Nandeeshwar Goud, BJP’s candidate for the upcoming Telangana Assembly elections from the Patancheru constituency, filed his nomination on Thursday, November 9, by taking out a huge rally with bulldozers decked up with his party flags and saffron flags featuring Lord Hanuman, in violation of the Model Code of Conduct (MCC). Bulldozers have become a symbol of the BJP's style of providing ‘instant justice’ when in power, by demolishing homes under the garb of clearing illegal encroachments, often targeting Muslims. The Election Commission of India’s MCC clearly states that there shall be “no appeal to caste or communal feelings for securing votes. Mosques, churches, temples or other places of worship shall not be used as a forum for election propaganda.”
Speaking to TNM, ex-MLA from Patancheru Nandeeshwar Goud claimed that his rally was not meant to target Muslims, but the current BRS legislator from the constituency, Gudem Mahipal Reddy. “The bulldozer rally symbolises the BJP’s promise to demolish illegal encroachments occupied by the MLA. Mahipal Reddy has been involved in land grabbing and illegal encroachments. We wanted to show that similar to the Uttar Pradesh government under Yogi Adityanath, we will demolish these encroachments too,” Nandeeshwar said, claiming that the rally was not meant to target the Muslim community. “It was not meant to target Muslims. That was not my intention. It was only aimed at the MLA,” he said.
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This method of ‘instant justice’, which began in Uttar Pradesh, has been emulated in several other BJP-ruled states such as Madhya Pradesh and Gujarat. Even Delhi’s civic body has used bulldozers for forceful evictions in the name of anti-encroachment drives/
TNM has tried reaching out to the Telangana Chief Electoral Officer (CEO) for his comments on the issue. This article will be updated if a statement is made by the CEO.