Though the Bharatiya Janata Party had suspended MLA Raja Singh for defying diktats, curiously the outfit invited him to participate in the Bhagwan Dhanwantri celebrations held at their state office in Nampally, Hyderabad on Sunday, November 27. He was invited as the guest of honour of the event along with other leaders like Bandi Sanjay, K Laxman and D Arvind. But Singh, who was recently released from prison, did not participate in the event.
The controversial legislator, who has a history of making provocative remarks against Muslims, was suspended from the party on August 23 for his alleged derogatory remarks against Prophet Muhammed. His remarks had triggered protests across Hyderabad. The MLA had made the offensive remarks in response to comedian Munawar Faruqui’s stand-up show which was held in Hyderabad with adequate police protection against the BJP’s threat to cancel the event. The BJP MLA accusing Faruqui of being anti-Hindu, had threatened with violence if the event was held. But the Telangana government ensured that the event was conducted smoothly by taking Singh into preventive custody. Post the event, Singh had released a video abusing Faruqui and his family. Claiming that the video was an attempt at stand-up comedy, the MLA said that Faruqui’s mother was assaulted in Gujarat during the 2002 riots, and that is why he is doing stand-up comedy targeting Hindus and the BJP. Justifying his stand, he had said that he was making remarks about the Prophet as Munawar had cracked jokes about Hindu gods.
Following protests, Raja Singh was arrested by the Telangana police for the same under the Preventive Detention Act.
He was even suspended from the party. The party’s disciplinary committee said that Raja Singh had expressed views contrary to the Party's position on various matters.
The party said that Raja Singh’s actions were in violation of Rule XXV. 10 (a) of constitution of the Bharatiya Janata Party. Responding to the show-cause notice given by the disciplinary committee, the MLA claimed that he neither belittled any religion nor did he criticise the Gods of any religion.
After spending 76 days in prison, Singh was released earlier this month with strict restrictions such as not releasing any offensive videos and addressing the media.