Hyderabad: State BJP president Bandi Sanjay Kumar’s penchant to put the foot in his mouth seems to be increasing by the day, making inflammatory statements that are only opening the flanks for severe criticism from all quarters. The latest in the series of what appear to be deliberate attempts at polarisation of votes for the GHMC elections is his warning that the BJP will carry out ‘surgical strikes’ in the old city to drive away the Rohingyas, a stateless ethnic group from Myanmar.
Addressing a crowd at his roadshow near Ramanthapur here on Tuesday, the BJP leader, referring to MIM president Asaduddin Owaisi’s challenge to show at least a 1000 names of Rohingyas in the GHMC voters list, said: “You are asking me what action Union Home Minister Amit Shah has taken against Rohingyas? If BJP is elected and our candidate becomes Mayor of Hyderabad, there will be surgical strikes in your old city and the BJP will take the responsibility of driving away Rohingyas and Pakistanis from the old city,” Sanjay said, adding further that the elections must be conducted only after deletion of names of illegal voters from Myanmar, Pakistan and Afghanistan.
TRS working president and Municipal Administration Minister K T Rama Rao was quick to retort, taking exception to the likening of a peaceful Hyderabad to that of terrorist camps in Pakistan, and wondered if the Karimnagar MP had gone completely insane just for a few votes and seats in the GHMC elections.
Taking to Twitter first and then addressing people directly during his roadshow, Rama Rao said: “Hyderabad is neither near the national border nor is it a foreign land. Will you kill crores of Hyderabadis just for the sake of a few votes?.” The Minister said the BJP and Sanjay should instead carry out surgical strike on poverty, unemployment, backwardness and politics of hate plaguing the country. BJP leaders should conduct surgical strikes on those resorting to crimes against women and those destroying the economy, he said, and warned the saffron party that the people, who have realised that the BJP government was incompetent to take such measures, will themselves take up surgical strikes soon against the ineffective governance at the Centre.
Rama Rao also sought to know from Union Minister of State for Home Affairs G Kishan Reddy whether he condoned the reprehensible and hate-filled statements by his colleague and sitting MP. Kishan Reddy, like earlier instances, evaded questions from the media when asked about his response to Sanjay’s threat of surgical strikes on old city.
“I was on the campaign ratham all day. I haven’t heard what he (Sanjay) said on surgical strikes on the old city and the Rohingyas,” Kishan Reddy said, and refused to comment further on the issue.
Earlier, Sanjay, continuing with his rant, said: “Only BJP can do this (surgical strikes) because certain parties are surviving on minority appeasement. But BJP works for the 80 per cent of Hindus that form a majority. They (TRS and MIM) call us communal. Yes, BJP works for Hindus and the unity of Hindus,” he said. Bandi has been alleging that 40,000 Rohingyas have been sheltered in the old city and their names have been enrolled in the GHMC voters list.
Minutes after the Minister took to Twitter, the hashtags #SayNoToHate, ‘#NoHatePolitics’ and ‘#HyderabadFirst’ were trending on the social media.
Now you can get handpicked stories from Telangana Today on Telegram everyday. Click the link to subscribe.
Click to follow Telangana Today Facebook page and Twitter .