The Friday congregational prayers on 27th August in Makka Masjid near Charminar, and in all other masjids in the old city went on peacefully amidst heavy deployment of police force including Rapid Action Force and Special Armed Police Forces. The city had seen violent protests in the preceding days against Bharatiya Janata Party MLA T Raja Singh’s remarks against Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him).
Simultaneously, another silent protest was held in support of Raja Singh where Hindu traders in Begum Bazar shut down their shops on Friday.
Raja of Controversies
Raja Naval Singh Lodh, a self-proclaimed protector of ‘Hindu Dharma’, called as ‘Tiger’ by his supporters, is behind bars and lodged in Cherlapally Central Prison for his anti-Islam diatribe. He had uploaded a video insulting Islam, Muslims and the Prophet Muhammad on YouTube. Singh has a history of spewing venom against the Muslim community.
Lately, he has increased his communal tempo as the state is set for elections scheduled in 2023. Singh, a two-time MLA from Goshamahal constituency, also calls himself a Gau Rakshak (Cow protector), is a follower of RSS ideology and claims that he aspires for ‘Hindu Raj’. He started his political career with Telugu Desam Party (TDP) before switching to the BJP. In his inflammatory speeches this year he targeted Muslims during the Ram Navmi processions in the city and also made derogatory comments about Sufi saint Hazrat Khwaja Moinuddin Chisti of Ajmer in Rajasthan.
Earlier he had threatened to burn cinema halls if the movie Padmavat was screened, called for the beheading of Muslims if they are anti-Hindu, called Rohingya refugees in Hyderabad terrorists who should be shot in the head, defiled Muslim places of worship, took out rallies without permission with the intention to cause riots and threatened to lynch Muslims for beef consumption in ‘Dadri style’. He has never missed any opportunity to display his hatred for Muslims.
Protests and Police Excesses
Protests began on Monday, 22 August, after people learnt about the insulting video uploaded by Singh. There were also night protests as people took out rallies, burning effigies to express their anger. On Tuesday, Singh was arrested by the police but he was granted bail and released within 10 hours. This renewed outrage amongst the people as Singh and his supporters celebrated his bail.
The police swung into action and lathi-charged the protestors. The next day was more violent as clashes and stone pelting were reported from some areas. The cops went on a rampage in areas like Shalibanda, Mahboob Chowk, Asha Talkies and Moghalpura. Scores were rounded up and detained.
Videos of the police assault have gone viral where the police repeatedly kicked the door of a house, barged in and dragged three brothers from their houses while their parents pleaded with the cops. Recalling the incident, one of the youths said, “the police were in no mood to listen to them, they just dragged us and took us to the police station”.
In another incident, the police took away a worker from a water supply unit without giving him a chance to talk, beating him mercilessly. Visuals of a daily wage labourer taken to the police station even as he was weeping with blood flowing from his head, saying that he was not involved in any protest, have been uploaded on social media to showcase the atrocious behaviour of the Telangana police.
Around 90 youths were roughed up and detained at Kanchanbagh Police Station. After intervention from the AIMIM Chief MP Asaduddin Owaisi who spoke to the Deputy Commissioner of Police the youth were released by 1.30 am at night. He later took to Twitter to express his anger. “This isn’t acceptable. They’ve been released on my representation. I asked our corporators to drop the youth back home”. He appealed to the people to maintain peace and not fall prey to communalism.
One of the boys after his release shared with a reporter that all along the police behaved badly with the youth hitting them with their lathis and abusing them.
The residents alleged that the stone pelters were from other areas and that innocent youth were targeted.
A Silent Protest and ‘Sar Tan Se Juda Protest’
Prior to the re-arrest of Raja Singh, Syed Abdahu Kashaf, erstwhile associated with AIMIM leading their IT cell, now a social and civil rights activist, led another protest wherein he could be heard chanting “Gustak E Rasool ki ek hi saza, sar tan se juda” along with other youth in front of the Hyderabad Police commissioner’s office. Kashaf has been arrested and booked under three sections of the IPC (Indian Penal Code).
Kashaf, on 20th August, posted his photo with comedian Munawar Farooqi on his Instagram, saying, “This is Hyderabad and not Bhagyanagar. Outsiders and hate mongers have no place here” taking a dig at Raja Singh and the BJP who refer to Hyderabad as ‘Bhagyanagar’ with the motive to rename the city.
Another silent protest after the release of Raja Singh was taken out by Muslim women activists at the Ambedkar Chowk with black flags demanding the arrest of Raja Singh and condemning his release sending the message that creating communal discord and promoting hate is alright.
What The Police Say
Police justified their response claiming that protests during the night posed a risk since the old city was intertwined with lanes there was a possibility of police being outnumbered. Hence the police wanted to disperse the protestors to prevent the situation from spiralling out of control. But their action has drawn flak from the people of Hyderabad who took to social media to question the Chief minister’s claims of ‘friendly police’?
Raja Singh Arrested Again, Suspended From Party
The protests by the Muslim youth, and Muslim women and statements issued by politicians put pressure on the government and MLA Singh was arrested once again as police invoked the PDA (Preventive Detention Act). Under this Act, the tenure of punishment is one year unless bail is sought from the court. This is the first time in the state of Telangana that a public representative has been booked under the Prevention Detention Act for trying to disrupt peace and public tranquillity.
According to Hyderabad City Police, there are 101 cases booked against Raja Singh of which 18 are communal offences.
Owaisi in a separate tweet lashed out at the BJP. alleging that the party was communalising the situation “for one bypoll”
“What’ll it do in the general elections It wants to set the state on fire. It wants burnt homes, empty shops, closed schools & curfews. Inshallah, won’t let them succeed. Telangana will be mukt of violence as long as it’s mukt of BJP.”
Singh claimed that he made the video on Prophet Muhammad because comedian Farooqi allegedly makes fun of Hindu Gods and was invited to perform in Hyderabad. Raja Singh had threatened to burn down the venue but there was tight police security and preventive measures were taken. Farooqi’s show was held on 21 August.
Singh upon getting wind of his re-arrest posted a video on Twitter saying that he is not afraid of being jailed, shot or hung and will continue to fight for the sake of ‘Dharma’.
The BJP has suspended him from the party and issued a show cause notice asking why he should not be expelled from the party.
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Nikhat Fatima is an independent journalist based in Hyderabad.
