Hyderabad: Over the last few weeks, one after another, violent murders have taken place in the city, mostly in the Old City areas of Hyderabad. Not only has this caused a serious concern among residents, but questions are also being raised about law and order, and also on the incumbent government’s ability to keep the Old City tranquil with a semblance of peace.
Apart from the ruling Congress, some eyes have also turned towards the All India Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen (AIMIM), which dominates the Old City in Hyderabad. The AIMIM not only holds the Hyderabad Lok Sabha seat, but also has seven MLAs, of which 6 fall in the Old City areas. Political observers who did not want to be named said that while the murders could just be coincidental, continual violence or incidents thereof are more or less point towards political instability.
“The new Congress government came in power last year and has transferred out most of the officers in various departments including the Hyderabad police. This disrupts certain things, and new people in charge might not have got a handle on things yet. Unlike under KCR (former BRS chief minister K Chandrashekar Rao), Revanth Reddy cannot question his cabinet ministers, who run their own ship, so the government is not run full by one person,” said a senior AIMIM functionary, requesting anonymity.
The last brazen murder in Hyderabad was at Chaderghat wherein a man was found murdered under the Malakpet metro station on June 28. Prior to that, one of the more shocking murders was that of a businessman by a group of history sheeters at Kalapather in the Old City. The victim was brutally stabbed, and the concerning thing was that the incident transpired about 100 metres away from the Kalapather police station.
This has also raised questions about the Hyderabad police’s efficacy in terms of preventing such incidents. A day earlier on June 30, the city police took up a major ‘disarming operation’ in the city to seize weapons from people carrying it illegally. Another issue that is of concern is the ‘unsafe’ tag that might stick with the Old City of Hyderabad.
Over the last decade after Telangana’s formation, the Old City of Hyderabad has mostly been peaceful even in testing times. However, the brazen murders in the Old City have now become a cause of major concern among activists, who worry that this could be easily misused by politicians to also create rifts. “It is very easy to say that Old City is unsafe as it has more Muslims. The police needs to quickly do something before things escalate,” said a Muslim activist from the Old City who did not want to be named.
However, a Congress leader said that the line of recent murders in Hyderabad’s Old City have nothing to do with political instability. “There is definitely a law and order issue for sure. Earlier under the BRS there was a day when eight murders took place. So it is not as if these things are happening only under the Congress, but it should be taken care of and prevented,” he told Siasat.com.
