Amid huge uproar in Hyderabad over Telangana MLA T Raja Singh’s remarks against Prophet Muhammed, he was suspended by the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) on Tuesday, August 23. A notice from the party's central disciplinary committee said that he had expressed views contrary to the party's position on various matters. He has also been asked to reply within 10 days as to why he shouldn’t be expelled. Raja Singh is not new to controversy, and has been booked in multiple cases in the past for provocative, anti-Muslim hate speeches and other contentious remarks. In September 2020, Facebook banned his page for promoting violence and hate. However, this is the first time that Raja Singh has openly faced serious action from the BJP, a move that comes close on the heels of the extensive adverse reactions to suspended BJP spokesperson Nupur Sharma’s similar comments against Islam and Prophet Muhammed.
Raja Singh had made the contentious comments in a video criticising stand-up comedian Munawar Faruqui, who recently performed in the city. Earlier in May, Nupur had made similar comments as the ones made by Raja Singh, during a debate on Times Now news channel on the Gyanvapi mosque issue. Repercussions of her comments escalated quickly, and many Muslim nations – including Iran, Indonesia, Jordan, Afghanistan and members of the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) – condemned them. Amid reproach from many Muslim nations which share significant economic relations with India, the BJP suspended Nupur.
Nupur’s suspension led to backlash from the party’s own supporters for not standing by her, who called it a move of appeasement. Yet, the Union government also continued to distance itself from her remarks, calling her a “fringe element”. The government’s response was seen as inevitable diplomatic firefighting, considering the huge population of Indian migrants working in the disappointed Muslim nations who send massive remittances back home, as well as India’s dependence on these countries for its energy needs.
The Supreme Court, too, had strongly criticised Nupur, observing that her remarks on the Prophet were ‘single-handedly’ responsible for the tension in the country, following protests over the remarks and the brutal murder of a tailor in Udaipur. In the wake of such repercussions of Nupur’s remarks, during the BJP’s two-day National Executive Committee meeting held in Hyderabad in July, party leaders were warned by BJP’s National General Secretary BL Santosh against making any controversial statements that were explicitly against Islam. Raja Singh made the remarks in his video despite this warning. The video has since been taken down from YouTube.
Soon after the video first surfaced on social media, Hyderabad saw massive protests demanding Raja Singh’s arrest in the early hours of Tuesday. In one of the videos from the protests, the crowd was heard sloganeering and demanding that Raja Singh must be beheaded for his comments against Prophet Mohammed.
As he was being arrested on Tuesday, the Goshamahal MLA told reporters that he would upload "part 2" of the clip after his release, and said that he was doing it all for “dharma”. He declared that he was ready to go to jail for his comments and expressed no remorse. He also said, "For me, religion comes first and only then politics." He was released on bail later on Tuesday night, after a local court accepted Raja Singh's lawyer's argument that the police did not issue a notice under CrPC (Code of Criminal Procedure) Section 41(A) to the accused before the arrest. Since his release, protests continued in parts of Hyderabad on Tuesday night and continued on Wednesday, with the police detaining several protesters. In a few places, police resorted to lathi-charge to disperse the protesters.
Meanwhile, condemning Raja Singh’s comments, AIMIM (All India Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen) chief Owaisi told reporters: "This is the official policy of the BJP to ensure that Muslims are always tortured emotionally, mentally by allowing their party members to talk in such low language which we call ‘sadak chap’ language about Prophet Mohammed. This is a deliberate attempt by BJP and they allowed their MLA to speak in this language." Owaisi also said that the BJP had not learnt a lesson from Nupur Sharma’s episode. “This is a continuation of what Nupur Sharma had said," he said.
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With PTI inputs