Speaking at the Conclave 2026 in New Delhi on Monday, Reddy asked why Prime Minister Narendra Modi and other BJP leaders frequently invoked Lord Ram but did not similarly chant “Har Har Mahadev”, a slogan associated with Lord Shiva. He also sought to link religious preferences with regional and economic distinctions.
“Both Mahadev and Ram are our deities,” Reddy said before asking why Modi did not say “Har Har Mahadev”. He said BJP leaders routinely used “Jai Shri Ram” from political platforms and questioned why the Shiva invocation was not heard with comparable frequency.
Reddy went further, describing people of the south as “Dravidians” and those of the north as “Aryans”, and saying southern people were devotees of Shiva while northern political leaders were devotees of Ram. He also characterised Shiva as the deity of poor people and Ram as the deity of the rich, tying the comparison to his political attack on the BJP.
The remarks prompted objections from the BJP, which accused the Congress chief minister of attempting to create divisions among communities and regions for political purposes. Party critics argued that worship of Ram and Shiva cuts across geographical, linguistic and economic boundaries and rejected Reddy’s attempt to frame the two traditions through a north-south divide.
Reddy’s comments came during a wider discussion about differences in political culture between northern and southern states. He said student politics and routes into mainstream parties operated differently in Telangana, citing his own experience and the movement of politicians between ideological organisations and established parties.
The chief minister also argued that the country’s political and economic tensions should not simply be characterised as a contest between north and south. Instead, he accused the Modi government of creating what he described as a “Gujarat versus the rest of India” situation by directing investment and major projects towards Gujarat.
He cited infrastructure and investment demands from Telangana, including the Hyderabad Metro expansion, the Regional Ring Road, national highways and semiconductor projects, while arguing that the state had not received adequate support from the Centre. The BJP has repeatedly rejected opposition accusations that the Union government discriminates against states governed by rival parties.
Reddy also used the Delhi event to renew his criticism of a future delimitation exercise based on population. Southern states have raised concerns that population-linked redistribution of Lok Sabha seats could reduce their relative parliamentary influence after decades in which several of them achieved lower population growth.
Illustrating his argument, Reddy referred to the existing representation of Kerala and Uttar Pradesh. Kerala has 20 Lok Sabha seats and Uttar Pradesh 80. He said a proportional expansion without safeguards could widen the numerical gap and argued that states which controlled population growth should not be disadvantaged in parliamentary representation.
The chief minister separately attacked the Special Intensive Revision of electoral rolls and called for a nationwide campaign against the exercise. He alleged that the process could be used to remove voters opposed to the BJP before the 2029 general election. The Election Commission has maintained that electoral-roll revisions are intended to ensure accurate voter lists and remove ineligible or duplicate entries.
Reddy also spoke about education, skills and employment policies in Telangana. He highlighted the state’s Young India Skills University and the upgrading of Industrial Training Institutes into Advanced Technology Centres, saying the government was seeking to improve employability and prepare young people for skilled work.
He said demand for blue-collar skills would grow and pointed to potential employment opportunities in countries including Japan, Germany and South Korea. Learning foreign languages such as German and Japanese, he said, could help Telangana’s young workers compete for jobs overseas.
