The Bharatiya Janatha Party (BJP) once again sent out a loud message to those who overstep and harm the party’s interests while resorting to communal rants. Following former BJP spokesperson, Nupur Sharma is BJP MLA Raja Singh who was suspended by the party on Tuesday by the disciplinary committee which also issued him a show-cause notice and a deadline of 10 days to respond to it. Raja Singh is the lone BJP face that won the state elections held in 2018. He represents the Goshamahal constituency which is in the heart of Hyderabad.
Raja Singh is not new to controversy but his latest act has created serious unrest among the minority community which took to the streets demanding his arrest. It all started with the ruling TRS party inviting standup comic Munawar Faruqui to perform in Hyderabad. With the unstinted support of the state machinery, the show took off on Saturday even as BJP vehemently opposed it. MLA Raja Singh threatened to disrupt it and burn the venue but was taken into preventive custody. The Munawar Faruqui show transformed into a political slugfest between TRS and BJP with each taking the polar opposite stand. As a fallout of the feud, Raja Singh uploaded a video on Youtube in which he passed derogatory remarks against the Prophet, similar to the words spoken by Nupur Sharma in the past.
Trouble brewed soon after as members of the minority community protested on the streets outside police headquarters on Monday evening and Tuesday morning. Hyderabad MP Asaduddin Owaisi also condemned the statements of Raja Singh. The police responded to the complaints received in this regard and arrested Raja Singh under multiple sections on Tuesday morning. Within hours, the BJP suspended Raja Singh. “You have expressed views contrary to the party’s position on various matters,” read the statement signed by Om Pathak, Member Secretary, Central Disciplinary Committee. “You are suspended from the party and your responsibilities …with immediate effect.”
Raja Singh is a two-time MLA who has shaped up as a radical Hindutva face of the BJP. He actively and routinely engages in ‘cow protection’ activities and occasionally makes provocative speeches which have also won him a supporter base, irrespective of the party lines. Some of the social media accounts which published Raja Singh’s speeches have been banned in the past.
Raja Singh’s suspension has come as a surprise since it came at a time when BJP is sharpening its knives for an upcoming bypoll.
On Sunday, top central BJP leader and home minister Amit Shah addressed a public meeting in the Munugode constituency, which will go to the polls. He targeted the ruling TRS party President and chief minister K Chandrashekar Rao and his family alleging large-scale corruption and unethical family rule. Shah predicted the downfall of the regional party by the next elections.
Within 24 hours after he left the state, BJP MP from West Delhi, Parvesh Verma alleged that K Kavitha, daughter of KCR and TRS MLC was involved in the liquor policy scam which rocked the Delhi government. He said that KCR’s family members had attended the meetings related to the policy formulation. Following this development, Congress stepped up and joined BJP in questioning the role of Kavitha on this issue. Refuting the allegations, Kavitha threatened to file a defamation suit against the BJP leaders for dragging her name. On Monday evening, BJP workers protested outside Kavitha’s house leading to a direct confrontation with TRS workers who also assembled at the leader’s house as a defensive measure. To express solidarity with the BJP workers who were arrested by the police outside Kavitha’s residence, BJP President B Sanjay called party workers to intensify strikes across the state which led to him getting detained by the police on Tuesday morning.
The BJP is bracing up to challenge TRS and the Congress at Munugode, where the sitting MLA, Komatireddy Rajagopal Reddy quit Congress to join the BJP, which sees this as an opportunity to further expand its sphere of influence in the state.
