Andhra CM N Chandrababu Naidu (Left), YSRCP supremo Y S Jagan Mohan Reddy (Right).
Credit: PTI Photos
Hyderabad: Comparing YSRCP chief Y S Jagan Mohan Reddy with Colombian drug lord Pablo Escobar, who later entered politics and reined in terror, Andhra Pradesh chief minister N Chandrababu Naidu said on Thursday that building a crime-free state is the goal of this coalition government and assured the people that peace and security that were fully damaged in the previous government will be restored.
Releasing a white paper in the Assembly on the law and order situation in the state during 2019–24, the Chief Minister made it clear that stringent action will be taken against anyone, however big he or she may be, if any disruption is caused to law and order or disturbs peace in the state.
"Pablo Escobar is a Colombian drug lord and a narcotics terrorist. He became a politician and then started his cartel to sell drugs. He earned 30 billion dollars at that time; now it's worth 90 billion dollars. After his arrest in 1976, he rose to become the world's richest drug lord in 1980. Selling drugs can also help one become richer."
"What was the aim of the former Chief Minister? Tata, Reliance, and Ambani have money, and he aspires to become richer than them. Few people have needs, few have greed, and few have mania, and these maniacs do these kinds of things,” Naidu said in the House.
The comparison between Jagan and Pablo Escobar came just a day after the YSRCP chief called for a protest in Delhi to expose the brutalities the TDP had inflicted on YSRCP workers in the days following Naidu's party's election to power in Andhra Pradesh.
He also stated that over the past five years, the state has experienced a scenario similar to what occurs when a criminal leads a party and ascends to the position of chief minister.
The Chief Minister expressed regret over the brutal murder of 250 SCs and STs, as well as 2,027 women, in different parts of the state over the past five years. He claimed that the murder of YS Vivekananda Reddy, the paternal uncle of Pulivendula MLA Jagan Mohan Reddy, was beyond anyone's imagination.
Even the local body elections had witnessed violence and various kinds of attacks, only to declare them ultimately unanimous, he said, and he regretted that the former minister and Assembly speaker, Dr. Kodela Sivaprasad, was harassed in the name of misuse of furniture.
"Government furniture is now in your house too, and what is your response to this?" Naidu asked Jagan. He has gone emotional while mentioning the names of Dr. Kodela Sivaprasad and Abdul Salam, whose family resorted to suicide. Comparing
In a democracy, the primary responsibility of any government is to safeguard the lives of the people and provide security for their assets. Naidu expressed concern that the previous dispensation, however, had totally ignored law and order for five years.
The Andhra Pradesh police have a special place in the whole country, and there was no compromise on law and order in the combined state despite facing various kinds of ups and downs, he recalled.
Efficient officers were posted in Rayalaseema to suppress factionism, which was once rampant in the region. He said that the then government worked with the sole aim of eliminating factionism. "In order to avoid the allegation of political vengeance, we have first arrested our party MLA and later taken others into custody. The region began progressing only then," Naidu recalled.
Informing the House how the regular practice of imposing curfew on Hyderabad was tackled and how the Naxalism was ended by effectively addressing both issues, the Chief Minister said that with the provisions of the Prevention of Detention (PD) Act, a sort of fear was created to even utter the very word 'rowdy'.
Following the measures initiated between 2014 and 2019 to maintain law and order, murders came down by 15 percent in the state, kidnappings by 16 percent, physical attacks by 20 percent, lootings by 25 percent, and cases of harassment by 11 percent, he said. To achieve this, the latest technology was utilised, he added.
Even seven cases were foisted against the Deputy Chief Minister, Pawan Kalyan, and he was forcibly sent out of Visakhapatnam after serving notices on him, the Chief Minister pointed out.
"When Pawan Kalyan was coming to the state while I was arrested at that time too, he was firmly resisted on the inter-state border from entering the state. Following this, he staged a protest on the road," he added. Naidu also mentioned several such incidents as to how the TDP leaders were harassed by the previous government.