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As the campaign for the Jubilee Hills bye-election in Hyderabad reached a crescendo, Union Minister Bandi Sanjay Kumar called it a “war between Hindus and Muslims”. The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) MP made several communal, fear-mongering statements while campaigning for his party’s candidate, Lankala Deepak Reddy, on Saturday, November 8. He said his aim was to turn Hindus into a vote bank in Telangana.
Bandi Sanjay said the bye-election was a contest between those who wear a ‘tilak’ and bangles, and those who don’t. He even said it was a “dharmayudham” between “those with a sacred thread vs. those without it.”
“Congress is turning Jubilee Hills into Khan Begum Nagar. If BJP wins, we’ll turn it into Seetha Ram Nagar,” he said and added,“The Jubilee Hills bye-poll contest is a war between Hindus and Muslims, will 80% Hindus win or 20% Muslims win?”
He asked Hindus to vote for BJP if they wanted “Hindu Rajyam” in Telangana, and if they wanted to turn the state into a “Hindu Rashtram”. He promised to bring priests from the Ayodhya Ram temple to perform pooja at the Peddamma Gudi temple in Jubilee Hills if BJP wins.
Bandi Sanjay referred to assurances made by the Bharat Rashtra Samiti (BRS) and Congress to provide land for a graveyard for the Muslim community in the area. “Congress and BRS are promising Muslim graveyards, do you want temples or graveyards? If Congress wins, they’ll turn your parks into Muslim graveyards, dargahs and masjids. On Bakrid, streams of blood will flow in your streets. You won’t be allowed to celebrate Ganesh Chaturthi, Dasara, Hanuman Jayanti, Shivaji Jayanti etc.,” the Union Minister of State for Home Affairs said.
He said Hindus won’t be able to walk on the streets wearing bindi or bangles if Congress wins.
The BJP MP referred to the Pahalgam terror attack in which the attackers allegedly forced the victims to remove their trousers to check their body parts to confirm their religious identity, to make communal remarks against Congress leaders. “Congress leaders keep siding with Muslims and Pakistan so much, we need to check their body parts too to verify their religion, whether they’re original (Hindus) or not,” Bandi Sanjay said.
He also said his aim is to fly the saffron flag on Charminar.
Chief Minister Revanth Reddy’s recent remarks about Muslims had come under attack from the opposition BRS and BJP. While campaigning for the Jubilee Hills bye-poll, Revanth had said, “Congress hai toh Musalman hai” (Muslims exist because of Congress). Muslim groups too had demanded an apology from the CM over the remarks.
CM Revanth then said that his remarks had been distorted. He said that he has been a secular leader since he entered politics.
The high-voltage campaign for the bye-poll also saw a dramatic development, as Mohammad Azharuddin was inducted into the state Cabinet.
This was seen as an attempt to blunt the BRS attack for having no Muslim representation in the Cabinet, though it has been nearly two years since Congress formed the government. The move was also seen as an attempt to woo Muslims, who constitute about 35% of the four lakh voters in Jubilee Hills.
Terming Azharuddin's induction a desperate move, BRS said the ruling party realised that its "betrayal of people" on the six guarantees and other promises made before the 2023 Assembly elections is going to cost it dearly in the Jubilee Hills bye-election.
The BJP had even urged the Election Commission not to permit the Cabinet expansion.
The campaign for the Jubilee Hills Assembly bye-election has reached a crescendo with key contestants, Congress, BRS and BJP, making all-out efforts to secure victory for their candidates.
The constituency in the heart of the Telangana capital is witnessing a prestige battle between Chief Minister A Revanth Reddy and BRS working president KT Rama Rao, who led the campaign for their respective parties. Union Ministers G Kishan Reddy and Bandi Sanjay Kumar, along with state BJP chief Ramchander Rao and party MPs and MLAs, also ran a hectic campaign.
The bye-election was necessitated by the death of sitting MLA Maganti Gopinath of the BRS in June this year. The BRS has fielded his wife, Maganti Sunitha, in the bye-election.
The Congress party has fielded Naveen Yadav, who had in the past contested as the candidate of All India Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen (AIMIM). The party led by Hyderabad MP Asaduddin Owaisi has declared its support for the Congress candidate. The BJP has once again given a ticket to Lankala Deepak Reddy, who had finished third in the 2023 election. Gopinath had scored a hat-trick in 2023 by defeating his nearest rival, Mohammed Azharuddin of the Congress, by over 16,000 votes.
Though the former Indian cricket captain was keen to contest from his home constituency once again, the Congress leadership nominated him to the Legislative Council and inducted him into the Cabinet. He is among the ministers who are actively campaigning for the Congress candidate.
With IANS inputs