Political and community leaders are actively encouraging this dangerous trend by giving donations for the construction of memorials and statues to those who died for the ‘cause’. Family members of the students are installing statues of their children in their native villages. A former minister of the district said this is evident in the villages and is not a good trend. “Political leaders are driving the students and youth to suicide indirectly by encouraging construction of statues and memorials through donations,” he said.
While on the one hand political leaders are appealing to students not to commit suicide, on the other hand they are giving donations for memorials and statues and praising the great “sacrifice” of the misguided youngsters.
Communities are also exploiting the unfortunate suicides. Telangana agitators belonging to a particular community have been putting up banners praising the “sacrifice” of the student or youth belonging to their community, and highlighting the suicide in their speeches as the contribution of their community to the movement. At least one political leader is asking parents of students who have committed suicide to visit relay hunger strike camps, lead protest rallies and address gatherings on the Telangana issue.
Fortunately, some parents are opposing the construction of memorials and statues, believing that such unnecessary glorification will encourage more suicides who may believe this is their path to immortality.
K. Raghavulu, a teacher in Adilabad, says that erecting such memorials and statues is just glorifying the deaths, which is not good for the ongoing Telangana movement. There would be no objection if the memorials are constructed after the state has been formed, he said.
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