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The BJP state election campaign committee chairman and former health Minister Eatala Rajender, the seven-time MLA, lost to his arch rival P. Kaushik Reddy of the BRS (Bharat Rashtra Samithi) in Huzurabad Assembly constituency by a margin of more than 16 thousand votes. Notably, in May 2021, Rajender had been expelled from the BRS party over land grabbing allegations in Medak district, after which he joined the BJP and won the 2021 by-election. As per the allegation, the land of some farmers was encroached by Jamuna Hatcheries, a company owned by his wife, in Hakimpet in the Gajwel Assembly segment. Notably, a total of 40 criminal cases have been filed against Rajender which involve Covid-19 protocol and election code violations and unlawful assembly, as per a report of Times of India.

Dubbak MLA M. Raghunandhan Rao also lost his seat to a BRS candidate and Medak MP K. Prabhakar Reddy by more than 53 thousand votes. He had been elected from Dubbak in a by-poll held in the year 2020. As per the affidavit filed by Rao, a total of 27 cases are pending against him. In February 2020, a 47-year-old woman had accused Rao of raping her in 2007, when he was an advocate, after which a rape case was filed against him. More recently, in June 2022, the Hyderabad Police had registered a case under Section 228 (disclosure of the victim’s identity) of the Indian Penal Code against Rao after the legislator had revealed a few images and videos connected to a minor’s gang rape in Hyderabad in June 2022.

The BJP lost another crucial seat in a keenly fought electoral battle from Karimnagar Assembly seat where BRS’ candidate Gangula Kamalakar won by 4 thousand votes, defeating the BJP national general secretary and OBC leader Bandi Sanjay Kumar. Kumar’s name was a regular on headlines, having been accused of paper leaks and malpractice. The BJP MP also had a slew of anti-minority hate speeches to his name. As per a report of the Indian Express, in May of this year, Kumar had delivered a hate speech demanding that mosques across the state should be dug up and if Shivlings were found beneath them, then the sites should be handed over to Hindus. A few months prior to the state election, Kumar had been removed as BJP state President a few months ago and replaced by Union Minister G. Kishan Reddy.

It is essential to note that during the recent state election cycle, on October 17, 2023, Citizens for Justice and Peace had moved the Election Commission of India as well as the Telangana State Election Commission against an election speech delivered by BJP national general secretary Bandi Sanjay Kumar. In the said speech, made on October 10 in Adilabad district of Hyderabad, Kumar had made communally inflammatory and violence promoting comments. The complaint had highlighted that through his speech, Kumar has not only used manipulative and defamatory words against the AIMIM (All India Majlis-E-Ittehadul Muslimeen) party, but also made communally inflammatory remarks to promote violence against Muslims as well as raised calls for conducting encounters.

Meanwhile, Arvind Dharmapuri, who had previously defeated BRS’ K Chandrasekhar Rao’s daughter K Kavitha in the Lok Sabha elections from Nizamabad, lost to Kalvakuntla Sanjay, who is also from KCR’s family. He lost by a whopping margin of ten thousand votes. In June 2022, Dharmapuri had been booked for hate speech by the police under Section 505 (1)(c) of the IPC for abusing the then Chief Minister K Chandrashekar Rao. It had been alleged that Sharmapuri had used abusive words against the incumbent CM to degrade the Government’s image, to develop hate and create an unlawful atmosphere, which demanded legal action. As per a report of Newstap, he had called KCR a liar and a criminal and had threatened to “kill him and his hens”. In November 2022, as per another report of Newstap, the residence of Dharmapuri had been allegedly attacked by a mob of people after he had made certain provocative statements against KCR’s daughter Kavitha.

Raja Singh and his legacy of hate swims him through:

BJP leader T Raja Singh, known for targeting the Muslim community and raising the flag of Hinduvta in the otherwise peaceful and harmonious South, came to power for the third time in Goshamahal, which falls under Hyderabad’s Old City. The controversial leader scored a hat-trick from his constituency by defeating Nand Kishore Vyas of BRS and Congress’ Sunitha Rao, securing 80,182 votes in all and 21,457 more than his closest BRS competitor. It seemed that the decision of the party to revoke the suspension of the leader and seeking votes on the basis of his polarising speeches worked after all.

It is essential to note here that on October 22, 2023, a statement was released by the BJP reinstating Singh and revoking his suspension based on his reply to the show cause notice issued to him by the Central Disciplinary Committee. In his response to the secretary of the BJP disciplinary committee Om Pathak, Singh had promised not to do anything that brought disrespect to the party. He had further alleged that he had ‘never criticised Muslims’. As per a report of the Print, party insiders had alleged that Bandi Sanjay Kumar had a hand in bringing Singh back into the fold.

Notably, during the state election cycle, two complaints had been sent by CJP against Singh, seeking action against his corrupt conduct. In the first complaint, sent on October 25, CJP had approached the ECI, highlighting the hate speeches delivered by Singh in Gujarat during the Garba festivities which were aimed at instigating disaffection, spreading misinformation, peddling conspiracies and promoting violence against religious minorities. In the other complaint, sent on November 14, CJP had complained against a hate speech delivered by Singh in his own constituency during an election rally. The said speech had shown Singh indulging in the corrupt practices of promoting enmity between different communities/faiths, raising calls for violence and spreading misinformation to gain votes.

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BJP lifts suspension on T. Raja Singh, a frequent hate offender, gives him a ticket: Telangana

The post Telangana State Elections: Polarising voters doesn’t yield results for BJP, key leaders lose seats appeared first on SabrangIndia.

‘Save Telangana from Modern-Day Razakar’s,’ proclaimed Home Minister for the Union Government, Amit Shah in his speech at Adilabad on October 10, 2023, reported the Deccan Herald. Shah sounded the hate bugle so to say for the Telangana state assembly campaign. He then brought up the Ram Temple at Ayodhya, “The Congress government had earlier dragged the construction of Ram temple in Ayodhya. However, PM Modi took the initiative to construct the shrine and the grand temple will be ready by January, 2024.”

While it comes as no surprise that the BJP has spearheaded this communal campaign, like most of their other campaigns other electoral forays, in Telangana. Statements drawing analogies with the Razakars, Nizam etc., have peppered the speeches of leaders big and small, from office-bearers of the party who hold ministerial positions, to the union home minister himself, to the member’s one of their student wing, BJYM.

#WATCH | Union Home Minister Amit Shah in Telangana’s Adilabad to take part in ‘Jana Garjana Sabha’ public event pic.twitter.com/uHfwR3zgjE

— ANI (@ANI) October 10, 2023

As the Telangana elections draw close, with polling day on November 30, and Bharat Rashtra Samithi’s (BRS) K Chandrasekhar Rao’s, often referred to as KCR, current term ends, how has the state fared on the harmony quotient this year?

Only days before, news surfaced of the alleged use of paper containing “Quranic verses” in firecrackers after some people discovered it. Following this, on October 23, the Musheerabad police lodged a complaint against a fireworks manufacturer for causing offense to religious sentiments. The firecrackers were from a local vendor who was operating a stall in front of Musheerabad’s Ek Minar Masjid whereas the cracker producer is reportedly based in Sivakasi, Tamil Nadu. The complainant has demanded strict action against the two.

The upcoming elections appears to be a tripartite fight between the BRS, Indian National Congress with the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) only a distant third. KCR has held the post since 2014 and carries the legacy of having led the Telangana movement over the years.

According to the Frontline Magazine, different motives drive the three main players in the state. The INC fights for survival or revival (in undivided Andhra Pradesh it has held power for significant numbers of years) and retain the seats it had garnered in earlier polls; for the BJP has which previously had only 3 seats, the party wishes to make a broader entry in the state in the assembly that currently holds 119 members. The party’s strategy in revoking the suspension of venom spitting MLA T Raja Singh last Sunday, just before he was re-nominated to fight the election from Ghoshamahal, Hyderabad, makes its unprincipled stand on communal harmony starkly clear; Singh with a poor track record on hate speech –being jailed for it too—now also faces a complaint lodged against him with the Election Commission (ECI).

Has the ongoing campaign been devoid of hate?

While the ruling party KCR has been accused by opposition leaders to be practising ‘soft-Hindutva’, KCR, the chief minister of Telangana, has been a strident critic of both the INC and the BJP over the years. While the BRS supremo has criticised the BJP for being communal and has even spoke out against the ‘cancer of communalism’ in  2022 yet, at the same time, his critics assert that the leader has not done enough for instance in the case of sanctioning notorious BJP MLA T Raja Singh.

Apart from the ‘modern-Razakars’, comment by India’s home minister made in October 2023[1], the start of 2023 itself records the Home Minister to have made another seemingly polarising speech. As early as April 2023, Shah spoke of removing reservations from Muslims if BJP were to be elected, saying, “In the two-bedroom kitchen hall scheme too, they (KCR’s Bharat Rashtra Samithi) brought in reservation for minorities, this is anti-constitutional. Muslim reservation was brought in (the field of) education. They also said many other things. I am saying this here, when there is a BJP government here, we will end this anti-constitutional Muslim reservation. This right is of Telangana’s SC, ST and OBC. They will get this right and Muslim reservation, we will end. We will put an end to Muslim reservations in educational institutions. Quotas are the constitutional right of Dalits, tribals and backward castes and we will ensure they benefit.” “His speech followed close on the steps taken by Basavaraj Bommai led BJP government in Karnataka in April. Karnataka went to the polls in May 2023 and it was on the eve of elections that this announcement had been made there. Shah followed this decision by referring to the issue in neighbouring Telangana.

On May 14, the ‘Hindu Ekta Yatra’ took place in Karimnagar, where it was spearheaded by Telangana BJP chief Bandi Sanjay Kumar. Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma was a notable guest at the event and flew in to attend the rally.

The Assam Chief Minister, who currently has a case of Hate Speech pending against him, also made the following statements in Karimnagar, Telangana, “We’re working to stop love jihad in Assam, and we’re also working towards closing down Madrasas in Assam. After I became CM, I closed 600 Madrassas in Assam, and I want to tell Owaisi that I will close 300 more Madrassas this year.” According to Siasat.com, speeches delivered by both Himanta Sarma and Bandi Sanjay Kumar Bandi revolved predominantly around topics such as ‘love jihad’, Owaisi, and Razakar makes it seem that that the BJP leaders are intent on using certain incendiary arguments and conspiracy stories to ignite communal sentiment. Like Raja Singh, BJP has fielded Bandi from the constituency of Karimnagar. Bandi is said to be a main player in the party’s elections. In August 2023 too he made targeted speech, in the presence of the Home Minister, where he asserted that “Ram Rajyam and Modi Rajyam were inevitable.”

#WATCH | Telangana: “We’re working to stop love jihad in Assam, and we’re also working towards closing down Madrassas in Assam. After I became CM, I closed 600 Madrassas in Assam…I want to tell Owaisi that I will close 300 more Madrassas this year…”:Assam CM Himanta Biswa… pic.twitter.com/mPm8c4BKpc

— ANI (@ANI) May 14, 2023

According to The News Minute, Sanjay is renowned for a hard-line Hindutva approach, and he rose to the fore in 2020 when he said that the old city of Hyderabad should be struck with ‘surgical strikes,’ to remove Rohingya. A complaint against Sanjay Bandi, for violating the Model Code of Conduct (MCC) has also been filed by Citizens for Justice and Peace. (CJP).

Similarly, BJP’s Bharatiya Janata Yuva Morcha (BJYM) President Nitin Nandkar too gave a hate speech which was seemed to be targeted against Muslims in April, 2023, saying, “Bajrang Dal, Vishwa Hindu Parishad, RSS and other organisations are active when it comes to protecting cows. We did it yesterday, we will do it today and certainly do it tomorrow. Nobody can stop us and no one can prevent us.”

Location: Hyderabad, Telangana

Last week, the Hyderabad Bharatiya Janata Yuva Morcha (BJYM) President Nitin Nandkar delivered hate speech against Muslims and threatened violence against people who sell, transport, or consume beef. pic.twitter.com/M7cqzENiXh

— HindutvaWatch (@HindutvaWatchIn) April 8, 2023

T Raja Singh: BJP’s notorious player

The BJP on October 23, reinstated MLA of Ghoshamahal constituency in Hyderabad T Raja Singh after his suspension from the party last year. His suspension came instantly after he made controversial remarks about Prophet Mohammed during the time the former BJP spokesperson made derogatory statements. Singh was recently in the news this month for sending letters to Garba event organisers with a warning to Hindutva groups to remain vigilant against individuals who were not Hindu. He has advocated for Hindu-only garba events, citing the supposed bogey of ‘Love Jihad’ being a threat to the safety of Hindu girls.

In the letter, Singh also stated that all event staff, including DJs, caterers, bouncers, musicians, and lighting personnel, must belong to the Hindu community and should not be allowed near the Garba pandals. Shortly after this on Monday, October 18, a commotion reportedly erupted at a Garba event in Hyderabad where reports suggest that the Bajrang Dal raised an issue when allegedly a Muslim man attended the annual Navkar Navratri Utsav at the Begumpet Hockey Stadium in Hyderabad. They argued that he was trying to do ‘love-jihad.’’ In a post on that incident, BJP’s legal cell member, Advocate Neelam Bhargava Ram, even referenced T Raja Singh in a statement regarding the incident.

However, the veracity of the events as claimed by these organisations are also put in question as, according to reports, the man confronted by the mob was allegedly handed over to the police. However, the Begumpet police station had said that no such individual had been handed over to them.

Singh and Kumar held to account 

On October 17, Citizens for Justice and Peace filed complaints with both the Election Commission of India and the Telangana State Election Commission concerning a controversial election speech delivered by BJP’s national general secretary, Bandi Sanjay Kumar. This speech, delivered on October 10 in the Adilabad district of Hyderabad, contained remarks that were deemed inflammatory and promoting violence along communal lines. He made these statements during his address at the Jana Garjana Sabha, where he declared, “Modi’s rule must come to Telangana so that those responsible for attacking Hindu society and causing havoc in Bhainsa, along with individuals associated with AIMIM who committed crimes against minors, are exposed and pursued through the streets.” In a disturbing turn, he also invoked memories of past riots, suggesting actions against those in Pakistan who don’t chant ‘Bharat Mata ki Jai,’ saying, “Those who raise Pakistan flags instead of uttering ‘Bharat Mata ki Jai’ should face encounters and be buried in Pakistan.”

Furthermore, CJP had approached the Election Commission of India and the Telangana State Election Commission on October 25 regarding BJP MLA Tiger Raja Singh’s conduct. CJP has highlighted his hate-filled speeches delivered by Singh during the Garba festivities in Gujarat which were explicitly aimed at inciting discord, spreading false information, propagating conspiracy theories, and promoting violence against religious minorities. CJP has urged the authorities to initiate the actions against T Raja Singh arguing that such actions that involve sowing discord among different communities, endorsing violence, and disseminating false information, clearly violate election laws and the Model Code of Conduct.

Hate crimes in 2023 in Telangana

Numerous reports of instances of targeted violence against Muslims have arisen from Telangana. What is to be of note is that most of these instances are from Hyderabad, which leaves the question what about other regions of the state? There is little data available.

According to The Quint, in May 2023, a mob assaulted, as they chanted ‘Jai Sri Ram’, Muslim man named Imran Ahmed after reportedly an altercation took place between Imran and a gas cylinder delivery boy in Narsapur, which is located in Telangana’s Medak district. Videos of the horrifying incident had gone viral on social media where Imran’s mother and his pregnant sister can also be seen desperately trying to shield him, but were not spared from the violence.

Valdas Mallesh, a BJP leader in the area, spoke to the media at the police station after the incident and asserted that the incident took place because Ahmed had insulted religious sentiment. Following this, the police took action by registering a case against Imran himself under Section 295 (insult to religion) as well as against 10-15 members of the mob under Sections 341 (wrongful restraint), 323 (voluntarily causing hurt), 506 (threat to cause grievous hurt), and 504 (intentional insult). Imran was let go after two days of his arrest. Imran remained the only one, according to reports, who was taken into custody. According to reports, a BJP councillor was also amongst the people who were booked for the violence.

Similarly, in April 2023, a disturbing instance was reported where three fruit vendors were forced to drink alcohol and beaten up, reportedly, with the involvement of right-wing organisations in Telangana’s Sangareddy district. The vendors were all Muslim.

[1] See Citizens for Justice and Peace’s Nafrat ka Naqsha at https://cjp.org.in/hate-hatao#hate-map CJP’s Nafrat ka Naqsha tracks hate speech across the country. It receives submissions from users, volunteers, monitors social media, submits all these for a rigorous fact-checking process, and then locates these on the map.

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Crossing all limits, BJP MLA, T. Raja Singh calls for genocide & economic boycott

The post Telangana Hate Crimes: a closer look as Election Day approaches  appeared first on SabrangIndia.

pic courtesy : Social media

If we look at the women contesting in the elections this year and the number of women that have emerged as winner the output is very poor, thereby justifying the demand for reservations for women in the elections.

In total, 186 women contested the elections this year, but only six managed to secure a win whereas in the 2013 elections, 85 women contested the elections and nine emerged as winners. As expected, the 6 women are from the two major political parties in the state: Telangana Rashtra Samithi and Indian National Congress, with both having three winners each. Of the six women who won this year, three won from ST seats while three won from general seats. No SC or Muslim woman managed to secure a victory.

The 6 women are : D. Anasuya (ST); B. Haripriya (ST) and Sabitha Indra Reddy from congress; (INC); Rekha Naik, (ST);  Suneetha Reddy; and Padma Devendar Reddy from TRS. In 2014 among the nine women MLAs, there were 2 SC, 2 ST and 5 others.
Political participation of women remains poor but what is surprising is the seats allotted to women from the political parties are very few from most of the parties.

The number of seats allotted to women from some of the major parties are as mentioned below and also depicted in a graph:
 

With participation of women being a mere 5%, the visibility of women looks like nothing but lip service. While women constitute 49% of the total population in India, their share in state assemblies remain abysmally low. The scene in all other states of India is more or less the same, even where the Chief Ministers and party heads are women.

India ranks 151 of 193 countries as on 1st November 2018 according to the data compiled by ‘Women in national parliaments – Inter parliamentary Union’.

The results of this year in Telangana State once again stress on the demand for women’s reservation bill to be passed so that in the General elections slated in 2019 we can see enhancement of political participation of women running for parliamentary elections.

Courtesy: Two Circles
 

The post Drop in women MLA numbers in Telangana stresses need for 33% reservation appeared first on SabrangIndia.

As of 5.30 pm on December 11, 2018, the Indian National Congress (Congress) is set to form state governments in all three states, defeating the incumbent Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP).

Congress president Rahul Gandhi and many opposition leaders from across the country lent support to the Kisan Mukti March on November 30, 2018, which demanded that parliament hold a special 21-day session to address the agrarian crisis.

Between 2004 and 2016, Madhya Pradesh recorded 16,932 farmer suicides–more than three every day, and the fourth highest number nationwide–according to this FactChecker.in analysis dated October 22, 2018. Chhattisgarh followed with 12,979 suicides–nearly three everyday, and the fifth highest nationwide. Rajasthan ranked the 11th highest with 5,582 suicides during the same period.

India grew more foodgrain in 2017 than ever before, and the government’s agriculture budget rose 111% over four years to 2017-18, as IndiaSpend reported in January 2018. Yet prices crashed, unpaid agricultural loans grew 20% over the year to 2017, and 600 million Indians who depend on farming struggled to get by.

However, farm distress did not prevent the Telangana Rashtra Samithi (TRS) from sweeping the polls and returning to power in the youngest Indian state, 55.5% of whose population earns a living from farming. Tenancy is on the rise in Telangana as small farmers seek to cultivate more land to make farming viable, IndiaSpend reported on December 6, 2018. Without titles, however, they cannot access bank loans and benefit schemes, and are pushed into the hands of usurious moneylenders, our ground investigation found.

We curated a list from the IndiaSpend archives on the stress roiling rural India:

The post Farm Distress Influenced Elections In MP, Rajasthan And Chhattisgarh, But Not In Telangana appeared first on SabrangIndia.

Image Courtesy: Facebook/Chandramukhi Muvvala
 
Hyderabad: The lone transwoman candidate in Telangana Assembly polls, who had gone missing on Nov 27, turned up at a police station in Hyderabad on Wednesday night. Trans activist and MLA candidate Chandramukhi Muvvala was said to be in a dazed and confused state. She is a candidate from the Bahujan Left Front fighting from the Goshamahal constituency.
 
She reached the Banjara Hills police station on Wednesday with her lawyer and some members of the transgender community. She refused to give a statement to police about her whereabouts, saying she will reveal all the details in court on Thursday.
 
The Hyderabad High Court had on Wednesday directed the police to produce her in the court on Thursday.
 
“The court passed orders on a habeas corpus (unlawful detention) petitioned filed by Chandramukhi’s mother Ananthamma. Earlier, a missing case was registered at the Banjara Hills police station on a complaint by her mother. According to her supporters, two persons had come to meet her. Later, her mobile phone was switched off. They claimed she had been kidnapped,” NDTV reported.
 
“However, after examining CCTV footage, police said on Wednesday that she left the house on her own and was seen walking alone. A police official said she had masked her face to hide her identity. Police had formed 10 teams to trace the missing candidate. A few teams were also deputed to Anantapur and other districts in neighbouring Andhra Pradesh,” the report said.
 
Chandramukhi’s mother, Anitha Muvvala told TNM that the woman on the CCTV footage was not her daughter.
 
“She has come back. She was abducted by someone and intimidated severely, she’s dazed and disoriented. She’ll share what happened to her before the court,” Vasudha Nagaraj, her lawyer, told TNM.
 
“In Goshamahal, all the candidates contesting against her have a criminal past and we suspect that someone might be behind her abduction. Despite such a big incident, all the parties have maintained a studious silence, as if nothing has happened. So, we are planning for a state-wide agitation on Thursday, if police don’t find Chandramukhi,” BLF convenor Tammineni Veerabhadram had told TNM a day earlier. On Tuesday, the Bahujan Left Front had warned of a statewide agitation if Muvvala was not found within 24 hours.
 
BLF leaders and activists alleged that people who were opposed to a transgender woman contesting the election were behind her disappearance.
 
Chandramukhi is the only transgender candidate out of 3,584 candidates contesting in the upcoming Telangana elections on December 7.
 
Chandramukhi, a well-known face in Hyderabad’s trans community, is contesting from the Goshamahal constituency in Hyderabad on a Bahujan Left Front (BLF) ticket. She will be taking on bigwigs such as the BJP’s Raja Singh, Congress’ Mukesh Goud and TRS’s Prem Singh Rathore.
 
Read Also:
Lone transwoman contesting Telangana polls goes missing
Chandramukhi: the only transwoman contesting the upcoming Telangana polls

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