Not the first of Dattatreya's letters

Bandaru Dattatreya’s letter to HRD Minister Smriti Irani on the University of Hyderabad has kicked up a storm in his home state of Telangana, but this is not the first time the labour minster has written to a colleague on Hyderabad.

Before his controversial letter to Irani, Dattatreya had written to Home Minister Rajnath Singh on April 7 seeking an in-depth investigation into the activities of terror outfits in Telangana in which he has depicted Hyderabad in not so flattering terms.

While University of Hyderabad has turned into a “den of anti-national politics” for the Secunderabad MP, the city has become a “place known for nurturing militant activities.”

In his letter to Singh, Dattatreya said Telangana is “known to be the target” over the years for nationally and internationally banned outfits, which are known to create terror to gain national and international attention.

His letter came against the backdrop of the encounter killing of two suspected SIMI activists in Nalgonda district in April.

Dattatreya stated that he was bringing Singh’s notice to the fact that “Hyderabad had been a place known for nurturing militant activities by the banned militant outfits and has been the shelter zone of many sympathisers of such banned outfits.”

Deccan Herald had reported about the letter in April. The 68-year-old minister, who was loaned to the BJP by the RSS, became a minister in the Narendra Modi government as the BJP’s representative from Telangana. Dattatreya was also a minister the Atal Bihari Vajpayee government.

In the controversial letter to Smriti in August, he stated: “Hyderabad University, a Central university located in Hyderabad has, in the recent past, become a den of casteist, extremist and anti-national politics.”

The letter also mentions activities of Ambedkar Students’ Association (ASA) of which Rohith Vemula was a member. He had also referred to ASA’s protest against the execution of Yakub Memon in July.

This letter has landed Dattatreya in trouble with the police registering a case of abetting Rohith’s suicide.