Now Reading: Hyderabad’s Hussainsagar statues shift from Telugu pride to social icons
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Hyderabad’s Hussainsagar statues shift from Telugu pride to social icons
Hyderabad’s Hussainsagar statues shift from Telugu pride to social icons
Hyderabad's Hussainsagar now hosts 43 statues, up from 33 built in 1989 by then chief minister N.T. Rama Rao for Telugu pride. Chief Minister A. Revanth Reddy has added statues of social…
Hyderabad's Hussainsagar now hosts 43 statues, up from 33 built in 1989 by then chief minister N.T. Rama Rao for Telugu pride. Chief Minister A. Revanth Reddy has added statues of social reformers Savitribai and Jyotiba Phule, film star N.T. Rama Rao, and the latest being the Robin Hood-like figure Sarvai Papanna, or Papadu.
Papadu's 3.5-tonne brass statue was unveiled on August 14, executed over one-and-a-half months using a CNC machine from a two-dimensional photograph. Historian Richard Eaton calls Papadu "consistently anti-class" for robbing wealthy merchants and distributing to the poor, akin to Robin Hood.
The new additions mark a shift toward broad-based social appeal beyond Telugu pride, while the area has become a major tourist stop with families visiting towering statues of Ambedkar and Buddha. The count around the lake continues to grow.
Indian Opinion Analysis
Hyderabad's statue landscape has shifted from the Telugu pride project of N.T. Rama Rao in 1989 to a broader social justice push under Chief Minister Revanth Reddy. The 33 statues on Tank Bund were erected to celebrate Telugu icons, but the new additions, Ambedkar, Jyotiba and Savitribai Phule, and now Papadu, target BC and Dalit communities ahead of the 2028 assembly elections. Papadu, an 18th-century bandit revered by backward classes, joins the list at a cost of Rs 1.5 crore. The state's statue policy, formalised in 2025, requires government approval for any public monument, and 43 now line the Hussainsagar. The next statue planned is of Telangana's first Chief Minister, K. Chandrashekar Rao, whose party has criticised the current government for ignoring his legacy.
Source: thehindu.com
This brief was synthesised by AI from the source linked above.
