spirit and enthusiasm”. Disposing of the matter, the court ordered the government to hold the ceremony wherever it wanted but insisted on conducting the traditional parade and standard operating procedures laid down by the Defense Ministry.
The government made last-minute arrangements at the Raj Bhavan and went ahead with the program in the presence of Chief Secretary A Shanti Kumari, Director General of Police Anjani Kumar and other senior bureaucrats.
Chief Minister K. Chandrasekhar Rao and his cabinet colleagues did not participate in it like in the previous two years.
In her address, Governor Tamilisai Soundararajan, who has serious differences with the Chief Minister, indirectly criticized Mr. Rao by saying that some people do not like him, but she will go ahead with her programmes. He said that she was not only the governor of the state for the last three years but also developed a bond with the state since her birth. She said that she likes the people of Telangana a lot.
Ms. Sundararajan will also play her role in the development of the state, no matter how many obstacles she has to face. He called upon the people to protect democracy and the Constitution in Telangana, upholding the dignity and honor of the state.
“It should not be a farmhouse for a few but a farm for all in the state”, he remarked, in an indirect reference to Mr Rao’s farmhouse in his constituency of Gajwel.
The governor condemned the disturbing developments in the state in which an average of 22 people commit suicide every day. Referring to the construction of a huge secretariat complex for the government, he said it was not important to construct buildings, but priority should be given to “nation building”.
He concluded his speech with the famous verse of poet Dasarathi Krishnamacharya which read ” Na Telangana, Koti Ratnala Veena(My Telangana is a veena that sparkles with crores of gems).
Ms. Sundararajan immediately left for Puducherry to participate in the Republic Day celebrations in the Union Territory.
On the celebration of Republic Day, opposition parties, mainly BJP’s Parliamentary Board member and Rajya Sabha member K. Laxman had hurriedly raised the question, asking the government whether the cabinet had approved his speech as mandated by the constitution.
When Ms Soundararajan was reminded at a press conference in 2022 that the government had objected to her making a speech that had not been approved by the cabinet, she said she could not be expected to shut her mouth.