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Telangana Chief Minister A Revanth Reddy has sparked a political storm after stating that he took inspiration from German dictator Adolf Hitler while naming the Hyderabad Disaster Response and Asset Protection Agency (HYDRAA). The remark also drew attention because the Chief Minister appeared to refer to HYDRA, a fictional organisation from Marvel Comics, as a real Nazi group.
“HYDRAA is Hitler’s favourite word. His core team, who could assassinate anyone, was called HYDRAA. I have taken inspiration from Hitler and named [the agency] HYDRAA,” Revanth said with a smile, speaking to senior journalist N Ram at The Hindu Huddle, an event organised by The Hindu Group held in Bengaluru on June 6.
HYDRA is the name of a fictional terrorist organisation that appears in Marvel Comics and the Marvel Cinematic Universe. In the comics, the organisation has links to Nazi Germany and is associated with characters including Baron Wolfgang von Strucker, a former Nazi officer. However, no such group existed as Hitler’s “core team.”
Established in 2024 and headed by IPS officer AV Ranganath, HYDRAA is a Telangana government agency responsible for protecting government assets, lakes, and public land in Hyderabad from encroachments. The government has credited the agency with reclaiming huge tracts of government land.
However, HYDRAA has also faced criticism over allegations that it has been used to target political opponents of the ruling Congress, and for demolition drives that activists say have affected residents, particularly those from low-income neighbourhoods, without adequate notice.
“Today you ask anyone who can dare to encroach any water body in my Hyderabad. I have demolished like anything,” Revanth said at the event.
"You go and Google, you can see Iran and Israel, you can compare with those demolitions," he added.
His remarks soon drew criticism from political opponents, including leaders of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and the Bharat Rashtra Samithi (BRS), as well as social media users. Critics questioned the Chief Minister for citing inspiration from Hitler, whose Nazi regime carried out the Holocaust and other atrocities, and for presenting a fictional organisation as a historical reference.
They questioned the Chief Minister for citing Hitler as an inspiration, given that the Nazi regime carried out the Holocaust and other atrocities, and for presenting a fictional Nazi organisation from Marvel Comics as a historical entity.
When asked about the functioning of HYDRAA, CM Revanth said he "can understand poor people encroaching lakes", but "nowadays, rich people are encroaching water bodies because of their farmhouses, luxury..."