New Delhi: The Andhra Pradesh government has booked actor-turned-politician and Janasena chief, Pawan Kalyan, for “making objectionable comments on the ward and village volunteers”.
On Thursday, July 20, the Y.S. Jagan Mohan Reddy government issued GO-Rt 16 granting permission to authorities concerned for the prosecution of Pawan Kalyan under Section 199 (4)(b) of the code of criminal procedure, 1973. Going forward, a public prosecutor will file a complaint at a competent court against Kalyan for making allegedly baseless allegations against village and ward volunteers.
During a public meeting in Eluru on July 9, Kalyan had said that the data collected by village and ward volunteers is being used by anti-social elements to “trap” or “kidnap” women in the state, linking it to alleged human trafficking from the state. He had said the Andhra Pradesh Police could trace the whereabouts of only 14,000 women out of 29,000 women who had gone missing, and there was no clue yet on others. In fact, he had said that he received the information from central probe agencies, and was specifically asked by them to share it with the people of Andhra Pradesh.
After taking over office in May 2019, the YSR Congress government set up a new system which came to be known as ‘village volunteers’ and ‘village secretariats’. The government recruited unemployed youth to man the system and to ensure that government schemes reach every home. However, the system has drawn criticism, for long, from opposition parties in the state, which have been accusing the YSR Congress of recruiting its party workers as village volunteers.
Kalyan’s criticism of the system, however, has drawn attention to the alleged criminal activities by village volunteers. Several village volunteers have been protesting against the Janasena chief, accusing him of making “baseless” and “sensational” allegations for deriving political mileage.
The government order against Kalyan said that to suggest that 29,000 women disappeared because of the volunteers and accusing them of being a part of data theft is highly objectionable. He suppressed facts and objectives of the volunteer system and made defamatory statements, which caused substantial damage to the reputation of volunteers as well as the state government, the GO added.
Kalyan reacted sharply to the orders passed by the state government. “I am prepared to go to jail and be beaten up. I know the risk in casting doubts on the very purpose of the system of volunteers,” he said, according to The Hindu. “I know that the government will haul me up for making the remarks on the volunteers. Chief Minister Y.S. Jagan Mohan Reddy should, at the same time, be wary of the fact that people and courts are watching how murderers are being protected under his watch.”
Although Kalyan’s Janasena is not the principal opposition party in the state, the YSR Congress has lately sharpened its attack against Kalyan. There are indications that the major opposition party, Telugu Desam Party, may tie up with Janasena in launching a joint fight against YSR Congress, which could pose a challenge to the ruling party, at least arithmetically.
TDP chief, N. Chandrababu Naidu, has also hit out at the YSR Congress government for issuing orders to prosecute Kalyan. “If a case was to be booked, it should be first done against Chief Minister Y. S. Jagan Mohan Reddy for misusing the government institutions,” he stated, according to the Hindu.
On the other hand, both TDP and Janasena have been sending signals to become part of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) alliance. Although Janasena was invited to the recent National Democratic Alliance (NDA) meeting in Delhi, the same was not extended to TDP.