Hyderabad: The Indian Journalists Union (IJU) and Andhra Pradesh Union of Working Journalists (APUWJ) strongly condemned disfiguring of the statue of M Chalapathi Rao, the doyen of trade union and professional movement of the working journalists in the country at Journalists Colony, Jubilee Hills by some unidentified miscreants on Monday. The leaders of the IJU and APUWJ visited the Journalists Colony Statue site and cleaned the black paint on the face of the statue.

The Press Academy Chairman D Amar and Indian Journalists Union (IJU) Secretary K Amarnath garlanded the statue and paid tributes to the memory of MC. They held banners with slogans ‘Condemn the disfiguring of the statue of Chalapathi Rau’ and staged a demonstration before the statue.

Addressing the gathering, D Amar, Chairman o the Press Academy of AP, condemned the action of the miscreants and said it was sad that they choose to disfigure the statue of a man who fought all his life against the intolerance towards the freedom of expression.  The disfiguring of statues of departed leaders who had served the nation with distinction was disgraceful.  You could agitate for your rights and to realize the aspirations of your region but to dishonor memory of great leaders was not acceptable, he added.

K Amarnath, Secretary, Indian Journalists Union, D Somasundar, President and Y Narender Reddy, General Secretary of Andhra Pradesh Union of Working Journalists (APUWJ), M A Majid, K Satynarayana, National Executive members of IJU, Riaz Ahmed, Secretary and Faiz Mohamed Asgar, State Executive member of APUWJ, V Yadagiri, Secretary, Hyderabad Union of Journalists (HUJ) and Pasam Yadagiri of Telangana Journalists Forum participated in the protest program.