Actor turned politician Pawan Kalyan on Sunday accepted the #MyhandloomMypride challenge of Telangana's Industry Minister KT Ramarao (KTR) to wear handloom clothes and promote the industry. The Jana Sena Party (JSP) leader took to Twitter to accept the challenge and posted his pictures in handloom clothes.
He wrote that he was accepting "Ram Bhai's challenge accepted... 'cause of my love & admiration for our weaver communities".
Pawan Kalyan then nominated Telugu Desam Party (TDP) president and former Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister N. Chandrababu Naidu, YSR Congress Party (YSRCP) leader and former minister Balineni Srinivasa Reddy and BJP MP K Laxman to post their pictures with handlooms and show their love on national handloom day.
Earlier, Rama Rao had accepted the challenge of his cabinet colleague V. Srinivas Goud and posted pictures with handlooms. Srinivas Goud had nominated megastar Chiranjeevi, badminton Star P.V. Sindhu and KTR for the challenge.
KTR wrote that he had been wearing handlooms every week and was actively promoting it. He nominated industrialist Anand Mahindra, former cricketer Sachin Tendulkar and Pawan Kalyan for the challenge.
KTR, who also holds the portfolio of state ministry of Commerce wished weavers on national handloom day, and appealed to the Government of India to review and revoke its 'unwise' decision to impose Goods and Services Tax (GST) on handlooms. "This dying art needs our utmost support," he tweeted.
Telangana and Andhra are states that have a large handloom industry; Telanana alone has over 40,000 handloom weavers who produce world class products. Telangana government has been demanding that the Union government waive off 5% GST on handloom products and its raw material. The handloom weavers from the state's Sircilla-Karimnagar, Jogulamba Gadwal, Pochampally are known for giving world class material for domestic and international markets, but the crisis that is fuelled by certain policies is forcing many weavers to leave their profession.