Union Home Minister Amit Shah came to Nizamabad on Sunday to unveil D. Srinivas’s statue and announce Turmeric Board. But during his public meeting, he made inappropriate references to the Naxalites and to Telangana. He issued direct warnings to the Telangana government, specifically naming Chief Minister Revanth Reddy.
The time when people could simply ask whether it is proper to make political statements or issue crude threats during an official government program is long gone. The ideal that a government should act impartially and remain above party politics now seems like a laughable notion. So we must see Amit Shah not as a constitutionally responsible Union Home Minister with an understanding of Constitution and Centre-State relations, but as a committed RSS worker speaking his mind. Speaking as a ‘Sanghi’ naturally includes lies, allegations, threats, and an authoritarian attitude.
“Narendra Modi has taken up the mission of eliminating Naxalites who have obstructed the country’s development for four decades. These Naxalites have taken the lives of 40,000 Adivasis. Many of my tribal brothers have had their legs broken and their fingers chopped off. People of Nizamabad, tell me: should Naxalism be eradicated or not? Telangana Congress president says we should hold talks with them. Whom should we talk to? Let them surrender. I’m telling you from this dais: everyone, lay down your arms and surrender. Whoever doesn’t surrender — we have decided — we will eliminate Naxalism from this country by March 31, 2026. Nizamabad people, tell me — should we eliminate those who have killed Adivasis, police, and security personnel? Congress wants to negotiate with them. But our government’s policy is: no talks with anyone who holds weapons. Drop your weapons, surrender, and join the mainstream. Ten thousand people in the Northeast have surrendered and joined the mainstream. They took part in local elections, became legislators. In the last one and a half years, more than 2,000 Naxalites have surrendered. But we will not negotiate with those holding arms. I have decided to say this from Telangana’s soil. Those who speak in defense of Naxalites in Telangana — what will they say about the lives lost, about the Adivasis and police killed? You’ve obstructed development in tribal areas for years. What is your answer? I suspect this Congress party is going to shelter Naxalites fleeing from across the country. But don’t worry. Narendra Modi’s government is at the Centre. We will eliminate Naxalism by March 31, 2026… And today, voices are still heard defending Naxalites in Telangana… Revanth Reddy, I’m telling you — don’t turn Telangana into a Naxal hideout!”
That was Amit Shah’s entire rant on Naxalism in his speech. He also raised corruption allegations. He claimed that after TRS was dethroned for corruption, the Revanth Reddy-led Congress government is behaving even worse — as if it is the “father of TRS”. According to him, neither TRS nor Congress can benefit Telangana; only Modi’s BJP and the “double-engine” government can. He sprinkled in the usual buzzwords: tribals, Dalits, backward castes, women.
Amit Shah’s threatening demeanor and authoritarian tone are nothing new. Expecting constitutional decency, sensitivity, or respect for federal values from him is a futile exercise. But almost every line of his speech was a bald-faced lie, a distortion of Centre-State relations, and an unconstitutional interference in the governance of a State. It is for the people of Telangana to decide how the state should be governed. Amit Shah has neither the right nor the qualification to declare what Telangana should be like.
Leaving other things aside, it is dangerously reckless to criticize the Telangana Congress president’s call for peace talks, and to directly warn the Chief Minister by saying “don’t make Telangana a Naxal hideout.” That is an insult to the dignity of Telangana’s leadership. It’s an affront to the spirit, legacy, and ethos of the people of Telangana.
For over a thousand years, Telangana’s society has upheld a tradition of resisting domination. That flame of defiance may flicker at times, but it has never died out — as countless poets, artists, and intellectuals recalled proudly during the second phase of the Telangana movement. As an expression of that rebellious spirit, communists entered Telangana 90 years ago. They took the lead in the Telangana Armed Peasant Struggle (1946–51), which had already been brewing at a grassroots level in protest against feudal oppression. Even though the movement was eventually withdrawn, its embers lived on in the hearts of Telangana’s people. Within two decades, those embers were reignited by the people themselves. For six decades now, they’ve kept that struggle alive.
In short, revolutionary thought and practice occupy a permanent place in Telangana’s public consciousness. Many, like Amit Shah, have claimed they ended it — but all of them have vanished into the oblivion of history.
During the Emergency (1975–77), the cultural clampdown of 1985–89, the post-ban years after 1992 and 2005 — many politicians and media intellectuals believed the revolutionary movement had been crushed, even issuing metaphorical death certificates. But every time, the movement resurfaced. Time and again it has been proven that no force on earth can erase revolutionary consciousness from Telangana’s life. Ironically, the same ruling elites who unleashed suppression have themselves returned to admit the relevance and necessity of the revolutionary movement.
Let’s look at three separate statements by current Telangana Chief Minister Revanth Reddy:
On February 15, 2016, when he was opposition TDP leader in the Assembly, he said at a Nizamabad public meeting: “We once feared that Naxalism and extremism might hinder development. But now we feel that maybe it would’ve been better if they were still around. I’m saying this with anguish.”
On October 24, 2021, as a Congress leader at a press conference in Karimnagar, he said: “We used to believe development would be possible only by eliminating Naxalism. But now we feel that if they were still present, today’s failed political system would at least feel some fear or accountability. Government atrocities would have reduced.”
On April 27, 2025, as Chief Minister, speaking to a delegation, he said: “We have never seen the Naxalite issue as a mere law-and-order problem. It is a socio-economic issue.” He condemned the massacre under ‘Operation Kagar’ and firmly stated that the solution lies in dialogue.
So now, when Telangana Congress President Mahesh Kumar Goud opposes Operation Kagar, he is continuing that political line. Not just the ruling party, but also K. Chandrashekar Rao — the Leader of Opposition — spoke in Warangal public meeting opposing Operation Kagar and advocating dialogue. Today, ten Left parties including CPI and CPI-M, along with numerous civil society groups, are protesting against Operation Kagar and supporting the idea of talks.
This position is not merely anti-BJP politics. It is a moral and constitutional position. The declarations by the central government — setting dates and issuing threats to eliminate people as if this were gang warfare — are inhumane. Such actions cannot be justified under this country’s Constitution or its standards of civilization. That’s why every opposition party is denouncing them.
The people of Telangana, across all walks of life, feel “it would’ve been better if the revolutionaries were still around.” That is why the media reports that yearning in the public’s hearts. That’s why the opposition parties — despite deep ideological and practical differences with revolutionaries — are united in saying: “Don’t kill them. Talk to them.”
Now, it is not just Amit Shah’s declaration that “there will be no talks” that matters. He has personally insulted and threatened Revanth Reddy and Telangana itself. The ball is now in the State government’s court. It must declare — unlike the Modi government — that it will not trample upon the Constitution or Article 21, and that it will not kill revolutionaries. It must walk its talk of seeing the issue as socio-economic, not law-and-order.
Rahul Gandhi often says: “We don’t side with nafrat (hate) like the BJP; we side with the people, with mohabbat (love).” Now the Congress-led State government has a chance to show that in action. Amit Shah has thrown the gauntlet with his accusation that Telangana is becoming a Naxal haven. The Telangana government must respond firmly.
The most responsible step now is to make a peace statement: “If there is no violence from your side, there will be none from ours.” This is called a ceasefire declaration. Since Maoists have already made such statements at least once or twice, the Telangana government doing the same would be the true answer to Amit Shah’s threats and insults in Nizamabad.
It is time for Telangana to declare unequivocally: Amit Shah has no right to dictate what this state should be or how it should be run.
