The Telangana unit of Vishwa Hindu Parishad on Thursday, November 16, threatened political parties if they neglected the Hindu community in the state Assembly election. At a press meet in Hyderabad, the Hindu right-wing organisation urged Hindus to vote for a political party that would protect Hindu temples and bring legislation against “love jihad” and cow slaughter. 

Love jihad refers to a bogey spread by right-wing organisations alleging that Muslim men ‘trap’ Hindu women into marrying them and forcing them to convert to Islam. 

Without mentioning Muslims, the VHP leaders claimed that the Indian laws have been discriminatory towards the Hindus. They claimed only Hindus were subjected to family planning while “others” were exempted, allowing their population to grow and leading to violent attacks against Hindus, they alleged. VHP said that Hindus should not get fooled by offers of “freebies” and should vote for a party that would protect Hindu dharma and Hindus.

The 119 Assembly constituencies in Telangana will be going for election on November 30. A total of 2,290 candidates are in the fray after 608 candidates withdrew their nominations. November 15 was the last date for the withdrawal of nominations.

LB Nagar constituency in Hyderabad has the largest number of contestants at 48, followed by Gajwel (44), where Chief Minister and Bharat Rashtra Samithi (BRS) president K Chandrashekar Rao is seeking re-election. 

This time, KCR is also contesting from the Kamareddy constituency, where 39 candidates are in the fray. The CM faces Telangana Pradesh Congress Committee (TPCC) president A Revanth Reddy, who is also contesting from his home constituency Kodangal, where only 13 candidates are in the fray.

The results will be announced on December 3.