'Shiva god of poor, Ram god of rich': Telangana CM's off-the-cuff remark draws BJP's ire

Reddy's remarks prompted a response from Union Minister Sanjay Kumar Bandi

NEW DELHI: Telangana chief minister Revanth Reddy called "Shiva is the God of the poor, Ram is the God of the rich" while taking a dig at the BJP. Attributing the saffron party's success in polls across North India Reddy claimed that the BJP has "stolen Lord Ram"."We are Dravidians. People here (north) are Aryans. We are devotees of Shiva. These are devotees of Lord Ram. BJP stole Ram. It's an emotion. It's a sentiment. Why Modi ji does not say Har Har Mahadev. Have BJP people ever said Har Har Mahadev on a stage. They say only Jai Sri Ram. When we say Har Har Mahadev, they don't like it," he said while speaking at an event.Shiva is the God of the poor, Ram is the God of the rich and the BJP is a party of the rich, Reddy added, as reported by news agency PTI.Reddy’s comments drew a strong response from Union minister Sanjay Kumar Bandi, who accused the Telangana chief minister of creating political divisions between Lord Ram and Lord Shiva.In a post on X, Bandi said Reddy, who had earlier remarked that “Muslim is Congress, Congress is Muslim”, was now “drawing political boundaries between Lord Ram & Lord Shiva”.

"Being the CM of Telangana that has Dakshina Kashi at Vemulawada and Dakshina Ayodhya at Bhadrachalam, Revanth Reddy should know better than to divide Lord Rama and Lord Shiva into North and South," he said.

Sanjay Kumar also pointed to Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s association with Varanasi, where Kashi Vishwanath is located, and noted that Modi was the first prime minister since Independence to visit the Vemulawada Shri Rajarajeshwara Swamy temple.Reddy also called for opposition parties to unite against the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls, comparing the proposed agitation to the “Simon, go back” movement. He alleged that SIR was aimed at “deleting votes and to benefit the BJP”. He also spoke about his government’s focus on education, including the Young India Skills University.