Telangana CM Revanth Reddy’s ritual for rain has given BRS fodder to target him

On Monday, Telangana Chief Minister A Revanth Reddy performed a ritual – “Varuna Yagam” – on the banks of the Nagarjuna Sagar Dam to seek “bountiful rains” in the state. The move has given a chance to his political rivals in the Bharat Rashtra Samithi (BRS) to attack and ridicule him, as they accused Reddy of using “diversionary tactics” instead of taking tangible steps to benefit the farmers.

The ritual assumes significance particularly because Reddy had earlier targeted BRS chief K Chandrashekar Rao (KCR), during the latter's stint as the CM, for performing similar yagams. On Tuesday, BRS working president KT Rama Rao said that CM Reddy performing rituals would serve no purpose if public issues were not addressed.

He said instead of indulging in mere diversionary tactics, Reddy should switch on the Kaleshwaram Lift Irrigation Scheme motors to supply water to farmers. “Switch on the Kaleshwaram Project motors and pump water immediately to the farmers.

Performing rituals after that might yield some results,” he remarked. In his stint as Telangana CM, KCR would often turn to spiritual rituals when faced with tough situations. His latest was the Raja Shyamala Sahita Subramanyeswara Yagam, performed from November 1 to 3, 2023, just a month ahead of the Telangana Assembly elections.

The yagam was performed ahead of filing of nomination papers for the elections on November 30 for the “well-being of the state and his party’s victory” a third time round. Around this time, KCR was also aiming for a bigger role in national politics.

But a month later, KCR and his party suffered a humiliating defeat at the hands of the Congress and Reddy became the CM. The Yagam was conducted by the seers of the Visakha Sri Sharada Peetham, Swarupanandendra and Swatmanandendra, along with 170 Vedic priests from Telangana, Andhra Pradesh, Tamil Nadu and Karnataka, at the former CM’s farmhouse in Erravalli village in Siddipet district.

After his defeat, KCR did not hold any such ritual again. Eight years before that, in December 2015, KCR had performed a five-day ritual called the Ayutha Chandi Maha Yagnam, involving 1,500 priests. KCR had hired choppers and chartered planes to personally fly down to invite Prime Minister Narendra Modi, then Andhra Pradesh CM N Chandrababu Naidu and spiritual leader Sri Sri Ravi Shankar besides other religious heads and seers for the event.

The scale of the event had attracted criticism from the Opposition, including Reddy who was with the Telugu Desam Party (TDP) then. Opposition leaders had accused KCR of resorting to rituals during an agrarian crisis when half the state was facing water shortage.

KCR performed the first such yagam, although on a much smaller scale, in May 2011, seeking the early formation of Telangana. Meanwhile, following Reddy's yagam on Monday, BRS leader and former MLA Bollam Mallaiah Yadav accused the Congress leaders of performing the rituals “solely to safeguard their own positions”.

He said, “They should have apologised to the farmers before performing the ritual for letting them down by not arranging water for irrigation.” BRS leaders said that the Congress government ignored early scientific warnings about El Niño and is, instead, now relying on rituals.

Said Yadav: “The rains stopped and the heat intensified immediately after the Varuna Yagam. The CM did not pray for rain; he prayed for the survival of his own position.” Sreenivas Janyala is a Deputy Associate Editor at The Indian Expr...

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