Hyderabad: Several All India Majlis e Ittehad Ul Muslimeen (AIMIM) legislators were seen joining in a rendition of Vande Mataram at a Telangana government event in Hyderabad on Monday, July 20, a departure from the party’s walkout from the national song during the Assembly session in March this year.
Nampally MLA Majid Hussain and Malakpet MLA Ahmed Balala bin Abdullah Balala, Charminar MLA Zulfeqar were among those seen participating in the rendition of the national song at the launch of the Indiramma Housing Towers scheme, held at G-29 in the Dr BR Ambedkar Telangana State Secretariat, according to visuals circulating on social media. Siasat.com could not independently verify additional details of the rendition beyond what was shared online.
The event itself was a state government function to roll out low-income group housing under the Core Urban Region Economy, or CURE, initiative. Ministers Ponguleti Srinivasa Reddy, Ponnam Prabhakar, Duddilla Sridhar Babu and Mohammed Azharuddin jointly launched the scheme and released its brochure, outlining eligibility criteria and the application process for beneficiaries. MLAs, MLCs, district collectors and other officials attended the programme. The government plans to construct one lakh LIG houses under the scheme, with an initial phase of 500 houses in each Assembly constituency within Hyderabad’s core urban limits.
The appearance of AIMIM leaders standing for Vande Mataram has come after several AIMIM MLAs and MLCs had walked out of the Telangana Assembly on March 16 while the national song was being played before and after Governor Shiv Pratap Shukla’s customary address. The move elicited harsh criticism from Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leaders such as Union Minister Bandi Sanjay Kumar and the State BJP President, N Ramchander Rao, who later moved an appeal to the Governor to have AIMIM MLAs suspended.
