Hyderabad: Telangana Congress party general secretary Uzma Shakir staged a protest outside the Bharatiya Janata Party’s (BJP) headquarters in Hyderabad on Wednesday. Shakir was protesting against BJP state chief and Karimnagar member of Parliament Bandi Sanjay Kumar’s incendiary statement a day earlier, wherein he said that a “surgical strike” would be undertaken in the Old City.
The saffron party’s campaign has been shrill in the run up to the Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation (GHMC) elections and foul-mouthed leaders like Sanjay have been passing inflammatory comments in their campaign programs.
On Wednesday, Shakir went to the BJP’s headquarters alone, holding a red placard, and started raising slogans of “BJP hai hai and Bandi Sanjay hai hai”. She was later taken into police custody.
While she was protesting against the BJP Chief, Uzma Shakir told reporters that the BJP chief must stop his hate speeches. “Bandi Sanjay, don’t try to start a fight among Hyderabadis. This city is known for its ‘Ganga Jamna Tahzeeb’. Please maintain the tradition. If you want to do a ‘surgical strike’ in the old city then you have to go beyond me first,” Shakir said during her protest.
The Congress leader also took a shot at All India Majilis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen (AIMIM) chief and Hyderabad Lok Sabha MP Asaduddin Owaisi, and said, “If you(Sanjay) really want to do that (surgical strike), then do it on your friend Asaduddin Owaisi and his properties.”
The ongoing campaign for the upcoming Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation (GHMC) elections has taken a sharp communal turn, all thanks to the Bharatiya Janata Party’s (BJP) blitzkrieg of Hindutva aggression.
The two notable faces who have now assumed the roles of agent provocateur are Telangana BJP president Bandi Sanjay and Nizamabad MP D. Arvind.
In the previous GHMC elections, the ruling Telangana Rashtra Samithi (TRS) won 99 seats, while the All India Majilis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen (AIMIM), led by Hyderabad MP Asaduddin Owaisi, won 44. The TDP, BJP and Congress were left with scraps. However, it may be noted that the TDP then still had some support base, and was in an alliance with the BJP.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NtT6kiHDyik&t=118s/