Telangana: 4 arrests over 'anti-govt' social media posts spark backlash from BRS

Hyderabad: In 10 days, four BRS activists in separate incidents were arrested by the Telangana Police for allegedly making social media posts against the Congress government and chief minister A Revanth Reddy.

The four party sympathisers were identified as Goutham Pothogoni, Gadam Anil Kumar, Kashamoni Ramesh and Ravi Shankar. The arrests were made based on complaints against the posts they made.

Following the arrests, BRS has questioned the tolerance level of the Telangana Congress government.

Case 1: Social media post ‘insulting’ CM Revanth

One of the posts that came under scrutiny was shared by news reporter Goutham Pothogoni about a farmer ‘criticising’ the Congress government.

“During a leisure trip, I faced a heartbreaking incident yesterday. A farmer named Mallayya from Mushampalli village in Nalgonda district asked me to personally record a video of him and send it to KCR garu,” Goutham posted, along with a video of the farmer.

In the video, the farmer narrated his ordeal under the Congress government and expressed hope that KCR would return to power. Though the post was shared on March 12, the reactions against the video came in after Congress formed the government.

A complaint against the video was lodged by one of the Congress supporters on September 29. According to the FIR, the complainant, Anumakonda Bhargav, found posts on social media platforms ‘Ok TV’ and ‘News Line Telugu’ in which derogatory comments were made about chief minister Revanth Reddy and the Telangana government. The posts were claimed to have the potential to ‘create political tensions and enmity between groups.’

Case 2: Sharing a morphed picture of the CM

Two days ago, the cybercrime department of Hyderabad City police arrested two BRS activists for creating and sharing derogatory and morphed images of Revanth Reddy.

According to the police, Gadam Anil Kumar and Kashamoni Ramesh were spreading derogatory images of the chief minister in a WhatsApp group called ‘KTR Sena Ranga Reddy.’ The police alleged that the posts circulating on social media could potentially create tensions and promote public disharmony.

Case 3: An individual named Ravi Shankar was arrested for posting a video of an alleged HYDRAA demolition victim.

BRS question police over the validity of arrests

Following the arrests, BRS leader K Taraka Rama Rao and other party leaders expressed their anger.

In a post on X, KTR questioned the Telangana police, asking, “What exactly is wrong with this video, Telangana DGP, that a case was filed against journalist Gowtham Goud? I’ve even visited this farmer, Mallaiah Garu, in his native village to inquire about his situation. Will you file a case on me?”

In another post, BRS social media in-charge and former director of Digital Media for the Government of Telangana, Konatham Dileep, argued that the police arresting individuals over such innocuous videos showed how afraid Revanth Reddy’s regime was.

He tagged Rahul Gandhi, saying, “This is the ‘Mohabbat Ki Dukaan’ opened by your party colleague Revanth Reddy in Telangana.”

“I am asking all the educated people, journalists and intellectuals in Telangana: is there anything illegal about the video posted by the reporter? What kind of democracy is this, where cases are filed even when people’s concerns and suffering are reported? Even military dictatorships wouldn’t file cases and arrest people for posting such innocuous videos! If you remain silent, the arrests won’t stop here,” said Dileep.

In a post on X, BRS spokesperson and social media convenor Manne Krishank stated that Government has issued look out notice against 10 social media activists.