Congress leader Revanth Reddy on Monday delivered a fiery speech, promising to develop Osmania University to the same league as Oxford University, as he became the first chief minister to enter the campus since the formation of the state in 2014.
Osmania University (OU) was the hotbed of the Telangana statehood movement both in 1969 and more recently, since 2001, leading to the formation of the new state, but Reddy’s predecessor, K Chandrasekhar Rao, chose to stay away during his decade-long rule.
However, the BRS claimed that the BRS supremo had been to Osmania University when he attended the centenary celebrations of the university in 2017 along with the then President Pranab Mukherjee.
Reddy today seasoned his speech with promises to the student community and also made several political statements after inaugurating three hostels at the Osmania University. Acknowledging its role in the Freedom Movement and the Statehood Movement, he said, “Osmania University should not be allowed to fade into oblivion. It must stand as a living testimony to history.”
He alleged that there have been conspiracies to erase Osmania’s legacy, but his government wants to restore it to its past glory. He even called those opposing his development initiatives termites. He warned that if BRS comes back to power, it will put OU in oblivion and sell its land as plots.
He pledged Rs 1000 crore for the development of the university and its transformation into a world-class institution, directing the principal secretary of the education department to constitute a committee.
“I am ready to develop Osmania University to the level of Oxford (University). Prepare necessary plans to provide all kinds of facilities. Form a committee with experts for this, and provide funds.”
He also touched upon another thorny issue – the presence of police on campus. Reddy promised to return to the university in December for an open meeting at the Arts College. “Without police deployment, I will come to Arts College in December and sanction whatever you want.”
He asked the Police Commissioner not to deploy a single policeman for his visit. He admitted that the government’s coffers were empty and there was no land to distribute among Dalits and the tribal population, but he could provide the weaker section with an education to transform their lives. He also promised to renominate Prof Kodandaram as MLC once again after the Supreme Court struck down his nomination.
The BRS, however, took a dig at him, saying that the chief minister was going around with a pair of scissors, cutting ribbons of projects built by the BRS government. It also claimed that, contrary to claims of Congress, K Chandrasekhar Rao had been to OU during its centenary celebrations with the then president Pranab Mukherjee.