In yet another act of spreading hate among two communities, BJP's lone legislator in the newly-elected Telangana Assembly, Raja Singh, has said that he will not participate in the swearing-in ceremony scheduled on January 17, because the designated pro-tem Speaker Mumtaz Ahmed Khan belongs to the All India Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen (AIMIM).
This comes a day after it was announced that Mumtaz Ahmed Khan would take oath as pro-tem Speaker on January 16. Usually, the senior most MLA-elect is made the pro-tem Speaker and in the case of Telangana, it was 70-year-old Khan. A press release from the Chief Minister's office said that Governor ESL Narasimhan will administer the oath to Khan, who represents Charminar constituency.
In a video uploaded on his Facebook page, Raja Singh said, "All the MLAs have to take oath in front of an AIMIM MLA. This decision has been taken by the Telangana CM KCR. I would like to say that Raja Singh will not go to the Telangana Assembly and will not take oath in front of him."
"I will not take oath in front of a Speaker belonging to 'that' (AIMIM) party, which speaks about finishing off Hindus and won't say 'Vande Mataram' or 'Bharat mata ki jai'. I won't take oath in front of a Speaker from such a dirty party," he added.
He also said that he will speak about how to legally proceed and asked KCR to revoke his decision.
Raja Singh is the only MLA from his party who managed to retain his seat in the Telangana elections, which were held on December 7.
Raja Singh has been repeatedly in the news for spewing venom against the Muslim community. In 2018, he called for “shooting down” Rohingya Muslims as they were “foreigners” besides calling for a ban on the Quran and threatening to burn down theatres in Telangana that screened the Bollywood movie Padmaavat. In 2017, he threatened to behead those who opposed the construction of the Ram temple at the disputed site in Ayodhya.
According to the affidavit that he filed with the Election Commission in November, he had 43 police cases pending against him, including multiple charges of promoting enmity between different groups and hate speech.