Narsipatnam, Andhra Pradesh: In a moment that has shaken the conscience of Andhra Pradesh, a man who holds one of the most respected constitutional positions in the state stood in full public view and raised his hand against a Dalit man whose only crime was celebrating a local festival with the beat of a drum.
Andhra Pradesh Assembly Speaker Chintakayala Ayyanna Patrudu slapped Bhaskar Rao, a Dalit community member during a festival in Narsipatnam. The assault witnessed by bystanders and reportedly carried out even in the presence of police was accompanied by abusive and casteist language directed at the victim and his community. What was meant to be a joyful celebration became the site of a humiliation that no citizen of this country should ever have to endure.
The Arrogance of Power on Full Display
There are men who hold positions of authority and carry that authority with grace, with humility, and with an understanding that public office is a responsibility, not a throne. Then there are men who mistake a constitutional post for a license to intimidate, abuse, and assault those they consider beneath them.
The Speaker of a Legislative Assembly is not just a political figure. He is the guardian of democratic debate, the upholder of constitutional values, and a symbol of the dignity that the state extends to every one of its citizens. When that man raises his hand against a Dalit festival-goer in public, he does not just assault one individual. He assaults the Constitution itself. He assaults every Dalit citizen who dares to celebrate, dares to exist, dares to take up space in a public square.The drums Bhaskar Rao was playing were not a provocation but of joy.
Power Does Not Give Permission
A badge of office is not a license to abuse. A constitutional position is not a shield against accountability. The Speaker of the Andhra Pradesh Legislative Assembly is answerable to the people of this state, every single one of them, including Bhaskar Rao.
The presence of police at the scene makes this incident even more disturbing. Law enforcement, whose duty is to protect every citizen regardless of caste or class, witnessed this assault. Their silence in that moment is a failure that demands its own reckoning.
No rank, no title, no political affiliation grants any individual the right to strike another human being, hurl casteist abuse, or use their position to terrorise the vulnerable. If anything the higher the office the greater the obligation to model dignity, restraint, and respect.
A Dalit Man’s Celebration Became His Humiliation
Bhaskar Rao went to a festival. He carried his drum an instrument of culture, of heritage, of community. He was not protesting. He was not obstructing. He was celebrating as is his right as a free citizen of a democratic republic.
What he received in return was a slap across the face from the second highest constitutional authority in the state legislature, delivered in front of witnesses, delivered with casteist slurs, delivered without shame or hesitation. That slap was not just physical it carried the weight of centuries of caste oppression, the message that some people must always know their place, that their joy is subject to the approval of those above them.
That message is unacceptable. That message must be rejected loudly, clearly, and without equivocation.
YSRCP Demands Accountability
The YSRCP has strongly condemned the incident, demanding immediate action against the Speaker. Central question deserves to be heard in every corridor of power in Amaravati: if a man cannot maintain basic civic decency in a public space, how can he be trusted to maintain dignity and discipline inside the walls of the Assembly?
It is a question the TDP government must answer. The Speaker must be held accountable, not protected. The victim must receive justice, not silence. The police officers who stood by must explain why they failed in their fundamental duty to protect a citizen from assault.
The Constitution Belongs to Bhaskar Rao Too
Dr. B.R. Ambedkar did not write a Constitution for the powerful. He wrote it for people like Bhaskar Rao. He wrote it for every Dalit man and woman who had for centuries been told that their presence was an inconvenience, that their culture was an offence, that their joy was a disruption.What happened in Narsipatnam is a betrayal of that Constitution. It is a betrayal committed by the very man entrusted to preside over the body that makes its laws.
Power does not give permission to abuse. Office does not grant immunity from decency. A democratic republic cannot afford to stay silent when its own institutions are weaponised against its most vulnerable citizens.
Justice for Bhaskar Rao is not a political demand. It is a constitutional one.
