Hyderabad: While the ‘Marwari go back’ campaign has brought out fissures between the local and migrant trading communities, the issue has also put the Congress here in a bind, especially since it is in power. While local leaders from the city maintain that the issue will fade, some of them however do feel that the Marwari community’s trade practices have put locals at a disadvantage.
Building up over the last few weeks, the ‘Marwari go back’ campaign culminated into a bandh call which was met with mild success in Hyderabad, but had a bigger impact in a few towns and districts.
A Congress leader from Hyderabad who did not want to be named said, “As a national party we of course cannot take sides as we speak for everyone. However, it is in the culture of the people here to start movements and protests. It is a fact that Marwaris now dominate markets which is why the locals here have a problem.”
The common feeling among many locals is that the Marwari community members squeeze out locals and competition as such. What allowed this issue to flare up was an attack on a man from a marginalised community in Hyderabad. “If they attack locals then that is wrong. If a Telangana local goes to Rajasthan and fights with someone from there, will they tolerate it? This issue will hopefully die down,” the Congress leader added.
The opposition Bharat Rashtra Samithi (BRS) here has also kept mum on the issue and does not seem to want to wade into it.
“Except for the BJP nobody else is talking about this. None of our leaders are going to say anything. In the city many Marwaris have voted for us so we are not going in that subject. On a personal basis, however I will say this that there is no issue. Marwaris have been here from a long time, and the whole thing is majorly an economic clash between them and the local traders,” stated a BRS leader.
BJP MP and Union minister Bandi Sanjay in response to the campaign defended the Marwari community, and went to to even say that he would start a “Rohingya go back” campaign in return.
