Police complaints filed against Telangana BJP chief for hate speech

Hyderabad, May 26 (IANS) Telangana Rashtra Samithi (TRS) leaders on Thursday lodged police complaints against state BJP chief Bandi Sanjay for delivering a hate speech in Karimnagar town.

The All India Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen (AIMIM) has demanded the state government take action against Sanjay while Muslim leaders of the Congress too have decided to file police complaints against the BJP leader, who had made the speech on Wednesday.

Local TRS leaders filed two separate complaints with Sanjay at Two Town Police Station in Karimnagar. They demanded strong action against him for making provocative comments against Muslims, mosques, and madarsas.

They requested the police to register cases against Sanjay, who is also a Member of Parliament from Karimnagar, under relevant sections of the Indian Penal Code.

The AIMIM has urged Telangana Chief Minister K. Chandrasekhar Rao and Director General of Police M. Mahender Reddy to take "exemplary" action to prevent untoward incidents and protect communal harmony of Telangana.

The party tweeted that the BJP government at the Centre has done nothing for people of Telangana in the last eight years and that is why Sanjay was spreading hatred.

Meanwhile, Telangana Congress' Minorities Department Chairman Abdullah Sohail Shaik has announced that the party leaders in all 33 districts will lodge police complaints against Sanjay.

He claimed that the police should have taken suo moto note of the hate speech and register a case but no action was taken as the ruling TRS "has a secret understanding with the BJP".

The Congress leader alleged that Sanjay is desperate to get public attention by making highly provocative statements. He said the BJP leader initially targeted four per cent reservation for Muslims and Urdu language and he was now demanding the digging under all mosques.

Addressing the Hindu Ekta Yarta in Karimnagar on Wednesday, Sanjay had alleged that Muslim rulers in Telangana demolished several temples and built mosques over them. He demanded digging work at all mosques, saying there was a possibility of finding Shiva Lingams underneath.

The BJP MP also stated that if BJP comes to power in Telangana, it will abolish all madrasas, do away with reservation for Muslims, and remove Urdu as the second official language.